Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Exclusive: David Bailey plays down concerns after HSBC and Barclays quit UN-backed Net Zero Banking Alliance A Bank of England executive has insisted that UK banks are still showing a “vibrant” commitment to climate goals despite the recent demise of a global net zero target-setting group. David Bailey, the executive director of prudential policy at the Bank’s regulatory arm, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), played down concerns surrounding the fact that significant lenders including HSBC and Barclays had followed their US peers in dropping membership of the UN-backed Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). Those exits led to the closure of the once-lauded NZBA last month. Continue reading...

Pie Factory Music in Ramsgate, Kent, runs creative projects and provides a range of support services, but the building that houses the centre is due to be sold off in February The last remaining youth centre in one of the most deprived coastal areas of England is facing closure after a year-long campaign to try to save it was rejected by the council. The looming closure comes despite an independent report that estimated the centre is saving the council more than £500,000 a year in costs that include services in mental health, youth justice and social care. Pie Factory Music in Ramsgate, Kent, is a social space for eight- to 25-year-olds that also offers services including counselling, employment advice, life skills sessions, assistance for young refugees, as well as creative and music projects. Continue reading...

MP asks for explanation from Southern Water amid concerns the spill could have dire impact on rare sea life Southern Water is investigating after millions of contaminated plastic beads washed up on Camber Sands beach, risking an “environmental catastrophe”. The biobeads could have a dire impact on marine life, the local MP has said, with fears rare sea life, including seabirds, porpoises and seals, could ingest them and die. Continue reading...

Money talks – and his essay denouncing ‘near-term emissions goals’ at Cop30 mostly argues the case for letting the ultra-rich off the hook Let’s begin with the fundamental problem: Bill Gates is a politics denier. Though he came to it late, he now accepts the realities of climate science. But he lives in flat, embarrassing denial about political realities. His latest essay on climate, published last week, treats the issue as if it existed in a political vacuum. He writes as if there were no such thing as political power, and no such thing as billionaires. His main contention is that funds are very limited, so the delegates at this month’s climate summit in Brazil should direct money away from “near-term emissions goals” towards climate “adaptation” and spending on poverty and disease. George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...