Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Premium charge aims to combat steep rise in SUVs and other larger vehicles which are ‘a danger to other road users’ Cardiff council will force drivers with larger vehicles to pay more for parking, becoming the first local authority in the UK to impose a parking premium to combat the dangers of larger vehicles. Councillors voted on Thursday to approve a new parking plan for the city whereby owners of larger vehicles will be charged more for parking permits because their cars “take up more parking space and are a danger to other road users”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Document sets draft pledge for leaders gathering at climate summit to increase use of controversial fuels Brazil will ask countries to quadruple the global use of “sustainable fuels”, including controversial biofuels, despite concerns from environmental experts, the Guardian has learned. A leaked document seen by the Guardian sets out a draft pledge for world leaders gathering for the Cop30 climate conference next month in Brazil to increase the use of “sustainable fuels” – chiefly biofuels and biogas, but also hydrogen – in the next decade by four times compared with 2024 levels. By 2030, biofuel crops would require land the size of France, which would make it equivalent to the sixth-largest country in terms of arable land use globally A fifth of vegetable oil is used for cars rather than food. That 3,000 litres of water are needed to drive 100km on biofuels. That solar panels could create as much energy as biofuels while using just 3% as much land. Continue reading...

Weekend storm devastated two villages and displaced more than 1,500 people in the south-western part of the state Authorities in Alaska are staging a major evacuation operation, relocating hundreds of people in one of the “most significant” airlifts in the state’s history, after a storm decimated two villages along the south-west coast over the weekend. More than 1,500 people were displaced after the remnants of Typhoon Halong hit remote communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, battering the area with fierce winds, rain and record-breaking storm surge that caused some homes to float off their foundations. Continue reading...

Lobbyists attended 48% more meetings than Tories, as Labour accused of giving them ‘backstage pass’ UK politics live – latest updates Government ministers met representatives from the fossil fuel industry more than 500 times during their first year in power – equivalent to twice every working day, according to research. The analysis found that fossil fuel lobbyists were present at 48% more ministerial meetings during Labour’s first year in power than under the Conservatives in 2023. Ministers at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) met fossil fuel lobbyists 274 times, with industry figures present at almost a quarter of meetings. During the same period DESNZ ministers met trade union representatives 61 times. Ed Miliband, the secretary for energy and climate change, met fossil fuel lobbyists 91 times – with a third of all his meetings attended by industry figures. Three fossil fuel companies: BP, Shell and Equinor, met ministers 100 times between them. Fossil fuel lobbyists attended almost every government meeting about the energy profits levy, a temporary windfall tax on the “extraordinary profits” of North Sea oil and gas companies. This article was amended on 16 October 2025. Owing to an error in supplied information, an earlier version said Ed Miliband met fossil fuel lobbyists 250 times during Labour’s first year in power; this should have said 91 meetings. Continue reading...