Environment | The Guardian

When marine biologist Oceane Attlan saw the tiny Braun's wrasse, it was like recognising a familiar face, but you can't put a name on it'

Toxicity from farm chemicals increased for most species groups between 2013 and 2019, with insects worst affectedEcological harm from pesticides is growing globally, a study has found, with bugs, fish, pollinators and land-based plants among six species groups hit hardest.Insects suffered the greatest increase in harm from synthetic farm chemicals between 2013 and 2019, the study shows, with applied" toxicity rising by 42.9%, followed by soil organisms, which faced an increase of 30.8%. Continue reading...

President condemns environmental and health crime' as critics say Israel seeks to make southern Lebanon uninhabitableLebanon has accused Israel of spraying a herbicide linked to cancer on farmland in the south of the country as a health crime" that would threaten food security and farmers' livelihoods.The country's president, Joseph Aoun, condemned what he called an environmental and health crime" and a violation of Lebanese sovereignty, and he vowed to take all necessary legal and diplomatic measures to confront this aggression". Continue reading...

State culled a number of the non-native reptiles after thousands were cold-stunned' and dropped from treesWildlife officials in Florida say they euthanized more than 5,000 non-native iguanas in the state after hordes of the reptiles froze and fell from trees in this week's cold snap.The Florida fish and wildlife commission (FWC) authorized the first officially sanctioned cull of cold-stunned" iguanas as temperatures plunged below freezing in many areas of the state. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Campaigners say proposed cut from 11.9bn over past five years to 9bn over next five years will cost lives and livelihoodsThe UK plans to slash its aid to poor countries stricken by the climate crisis by more than a fifth, the Guardian has learned, despite promises to increase assistance and warnings from campaigners that the move will cost lives and livelihoods.Ministers plan to cut climate finance for the developing world from 11.6bn over the past five years to 9bn in the next five. In real terms, accounting for inflation, this would represent a cut of about 40% in spending power since 2021, when the 11.6bn budget was agreed. Continue reading...

CAA's guidance also including booking sites to enable passengers to make more informed travel decisions'Airlines and booking firms should give UK customers information about the environmental impact of their flights, the regulator has said.The Civil Aviation Authority urged booking sites to enable passengers to make more informed travel decisions" by setting out estimates for carbon emissions for flights landing or taking off from British airports. Continue reading...

In first-of-its-kind complaint, state accused four fossil fuel majors and US oil lobbying group of climate disinformationAmid rising concern about global heating and soaring energy costs, Michigan has sued big oil for allegedly fueling both crises - a move experts have hailed as groundbreaking.In a first-of-its-kind complaint, the state's attorney general, Dana Nessel, accused four fossil fuel majors and the top US oil lobbying group last month of acting as a cartel" to stifle the growth of renewable energy and electric vehicles (EVs), while suppressing information about the dangers of the climate crisis. The conduct, the lawsuit alleged, violates federal and state antitrust laws. Continue reading...

Charity praises effort to stop Ramsgate's Pie Factory Music closing but calls for more youth services in coastal townsThe last remaining youth centre in one of England's most deprived coastal places has been saved from being sold after a long campaign by the charity that has for 13 years called it home.In November the Guardian revealed how the centre in Ramsgate on the Kent coast was facing being auctioned off by Kent county council, despite an independent report that estimated the centre was saving the council more than 500,000 a year in costs, including for services in mental health, youth justice and social care. Continue reading...

Shas Sheehan challenges refusal to remove 25,000 tonnes of waste causing grave environmental hazard' near schoolA 25,000-tonne illegal waste dump next to a primary school in Wigan presents a grave environmental hazard" and should be cleared, the chair of the Lords environment committee has told the government.Shas Sheehan challenged the refusal of the Environment Agency to clean up an illegal waste dump in Bolton House Road in the Greater Manchester town, given the agency was spending millions clearing up illegal waste deposited in Kidlington, Oxfordshire. Continue reading...

On a recent trip to Lake Geneva in Switzerland, biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston witnessed the impact of one of the planet's most potent invasive species, the quagga mussel. In just a decade the mollusc, originally from the Ponto-Caspian region of the Black Sea, has caused irreversible change beneath the surface of the picturesque lake. While ecologists believe invasive species play a major role in more than 60% of plant and animal extinctions, stopping them in their tracks is almost impossible. Phoebe tells Madeleine Finlay how invasive species spread, how conservationists are trying combat them and why some think a radical new approach is needed.It's an open invasion': how millions of quagga mussels changed Lake Geneva for everSupport the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

States and financial bodies using modelling that ignores shocks from extreme weather and climate tipping pointsFlawed economic models mean the accelerating impact of the climate crisis could lead to a global financial crash, experts warn.Recovery would be far harder than after the 2008 financial crash, they said, as we can't bail out the Earth like we did the banks". Continue reading...

Industry bigger than all but seven world economies, and accounts for more than third of China's economic growthChina's clean energy industries drove more than 90% of the country's investment growth last year, making the sectors bigger than all but seven of the world's economies, a new analysis has shown.For the second time in three years, the report showed the manufacture, installation and export of batteries, electric cars, solar, wind and related technologies accounted for more than a third of China's economic growth. Continue reading...

Company publicly denied allegations that primary forests were being cut down to fuel UK's biggest power plantSenior executives at Drax raised concerns internally about the validity of the energy company's sustainability claims while it publicly denied allegations that it was cutting down environmentally important forests for fuel, court documents have revealed.Britain's biggest power plant assured ministers and civil servants of the company's green credentials as it scrambled to defend itself against claims in a BBC Panorama documentary that it had burned wood sourced from old-growth" forests in Canada. Continue reading...

Only 180 bats survived intense heat in South Australian town, including 34 babies that carers say face months of recovery

Dismantling rules will make children vulnerable to chronic diseases make America healthy again' wants to eradicateDonald Trump's aggressive rollback of environmental protections directly contradicts the promises of his make America healthy again" campaign, according to new research.Helmed by Robert F Kennedy Jr, Trump's health and human services department has touted pledges to transform our nation's food, fitness, air, water, soil and medicine" and reverse the childhood chronic disease crisis". But the president's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pushing the country in the opposite direction, says the new report from the liberal research and advocacy non-profit Center for American Progress (CAP). Continue reading...

A shortlist of 24 images has been selected for the wildlife photographer of the year people's choice award. You can vote for your favourite image online. The winner will be announced on 25 March and shown from that date as part of the overall wildlife photographer of the year exhibition, which runs until 12 July at the Natural History Museum in London Continue reading...

Grieving family of the backpacker will attend a smoking ceremony conducted by the island's traditional owners

When Essex University's Southend campus opened, it was a message of hope for a left behind' UK seaside town. Its closure will be felt far beyond its 800 students, some of whom will not get their degreesThe seaside city of Southend-on-Sea, on England's east coast, looks grey on a winter afternoon in term-time. Its high street, bordering the university campus, is sparsely populated with market stalls, vape shops and discount retailers, and feels unusually quiet.There used to be lots of shops, restaurants and youth clubs around here," says 23-year-old Nathan Doucette-Chiddicks. Now, the city is about to lose something else that it can scarcely do without. Continue reading...

Conservancy sees nonnative species as major threat to local biodiversity, while residents rally to preserve local identityCalifornia wildlife officials moved forward last week with a plan to eradicate a mule deer herd from Santa Catalina Island: extermination.The plan has long pitted locals from the island off the coast of Los Angeles against the Catalina Island Conservancy, an environmental non-profit that manages 88% of the island's terrain. The conservancy sees mule deer, which are not native to the island, as a major threat to local biodiversity, water quality and fire resilience. Continue reading...

Cartoon lump of coal with giant eyes was spotlighted by US interior secretary in X post saying: Mine, Baby, Mine!'The Trump administration has turned to an unusual weapon in its attempt to resurrect coal mining - a cartoon lump of coal, complete with giant eyes and yellow mining garb, called Coalie".The administration's new mascot, kitted out with a helmet, boots and gloves, was introduced in a seemingly artificial intelligence-generated picture posted online by Doug Burgum, Donald Trump's interior secretary. Continue reading...

It will take years for changes to take effect, but children who eat school meals and seniors served by Meals on Wheels will feel the DGA ripple effectsMost Americans ignore the country's dietary guidelines, but millions will be directly affected by upcoming changes to these recommendations.On 6 January, after months of proclamations about seismic improvements to the country's dietary recommendations, the US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Agriculture released those updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). This document - once visually presented to millennial schoolchildren as a food pyramid and to today's zoomers and gen Alpha as a segmented lunch plate - synthesizes the latest nutritional research and offers revamped eating advice every five years. Continue reading...

Trump has prioritized fossil fuel companies over consumers, hitting the lowest-income families hardestDonald Trump promised to cut energy prices by 50%. Instead, average electricity prices over the past year have risen by about 6.7%, while natural gas prices have increased by 10.8%. Energy prices are influenced by many factors beyond any president's direct control, including market conditions, weather-driven demand, regional infrastructure constraints and the rapid growth of energy-intensive datacenters that are driving new system costs. Policy choices do not determine prices on their own, but they do shape market outcomes, and the direction of this administration's energy policy has been clear.From his first days in office, President Trump made clear that his energy agenda would prioritize fossil fuel producers over consumers. His administration moved to expand US liquefied natural gas exports, increasing exposure to volatile global markets. At the same time, it froze wind power projects that provide some of the cheapest new electricity, intervened to keep costly coal plants running, and backed the elimination of energy-efficiency tax credits that lower household energy bills.Mark Wolfe is executive director of National Energy Assistance Directors Association, co-director of the Center on Energy Poverty and Climate and adjunct faculty at the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy at George Washington University Continue reading...

Australians for Prosperity received most of its funding last financial year from Coal Australia, according to disclosures made to the Australian Electoral Commission

Chagossian people would be allowed to fish in area that has teemed with life since ban was introduced in 2010One of the most precious marine reserves in the world, home to sharks, turtles and rare tropical fish, will be opened to some fishing for the first time in 16 years under the UK government's deal to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.Allowing non-commercial fishing in the marine protected area (MPA) is seen as an essential part of the Chagossian people's return to the islands, as the community previously relied on fishing as their main livelihood. But some conservationists have raised the alarm, as nature has thrived in the waters of the Indian Ocean since it was protected from fishing. Continue reading...

Ministers' proposals to tackle forever chemicals' fail to match tougher stance taken in Europe, say expertsEnvironmental campaigners have criticised a crushingly disappointing" UK government plan to tackle forever chemicals", which they warn risks locking in decades of avoidable harm to people and the environment.The government said its Pfas action plan set out a clear framework" of coordinated action ... to understand where these chemicals are coming from, how they spread and how to reduce public and environmental exposure". Continue reading...

Sector bounces back as consumers focus on provenance and healthy eating, but is still well behind EuropeConsumers searching for healthy food from trusted sources have fuelled the UK organic market's biggest boom in two decades, according to vegetable box seller Riverford.The delivery business, which sells meat, cheese, cookbooks and recipe boxes alongside vegetables, recorded a 6% increase in sales to 117m in the year to May 2025, as the UK organic food and drink market grew by almost 9% in that year, according to new figures from the Soil Association. The strong growth, significantly outpacing the wider food market, helped the employee-owned business give a 1.1m bonus to workers. Continue reading...

Researchers dig spas' and install saunas' in ACT wetlands to give green and golden bell frogs the best chance of survival

Residents living near Cadia goldmine in central western NSW allege in court filings that dust containing heavy metals has contaminated the water supply

Volunteer workers say increasing case numbers and dozens of dead birds raise fears spread is wider than recordedMembers of the public and charity volunteers are working to contain a suspected outbreak of bird flu among swans in the Thames Valley, amid signs that confirmed cases are continuing to rise.Since October, 324 cases of bird flu in swans have been recorded by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha), which is sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Of these, 39 were recorded in the first four weeks of 2026 alone. Continue reading...

A US judge will decide if, as research suggests, a chemical tyre additive is harming endangered fish speciesLast week, a district judge in San Francisco, California, presided over a three-day trial brought by west coast fishers and conservationists against US tyre companies. The fishers allege that a chemical additive used in tyres is polluting rivers and waterways, killing coho salmon and other fish. If successful, the case could have implications far beyond the United States. Continue reading...

With some of Ukraine's most valuable biodiversity sites and science facilities under occupation, experts at Sofiyivka Park in Uman are struggling to preserve the country's natural historyIn the basement laboratory of the National Dendrological Park Sofiyivka, Larisa Kolder tends to dozens of specimens of Moehringia hypanica between power outages. Just months earlier, she and her team at this microclonal plant propagation laboratory in Uman, Ukraine, received 23 seeds of the rare flower.Listed as threatened in Ukraine's Red Book of endangered species, Moehringia grows nowhere else in the wild but the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine. Of those 23 seeds, only two grew into plants that Kolder and her colleagues could clone in their laboratory, but now her lab is home to a small grove of Moehringia seedlings, including 80 that have put down roots in a small but vital win for biodiversity conservation amid Russia's war with Ukraine. Continue reading...

About 150m faced cold weather advisories along eastern US, and two in North Carolina died in storm-related conditionsA bomb cyclone produced freezing temperatures across a large portion of the US from the Gulf coast to New England, bringing heavy snow to North Carolina where two were killed in storm-related conditions, and setting records in Florida, where officials warned of ice and falling iguanas.About 150 million people were under cold weather advisories and extreme cold warnings in the eastern portion of the US, with wind chills near zero to single digits fahrenheit in the south and the coldest air mass seen in south Florida since December 1989, said Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist with the weather prediction center in College Park, Maryland. Continue reading...

Inadequate food supplies and collapsing rainforests must be recognised as national security threats - not pigeonholed as green issuesEcosystems and national security used not to be mentioned in the same breath all that often - unless environmental campaigners were doing the talking. For years, climate and nature experts have struggled to get across the message that species extinctions, dead rivers and deforestation are an existential threat to people as well as animals and plants. As George Monbiot wrote last week, the publication of a government report thought to have been authored by intelligence chiefs, about the threats to the UK's national security from biodiversity collapse, should be viewed as a step forward. The risks have become too extreme to be ignored.The document is a national security assessment, not a scientific report. The data that it relies on comes from other sources. But the warnings that it contains about the UK's heavy dependence on food and fertiliser imports, and the probable consequences of nature depletion, must be heeded. Originally due to be published in the autumn, the review appears to have had some sections removed. An earlier version is reported to have included warnings about the risks of eco-terrorism" and the growing likelihood of war between China, India and Pakistan due to competition over a shrinking water supply from the Himalayas. Continue reading...

After stories revealed high levels of contamination in neighborhood around factory processing US toxic waste, government announces sweeping array of tacticsThe Mexican government has announced it will pursue a sweeping array of tactics to combat industrial pollution, from $4.8m in fines against a plant processing US hazardous waste to the rollout of a new industrial air-monitoring system, following investigations by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, a Mexican investigative unit.Those stories revealed high levels of heavy-metal contamination in the neighborhood around the factory, Zinc Nacional, in the Monterrey metropolitan area, and showed the broader extent of industrial pollution in the region, linked to Monterrey's role in manufacturing and recycling goods for the US market. Continue reading...

Events such as Storm Chandra take a terrible toll on ecosystems, but nature can be part of the solution for mitigating flood watersThe flood waters are only good for scavenger species," says Steve Hussey, searching hard for a silver lining to last week's deluges brought by Storm Chandra. When the waters recede, crows and ravens will feast on the carrion of hedgehogs, dormice and other small animals unable to escape the rising water, he says.It sounds very apocalyptic, doesn't it?" says Hussey, a communications officer with the Devon Wildlife Trust. Continue reading...

Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation could also force ultra-rich to pay global wealth taxFossil fuel companies could be forced to pay some of the price of their damage to the climate, and the ultra-rich subjected to a global wealth tax, if new tax rules are agreed under the UN.Negotiations on a planned global tax treaty will resume at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday, with dozens of countries supporting stronger rules that would make polluters pay for the impact of their activities. Continue reading...

Residents and local authorities are worried about environmental hazards and land devaluation as minister says excess regulations may hinder modern farming practices

Bushfires, marches and a summer of sport - Guardian Australia's best photos from around the country

Motorists benefit as industry offers deals of up to 18% off to attract buyers for petrol, diesel and electric modelsIf you are considering buying a new car, now might be the time to act as new data shows manufacturers and dealers slashing prices by more than 10%, with the average discount close to 6,000.The typical discount available across all petrol, diesel and electric cars sold in the UK is 11.4% of the on-the-road price - the equivalent of 5,911 - according to Insider Car Deals, which sells discount data to people looking to buy. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Formal validation for claret reflects hotter conditions, falling consumption and shift towards chillable redsBordeaux's wine industry has historically adapted to consumer habits. In the 1970s the region leaned towards white, but by the 2000s was famed for powerful oak-aged reds.Now it's turning to a much older form of red with a name familiar to anglophones: claret. With origins in the 12th century, when it was first shipped to Britain, claret was soon our favoured wine, an unofficial byword for bordeaux red, which in recent decades has become increasingly full-bodied. Continue reading...

Soaring temperatures, heat at altitude and hot summer nights combine to create one of south-eastern Australia's most significant' heatwaves

Experts say administration has launched war on all fronts' to undo environmental rules - here are the key areas at riskIn his first year back in office, Donald Trump has fundamentally reshaped the Environmental Protection Agency, initiating nearly 70 actions to undo rules protecting ecosystems and the climate.The agency's wide-ranging assault on the environment will put people at risk, threatening air and water quality, increasing harmful chemical exposure, and worsening global warming, experts told the Guardian. The changes amount to a war on all fronts that this administration has launched against our health and the safety of our communities and the quality of our environment," said Matthew Tejada, the former director of the EPA's environmental justice program. Continue reading...

This week's best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

From a renovated Victorian village house in Hampshire to a new-build apartment in south London Continue reading...

Exclusive: Ben Goldsmith will work on issues including fishing and green belt preservation to attract green ToriesBen Goldsmith, the veteran Conservative environmentalist and ally of Boris Johnson, has been approached to write Reform UK's policies on nature, as Nigel Farage's party attempts to make inroads with voters put off by his stance on the climate crisis.Goldsmith will work with the Reform leader and his policy adviser James Orr on policies such as fishing and preservation of the green belt, as party figures admit they are struggling to win over Conservative voters who care about the environment. Continue reading...

Eleven endangered skinks released into a gated community in Victoria's Alpine national park will soon become 13, when Omeo, one of the females, gives birth in March. One of Australia's only alpine lizards, guthega skinks live on 'sky islands' above 1,600 metres in two isolated alpine locations - Bogong high plains in Victoria and Mount Kosciuszko in NSW. 'They're extremely vulnerable, given where they live,' says skink specialist Dr Zak Atkins, director of Snowline Ecology. As the climate warms, their alpine zone is retracting, and there's nowhere higher for them to go

Information tribunal rules Soil Association must disclose salmon farm inspection reports to WildFish campaignersCampaigners have forced the Soil Association to reveal its salmon farm inspection reports, amid claims that certifying the farmed fish as organic" is misleading to consumers.The Soil Association's Organic scheme, the UK's oldest and most widely recognised organic certification, defines organic farming as using methods that benefit our whole food system, from people to planet, plant health to animal welfare." Continue reading...

Emergency pumps are deployed in attempt to stop water inundating homes around River Parrett

Eleven guthega skinks could soon become 13 thanks to a captive breeding program in the Alpine national park

Canada has reached a tentative deal for 30 belugas in an amusement park to be shipped to four aquariums in US