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In a controversial move, the United Nations chief is today calling on polluting developed countries like the UK to “fast forward” net zero targets by a decade to 2040, warning the “climate time bomb is ticking”.

It comes as the most comprehensive review yet of the state of climate change delivers a bleak picture of humanity’s failure to tackle it, warning the window to secure a “liveable and sustainable future” is “rapidly closing”.

But climate scientists have rallied to point out there are still grounds for hope.

Today’s report from the United Nations’ IPCC is the culmination of eight years of work by hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists, summarising six underlying reports.

The final sign-off by all governments was repeatedly pushed back amid a battle between rich and developing countries over emissions targets and financial aid to vulnerable nations.

A woman is helped out of a house by neighbours in Anon de Moncayo, Spain on Saturday Aug. 13, 2022. A large wildfire in northeast Spain grew rapidly overnight and was burning out of control. It has already forced the evacuation of eight villages and 1,500 people in Zaragoza province. A local government official said Sunday that the situation was critical in the town of A..on de Moncayo and the priority for the 300 firefighters fighting the blaze was to protect human lives and villages. Pic: AP
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Spain was plagued by wildfires last summer amid soaring heat and drought. Pic: AP

The last similar report in 2014 paved the way for the ambitious Paris Agreement the following year.

The next of its kind won’t arrive until 2030, making this effectively the last collective warning and action plan from scientists while the 1.5°C warming is still in reach – though only just.

Key findings of the IPCC report

  • Human activity has “unequivocally” warmed the planet by 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels.
  • Emissions must fall 48% by 2030 – the first time such a bold target has been signed off in a global political document.
  • Climate risks make things like pandemics or conflicts worse.
  • Emissions from existing fossil fuel infrastructure alone would blow the agreed 1.5°C warming target, unless they are captured via still risky technology.
  • Global sea levels have already risen by 20cm on average.
  • At least 3.3 billion people are “highly vulnerable” to impacts including “acute food insecurity” and water stress.
  • Extreme heat is already killing people in every region.
  • Vulnerable communities who have historically contributed the least are disproportionately affected.

‘Hope not despair’

In the year since the last report in this series, the world has suffered violent flooding in Pakistan, drought across the northern hemisphere and a hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa – all of which were made worse by climate change.

But amid the bleak warnings of lost jobs, homes, crops and lives, scientists insisted there were still grounds for hope.

IPCC chair Professor Hoesung Lee painted a picture of a “liveable sustainable future for all” – though only if we “act now.”

“We should feel considerable anxiety,” said Professor Emily Shuckburgh from Cambridge University, who recently co-authored a book on climate change with King Charles, but was not involved with this report.

“But hope, rather than despair,” she added, highlighting that the IPCC said it’s still possible to limit warming to the agreed safer threshold of 1.5°C.

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The report says changes in how we eat, travel, heat our homes and use the land can all cut climate-heating gases, while reducing air pollution, improving health and boosting jobs.

And there is enough global capital to rapidly slash climate-heating pollution.

“Not despair, but not just hope, because there is a lot of work to do,” said Dr Friederike Otto, a member of the core writing team and senior lecturer at Imperial College London.

“But we don’t need any new magic invention that we have to do research on for the next 30 years or so. We have the knowledge… But we also need to implement this.”

Representatives at the fraught approval session to sign off the IPCC AR6 synthesis report. Pic: IPCC
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Representatives at the fraught approval session to sign off the IPCC AR6 synthesis report. Pic: IPCC

‘The wolf is at the door’

But because the window to act is “rapidly closing,” the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will today attempt to heap pressure on rich nations to make up for lost time.

In 2018 the IPCC loudly warned of the “unprecedented scale of the challenge required to keep warming to 1.5°C”.

Five years later, that challenge is “even greater” due to a failure to cut emissions enough, it said.

“Leaders of developed countries must commit to reaching net zero as close as possible to 2040,” Mr Guterres is expected to say shortly.

“This can be done,” he will add in an address to launch the report, which he calls “a how-to guide to defuse the climate time bomb”.

Mohamed Adow, director of thinktank Power Shift Africa, said it was “only fair that Guterres is setting more ambitious goals for wealthier countries who can make the transition more quickly and who have got rich off the back of burning fossil fuels”.

FILE - A couple stands on what was an ancient packhorse bridge exposed by low water levels at Baitings Reservoir in Yorkshire as record high temperatures hit Ripponden, England, Aug. 12, 2022. Widespread drought that dried up large parts of Europe, the United States and China this past summer was made 20 times more likely by climate change, according to a new study. Pic: AP
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Widespread drought last summer dried up large parts of Europe, including this section of reservoir in Yorkshire. Pic: AP

But the proposal may spark some backlash for apparently moving the goalposts. Countries are already struggling to meet the previously agreed target of net zero by 2050.

Asked about the proposed date change, a UK government spokesperson said: “Today’s report makes clear that nations around the world must work towards far more ambitious climate commitments.”

Britain is currently off track to get its emissions to net zero even by 2050, according to an independent assessment last week, and the recent budget was criticised for falling short on climate policies.

Rebecca Newsom, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said: “Forget distant tropical islands and future generations – we have already seen what 40°C summers and flash flooding look like here in the UK. The wolf is at the door.”

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The next COP global climate conference might fail to reach a deal to completely phase out fossil fuels, campaigners warn

Fossil fuel battleground at COP28

The COP28 climate summit will take place in the United Arab Emirates in December.

The findings of the latest IPCC report are supposed to inform those climate negotiations in Dubai.

This year’s summit is seen as particularly important, taking a “global stocktake” of how countries have progressed since the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Observers pointed out that every government had signed off on the scientific conclusions released today, which include the call for a “substantial reduction in fossil fuel use”.

The necessary approval process by all nations is designed to ensure governments act on the contents.

Yet some countries resist that language in other forums such as the more political COP climate summits, with oil and gas states last year blocking a pledge to “phase down all fossil fuels” from the final agreement at COP27 in Egypt.

“By signing off the IPCC reports all governments, even those of high-emitting countries such as Saudi Arabia, Australia, the US and the UAE, acknowledge that climate change is a real and present danger,” said Richard Black from energy thinktank ECIU.

The UN will hope there is similar agreement in December – which needs to result in meaningful action.

Watch the Daily Climate Show at 3.30pm Monday to Friday, and The Climate Show with Tom Heap on Saturday and Sunday at 3.30pm and 7.30pm.

All on Sky News, on the Sky News website and app, on YouTube and Twitter.

The show investigates how global warming is changing our landscape and highlights solutions to the crisis.

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MP tells Sky News she was attacked online by Tate brothers after Commons contribution

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MP tells Sky News she was attacked online by Tate brothers after Commons contribution

An MP has told Sky News she was attacked online by the Tate brothers after she participated in a debate in the House of Commons about violence against women.

The controversial duo, Andrew and Tristan Tate, are facing charges of rape and human trafficking in the UK – all of which they deny.

But they are still very active online, and according to Sorcha Eastwood, the MP for Lagan Valley, are targeting her.

In a document seen by Sky News, Tristan Tate has highlighted one of the MP’s tweets and writes in private correspondence: “MP, nice target, can we sue her?”

Sorcha Eastwood says at first she thought the replies were from parody accounts and not the Tate brothers.

Her original tweet was about Elon Musk, not the Tate brothers. The MP said Musk’s tweets should be looked at through a counter-extremism lens.

“I was really concerned, I was concerned because to me that is a direct attack for want of a better phrase on me serving my constituents.

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“I couldn’t believe that they decided to pick this random Northern Irish MP. The fact that it wasn’t even about them. This is something I didn’t go looking for.

“I think from my perspective, it’s a very, very sinister attempt to shut down important voices in public life, political discourse.”

It was only when she started noticing an uptick in abuse from other accounts she realised she had encountered some of the brothers’ followers.

“I had rape threats. I had death threats. I had people saying I should be hung from a lamppost. I had people saying I should be chopped into liver. I also had people then who were like we’ll waste 15 minutes raping Sorcha Eastwood.”

Andrew and Tristan Tate
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A representative for the Tate brothers told Sky News that there was no targeted campaign against Sorcha Eastwood

A representative for the Tate brothers told Sky News that there was no targeted campaign against her.

They said: “Ms Eastwood has a distorted view regarding social media if she believes one is required to ‘invite or ask’ people to interact.

“Tristan Tate is entitled to his view in relation to her tweet regarding Elon Musk.”

The self-styled “misogynist influencer” Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have both been charged with human trafficking, face allegations of trafficking minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering in Romania.

There is also a European arrest warrant for them as they are facing separate, unrelated charges of rape and human trafficking in the UK. They deny all charges.

Ms Eastwood now worries for others who don’t have a platform like her and who may not feel like they can speak out.

“If this is what has happened to me I have absolutely no doubt that this has happened to others where they have been attempted to be silenced.”

Keir Starmer has previously commented on the Tate brothers’ case in the Commons saying it is “a live issue”, but adding that “the principle is absolutely clear” in relation to whether the brothers should face justice.

Sorcha Eastwood says she wants to see the government do much more to protect against abuse online.

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Tate brothers deny wrongdoing

“I think ultimately the government has taken the wrong course on this. They need to step up.

“This should be an issue of national security as far as the radicalisation of young people online. It should be an issue in terms of the levels of misinformation, disinformation and the lack of trust that is had in our politics right across the UK and Europe.

“I want the government to help me, help every other person to crack down on this and get serious about it. And the only way they’ll be able to do that, is by hitting these tech companies in the only language which they understand, which is money and via robust legislation.”

A government spokesperson said: “Violence against women and girls is a scourge on our society which is why we have set out an unprecedented mission to halve these crimes within a decade.

“Tackling illegal abuse both online and offline is central to supporting victims and preventing harm in our communities and we will not hesitate to strengthen laws to deliver this mission.

“Last month, parts of the Online Safety Act came into force meaning companies must take action to protect users from illegal material including extreme sexual violence.

“Further protections from this summer will require platforms to protect children from harmful, misogynistic, and violent content.”

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‘It’s just nasty’: Birmingham residents ‘overwhelmed’ by foul stench and massive rats as bins strike rumbles on

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'It's just nasty': Birmingham residents 'overwhelmed' by foul stench and massive rats as bins strike rumbles on

In parts of Birmingham, the stench is overwhelming – enough to make you heave.

At a block of flats in Highgate, in Birmingham city centre, we find a mountain of bin liners full of rubbish spewing out of the cavernous bin store, which is normally locked.

Mickel comes out to speak to us, while all around bin liners lie open, with the contents for all to see, including used nappies and rotting food.

Birmingham
strike bin workers
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Mickel says they’ve had ‘foxes and rats, literally the size of cats’

Outside Mickel's flat in Highgate, bin liners lie open, spewing out rubbish, including used nappies and rotting food
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Outside Mickel’s flat in Highgate, bin liners lie open, spewing out rubbish

We both find it hard to keep talking amid the awful smell.

“We’ve had foxes and rats, literally the size of cats, flies, it’s just nasty, something needs to be done,” he says.

Birmingham
Birmingham
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Chris says the situation is ‘overwhelming’ as she’s ‘terrified of rats’

Around the corner, I meet Chris, in her dressing gown, popping the bins into her bin store beneath her flat before work.

She unlocks it, and although it isn’t bursting out on to the street yet, it is getting full.

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She says the situation is “overwhelming” as she’s “terrified of rats”. But, even so, she has sympathy for the striking bin workers.

“It’s not an easy job; they must have a heart of gold to do that job,” she says.

“Pay them whatever they need, they deserve it.”

Striking bin workers in Birmingham
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Striking bin workers at Lifford Lane tip, south of the city centre

a mountain of bin liners full of rubbish spewing out of the cavernous bin store, which is normally locked.
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There’s an awful smell coming from a mountain of bin liners outside Mickel’s flat in Highgate

At Lifford Lane tip, south of the city centre, Brigette has pulled up alongside picketing workers. The back seat of her car is full of rubbish.

She apologises for the terrible waft, mixed with air freshener.

Read more:
Pest controllers ‘feel like an emergency service’
Bin workers strike explained

“It’s very pungent, isn’t it? Not nice,” she admits.

“It’s unfortunate, I have some sympathies for all the parties, but, equally, we have a duty of care to stay clean and tidy.”

She says she has her rubbish and that of her elderly aunt and plans to make weekly trips to the tip until a resolution in this pay dispute between the council and the Unite union is found.

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‘US is our closest ally’, Jonathan Reynolds says in reaction to Trump tariffs – but ‘nothing off the table’

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'US is our closest ally', Jonathan Reynolds says in reaction to Trump tariffs - but 'nothing off the table'

The US is “our closest ally” but “nothing is off the table” in response to Donald Trump’s 10% tariffs on imports from the UK, the business secretary has said.

In a statement following the US president’s nearly hour-long address to the world, Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “We will always act in the best interests of UK businesses and consumers.

“That’s why, throughout the last few weeks, the government has been fully focused on negotiating an economic deal with the United States that strengthens our existing fair and balanced trading relationship.”

Follow the latest following Trump’s tariffs announcement

Mr Reynolds reiterated the statements from the prime minister and his cabinet over the past few days, saying the US is “our closest ally”, and the government’s approach is to “remain calm and committed to doing this deal, which we hope will mitigate the impact of what has been announced today”.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds arrives in Downing Street, London, for a Cabinet meeting. Picture date: Tuesday January 28, 2025.
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Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds says “nothing is off the table” following the tariffs announcement. Pic: PA

But he continued: “We have a range of tools at our disposal, and we will not hesitate to act. We will continue to engage with UK businesses, including on their assessment of the impact of any further steps we take.

“Nobody wants a trade war, and our intention remains to secure a deal. But nothing is off the table, and the government will do everything necessary to defend the UK’s national interest.”

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‘Get back round the negotiating table’, say Tories

The Conservative Party’s shadow business and trade secretary described the US president’s announcement as “disappointing news which will worry working families across the country”.

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Sky’s Ed Conway examines how economies across the world are impacted by tariffs

Andrew Griffith hit out at the government for having “failed to negotiate with President Trump’s team for too many months after the election, failed to keep our experienced top trade negotiator, and failed to get a deal to avoid the imposition of these tariffs by our closest trading partner”.

“The chancellor’s emergency budget of just a week ago with its inadequate headroom is now at risk, casting uncertainty about more taxes or spending cuts,” he continued. “Sadly, it is British businesses and workers who will pay the price for Labour’s failure.”

He called on ministers to “swallow their pride” and “get back round the negotiating table to agree a fair deal to protect jobs and consumers in both the UK and the US alike”.

Relief in Westminster – but concessions to Trump to come

It has been quite a rollercoaster for the government, where they went from the hope that they could avoid tariffs, that they could get that economic deal, to the realisation that was not going to happen, and then the anticipation of how hard would the UK be hit.

In Westminster tonight, there is actual relief because the UK is going to have a 10% baseline tariff – but that is the least onerous of all the tariffs we saw President Trump announce.

He held up a chart of the worst offenders, and the UK was well at the bottom of that list.

No 10 sources were telling me as President Trump was in the Rose Garden that while no tariffs are good, and it’s not what they want, the fact the UK has tariffs that are lower than others vindicates their approach.

They say it’s important because the difference between a 20% tariff and a 10% tariff is thousands of jobs.

Where to next? No 10 says it will “keep negotiating, keep cool and calm”, and reiterated Sir Keir Starmer’s desire to “negotiate a sustainable trade deal”.

“Of course want to get tariffs lowered. Tomorrow we will continue with that work,” a source added.

Another source said the 10% tariff shows that “the UK is in the friendlies club, as much as that is worth anything”.

Overnight, people will be number-crunching, trying to work out what it means for the UK. There is a 25% tariff on cars which could hit billions in UK exports, in addition to the blanket 10% tariff.

But despite this being lower than many other countries, GDP will take a hit, with forecasts being downgraded probably as we speak.

I think the government’s approach will be to not retaliate and try to speed up that economic deal in the hope that they can lower the tariffs even further.

There will be concessions. For example, the UK could lower the Digital Services Tax, which is imposed on the UK profits of tech giants. Will they loosen regulation on social media companies or agricultural products?

But for now, there is relief the UK has not been hit as hard as many others.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has reacted furiously to Mr Trump’s announcement of a “destructive trade war”, and called on the government to stand up against “Trump’s attempts to divide and rule”.

“The prime minister should bring our Commonwealth and European partners together in a coalition of the willing against Trump’s tariffs, using retaliatory tariffs where necessary and signing new trade deals with each other where possible.”

Speaking on Wednesday evening at a White House event entitled ‘Make America Wealthy Again’, the US president unleashed sweeping tariffs across the globe.

Mr Trump held up a chart detailing the worst offenders – which also showed the new tariffs the US would be imposing.

The UK’s rate of 10% was perhaps a shot across the bow over the 20% VAT rate, though the president’s suggested a 10% tariff imbalance between the two nations. Nonetheless, tariffs of 10% could directly reduce UK GDP by between 0.01% and 0.06%, according to Capital Economics.

A 25% duty on all car imports from around the world is also being imposed from midnight in the US – 5am on Thursday, UK time.

Read more:

World reacts to Trump’s tariff announcement
Tariffs will have consequences for globalisation, the US economy and geopolitics
Trump’s tariffs explained

The UK government had been hoping to negotiate an economic deal with the US in a bid to avoid the tariffs, but to no avail. The government says negotiations will continue.

The Confederation of British Industry said “negotiating stronger trading relationships with all like-minded partners will be foundational to any success”.

The business secretary is expected to make a statement in the House of Commons on Thursday, and we are also expecting to hear from the prime minister.

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