Environment | The Guardian

German national Marcus Decker in prison for climbing Dartford bridge faces automatic deportation, say campaignersHundreds of protesters marched to the Home Office on Saturday demanding deportation proceedings be called off for an environmental activist imprisoned for scaling the Dartford Crossing.Marcus Decker is serving one of the longest sentences ever passed for a non-violent protest in British history after a Just Stop Oil demonstration in October. He is a German citizen with leave to remain in the UK, but faces automatic deportation after serving the two years and seven months sentence. Continue reading...

New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas also face scorching temperatures as heat dome settles over US south-westA record-breaking heat wave is entering its third week in Texas, as temperatures reach triple digits in the broader US south and tens of thousands of people in affected states are without power and lack air conditioning.More than 40 million people in the US are under a heat alert. Continue reading...

Energy security secretary says costs should be paid for further up the chain' rather than by householdsGrant Shapps has signalled the government will U-turn on its planned hydrogen levy on energy bills.The annual levy, estimated to add about 118 a year to already soaring energy bills, had been expected to be introduced in 2025 via the energy bill going through parliament. The fee was intended to cover the cost of producing the low-carbon gas instead of polluting fossil fuels. Continue reading...

Measure will nullify local ordinances that provide workers protection from devastating, triple-digit temperaturesAmid a dangerous heatwave that has brought blistering temperatures across Texas, the state's governor signed a law this week eliminating local rules requiring water breaks for workers.The measure, which will take effect later this year, will nullify ordinances enacted by Austin and Dallas that mandate 10-minute breaks for construction workers every four hours. It also prevents any other local governments from passing similar worker protections. Continue reading...

Utility's head says demand for drinking water has risen 20% since pandemic, outpacing supplyA water company has blamed more people working from home post-pandemic for a new hosepipe ban.South East Water, which supplies more than 2m homes and businesses, will impose the first hosepipe ban of the summer on Monday, affecting households across Kent and Sussex. Continue reading...

Changes to the World Bank could unlock developing states access to loans and to the means of staving off disasterThe Netherlands has almost the same amount of solar generating capacity as the whole continent of Africa. That must be, in part, because the interest on a loan to set up a windfarm in Africa is about 17% more than one to do the same in Europe.Many poor countries enjoy vast natural resources of wind and sun yet struggle to access renewable energy because of the crippling cost of capital imposed on them. Private sector companies perceive far greater risk in poor countries, penalising most heavily the countries in greatest need of investment. Continue reading...

Countries in debt distress thrown financial lifeline but critics say measures fall short of what is neededPoorer countries struggling with a growing debt crisis were thrown a lifeline at a global finance summit in Paris but the plans still fell short of the debt forgiveness programme that some had hoped for.Progress was made on reforms that would help address the climate emergency, as nearly 40 world leaders and the heads of global institutions met in Paris for the summit, which ended on Friday. Continue reading...

Committee on Climate Change report likely to recommend ending road-building programmeThe government should halt all new roads unless there are exceptional circumstances, the government's climate advisers are likely to say next week.On Wednesday the Committee on Climate Change will publish its latest report on the UK's progress in dealing with the climate crisis. Speaking at Glastonbury on Friday, the climate change committee chair, Lord Deben, said new roads inevitably increased traffic and emissions. Continue reading...

Habit-forming and intrinsically nutritionally unbalanced junk foods elevate the levels of hormones responsible for hungerRichard Montanez knows he's cracked the code when his son Steven exclaims, Ow, ow, ow, it burns!"In the recently released film Flamin' Hot, which tells Montanez's account of how he allegedly invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos, Montanez and his wife ask their son: Burns good or burns bad?" Continue reading...

Almost 40 leaders to present plans for overhaul of public financial institutions including World BankQuestions over a tax on global shipping and other big sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and how countries should go about setting up a loss and damage fund continue to be the subject of fierce discussion, as governments meet in Paris to prepare an overhaul of global development and climate finance.Nearly 40 heads of state and government and a similar number of ministers and high-level representatives will finalise a roadmap for the reform of the world's public finance institutions, including the World Bank, and of overseas aid and climate finance. Continue reading...

The best of this week's wildlife photographs, including busy bees, a peregrine falcon and wild horses Continue reading...

Nearly 50% of US bee colonies died off last year, although efforts have helped the overall bee population remain relatively stable'The US's honeybee hives just staggered through the second highest death rate on record, with beekeepers losing nearly half of their managed colonies, an annual bee survey found.But by using costly and herculean measures to create new colonies, beekeepers are somehow keeping afloat. Thursday's University of Maryland and Auburn University survey found that even though 48% of colonies were lost in the year that ended 1 April, the number of US honeybee colonies remained relatively stable". Continue reading...

Poll also reveals increasing cynicism over environmental claims made by companies

Settlement will provide funds to US municipalities over 13 years to test for and treat PFAS contamination in public water systems3M Co has reached a $10.3bn settlement with a host of US public water systems to resolve water pollution claims tied to forever chemicals", the chemical company announced on Thursday.The company said the settlement would provide the funds over a 13-year period to cities, towns and other public water systems to test for and treat contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. Continue reading...

Multnomah county is suing 17 companies for the fatal heatwave, seeking billions to upgrade public services and infrastructureOregon's most populous county on Thursday sued major oil and gas companies over a deadly 2021 heatwave that killed dozens of people.The defendants should be held responsible, the lawsuit alleges, for their role in fueling the climate crisis. Continue reading...

NTSB holds rare field hearing in East Palestine, Ohio, focused on crucial decision to release and burn toxic vinyl chlorideThe fire chiefs whose departments were the first on the scene of February's fiery train derailment in eastern Ohio agree that firefighters need more training about hazardous chemicals, but that it would be hard for them ever to be fully prepared to deal with a disaster of that magnitude.Their evidence was heard as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is holding a rare field hearing in East Palestine, Ohio, over the next two days. Continue reading...

Announcement comes after Divina de Campo joined host of nominees and judges who pulled out of the eventThe British LGBT Awards have dropped sponsorship deals with Shell and BP after nominees and judges began pulling out of the competition.Amid the latest cultural backlash against the fossil fuel industry, the awards event said it had revised" its corporate sponsors. Overnight, Shell and BP were removed from its list of 2023 supporters. Continue reading...

High court judge rules in favour of government decision to let EDF build plant on the Suffolk coastA legal challenge against the government's decision to build the Sizewell C nuclear power plant has been rejected.The campaign group Together Against Sizewell C (Tasc) had launched a judicial review against the government's decision to give the green light to the 3.2 gigawatt plant on the Suffolk coast, which is being built by French energy company EDF. Continue reading...

The NSW Environment Protection Authority says it will not shy away' from suspending the mine's licence if it does not comply

Scientists have warned that a marine heatwave off the coasts of the UK and Ireland poses a serious threat to species. Sea temperatures, particularly off the north-east coast of England and the west of Ireland, are several degrees above normal, breaking records for late spring and early summer. The Met Office has said that according to records dating to 1850, global sea surface temperatures in April and May reached an all-time high, and June is likely to follow suit. A professor of Earth sciences, Daniela Schmidt, said 'the extreme and unprecedented temperatures show the power of the combination of human-induced warming and natural climate variability like El Nino'. Experts said marine heatwaves have a similar impact on the environment as wildfires on land, destroying organisms that store carbon such as kelp. The damage caused is also harmful to humanity, which relies on oceans for oxygen, storm protection and food

Report shows connections of business and rightwing thinktanks to laws aimed at environmental, social and corporate governanceThe American right wing's widening fight against what it calls woke capitalism" is partly driven by fossil fuel interests or industry allies, according to a new report published on Thursday.Conservatives often use the term woke capitalism" to refer to environmental, social and corporate governance - or ESG - criteria used to screen investments based on their environmental and social implications. Continue reading...

Court has been told states are legally responsible for tackling sector's emissions as IMO talks loomGovernments are under growing pressure to tackle the huge climate impact of the shipping industry, before a key International Maritime Organization (IMO) meeting in the summer.With talks about regulating the sector's greenhouse gas emissions coming up, the world maritime court has been told that states are legally responsible for tackling the climate impact of shipping. Continue reading...

Looe Island is a case study in how to boost biodiversity, a place where the wardens, Claire Lewis and her partner, Jon Ross, are the only residents, alongside gulls, godwits and comma butterfliesWith its driftwood, capsized boat and crystal-clear waters, Looe Island looks more like a scene from Robinson Crusoe than the well-trodden coastline of Cornwall. Few realise that only a mile from Looe - a seaside town whose narrow streets spill over with tourists in the summer months - there is a wildlife sanctuary.In Cornwall's only marine nature reserve, birds nest in thickets of trees, sheep graze grassy slopes and seals seek refuge in the island's rocky bays. Quiet and tranquil, Looe Island is nearly deserted - apart from two wildlife wardens whose job it is to care for the land so its biodiversity flourishes.Coastal grassland on the island. Photograph: Claire Lewis Continue reading...

Zali Steggall and David Pocock take aim at government over support of development on Darwin habour which will benefit gas industry

As climate change ministers, we urge multilateral banks to come together to help vulnerable nations, who face cascading challengesThe science is clear. The climate crisis is the biggest single threat we face as a global community. In turn, meeting the goals of the Paris agreement and realising the opportunities of climate action is the task of the 21st century.No single government can address this alone. Together, we can rise to the challenge. Continue reading...

Firm having regular meetings with environment minister after failing to meet targets to fix leakage ratesThe leakage rate from Thames Water pipes is the highest for five years and the company will not meet its target to plug them this year, according to information released under freedom of information laws.The company, which serves 15 million customers across London and Thames Valley, has to have regular meetings with an environment minister because it is considered to be lagging in its performance. Continue reading...

Attack came less than two weeks after park rangers euthanised another animal

Fossil fuel company aims to thrive through the energy transition by building a low-cost, lower-carbon, profitable, resilient and diversified portfolio'

Regulator's call for action on dust pollution comes after local residents reported blood tests with high levels of selenium, nickel and copper

Scientists tracking alerts sent by the National Weather Service say data underscores the risk of heatwaves and storms this summerHalf of the US population has faced an extreme weather alert since 1 May and many more are likely to face risks from wildfires, flooding, tropical storms and extreme heat as summer begins.The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has been tracking the alerts sent by the National Weather Service (NWS) warning about dangerous weather. Continue reading...

Protesters clashed with policein the Maurienne Valley, south east France on Saturday, as they demonstrated against a tunnel being built through the base of the Alpine range that separatesFrance and Italy. The protesterswere attempting to reach a site where drilling has already begun on whatwillbe the world's longest tunnel, but were blocked by police.The protests were led by Les Soulevements de la Terre (Earth Uprising) - an umbrella group of several different environmental activist associations across France. On June 21 the French government dissolved the collective claiming their actions were violent and led to material damage. Lawyers for Les Soulevements de la Terre immediately announced their intention to file an appeal Continue reading...

Hertfordshire council rules area of land on Hatfield House estate - owned by Marquess of Salisbury - is common landThe aristocrat who owns the country manor Hatfield House has been forced to allow the general public to walk on part of his estate after the local council ruled that it was common land.Earlier this year, the Marquess of Salisbury, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, opposed an application by the Open Spaces Society (OSS) to register a 1.8-hectare (4.45-acre) area of land on his estate as a common. Gascoyne-Cecil is a Conservative politician, once an MP and minister, and now sits in the Lords as a hereditary peer. Continue reading...

Sarah Finch's challenge to plans to allow oil well hinges on wider environmental impact of fossil fuelsClimate campaigners have begun a supreme court challenge to plans to drill for oil in Surrey, in a case they hope could set a precedent restricting plans for future fossil fuel projects in the UK.Sarah Finch is challenging Surrey county council's decision to extend permission for a well at Horse Hill, near Gatwick airport in the Surrey countryside, which taps a subterranean reservoir developers believe may contain millions of barrels of oil. Continue reading...

Cetacean exhibits same behaviour towards vessel in North Sea that has been seen in Iberian orca populationAn orca repeatedly rammed a yacht in the North Sea off Shetland on Monday, in a concerning development following previous interactions between the cetaceans and vessels in the strait of Gibraltar and Portugal.Dr Wim Rutten, a 72-year-old retired Dutch physicist and experienced yachtsperson, was sailing solo from Lerwick to Bergen in Norway. He was fishing for mackerel, with a single line off the back of the boat, when the orca suddenly appeared in the clear water, and hit the stern of the seven-ton boat. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Alok Sharma among those wanting more onshore and offshore renewables and better energy efficiency in homesFormer Tory cabinet ministers have formed a group to pressure the government to improve its green policies in the hope of making it credible" in the next general election.Alok Sharma, the former Cop26 president, is urging Rishi Sunak to have a bold and positive environmental agenda" in the next general election. He joins the former transport secretary Chris Grayling and Simon Clarke, who was the levelling up secretary, in calling for more ambitious climate policies. Continue reading...

The Guardian finds children in Portland, Oregon, could have lower test scores due to lead emissions from nearby racetrack, one of dozens across the US to use toxic leaded gasolineWhen a neighbor mentioned to Kristy Lanciotti, a mother of two and pediatric nurse who works in environmental health, that toxic leaded gasoline was being used at a racetrack just down the road from her house in Portland, Oregon, she was taken aback.She was well aware of Portland International Raceway - most summer weekends were punctuated by the roar of engines - but Lanciotti, like most of her neighbors, was surprised to learn that the cars in many of those events were powered by a fuel that could damage her children's brains. Continue reading...

Kylea Tink says the Greens are cutting off their nose to spite their face', but Sarah Hanson-Young says Green Wall Street is not what nature needs'

The crew of the missing sub departed St John's - a city that's no stranger to the ocean's peril - to explore the wreck of the TitanicShortly after sunrise on Friday, a hulking icebreaker departed the protected waters of St John's, Newfoundland, and ventured into the unpredictable vastness of the north Atlantic Ocean. Onboard the ship was an array of scientific monitoring equipment, cameras and a sleek, 22ft-long submersible named Titan.The passengers onboard the chartered Polar Prince vessel were excited at the prospect of reaching the final resting site of the RMS Titanic, even if it meant cramming themselves inside the hollow body of Titan. Continue reading...

Agreements to reduce developing countries' debt burden in exchange for spending on nature will be on the agenda at a finance summit in Paris this weekAfter decades in the wilderness, and familiar to only those in the know, debt-for-nature swaps" are becoming one of the hottest things in conservation finance. Last month, Ecuador struck the biggest deal of its kind: refinancing $1.6bn (1.3bn) of its commercial debt at a discount in exchange for a consistent revenue stream for conservation around the Galapagos Islands.Other nature-rich countries that are struggling to pay their debts have taken notice and deals are rumoured in Gabon and Sri Lanka. The market for debt-for-nature swaps is poised to exceed $800bn, according to Bloomberg, prompting fierce competition between banks as demand for green investments increases. Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak, Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron and other international leaders address development needsWe are urgently working to deliver more for people and the planet. Multiple, overlapping shocks have strained countries' ability to address hunger, poverty, and inequality, build resilience and invest in their futures. Debt vulnerabilities in low- and middle-income countries present a major hurdle to their economic recovery, and to their ability to make critical long-term investments.We are urgently working to fight poverty and inequalities. An estimated 120 million people have been pushed into extreme poverty in the last three years and we are still far from achieving our United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030. We should thus place people at the centre of our strategy to increase human welfare everywhere on the globe.Emmanuel Macron is president of France. Mia Mottley is prime minister of Barbados. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is president of Brazil. Ursula von der Leyen is president of the European Commission. Charles Michel is president of the European Council. Olaf Scholz is chancellor of Germany. Fumio Kishida is prime minister of Japan. William Ruto is president of Kenya. Macky Sall is president of Senegal. Cyril Ramaphosa is president of South Africa. Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is president of the United Arab Emirates. Rishi Sunak is prime minister of the UK. Joe Biden is president of the US Continue reading...

Even low doses of airborne benzene raise the risk of a variety of cancers, including lymphomas and leukemiaUsing a gas stove can raise indoor concentrations of benzene, a cancer-linked chemical, to above what is found in secondhand smoking or even beyond levels found next to oil and gas facilities, a new study has found.The research, which measured benzene levels in 87 homes in California and Colorado, found that gas and propane stoves frequently emitted benzene at rates well above healthy benchmarks set by the World Health Organization and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Continue reading...

Ruling could take weeks to emerge in trial for Held v Montana, which is the first constitutional climate trial in US historyA groundbreaking climate trial came to an early close on Tuesday as lawyers on each side presented a very different picture of who can be held responsible for the climate crisis.Attorneys representing the lawsuit's young challengers said Montana officials and agencies must be held accountable for exacerbating the crisis, and thereby violating the plaintiffs' state constitutional rights. But the defense argued that climate change is a global problem, and that if Montana is contributing to it, plaintiffs should work to change that through the legislature. Continue reading...

Les Soulevements de La Terre uses direct action aimed at big business interestsThe French government is to shut down a climate protest group over a series of recent demonstrations citing risks to public safety, as the environmental activists called the decision political and particularly worrying".Les Soulevements de la Terre (Earth Uprising) is an umbrella group of several different environmental activist associations across France. It is seen as leading a new form of more radical climate action in Europe with high-profile direct action often aimed at big business interests, state projects and large-scale farming. Continue reading...

The city's new Labour leader has accepted that some of the 17,500 trees cut down were healthySheffield city council has issued a lengthy open apology for misleading the public, the media and the courts in a bitter dispute over its flawed" programme to fell 17,500 street trees - many of which it now accepts were healthy.Tom Hunt, the council's new Labour leader, said he accepted some people would never forgive" the local authority for the mistakes it made during the long-running saga, which led to elderly residents being arrested in dawn raids and one councillor facing prison. Continue reading...

Thinktank suggests projects could deliver one-fifth of savings needed from farming, but agriculture experts cast doubt on ideaRewetting about half of England's lowland peat would be enough to deliver a fifth of the greenhouse gas emissions savings needed from the country's farming by 2030, research suggests.Rewetting peat would also help restore habitats for birds, wildlife and plant species. But farming experts strongly dispute the potential for such projects. Continue reading...

Governments need to represent us, not fossil-fuel profiteers. We need plans to phase out fossil fuel production and emissionsCanada is on fire from coast to coast to coast. Thousands have been evacuated, millions exposed to air pollution, New York a doom orange and even the titans of Wall Street choking.Catastrophic flooding in Pakistan, back-to-back cyclones in the Pacific islands and droughts in Africa haven't been enough to create a tipping point for action. Now that climate impacts have hit the economic capital of western power, will it spur governments in the global north to get serious? Continue reading...

Officials say victory by young plaintiffs won't change approvals for fossil fuel projectsOfficials in Montana sought to downplay an unprecedented trial over a state's obligations to protect residents from the climate crisis, saying on Monday that a victory by the young plaintiffs in the case would not change approvals for fossil fuel projects.Attorneys for Montana's Republican attorney general began laying out their defense following a week of testimony that was often highly personal and evocative in state court from more than a dozen young people who sued the state in 2020. Continue reading...

Investigation of meat sourced by Polish firm that sells frozen poultry to Lidl, Asda and Iceland raises superbug concernsA major supplier of chicken to UK supermarkets is sourcing birds dosed with antibiotics critical to human health", according to a new investigation, as concerns grow about the spread of deadly superbugs.The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ) found that the Polish meat business SuperDrob, which sells frozen poultry products to Lidl, Asda and Iceland, is sourcing chicken from farms that use fluoroquinolone antibiotics, classified as critically important for human health" by the World Health Organization (WHO). Fluoroquinolones are often used to treat serious salmonella infections in humans. Continue reading...

The global agreement to protect nature was signed in Montreal in December. Six months on, key figures remember the moment and consider what lies ahead

There have been gains and losses since the Cop15 agreement was signed in December, with key moments still to come ahead of the next biodiversity Cop in Turkey in 2024