With net zero targets under attack from the populist right, dangerously high temperatures should refocus mindsAt times like now, with dangerously high temperatures in several European countries, the urgent need for adaptation to an increasingly unstable climate is clearer than ever. From the French government's decision to close schools to the bans in most of Italy onoutdoor work at the hottest time of day, the immediate priority is to protect people fromextreme heat - and to recognise that a heatwave can take a higher toll than a violent storm.People who are already vulnerable, due to age or illness or poor housing, face the greatest risks from heatwaves. As well as changes to rules and routines, public health warnings are vital, especially where records are being broken and people are unfamiliar with the conditions. In the scorching European summer of 2022, an estimated 68,000 people died dueto heat. Health, welfare and emergency systems must respond to those needing help. Continue reading...

Portugal and Spain suffer historic temperature highs for June, as French schools close because of heatOutdoor working has been banned during the hottest parts of the day in more than half of Italy's regions as an extreme heatwave that has smashed June temperature records in Spain and Portugal continues to grip large swathes of Europe.The savage temperatures are believed to have claimed at least three lives, including that of a small boy who is thought to have died from heatstroke while in a car in Catalonia's Tarragona province on Tuesday afternoon. Continue reading...

Governor Gavin Newsom says bureaucratic roadblocks have made it difficult to build housing in the most populous stateCalifornia is overhauling its landmark environmental protection rules, a change state leaders say is essential to address the state's housing shortage and homelessness crisis.California's governor, Gavin Newsom, had threatened to reject the state budget passed last Friday unless lawmakers overhauled the California Environmental Quality Act, or Ceqa, a 1970s law that requires strict examination of any new development for its impact on the environment. Continue reading...

Public health warnings as heatwave raises concerns about impact of climate change

News comes as research finds record lows of Antarctic sea ice had seen more icebergs splintering off ice shelves

Surrey council's designs for mini-parks aim to demonstrate the benefits of less car-focused public spacesMini-gardens that fit inside a parking space have been presented by a council at Hampton Court flower show as part of a drive to make public spaces less car-focused.Three gardens created by Surrey county council are on display at the show to demonstrate that areas used as parking spaces can give far more benefit to the community if they are thoughtfully designed as mini-parks. Continue reading...

Forecasters say temperature logged in Frittenden is very likely to be exceeded in the coming hours'The UK's hottest day of the year so far has been recorded with a temperature of 33.6C (92F) in Frittenden, Kent, the Met Office has said.The temperature exceeded the previous highest temperature of the year, which was 33.2C in Charlwood, Surrey on 21 June. Continue reading...

The unlikely return of the bentwood box underscores the challenges facing Indigenous communities working to reclaim items raided from their landsWhen the plane took off from Vancouver's airport, bound north for the Great Bear Rainforest, Qixitasu Elroy White felt giddy with excitement.The plane traced a route along the Pacific Ocean and British Columbia's coast mountains, still snow-capped in late May. Continue reading...

Aberdeen chair says some asset managers may have put themselves at legal risk by exaggerating ESG role

This year marks the first time that local NWS offices have stopped round-the-clock operations in the agency's historyA brutal stretch of severe weather has taxed communities on the eastern fringes of tornado alley this spring and early summer, while harsh staffing cuts and budget restrictions have forced federal meteorologists to attempt to forecast the carnage with less data.As of 30 June, there have already been more than 1,200 tornadoes nationwide. Continue reading...

Three leading female photographers - Gulshan Khan, Laura El-Tantawy and Lisl Ponger - explore the complex global entanglements of climate crisis, environmental justice and human survival Continue reading...

Forever chemicals have polluted the water supply of 60,000 people, threatening human health, wildlife and the wider ecosystem. But activists say this is just the tip of the Pfas icebergOne quiet Saturday night, Sandra Wiedemann was curled up on the sofa when a story broke on TV news: the water coming from her tap could be poisoning her. The 36-year-old, who is breastfeeding her six-month-old son Come, lives in the quiet French commune of Buschwiller in Saint-Louis, near the Swiss city of Basel. Perched on a hill not far from the Swiss and German borders, it feels like a safe place to raise a child - spacious houses are surrounded by manicured gardens, framed by the wild Jura mountains.But as she watched the news, this safety felt threatened: Wiedemann and her family use tap water every day, for drinking, brushing her teeth, showering, cooking and washing vegetables. Now, she learned that chemicals she had never heard of were lurking in her body, on her skin, potentially harming her son. I find it scary," she says. Even if we stop drinking it we will be exposed to it and we can't really do anything." Continue reading...

Consumer regulator claims owner of Hawaiian Tropic and Banana Boat misled consumers but company stands by products

Offshore wind power boom helps push profit from land and property to more than double what it was two years agoKing Charles is set to receive official annual income of 132m next year, after his portfolio of land and property made more than 1bn in profits thanks to a boom in the offshore wind sector.Profits at the crown estate - which partly funds the monarchy - were flat at 1.1bn in its financial year to the end of March but more than double their level two years ago, at 442.6m. Continue reading...

Spectators use fans and umbrellas and players offered ice packs on court to try to cool offTennis fans faced the hottest start to Wimbledon on record on Monday as temperatures soared to 32C.Spectators used fans and umbrellas to cope with the heat as they queued from the early hours to watch players including Emma Raducanu, the British women's No 1; and the defending men's champion, Carlos Alcaraz, who rushed to the aid of a fan who collapsed. Continue reading...

Extreme heat the new normal', says UN chief, as authorities across the continent issue health warningsA vicious heatwave has engulfed southern Europe, with punishing temperatures that have reached highs of 46C (114.8F) in Spain and placed almost the entirety of mainland France under alert.Extreme heat, made stronger by fossil fuel pollution, has for several days scorched Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece as southern Europe endures its first major heatwave of the summer. Continue reading...

For years, Puerto Ricans have faced high electricity costs and regular blackouts. The town of Adjuntas, in the central mountains, boasts the island's first community-owned solar microgrid Continue reading...

More than 170 EPA employees signed letter, with about 100 more signing anonymously out of fear of retaliation

Views on apex predator still polarised, says Natural England head, as activists apply for trial release in NorthumberlandThe head of the government's wildlife regulator has said he remains enthusiastic about reintroducing lynx to Britain and would be absolutely delighted" if it could be achieved during his two-year term.But Tony Juniper, the chair of Natural England, said debates over the animal's release were still quite polarised" and more engagement was required to understand how communities would be affected. Continue reading...

Authorities issue extreme heat, health and wildfire warnings with highest temperatures forecast in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain Continue reading...

We simply don't know even a fraction of what is in them

Rapporteur calls for defossilization of economies and urgent reparations to avert catastrophic' rights and climate harmsA leading UN expert is calling for criminal penalties against those peddling disinformation about the climate crisis and a total ban on fossil fuel industry lobbying and advertising, as part of a radical shake-up to safeguard human rights and curtail planetary catastrophe.Elisa Morgera, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and climate change who presents her damning new report to the general assembly in Geneva on Monday, argues that the US, UK, Canada, Australia and other wealthy fossil fuel nations are legally obliged under international law to fully phase out oil, gas and coal by 2030 - and compensate communities for harms caused. Continue reading...

Proposals would enable Britons to save on energy bills and join millions of people in Europe who use plug-in' panelsThose living in flats or rented homes in the UK could soon plug in their own balcony solar panels" to save on their energy bills under plans set out in the government's solar power strategy.The proposals could mean that British households that are unable to install rooftop solar panels will soon join millions of people across Europe who generate their own electricity with plug-in" panels. Continue reading...

Swarms in South Korean capital trigger heated debate over pest control as experts say rising temperatures partly to blameSeoul residents are grappling with an invasion of so-called lovebugs" that have swarmed hiking trails and urban areas across the South Korean capital, with experts debating how to handle the infestations that are surging as the climate crisis draws them further north.Viral footage shared on social media shows Gyeyangsan mountain in Incheon, west of Seoul, with hiking trails and observation decks carpeted black with the insects. Continue reading...

Authorities in Spain, Portugal, Greece and France issue extreme heat, wildfire and health warningsAuthorities across Europe are on alert as the first heatwave of the summer pushes temperatures up to 42C (107.6F), as the fastest-warming continent continues to suffer the effects of the climate emergency.Spain's state meteorological office, Aemet, issued a special heat warning on Friday, saying temperatures could reach 42C in some southern areas of the country over the coming days.Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report Continue reading...

Clean tech's key minerals now drive western rearmament, reviving extractive ambition and exposing the toxic cost of dependenceIt's an irony that the minerals needed to save the planetmay help destroy it. Rare earth elements, the mineral backbones of wind turbines and electric vehicles, are now the prize in a geopolitical arms race. The trade agreement between Washington and Beijing restores rare earth shipments from China to the US, which had been suspended in retaliation against Donald Trump's tariffs. Behind the bluster, there has been a realisation in Washington that these are critical inputs for the US. They are needed not just by American icons such as Ford and Boeing but for its fighter jets, missile guidance systems and satellitecommunications.This understanding suggests that Washington will scale back some of its countermeasures once Beijing resumes delivery of rare earths. The paradox is that toreduce its dependence on China, the US must depend on Beijing a little longer. This is not yet decoupling; it's deferment. That, however, may not last. Mr Trump has signed an executive order to boostproduction of critical minerals, which encourages the faster granting of permits for mining and processing projects. He eyes Ukraine andGreenland's subterranean riches to break dependence on China. Continue reading...

Unusually aggressive lone star ticks, common in the south-east, are spreading to areas previously too cold for themBlood-sucking ticks that trigger a bizarre allergy to meat in the people they bite are exploding in number and spreading across the US, to the extent that they could cover the entire eastern half of the country and infect millions of people, experts have warned.Lone star ticks have taken advantage of rising temperatures by the human-caused climate crisis to expand from their heartland in the south-east US to areas previously too cold for them, in recent years marching as far north as New York and even Maine, as well as pushing westwards. Continue reading...

Guardian investigation sheds light on private intelligence industry that runs covert surveillance operations

Exclusive: Doctors say clean air zones need expanding, after 45,458 visits in first half of this year - up from 31,376 last yearThe number of patients being treated by GPs for asthma attacks has increased by 45% in a year, prompting calls for urgent action to tackle toxic levels of air pollution.There were 45,458 presentations to family doctors in England between January and June this year, according to data from the Royal College of General Practitioners research and surveillance centre. Across the same period in 2024, there were 31,376 cases. Continue reading...

Negotiators doubt countries' financial and environmental commitment as military and trade wars divert attentionClimate is our biggest war. Climate is here for the next 100 years. We need to focus and ... not allow those [other] wars to take our attention away from the bigger fight that we need to have."Ana Toni, the chief executive of Cop30, the UN climate summit to be held in Brazil this November, is worried. With only four months before the crucial global summit, the world's response to the climate crisis is in limbo. Continue reading...

The Poo-tastic Tasmanian Paint Off asks artists to use a unique medium to paint portraits of people they admireKarin Koch was inspired to start the world's first animal poo painting competition after buying a large and highly detailed painting created out of cow dung by the German artist Werner Hartl.Koch then commissioned the Tasmanian artist Mel Hills to paint wombats using wombat poo and a pademelon with pademelon poo collected from her garden.Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Continue reading...

It is what we might call the HS2 fallacy: new reservoirs as tall as high-rise buildings that boost water companies' assetsBritain is running out of water, we are told. Soon there will be curfews, banning people from turning on their taps, as happens in Italy. Standpipes will sprout on the side of parched roads where trees once stood.Rivers will run dry and rural communities will begin digging wells in response to a water apocalypse destined to arrive courtesy of the ravaging effect of climate change. Continue reading...

Experts say brutal temperatures across much of US set to become more common as planet continues to heat upThe list of climate-related disasters in the US was long last week as vast swathes of the country sweated under a brutal heatwave.There was a mass-casualty event" of fainting high-schoolers in New Jersey as a K-pop concert was cut short in Washington DC. Young hikers had to be rescued in New Hampshire as tarmac roads buckled and melted in South Dakota and Nebraska. Continue reading...

Scientists left scrambling amid hurricane season after irreplaceable program is slotted to be shutteredA critical US atmospheric data collection program will be halted by Monday, giving weather forecasters just days to prepare, according to a public notice sent this week. Scientists that the Guardian spoke with say the change could set hurricane forecasting back decades", just as this year's season ramps up.In a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) message sent on Wednesday to its scientists, the agency said that due to recent service changes" the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) will discontinue ingest, processing and distribution of all DMSP data no later than June 30, 2025". Continue reading...

Having a child makes you see cities differently. We deserve better than shuttered playgrounds and locked paddling poolsThere's nothing like a boiling hot summer with an energetic small child to make you acutely aware of the need for outdoor space. We are lucky to have a garden, albeit an overgrown one that isn't exactly child-friendly, so, like many parents, we mostly rely on public space in order for him to play and get the huge amount of exercise he needs. And, if you are able-bodied, there's nothing like having a child to make you look at public spaces differently.Steps instead of ramps. A lack of benches on which to feed a baby, or give a toddler their snack. No shade. No access to toilets or changing tables. Nowhere to fill up a water bottle. No fences or gates dividing pedestrianised space from a busy road, or a deep body of water, or myriad other hazards. These are just some of the things that start to matter. Before your eyes, the urban environment becomes transformed and often inhospitable. Things such as locked playgrounds (I'm looking at you, Camden council - Falkland Place playground has been closed for literally months at this point) have the potential to ruin your morning. In a heatwave, broken splash pads and locked paddling pools (most recent personal disappointments include Brighton and Leamington Spa) feel like acts of particular cruelty.Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist and author. Her Republic of Parenthood book will be published this summer Continue reading...

Long-awaited ILC report examines what should happen to vulnerable countries as sea levels riseStates should be able to continue politically even if their land disappears underwater, legal experts have said.The conclusions come from a long-awaited report by the International Law Commission that examined what existing law means for continued statehood and access to key resources if sea levels continue to rise due to climate breakdown. Continue reading...

Work to upgrade facilities at Bunnings and Officeworks sites is expected to be completed by the end of this year

Environmental groups, immigration advocates and Native Americans decry idea to set up the outdoor detention campEnvironmental groups, immigration rights activists and a Native American tribe have decried the construction of a harsh outdoor migrant detention camp in the Florida Everglades billed by state officials as Alligator Alcatraz".Crews began preparing the facility at a remote, largely disused training airfield this week in support of the Trump administration's aggressive goal of arresting and incarcerating 3,000 undocumented migrants every day. Continue reading...

Groups question UK membership of Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative after actions of successive governmentsA coalition of civil society groups is calling for the UK government to be suspended from a key global body that oversees how oil and gas companies are run.The campaigners said Keir Starmer's Labour party had overseen a fossil fuel-sponsored crackdown" on peaceful protest and direct action in the UK since it came to power last year. Continue reading...

Sustainable period care brand says report from rival Mooncup is flawed and contains inaccuraciesThe sustainable period care brand Here We Flo, which launched in 2017 selling plant powered" pads and liners that are 100% free of nasties", is removing the terms plastic-free" and no synthetic fibres" from its packets.The company said it had been working on a packaging refresh" for the past year. Continue reading...

Swimmable Cities summit in Rotterdam wants to change cleanliness of waterways and people's relationship to themSwimming in urban waterways should be a right, activists have said, as an international alliance aims to persuade politicians to clean up rivers so they can be used safely by their citizens.At the world's first Swimmable Cities summit in Rotterdam, more than 200 representatives from more than 20 countries gathered and plunged into the water. Continue reading...

Residents on British Columbia island fiercely divided over whether to relocate, euthanize or ignore Tex' the bearMost visitors to Texada Island, a 30-mile sliver of land off the west coast of British Columbia, choose one of two main methods of arrival: a provincial ferry service with 10 daily sailings or a 3,000ft air strip, which welcomes the occasional chartered plane.But a four-year-old grizzly bear recently took a far more challenging route, braving strong currents and frigid water to swim nearly three miles across the Malaspina Strait. Continue reading...

The best of this week's wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

Greens leader says redesign of ridiculous' Howard-era rules must include explicit consideration of climate

Democratic senator leads calls for answers over provision that could cut fossil fuel firms' income tax to zeroDemocratic lawmakers led by the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren are pressing two energy companies about their efforts to win a $1.1bn tax loophole" in Donald Trump's so-called big, beautiful bill".The proposed exemption, which Senate Republicans inserted into their version of the reconciliation mega-bill this month, would exempt fossil fuel companies from paying a tax codified by Biden in 2022. Continue reading...

Storm naming competition raises idea to remind public of link between fossil fuels and extreme weatherThe Met Office should name storms after fossil fuel companies, campaigners have said, after the weather forecasting service opened a storm naming competition.Climate campaigners have recommended the Met Office names its storms after various oil and gas corporations to remind the public of the link between burning fossil fuels and extreme weather. Continue reading...

Exclusive: UK Green Building Council calls for adaptation of millions of buildings and warns of flood threats to townsThe UK's schools, care homes and offices are not equipped for the effects of global heating and face lengthy heatwaves even in optimistic scenarios, according to a groundbreaking report that calls for climate resilience to be declared a national emergency.The report by the UK Green Building Council also predicts that towns including Peterborough and Fairbourne will be uninhabitable by the end of the century because of flooding.The appointment of a minister for resilience within the Cabinet OfficeA new legal objective to ensure all planning decisions deliver climate safety.A more ambitious future homes standard to protect against increasing climate hazards - overheating, flooding and water scarcity.A comprehensive retrofit strategy to make homes and buildings climate safe.The protection of all communities with trees, parks and ponds. Continue reading...

Thousands from Pacific island nation under threat from rising seas enter ballot that awards visas to 280 citizens a year world-first dealAlmost a third of citizens in the Pacific nation of Tuvalu are seeking a landmark visa in the context of climate change to live in Australia as rising seas threaten their palm-fringed shores, official figures show.Australia is offering visas to 280 Tuvalu citizens each year under a climate migration deal Canberra has billed as the first agreement of its kind anywhere in the world". Continue reading...

The ACCC says it launched investigation into Australian Gas Networks after complaints from consumers and conservation advocates

Freighters emit more greenhouse gases than jets, but a tech startup believes a simple and effective technique can help the industry change courseAn industrial park alongside the River Lea in the London suburb of Chingford might not be the most obvious place for a quiet revolution to be taking place. But there, a team of entrepreneurs is tinkering with a modest looking steel container that could hold a solution to one of the world's dirtiest industries.Inside it are thousands of cherry-sized pellets made from quicklime. At one end, a diesel generator pipes fumes through the lime, which soaks up the carbon, triggering a chemical reaction that transforms it into limestone. Continue reading...