A fossil fuel company’s $300m lawsuit against Greenpeace opens in rural North Dakota on Monday, in a case that has been widely condemned by constitutional rights experts as baseless, bad faith litigation that threatens free speech.

Energy Transfer Partners, a Dallas-based oil and gas company worth almost $70bn, accuses Greenpeace of defamation and orchestrating criminal behavior by protesters at the Dakota Access pipeline (Dapl).

Lufthansa will add a surcharge up to £61 per flight to cover the costs of using greener fuels from next year, the German airline has said.

The charges will affect flights from the European Union, the UK, Switzerland and Norway, and start from about 85p, depending on the route, the carrier said.

Under EU rules, airlines must use a blend of at least 2 per cent of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from 2025, rising steadily to 70 per cent by 2050.

The world's fossil fuel industries should be banned from advertising to help save the world from climate change, the head of the United Nations said on Wednesday.

UN Secretary General António Guterres called coal, oil and gas corporations the “godfathers of climate chaos” who had distorted the truth and deceived the public for decades.

Just as tobacco advertising was banned because of the threat to health, the same should now apply to fossil fuels, he said.

For the past few years, the West has been trying to break China’s grip on minerals that are critical for defense and green technologies. Despite their efforts, Chinese companies are becoming more dominant, not less.

A longstanding emissions reduction program may lead to a 50-cent increase in gasoline prices within two years in California, according to a little-known state air quality regulator report.

In September, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the state's primary environmental regulator, reported gas prices will rise next year by about 50 cents a gallon and every year thereafter to aid in clean air efforts. The price increase does not include the existing gas tax in the state.

Donald Trump reportedly asked some top oil industry executives last month to donate $1 billion to support his election campaign and also promised the executives that he would reverse President Biden's green energy policies and stop new ones from being enacted if he is reelected.

The donation request, first reported by Washington Post, was made when he met the oil giants at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, for a dinner last month and one executive complained about not getting enough support from the Biden administration.

On this 54th Anniversary of America's first Earth Day celebration, it is a time to reflect on how we moved from a consensus on the urgent need for environmental protection across the country to woefully underestimating the need for action about climate change.

As the world turns its attention to the environment we share on this Earth Day, the tide of public opinion is turning toward decisive climate action. Statewide carbon-neutral goals, emerging carbon credit markets and incentive programs for renewable energies are quickly becoming the new reality.

April 22 marks the 54th celebration of Earth Day. Unfortunately, there should be much more to celebrate five decades later.