President's memo stating US shall withdraw' from UNFCCC marks first time any country has tried to exit the agreementThe Trump administration's long-anticipated decision this week to pull the US from the world's most important climate treaty may have been illegal, some experts say.In my legal opinion, he does not have the authority," Harold Hongju Koh, former head lawyer for the US state department, told the Guardian. Continue reading...
Foreign Office and MoD among only four departments with declining morale in annual Whitehall monitor reportCivil service morale rose slightly after Labour took power in 2024, with the biggest jumps in satisfaction in the energy and health departments, an annual Whitehall monitor report will show.The survey from the Institute for Government (IfG) thinktank, due to be published this week, found that morale rose from 60.7 to 61.2% on the civil service employee engagement index. Continue reading...
Charity plans to make stately homes more welcoming by inviting visitors to use furniture and reading roomsThere was a time, not so long ago, when a visit to a National Trust stately home could be a staid affair and sitting on the furniture tended to be discouraged, with pine cones or teasels often placed on chairs to remind people not to perch.This year, one of the aims of the conservation charity will be to make people feel more at ease in its grand houses and, where practical, allow them to sit on historic chairs and use libraries and reading rooms rather than simply peer into them. Continue reading...
Richest 1% took 10 days while wealthiest 0.1% needed just three days to exhaust annual carbon budget, study showsThe world's richest 1% have used up their fair share of carbon emissions just 10 days into 2026, analysis has found.Meanwhile, the richest 0.1% took just three days to exhaust their annual carbon budget, according to the research by Oxfam. Continue reading...
Some wet years and recent winter storms have helped bring the state out of drought after years of insufficient rainfallCalifornia is completely drought-free for the first time in a quarter of a century, a significant development in a state that endured grueling years with insufficient rainfall.Over the last 25 years, drought conditions in California have intensified the state's wildfire crisis and created challenges in its massive agricultural sector. But a few wet years, and a recent spate of winter storms, helped bring the state out of drought. Continue reading...
Catherine says she feels deeply grateful in final instalment of Mother Nature series a year on from cancer treatmentThe power of nature has been a huge theme for the Princess of Wales in the year since her announcement that she was in remission from cancer.Now, on her 44th birthday, she has embraced it again, reflecting in a short video on how deeply grateful she is, how important it is to be at one with nature and its power to heal. Continue reading...
Plant Heritage says gardening trends mean many species in danger of disappearing as they are no longer offered for saleMore than half of garden plants previously grown in the UK are no longer offered for sale as flower fashions and modern gardening trends have reduced the diversity of blooms.Plant Heritage is asking the public to choose unusual plants for their gardens, and maybe even start their own national collections of rare blooms, in order to stop some cultivated plants from dying out. Continue reading...
by Craig Segall and Baroness Bryony Worthington on (#72PY6)
We've already geoengineered the planet through the careless release of greenhouse gases. Now we need a plan to manage the risks we've set in motionA few months ago, Marjorie Taylor Greene, then a Georgia representative, held a hearing on her bill to ban research on geoengineering", which refers to technological climate interventions, such as using reflective particles to reflect away sunlight. The hearing represented something of a first - a Republican raising alarm bells about human activity altering the health of the planet. Of course, for centuries, people have burned fossil fuels to power and feed society, emitting greenhouse gases that now overheat the planet.Unfortunately, her hearing waved past an urgent debate that policymakers are confronting around the world: after centuries of accidental fossil-fuel geoengineering, should we deliberately explore interventions to cool the planet and give the energy transition breathing room?Craig Segall is the former deputy executive officer and assistant chief counsel of the California Air Resources Board. He is also former senior vice-president of Evergreen Action and a longtime climate advocate. He has academic seats at the University of Edinburgh, New York University, and the University of California at Berkeley The opinions in this piece are his own.Baroness Bryony Worthington was created a life peer in 2011, giving her a seat in the UK's House of Lords where she served as shadow energy minister She has over 25 years of experience working on climate, energy and environmental policy in the NGO and public sectors, and in the private sector. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#72PWY)
Oceans absorb 90% of global heating, making them a stark indicator of the relentless march of the climate crisisThe world's oceans absorbed colossal amounts of heat in 2025, setting yet another new record and fuelling more extreme weather, scientists have reported.More than 90% of the heat trapped by humanity's carbon pollution is taken up by the oceans. This makes ocean heat one of the starkest indicators of the relentless march of the climate crisis, which will only end when emissions fall to zero. Almost every year since the start of the millennium has set a new ocean heat record. Continue reading...
Forecasts suggest that global heating could create a shortcut from Asia to North America, and new routes for trading, shipping - and attackAnother week, another freak weather phenomenon you've probably never heard of. If it's not the weather bomb" of extreme wind and snow that Britain is hunkering down for as I write, it's reports in the Guardian of reindeer in the Arctic struggling with the opposite problem: unnaturally warm weather leading to more rain that freezes to create a type of snow that they can't easily dig through with their hooves to reach food. In a habitat as harsh as the Arctic, where survival relies on fine adaptation, even small shifts in weather patterns have endlessly rippling consequences - and not just for reindeer.For decades now, politicians have been warning of the coming climate wars - conflicts triggered by drought, flood, fire and storms forcing people on to the move, or pushing them into competition with neighbours for dwindling natural resources. For anyone who vaguely imagined this happening far from temperate Europe's doorstep, in drought-stricken deserts or on Pacific islands sinking slowly into the sea, this week's seemingly unhinged White House talk about taking ownership of Greenland is a blunt wake-up call. As Britain's first sea lord, General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, has been telling anyone prepared to listen, the unfreezing of the north due to the climate crisis has triggered a ferocious contest in the defrosting Arctic for some time over resources, territory and strategically critical access to the Atlantic. To understand how that threatens northern Europe, look down at the top of a globe rather than at a map.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
During black summer, my daughters were too young to know what was happening. Now, amid another Australian heatwave, they deserve answersWhen the forecasts for this week started to roll in, my mind immediately drifted back to Australia's black summer.I had taken my daughters down to the pool in our estate in western Sydney, hoping for a brief reprieve from the relentless heat. The Gospers Mountain fire was raging in the Blue Mountains, but on that particular day the smoke didn't seem too bad. Continue reading...
At the Oxford farming conference there were signs the government has much to do to win back farmers' trustFew symbols were more potent than the wooden coffin bearing the inscription RIP British agriculture, 30th October 2024" that greeted Labour's environment minister at the annual Oxford farming conference.It marked the date of Rachel Reeves's first budget, when she announced plans to levy inheritance tax on farms. For the chancellor's cabinet colleague Emma Reynolds, it underlined the anger among Britain's farmers. Continue reading...
Citizen scientists help in University of Bonn study showing river carries up to 4,700 tonnes of macrolitter' annuallyThousands of tonnes of litter are pouring into the North Sea via the Rhine every year, poisoning the waters with heavy metals, microplastics and other chemicals, research has found.This litter can be detrimental to the environment and human health: tyres, for example, contain zinc and other heavy metals that can be toxic to ecosystems in high concentrations. Continue reading...
Experts decry move to leave UNFCCC as embarrassing' as president orders withdrawal from 66 international groupsDonald Trump has sparked outrage by announcing the US will exit the foundational international agreement to address the climate crisis, cementing the US's utter isolation from the global effort to confront dangerously escalating temperatures.In a presidential memorandum issued on Wednesday, Trump withdrew from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), along with 65 other organizations, agencies and commissions, calling them contrary to the interests of the United States". Continue reading...
Advocates suing to reverse administration's surcharge system that has led to passport checks and angry visitorsA new $100 fee for foreign tourists entering US national parks has triggered chaos and frustrating waits, with staff reporting long entry lines as citizenship checks are made and irate visitors regularly ditching plans to patronize some of America's most cherished landscapes.The new fee system, introduced by the Trump administration from 1 January, has caught many visitors and National Park Service (NPS) staff off-guard, with checks now having to be undertaken to assess nationality and tourists often turning away from entrances rather than pay the surcharge. The Guardian heard accounts of problems from several NPS staff, speaking anonymously, who work at different parks across the country. Continue reading...
The Venezuelan oil industry is a total bust' according to Donald Trump, something he has promised to fix' after attacking Caracas and seizing the country's leader. But with analysts estimating it could take up to 14 years and billions to fix, what is in it for the US president? Jillian Ambrose, the Guardian's energy correspondent, explains why Venezuela's dense, sticky oil is so valuable to Trump Continue reading...
by Damien Gayle Environment correspondent on (#72NVA)
Satat Sampada founders Harjeet Singh and Jyoti Awasthi say allegations are baseless, biased and misleading'Police have raided the home of one of India's leading environmental activists over claims his campaigning for a treaty to cut the use of fossil fuels was undermining the national interest.Investigators from India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) claim Harjeet Singh and his wife, Jyoti Awasthi, co-founders of Satat Sampada (Nature Forever), were paid almost 500,000 to advocate for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty (FFNPT). Continue reading...
The practice is much more widespread' than previously realised, researchers say, with serious environmental impactThe household burning of plastic for heating and cooking is widespread in developing countries, suggests a global study that raises concerns about its health and environmental impacts.The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, surveyed more than 1,000 respondents across 26 countries. Continue reading...
South East Water says 6,500 households have no water due to burst mains, a month after drinking water outageResidents of Tunbridge Wells have been left without water again, just a month after a major outage.South East Water said 6,500 households have no water at all, while thousands more have intermittent supplies". Continue reading...
Vast swathes of the country's trees have been killed off by droughts and infestations, in a trend sweeping across Europe. A shift towards more biodiverse cultivation could offer answersEven the intense green of late spring cannot mask the dead trees in the Harz mountains. Standing upright across the gentle peaks in northern Germany, thousands of skeletal trunks mark the remnants of a once great spruce forest.Since 2018, the region has been ravaged by a tree-killing bark beetle outbreak, made possible by successive droughts and heatwaves. It has transformed a landscape known for its verdant beauty into one dominated by a sickly grey. Continue reading...
Sandbanks can shift position during winter storms, but sonar mapping means charts can now be updated immediatelyOffshore sandbanks are a particular navigation hazard because, unlike rocks and reefs, they have a habit of shifting position during winter storms.The Goodwin Sands is a 10-mile (16km) bank off the coast of Deal in Kent, close to the busy shipping lanes of the Dover strait. The sands have claimed about 2,000 vessels over the years. In 1634, two lighthouses were set up on South Foreland for sailors to follow a safe route through. Continue reading...
Shift from big 5' imports to British fish such as sprats and sardines would help diets and the planet, say researchersSupermarkets could help to support British consumers to move away from their reliance on mainly imported seafood - the big 5" of cod, haddock, tuna, salmon and prawns - to more sustainable, nutritious and locally caught fish such as sardines and anchovies, researchers say.A study by the University of East Anglia (UEA), which confirmed previous research showing consumers did not eat the recommended amount of fish in their diet, suggests the UK could be overlooking a major opportunity to improve national health as well as bolstering local economies by embracing its own rich populations of nutritious small fish. Continue reading...
Study of 1,000 products finds wet, raw and meat-rich products have higher climate impact than dry kibbleDog food accounts for 1% of the UK's total greenhouse gas emissions, according to research that found wet, raw and meat-rich products were associated with substantially higher emissions than dry kibble.The analysis revealed striking differences in the environmental impact of commercial dog foods, with the highest-impact foods being responsible for up to 65 times more emissions than the lowest-rated options. Continue reading...
Temperatures recorded included 48.2C at Wudinna airport on SA's Eyre Peninsula, 45.9C at Walpeup in Victoria, 45.6C at Paraburdoo, WA, and 45.9C at Hay in NSW.
by Damian Carrington Enviroment editor on (#72NV8)
Scientists also name an overlooked snowdrop growing in the UK and a fruit that tastes like banana and guavaA zombie fungus that springs from a trapdoor and a flame-like shrub named after the fire demon in the Studio Ghibli film Howl's Moving Castle are among the species of plant and fungi named by scientists in 2025.A list of 10 weird and wonderful" new species was compiled by scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG), Kew and their international partners, who together named 125 new plants last year. The list also includes an orchid whose flowers look bloodstained and attract sexually aroused flies, and a beautiful snowdrop that had been hiding in plain sight in UK gardens. Continue reading...
Emma Reynolds is expected to say an application window for the Sustainable Farming Incentive will be opened to smaller and new farms firstSmaller farms will be prioritised for nature funding, the environment secretary is to announce, in a shake-up of post-EU nature subsidies.Emma Reynolds is expected to tell the Oxford Farming Conference on Thursday that in June an application window for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) will be opened solely for smaller farms and new entrants to the scheme, with larger farms only allowed to apply from September. Continue reading...
by Damien Gayle, environment correspondent on (#72NF8)
Sarat Sampada founders Harjeet Singh and Jyoti Aswati say allegations are baseless, biased and misleading'Police have raided the home of one of India's leading environmental activists over claims his campaigning for a treaty to cut the use of fossil fuels was undermining the national interest.Investigators from India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) claim that Harjeet Singh and his wife, Jyoti Awasthi, co-founders of Satat Sampada (Nature Forever), were paid almost 500,000 to advocate for the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty (FFNPT). Continue reading...
A year after the Eaton fire, residents returning to Altadena confront lingering contamination and little official clarityOne year on from the Eaton fire, long after the vicious winds that sent embers cascading from the San Gabriel mountains and the flames that swallowed entire streets, a shadow still hangs over Altadena.Construction on new properties is under way, and families whose homes survived the fire have begun to return. But many are grappling with an urgent question: is it safe to be here? Continue reading...
How might we prevent sea-level rise? Satellite-based radar, solar-powered drones, robot submarines and lab-based artificial glaciers' could all play a roleSea levels are rising faster than at any point in human history, and for every foot that waters rise, 100 million people lose their homes. At current projections, that means about 300 million people will be forced to move in the decades to come, along with the social and political conflict as people migrate inland. Despite this looming crisis, the world still lacks specific, reliable forecasts for when and where the seas will rise - and we have invested almost nothing in understanding whether and how we can slow it down.Societies must continue to focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but it's increasingly clear that the world needs to do more: we need to predict the future of the world's ice with precision, and to explore safe, science-backed methods to keep it from melting away. Continue reading...
When rain falls on snow it creates a layer of ice that impedes feeding, which in turn has reduced herds' birthratesReindeer survive typically harsh Arctic winters by using their specially adapted hooves to scrape through the snow to nibble on the lichen and moss below. But paradoxically a warming climate is making it harder for them to reach this food, and research shows it has led to a drop in reindeer birthrates.When rain falls on snow, the snow melts and refreezes, creating layers of ice that make it more difficult for reindeer to scrape through to the fodder below. Climate records going back to 1960 show that warmer winters have resulted in more rain-on-snow events in Arctic regions. By comparing the weather data with reindeer herd birth statistics from Norway and Finland, researchers have shown that birth rates tend to drop in summers that follow winters with lots of rain-on-snow events. Continue reading...
Democrats and make America healthy again' movement pushed back on the rider in a funding bill led by BayerIn a setback for the pesticide industry, Democrats have succeeded in removing a rider from a congressional appropriations bill that would have helped protect pesticide makers from being sued and could have hindered state efforts to warn about pesticide risks.Chellie Pingree, a Democratic representative from Maine and ranking member of the House appropriations interior, environment, and related agencies subcommittee, said Monday that the controversial measure pushed by the agrochemical giant Bayer and industry allies has been stripped from the 2026 funding bill. Continue reading...
Problem at water treatment centre left 24,000 Tunbridge Wells homes without drinking water for two weeksA failure at a water treatment centre that left tens of thousands of Kent households without water was foreseen weeks before it happened and could have been stopped, the regulator has said.Twenty-four thousand homes in the Tunbridge Wells area were without drinking water for two weeks from 30 November last year due to a failure at the Pembury water treatment centre. Continue reading...
Everybody loses' if production supercharged in country with largest known oil reserves, critics sayDonald Trump, by dramatically seizing Nicolas Maduro and claiming dominion over Venezuela's vast oil reserves, has taken his drill, baby, drill" mantra global. Achieving the president's dream of supercharging the country's oil production would be financially challenging - and if fulfilled, would be terrible for the climate", experts say.Trump has aggressively sought to boost oil and gas production within the US. Now, after the capture and arrest of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, he is seeking to orchestrate a ramp-up of drilling in Venezuela, which has the largest known reserves of oil in the world - equivalent to about 300bn barrels, according to research firm the Energy Institute. Continue reading...
Our wildlife series Young Country Diary is looking for articles written by children, about their winter encounters with natureOnce again, the Young Country Diary series is open for submissions! Every three months we ask you to send us an article written by a child aged 8-14.The article needs to be about a recent encounter they've had with nature - whether it's a whether it's a winter flower, something lurking in a pond or a fascinating bug. Continue reading...
Behind the west's huge appetite for the fruit lies the dark reality of environmental destruction and Indigenous exploitation in MexicoI grew up in San Andres Tzirondaro, a Purepecha community on the shores of Lake Patzcuaro in the Mexican state of Michoacan. My childhood was shaped by water, forests and music. The lake fed us. The forest protected us. In the afternoons, people gathered in the local square while bands passed through playing pirekua, our traditional music.That way of life is now under threat as our land is extracted for profit. Continue reading...
Every year a Chinese-dominated flotilla big enough to be seen from space pillages the rich marine life on Mile 201, a largely ungoverned part of the South Atlantic off ArgentinaIn a monitoring room in Buenos Aires, a dozen members of the Argentinian coast guard watch giant industrial-fishing ships moving in real time across a set of screens. Every year, for five or six months, the foreign fleet comes from across the Indian Ocean, from Asian countries, and from the North Atlantic," says Cdr Mauricio Lopez, of the monitoring department. It's creating a serious environmental problem."Just beyond Argentina's maritime frontier, hundreds of foreign vessels - known as the distant-water fishing fleet - are descending on Mile 201, a largely ungoverned strip of the high seas in the South Atlantic, to plunder its rich marine life. The fleet regularly becomes so big it can be seen from space, looking like a city floating on the sea. Continue reading...
Suit against San Francisco-area cities Petaluma and Morgan Hill latest attack on policies that seek to rein in oil and gasThe Trump administration sued two California cities on Monday, seeking to block local laws that restrict natural gas infrastructure and appliances in new construction.The lawsuit is the administration's latest attack on energy policies that seek to rein in the use of fossil fuels to combat the climate crisis. California, a Democratic stronghold, has among the most aggressive climate change policies in the world. Continue reading...
Electric car sales rose by nearly a quarter to a record 473,000, or 23.4% of the overall market, says SMMTA rise in the popularity of Chinese brands pushed total car sales in the UK above the 2m mark last year for the first time since 2019, figures reveal.Chinese companies accounted for 9.7% of the 2m new car registrations in the UK in 2025, or 196,000 vehicles, according to preliminary figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a lobby group. That was nearly double the 4.9% market share achieved by the country's carmakers in 2024. Continue reading...
Pacific Grove is known as Butterfly Town USA' for its role as an overwintering spot. As the insect's population plummets, residents are coming to its rescueIn the tiny seaside village of Pacific Grove, California, there's no escaping the monarch butterfly.Here, butterfly murals abound: one splashes across the side of a hotel, another adorns a school. As for local businesses, there's the Monarch Pub, the Butterfly Grove Inn, even Monarch Knitting (a local yarn shop). And every fall, the small city hosts a butterfly parade, where local elementary school children dress up in butterfly costumes. The city's municipal code even declares it an unlawful act to molest or interfere" with monarchs in any way, with a possible fine of $1,000. Continue reading...
by Phoebe Weston and Arab Reporters for Investigative on (#72K5Q)
Exclusive: data reveals hundreds of UK nests have been raided in the past decade amid growing appetite to own prized birds for racing and breedingIn the echoing exhibition halls of Abu Dhabi's International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition, hundreds of falcons sit on perches under bright lights. Decorated hoods fit snugly over their heads, blocking their vision to keep them calm.In a small glass room marked Elite Falcons Hall, four young birds belonging to an undisclosed Emirati sheikh are displayed like expensive jewels. Entry to the room, with its polished glass, controlled lighting and plush seating, is restricted to authorised visitors only. Continue reading...
Emergency managers say the US president has presided over a dangerous erosion in US capacity to prepare for and respond to natural disastersDonald Trump has presided over a dangerous erosion in US capacity to prepare for and respond to natural disasters, according to emergency management experts.The first year of his second term was marked by crackdowns on climate science that produced world-class weather forecasts and the gutting of frontline federal agencies - policies that have left the country, already struggling to keep pace with severe storms, even more at risk. Continue reading...
Other firms are taking advantage of Tesla's sales slump, while technological advances mean that glitches are being left in the rear-view mirrorIn another era, before Elon Musk bought Twitter, changed its name to X to mark the spot of its descent into barbarism, honed Grok, a generator of far-right propaganda, swung behind Donald Trump and made what appeared to be a Nazi salute, I already knew he was a wrong 'un. The year was 2019, and I was test-driving a Tesla; while I was ambling off the forecourt, the PR told me jauntily that the windscreen was made of a material that would protect the driver from biohazards. I hit the brakes. You what? What kind of biohazard? Like, a war?" She misconstrued me, thinking I intended to go and find some toxic waste site to see if it worked, and said: I'm not sure it's operational in the press fleet."That wasn't my question: rather, what kind of a world was Tesla preparing for? One so unstable that an average (though affluent) private citizen would do well to prepare for a chemical weapons attack? What model of consumption was this, that the rich used their wealth to prepare for the mayhem their resource-capture would unleash, while the less-rich prepared slightly less well? Was Musk trying to bring to market the apocalypse planning that elites had already embarked on? Because if he was, then it was possible that he was not a great guy. And that turned out to be correct. Continue reading...