UK tops all league tables for highly polluting form of travel, with a flight taking off every six minutes last yearThe UK is the private jet capital of Europe, with more flights than anywhere else on the continent, analysis has found.Last year, a private jet set off from the UK once every six minutes, putting the country ahead of the rest of Europe when it comes to the extremely polluting form of travel. Many of these journeys have been called “polluting and pointless” by Greenpeace, as they are so short they could have easily been taken by train – and in one case, cycled in 30 minutes. Continue reading...

Resolution asks ICJ to clarify countries’ obligations to fight climate change and the consequences they should face for inactionA group of Pacific Island students who were instrumental in pushing a UN resolution that should make it easier to hold polluting countries legally accountable for failure to act on the climate crisis have greeted its adoption as historic.“Young people across the world will recall the day when we were able to get the world’s highest court, the international court of justice, to bring its voice to the climate justice fight,” said Solomon Yeo, campaign director of Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC), who is from Solomon Islands. Continue reading...

Changes to the safeguard mechanism take us a step closer to net zero by 2050 – the goal consecutive governments have signed up to

Evidence that drought cut late-summer hatchings raises fears that delayed effect of caterpillar die-off will be seen this yearThe heat and drought of last summer caused British butterfly populations to crash later in the year, according to a new study.Common butterfly species including the brimstone, small tortoiseshell, peacock, green-veined white and small white appeared in good or average numbers during the spring and early summer of 2022 but numbers in subsequent late-summer generations were greatly reduced. Continue reading...

New guidelines for $2bn carbon offsetting industry aim to guide buyers towards high-quality creditsNew quality standards for the $2bn carbon offsetting industry have been published to help guide buyers to high-quality credits following widespread concern that many are just hot air.On Thursday, new guidelines for a “good” carbon credit programme were announced by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), an initiative that aims to reassure buyers about the quality of offsets they are buying for climate commitments and help them avoid credits that do nothing to mitigate climate change or might be linked to human rights violations. Continue reading...

In latest blow to Joe Biden’s reputation as the ‘climate president’, 73.3m acres of the gulf will be offered for fossil fuel extractionAn enormous swathe of the Gulf of Mexico, spanning an area the size of Italy, was put up for auction on Wednesday for oil and gas drilling, in the latest blow to Joe Biden’s increasingly frayed reputation on dealing with the climate crisis.The president’s Department of the Interior offered up a vast area of the central and western Gulf, including plunging deep water reaches, for drilling projects that will stretch out over decades, despite scientists’ urgent warnings that fossil fuels must be rapidly phased out if the world is to avoid disastrous global heating. The auctions also come despite Biden’s own pre-election promise to halt all drilling on federal lands and waters. Continue reading...

Incident at Saltburn-by-the-Sea occurs in same area as number of die-offs reported in 2021 and 2022Thousands more dead or dying shellfish have washed up on a beach on the same stretch of coast that saw a number of crustacean die-offs in autumn 2021 and last year.Visitors to Saltburn-by-the-Sea, a few miles south-east of the River Tees, were met by the sight of hundreds of thousands of dead mussels on the shoreline, as well as starfish, crabs and razor clams. Continue reading...

Resolution hailed as ‘win for climate justice of epic proportions’ should make it easier to hold countries accountable for failuresA UN resolution was adopted on Wednesday that should make it easier to hold polluting countries legally accountable for failing to tackle the climate emergency, in a vote which was hailed as a historic victory for climate justice.The UN general assembly adopted by consensus the resolution spearheaded by Vanuatu, a tiny Pacific island nation vulnerable to extreme climate effects, and youth activists to secure a legal opinion from the international court of justice (ICJ) to clarify states’ obligations to tackle the climate crisis – and specify any consequences countries should face for inaction. Continue reading...

New research by Australian scientists suggests 40% slowdown in just three decades could alter world’s climate for centuriesMelting ice around Antarctica will cause a rapid slowdown of a major global deep ocean current by 2050 that could alter the world’s climate for centuries and accelerate sea level rise, according to scientists behind new research.The research suggests if greenhouse gas emissions continue at today’s levels, the current in the deepest parts of the ocean could slow down by 40% in only three decades. Continue reading...

Group of Swiss women and French ex-mayor suing their governments in first such cases heard by rights courtThe governments of Switzerland and France have been accused of breaching the human rights of their citizens by not acting decisively enough on climate change, at a landmark legal hearing in Strasbourg.A panel of judges at the European court of human rights heard petitions from a group of Swiss women and a French former mayor seeking to bolster climate action in their countries. Although climate litigation has spread quickly around the world, these are the first such cases to be heard by the ECHR. Continue reading...

Comedians and comedy programs have started to find ways to speak to the climate crisis in their work but how can something so heavy create laughter?When David Perdue applied to be part of a climate comedy program, he felt a little out of his element: “I couldn’t recall one time I’d ever had a conversation with my friends about climate change,” said the Atlanta-based comic. Perdue, who is Black, added, “But I knew it was an issue that was going to affect people who look like me, so I wanted to use comedy to address that.”Perdue was one of nine comedians who took part in a nine-month fellowship where they learned about climate science and solutions and collaborated on new, climate-related material. The Climate Comedy Cohort produced shorts, toured together, and pitched ideas to television networks. Their work is part of a broader effort to bring some levity to a topic that is increasingly present in everyday life. Continue reading...

Minister says aim is to ‘safeguard our nation’s heritage’ but campaigners say artificial meat holds promiseThe Italian government has approved a draft law that would ban food grown in laboratories, including artificial meat, as it seeks to “safeguard our nation’s heritage”.Under the ban, which needs to be passed in both houses of parliament, those who produce, export or import food grown from animal cells would face fines of up to €60,000 and risk having their manufacturing plants closed. Continue reading...

EPA’s response to the derailment has drawn intense criticism from East Palestine residents and public health expertsThe US Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog division is opening an investigation into the handling of the East Palestine train wreck which caused a toxic disaster in the small Ohio town.An agency spokesperson declined to comment on why it is launching the investigation, but a public memo from the EPA office of inspector general states that it will “conduct interviews, gather data, and analyze a variety of issues, including hazardous waste disposal, air and water monitoring, soil and sediment sampling, and risk communication”. Continue reading...

At two wildlife centres in the Madre de Dios region, the victims of illegal mining activities embark on a long journey of rehabilitation“She used to fight every time I tried to feed her, but she recognises it’s me now,” says Cinthia Pariguana-Garriazo, a veterinary nurse at Taricaya eco reserve. It is 6am, and she is coaxing a squealing baby spider monkey called Rain into accepting breakfast – a syringe filled with liquefied fruit and medicine.Rain is fed every four hours and requires regular physical contact with Pariguana-Garriazo, her primary carer. Over the next few months, she will be gradually introduced to solid food and to other spider monkeys and her contact with humans will dwindle. From there, it’s a long process of rehabilitation before her release back into the wild. Juveniles can expect to stay at Taricaya for at least three years. Continue reading...

Call comes on eve of revised net zero strategy that allows drilling in North Sea and boosts ‘unproven’ carbon captureHundreds of the UK’s leading scientists have urged the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, to halt the licensing of new oil and gas developments in the UK, ahead of his anticipated launch of a revised net zero and energy security strategy on Thursday.The scientists, who include Chris Rapley, former head of the Science Museum and professor at UCL and Mark Maslin, professor of earth system science at UCL, warn that there must be no new developments of oil and gas, for the world to limit global heating to 1.5C above preindustrial levels. Continue reading...

Government’s official advisers point to ‘lost decade’ in efforts to protect lives and livelihoodsThe UK is “strikingly unprepared” for the impacts of the climate crisis, according to the Climate Change Committee (CCC), which said there had been a “lost decade” in efforts to adapt for the impacts of global heating.The CCC, the government’s official climate adviser, said climate damages will inevitably intensify for decades to come. It has warned repeatedly of poor preparation in the past and said government action was now urgently needed to protect people and their homes and livelihoods. Continue reading...

Exclusive: National Trust concerned at danger to rich mix of ecosystems including lagoon, woodland, salt marsh and reedbedOil from the Perenco pipeline leak in Poole harbour has washed up on the shores of Brownsea Island, an internationally important wetland and marine conservation zone.Nearly 200 barrels of reservoir fluid – a brine mixture that is about 15% oil – leaked into the waters of Ower Bay on Sunday from the pipeline sparking a major incident and urgent clean-up operation. Continue reading...

Bembidion brownorum, named for Jerry Brown, was last seen in 1966, but hadn’t been named until one was collected on his ranchScientists are naming a rare species of beetle in honor of the former California governor Jerry Brown after finding one at his ranch.Bembidion brownorum was last seen in 1966, but it hadn’t been named or described until one was collected near a creek on Brown’s ranch in Colusa county, about an hour’s drive north-west of Sacramento, the University of California, Berkeley announced on Monday. Continue reading...

Cheaper rates could be applied to those who install water butts under plans unveiled by regulatorWater bill discounts could be given to people who do not pave over their front gardens and install water butts, under plans unveiled by the regulator.Customers could also be charged dynamically based on how much water they use, with people who reduce their usage paying less than heavy users, Ofwat announced on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Jacob Rees-Mogg and Chris Grayling express concern at system under which Drax made £617m in 2022The UK government should rethink its subsidies for burning wood for fuel, former Conservative ministers and the net zero tsar have said.The energy company Drax, which burns forest biomass, made £893m in direct government subsidies in 2021. The level of support fell to £617m in 2022 as electricity prices exceeded an agreed “strike price” agreed to encourage renewable investment. Continue reading...

A lack of swimming skills among young people, especially girls, stops them working in local industries and getting involved in conservationAzha Abdul Azeez lives in Malé, the capital of the Maldives archipelago, surrounded by the idyllic Indian Ocean. But she “grew up in the house” and the water that makes up so much of Abdul Azeez’s home – a rich habitat including coral reefs, turtles, manta rays and exotic fish – terrifies her because she never learned to swim.“[My parents] were worried that something might happen to me. I think that’s why they didn’t send me [swimming] when I was little,” she says. Continue reading...

Australia Institute analysis tracks 28 proposed developments referred to Tanya Plibersek for approval

More than 100,000 hectares burned in MacDonnell Ranges area, which has been declared a federal priority for threatened species conservation

First analysis of plastics’ hazards over life cycle – from extraction to disposal – also shows ‘deep societal injustices’ of impact

Environment Agency tells supplier to rethink plans to tackle droughts by pumping water from Thames and SevernThames Water has been told by the Environment Agency it needs to do more to fix the 630m litres of water it leaks a day before it starts taking water from the River Thames or from Wales to tackle drought problems.The company has published its ideas for tackling climate crisis-induced droughts across London and the south-east, which include abstracting millions of litres a day from the River Thames and replacing it with treated effluent, to taking 155m litres a day from Wales. Continue reading...

The shadow net zero secretary Ed Miliband to set out how plan will create jobs in clean energyLabour is recasting its green growth plan as the British version of the US’s Inflation Reduction Act to underline its ambition to invest in good, clean energy jobs.Ed Miliband, the shadow net zero secretary, will set out how the party’s green prosperity plan will deliver a multi-billion investment by government and businesses to drive jobs in green industries. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Australian company resurrects flesh of lost species to demonstrate potential of meat grown from cellsA mammoth meatball has been created by a cultivated meat company, resurrecting the flesh of the long-extinct animals.The project aims to demonstrate the potential of meat grown from cells, without the slaughter of animals, and to highlight the link between large-scale livestock production and the destruction of wildlife and the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Pacific nation is sponsoring resolution that will ask ICJ to rule on consequences for climate inactionLast month, twin cyclones tore through Port Vila, the capital of the Pacific nation of Vanuatu. The category-four storms left corrugated iron roofs crumpled like leftover wrapping paper, flooded the streets with waste-ridden mud, cut residents off from water and electricity for several days, and sent many fleeing to hastily established evacuation centres.Devastation of this sort is becoming more common throughout the Pacific, where rising sea levels are leaving shorelines increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather made more intense by climate change. Continue reading...

A Canada Pacific train derailed on Sunday night, affecting 31 of its 70 cars, and spilling petroleum used to make asphaltA train carrying hazardous materials derailed in North Dakota late on Sunday night in the latest toxic railway accident to hit the US.The incident happened less than two months after a train derailed near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, causing a raging fire and leaking cancerous chemicals near the small town of East Palestine. Continue reading...

Extinction Rebellion leads protest and council leader expresses anger over damage done to protected siteEnvironmental activists, biodiversity experts, politicians and nature lovers are demanding answers over an oil leak in Poole harbour, a site internationally recognised for its ecological importance.Nearly 200 barrels of reservoir fluid – a brine mixture that is about 15% oil – leaked into the waters of Owers Bay on Sunday afternoon from a pipeline operated by the energy company Perenco. Continue reading...

Adam Bandt says deal puts ‘significant hurdles’ in the way of new coal and gas but Chris Bowen insists it will not kill off new investment

Australian Council of Trade Unions chief, Michele O’Neil, will argue for retraining, redeployment and compensation programs

A sailor in Poole in Dorset posted a video on social media on Sunday showing an oily substance he had noticed leaking into the water in the harbour. He collected some of the 'horrible, oil kind of sludge' in a plastic bottle. The public is being urged to avoid using the water and beaches within Poole after the harbour regulator said a leak occurred at a pipeline operated by gas company Perenco. The incident, which took place at Wytch Farm oilfield, resulted in approximately 200 barrels of 'reservoir fluid' being released from the UK’s largest onshore field

Residents show skepticism to officials insisting tap water is uncontaminated after chemical spill in the Delaware RiverResidents in Philadelphia and nearby areas have been buying bottled water after a chemical spill upstream in the Delaware River in neighboring Bucks county, despite officials’ latest advisory insisting tap water was safe to drink at least up to midnight Monday.The concerns came after a leak late Friday evening at the Trinseo Altuglas chemical facility in Bristol Township spilled between 8,100 and 12,000 gallons of a water-based latex finishing solution into the river, Bucks county health officials said Sunday. Continue reading...

The agreement delivers important changes to the safeguard mechanism. But there is still a lot of work to do

Students at Princeton describe unease that Exxon employee had an office on campus, while dozens of universities have big oil linksThe lecturer looked, and sounded, the part. Sporting a pale blue shirt and Princeton University ID badge, he had his own office on campus, a short stroll from the room where several dozen students were gathered to hear him confidently talk about the challenges in moving away from fossil fuels.Tim Barckholtz is not a Princeton professor, however. He is a senior scientific adviser at ExxonMobil, the oil giant that has done so much to both perpetuate and downplay the climate crisis. Barckholtz, an affable figure who has fronted adverts for Exxon touting its emissions reduction research, spent around six months sitting in and contributing to lectures and research groups, based in his own office space at the elite university. Continue reading...

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Population likely to peak sooner and lower than expected with beneficial results – but environment is priorityThe long-feared “population bomb” may not go off, according to the authors of a new report that estimates that human numbers will peak lower and sooner than previously forecast.The study, commissioned by the Club of Rome, projects that on current trends the world population will reach a high of 8.8 billion before the middle of the century, then decline rapidly. The peak could come earlier still if governments take progressive steps to raise average incomes and education levels. Continue reading...

About 200 barrels of reservoir fluid leak into the Dorset harbour, a site of special scientific interestThe public is being urged to avoid using the water and beaches within Poole harbour in Dorset, south-west England, after an oil leak caused a major incident to be declared.Poole Harbour Commissioners (PHC), the harbour regulator, said a leak occurred at a pipeline operated by gas company Perenco, under Owers Bay on Sunday. Continue reading...

National Infrastructure Commission accuses ministers of ‘prevarication’ over installation of heat pumpsMinisters have made negligible progress in improving the energy efficiency of the UK’s homes even as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has underscored the need to cut the reliance on gas for home heating, according to the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC).The independent infrastructure tsars’ annual report warned that the progress towards improving the UK’s infrastructure “stuttered further” last year, despite the need for increased investment to meet its economic and climate goals. Continue reading...

Attack on archaeologist in Athens is thought to be linked to developers’ ‘out-of-control’ clamour to exploit islandUnder cover of darkness in an Athens side street earlier this month, Manolis Psarros, an archaeologist, was attacked as he walked toward his car. It was 8.30pm, later than usual for the state employee to return home from his office in a neo-classical culture ministry building beneath the Acropolis.“There was a general strike the next day and I needed to get through my files on Mykonos,” said Psarros, who has oversight of the Cycladic isle. “I can remember approaching the car but after that it’s a blur,” he told the Observer. “All I know is that I was struck on the head from behind with such force I lost consciousness.” Continue reading...

Attack on archaeologist in Athens is thought to be linked to developers’ ‘out-of-control’ clamour to exploit islandUnder cover of darkness in an Athens side street earlier this month, Manolis Psarros, an archaeologist, was attacked as he walked toward his car. It was 8.30pm, later than usual for the state employee to return home from his office in a neo-classical culture ministry building beneath the Acropolis.“There was a general strike the next day and I needed to get through my files on Mykonos,” said Psarros, who has oversight of the Cycladic isle. “I can remember approaching the car but after that it’s a blur,” he told the Observer. “All I know is that I was struck on the head from behind with such force I lost consciousness.” Continue reading...

Insect flies with grass stalks it uses to conceal its nest, which is made of disused snail shellsA bee that seems to be riding a tiny broomstick will be among the creatures to feature in Sir David Attenborough’s Wild Isles BBC series on Sunday.In the third episode of the five-part-series, viewers can take a closer look at grassland habitats and many of its inhabitants, including the mason bee. Continue reading...

In his series Fulu Act, Brussels-based documentary photographer Colin Delfosse captures street artists in Kinshasa, who craft striking costumes out of everyday objects found littering the streets, such as discarded wigs, wires, soda cans and bottle lids, to raise awareness of environmental issues facing the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “The statement behind their costumes is to condemn and inform about overconsumption and its side effects, namely pollution, poverty, lack of reliable investments and so on,” says Delfosse. “By capturing these images, I’m giving an echo to their crucial work.”

Giles Perritt says ‘change is difficult’ as campaigners obtain court order to extend injunction against future fellingAn official behind the controversial felling of 110 trees by Plymouth council has said their removal will be “really good for the city”.Giles Perritt, the council’s assistant chief executive, was speaking after campaigners got a high court order to extend an injunction to stop future felling. Continue reading...

Tensions between residents and revellers have reached boiling point after loosening of serving restrictions during CovidThe sun has barely set when the music starts thumping on Madrid’s Calle Ponzano. As queues start to form outside the already heaving bars, the party spills out on to the pavement, leaving customers jostling for space with an ever-growing cacophony of smokers and passersby.Lost in the fray is the brightly lettered message – pleading with punters to keep the noise down – from banners that flap from balconies above. It is a last ditch effort by those who have found themselves living on the frontline of a battle playing out across Spain as exhausted neighbours face off against raucous drinkers. Continue reading...

Farming Simulator lets customers test out new trailers, balers and other machinery before buying the real thingTractors are commonly sold to farmers at agricultural fairs and announced in the trade press. But machinery makers are falling over themselves to get a slice of a much more unlikely advertising vehicle: the Farming Simulator video game.The developers, Giants Software, now receive hundreds of queries a year from manufacturers of equipment – from tractors and combine harvesters to trailers, balers and seed drills – about how they can feature in the game, where players create their own virtual farm. Continue reading...

After a long hiatus, the epic Ocean Race is back – but this year, as well as dodging icebergs, cracking masts and suffering the occasional ‘hull sandwich failure’, the teams are gathering crucial data from places even research vessels rarely reachThe Southern Ocean is not somewhere most people choose to spend an hour, let alone a month. Circling the icy continent of Antarctica, it is the planet’s wildest and most remote ocean. Point Nemo – just to the north in the South Pacific – is the farthest location from land on Earth, 1,670 miles (2,688km) away from the closest shore. The nearest humans are generally those in the International Space Station when it passes overhead.But on 21 March, four sailing teams came through here – part of a marathon race round the bottom of the Earth, from Cape Town in South Africa to Itajaí in Brazil. Continue reading...

The Georgia activist on why she is leaving campaign politics behind to focus on weaning America off fossil fuelsStacey Abrams has been hailed as a masterly community organizer, after she helped turn out the voters that secured two Senate seats for Democrats in once solidly red Georgia. She has also run twice – unsuccessfully – for state governor. For her next move, she’s not focusing on electoral power so much as power itself.Recently she left the world of campaign politics and took a job as senior counsel for the non-profit Rewiring America. Her role will focus on helping thousands of people across America wean their homes and businesses off fossil fuels and on to electricity, at a moment when scientists have given a “final warning” about the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions and prevent global catastrophe. Continue reading...

Tom Massey promotes natural ‘forest gardens’ with biodiverse planting to create wildlife havensYour garden should have many layers, like a rainforest, to perform for biodiversity and climate, a leading garden designer has said.Tom Massey, an award-winning horticulturist, said most gardens only have a couple of layers, with a mown lawn, some bushes and perhaps a tree. But adding multiple layers, with intermingled planting, helps to mimic what one may find in a biodiverse forest, with each layer giving benefits for wildlife. Continue reading...