Exclusive: England plan will omit aim of reducing area used for animal farming, key to cutting emissionsThe government has been accused of being “pathetically nervous” about encouraging the public to eat less meat after excluding the aim from a key strategy.The Guardian can reveal that the government’s upcoming land use strategy will not include a reduction in area used for animal agriculture in England. Continue reading...

Data reveals hundreds of hours of discharges via storm overflows in some locationsThe scale of raw sewage discharges into rivers by England’s biggest privatised water firm is revealed in a new interactive map showing real-time discharges.After growing pressure from campaigners and the public, Thames Water has created an interactive map showing sewage dumping via storm overflows in real time. Continue reading...

Without global heating, such warm temperatures would be expected only once every five centuries, Met Office saysThe record-breaking heat in the UK in 2022 was made 160 times more likely by the climate crisis, indicating the dominant influence of human-caused global heating on Britain.Last year has been confirmed as the UK’s hottest on record, with the average annual temperature passing the 10C mark for the first time. Scientists at the Met Office calculated that such heat is now expected every three to four years. Without the greenhouse gases emitted by humanity, such a warm year would be expected only once every five centuries. Continue reading...

Ministers missed crucial opportunities but should use energy windfall tax to speed up insulation efforts, committee saysA national “war effort” on energy efficiency is required to cut energy bills, reduce climate-heating emissions and ensure energy security, according to a cross-party committee of MPs.Boosting efficiency in homes and businesses is the fastest way to cut energy use but the government missed a “crucial window of opportunity” last summer, the report from the environmental audit committee (EAC) said. The energy bills crisis was sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, while political turmoil in the UK resulted in three prime ministers in office between July and October. Continue reading...

Queensland Resources Council says industry would welcome restrictions easing but new long-term customers since found elsewhere in Asia

Incoming bomb cyclone system threatens to wreak havoc in the drought-stricken state while doing little to alleviate its water woesMillions of Californians are being lashed by yet another destructive winter storm that arrived on Wednesday, with meteorologists warning the “truly brutal” weather system would bring flooding, strong winds and power outages over the coming days.Powerful winds from the incoming “bomb cyclone” whipped across northern California ahead of the storm’s arrival, toppling trees and blocking roads as crews rushed to clear storm drains and people fortified their homes. Further south, officials began ordering evacuations in high-risk coastal areas of Santa Barbara county, including the tony town of Montecito – home to many celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle. Continue reading...

Tesla’s Model Y was stand out performer as EVs surpassed sales of diesel cars for first time, while total car sales fell by about 2% from 2021Sales of electric vehicles have reached record levels in the UK, although supply chain disruption drove total sales of new cars to their lowest level in 30 years.Just more than 1.6m new cars were sold in the UK last year, a 2% fall from 2021, and the lowest level since 1992, according to the annual sales snapshot from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Continue reading...

Animal Justice party MP says recommended quota of 236,350 is based on inaccurate figures that do not factor in widespread flooding

Hopes of a new weapon against diseases that routinely ravage colonies that are relied upon for food pollinationThe world’s first vaccine for honeybees has been approved for use by the US government, raising hopes of a new weapon against diseases that routinely ravage colonies that are relied upon for food pollination.The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has granted a conditional license for a vaccine created by Dalan Animal Health, a US biotech company, to help protect honeybees from American foulbrood disease. Continue reading...

Resorts open hiking trails and lifts for mountain bikes amid unseasonably high temperatures and lack of snowEurope’s record-breaking warm winter weather has closed ski slopes and forced resorts to open summer trails or shut altogether, as grass and mud replace seasonal snow from Chamonix in France to Innsbruck in Austria.Eight countries across the continent have recorded their warmest January day ever, with temperatures in parts of Switzerland and southern Germany exceeding 20C and 90 monitoring stations in France setting new records over new year. Continue reading...

Plants are thought more likely to thrive at Harlow Carr in Yorkshire than at their current home at Wisley in SurreyIn Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier’s unnamed narrator was shocked and bewildered by the over-proud “slaughterhouse red, luscious and fantastic” rhododendrons she encountered at Manderley on the southern coast of England. She might be even more thrilled if she’d seen them in Yorkshire.The climate crisis has prompted the Royal Horticultural Society to plan a move of its important collection of rhododendrons from its flagship Wisley garden in Surrey to Harlow Carr in North Yorkshire, the Guardian can reveal. Continue reading...

Declining soil organic carbon could undermine state’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050

Friends of the Earth says significant climate impacts not taken into account when go-ahead was givenFriends of the Earth has said it will take legal action against the UK government after ministers granted planning permission for a new coalmine in Cumbria.The environmental campaign group said it would file its claim against the fossil fuel extraction project later this month. Continue reading...

From the Scottish Highlands to the Cornish coast, Guardian readers have witnessed the ravages of the disease on wild speciesThe world is experiencing its worst ever outbreak of avian flu in wild birds, with thousands dead and dying along coastlines, in gardens and cities. These Guardian readers from the UK were among those who got in touch to tell us about what they have witnessed:Retiree Allan Davidson said that by midsummer in 2022 miles of beautiful beaches near his home in Golspie, Sutherland, in the Scottish Highlands, were littered with dead seabirds, mainly guillemots and gannets. “Most died out at sea and had been swept in to shore. Some would simply stand, comatose, oblivious to my presence. I would find them lifeless the next morning in the same spot I left them,” he says. “What struck me was that the vast majority of the dead birds I encountered had been fine, healthy creatures in excellent condition. They were not emaciated or undernourished. Continue reading...

Temperatures forecast to plummet up to 8C below average with BoM issuing warnings for heavy rain and destructive winds

In the past year, avian flu has ravaged colonies of seabirds in the UK. Gwen Potter, a National Trust countryside manager working on the Farne Islands, was among those who donned hazmat suits on the frontlineIn May last year, our seabirds were starting to settle, having flown here from all over the world. It is an explosion of life, sound and smell – and it looked as if it was going to be a really good year.On the Farne Islands, off the coast of Northumberland, the most numerous bird is probably the puffin, we’ve also got a lot of guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, arctic terns, sandwich terns, common terns, loads of other fantastic seabirds. It’s such a spectacle seeing all these birds fly in. The cliff-nesting birds are jostling for space, they’re really crushed up against each other. Continue reading...

State government sources’ figure comes on top of estimate of up to $450m for Queensland plant

New record of 87.2% also set for share of electricity on grid coming from renewables and nuclearBritain has set a new record for wind generation as power from onshore and offshore turbines helped boost clean energy supplies late last year.National Grid’s electricity system operator (ESO), which handles Great Britain’s grid, said that a new record for wind generation was set on 30 December, when 20.91 gigawatts (GW) were produced by turbines. Continue reading...

Animal seen leaving Northumberland coastal town at 7am, where he rested after swimming from ScarboroughA roving walrus who delighted crowds in Scarborough on New Year’s Eve has made his way back to sea from his latest resting point of Blyth on the Northumberland coast.Thor, who showed up in Blyth on Monday, slipped back into the water shortly before 7am on Tuesday, according to the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDLMR), which monitored the animal overnight. Continue reading...

Bureau of Meteorology climate models indicate sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific may exceed El Niño thresholds by June

US climate envoy says there needs to be work on details of ‘loss and damage’ fund in 2023People in developing countries are feeling increasingly angry and “victimised” by the climate crisis, the US climate envoy John Kerry has warned, and rich countries must respond urgently.“I’ve been chronicling the increased frustration and anger of island states and vulnerable countries and small African nations and others around the world that feel victimised by the fact that they are a minuscule component of emissions,” he said. “And yet [they are] paying a very high price. Seventeen of the 20 most affected countries in the world, by the climate crisis, are in Africa, and yet 48 sub-Saharan countries total 0.55% of all emissions.” Continue reading...

Carmaker, which also owns Kia, missed 2022 targets amid shortage of chips and other vital partsThe carmaker behind Hyundai and Kia has said it aims to increase global sales by 10% this year, as the company accelerates its transition to electric vehicles.Hyundai Motor Company’s new forecasts come despite it having failed to reach its sales targets for 2022 because of supply chain disruptions that resulted in a shortage of semiconductor chips and other vital car parts. Continue reading...

CrowdFarming network provides a one-stop shop to bring fresh produce to the customer’s doorGiving up police work to grow passion fruit might be considered an unconventional career move, but that is what Sergio Quijada Domínguez did when a hereditary heart condition forced him to retire at the age of 32 after 14 years in Spain’s Guardia Civil.Quijada, who has about 1,500 plants on his farm near Vélez-Málaga in southern Spain, found he was good at growing passion fruit – what he lacked was the knowhow to sell them. Continue reading...

Commitment to ‘civil resistance’ comes after Extinction Rebellion said it would prioritise ‘relationships over roadblocks’Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil have doubled down on their commitment to disruptive climate “civil resistance” after Extinction Rebellion announced new tactics prioritising “relationships over roadblocks”.“It’s 2023 and XR has quit,” Just Stop Oil said in a statement. “But it’s 2023, and we are barrelling down the highway to the loss of ordered civil society, as extreme weather impacts tens of millions, as our country becomes unrecognisable … there is now a need to face reality. Continue reading...

Hunters allowed to kill 75 wolves from an already endangered population of 460 amid ‘political pressure’ from hunting lobbyThe biggest wolf cull in modern times has begun in Sweden as nature organisations warn it could drastically harm the population.On Monday, the Guardian accompanied 200 hunters as they went to kill wolves in the frost-covered forests between Gävleborg and Dalarna, hunting from midnight until the sun set at 3pm. Groups will be going out across Sweden all month as they attempt to take down the large predators. Continue reading...

We need more honesty about the problems of the proposed Sizewell C plant, writes Rae StreetIn his letter (22 December), Tom Smith describes the problems of storing the radioactive waste that is being produced by the UK nuclear reactors, and says that we need more honesty about these issues. The latter is also true of other problems with “new nuclear build”. Take, for example, the proposed Sizewell C reactor on the east coast.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated that extreme “sea level events” could occur “at least once per year at many locations by 2050”. Sizewell C will be built near the sea on marshland. One engineer has estimated that the land where the reactor would be built will turn into a promontory encircled by the sea. Clearly the reactor site could be flooded. Continue reading...

The declaration provides funds and federal assistance for emergency and permanent infrastructureThe White House has made a federal disaster declaration for the Havasupai Native American tribe that mainly lives deep inside the Grand Canyon in Arizona, as the community prepares to reopen tourist access to its famous turquoise waterfalls next month.Last October, the village experienced drastic flooding which damaged extensive parts of the reservation. Continue reading...

Britain seeks to convert recycled uranium, a capability not currently available outside RussiaA £50m nuclear fuel fund to bolster production in the UK and support development of alternatives to Russian supply opens for applications on Monday, the business department has announced.The fund forms part of a nuclear fuel investment package of up to £75m, of which up to £13m has already been awarded to the nuclear fuel fabricators Westinghouse in Preston, helping the company develop conversion capability for reprocessed uranium and freshly mined uranium. Continue reading...

Sacramento area residents were warned of ‘imminent levee failure’ as snow in the Sierra Nevada made driving hazardousFlash flood warnings were issued on Sunday in parts of northern California after a powerful storm brought drenching rain and heavy snowfall overnight, snarling traffic and closing highways as the state ushered in the new year.Residents in the area of Wilton in Sacramento county were urged to seek higher ground by emergency officials amid the threat of “imminent levee failure” on a portion of the local Cosumnes River, the Sacramento Bee reported. Continue reading...

Readers respond to George Monbiot’s article on wood-burning stoves and the damage they do to the environment and healthI read with some dismay that I have committed the eco-crime of owning a wood-burning stove (My burning shame: I fitted my house with three wood-burning stoves, 27 December). When I moved into my small cob-and-thatch cottage 10 years ago, there were storage heaters (which I removed) and an open fire that filled the place with smoke due to a jackdaw nest in the chimney. I installed an air-source heat pump, and a small wood-burning stove for extra warmth in winter.This is affordable, as the heat pump is cheap and efficient, and my supply of dry logs will last all winter for a few hundred pounds. Thick walls and low ceilings make it easy to heat the cottage. I find this solution economical and in keeping with my quaint dwelling and an old-fashioned lifestyle, which I had thought was ecological. I do have asthma, which is under control, but the stove may not help. Burning wood is not ideal. But I see no alternative here other than an electric stove, which would be much more expensive to run. My stove also gives a companionable glow on a winter night, which I would be sorry to lose.

More than 8,700 chargers installed, bringing total to 37,000 in a 30% increaseBritish companies installed a record number of public electric car chargers during 2022 as they raced to dominate a fast-growing and potentially lucrative market.There were more than 8,700 public chargers installed in the UK during the year to 22 December, bringing the total available to more than 37,000, according to Zap-Map, a data company. That represented a 30% year-on-year increase, slower than the 38% annual growth in sales of battery electric cars during the year to November. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Healthcare costs from smoke-related deaths tipped to reach $110m, new modelling led by Monash University suggests

Herd struck by semi-truck on Montana highway, with some of the bison needing to be euthanized ‘due to severe injuries’Thirteen bison have died as a result of a road crash in the dark on a Montana highway near Yellowstone national park, authorities have announced.In a statement released on Facebook, the West Yellowstone police department announced that around 6.30pm on Wednesday “multiple bison were struck by a semi-truck near mile marker 4 on Highway 191”, referring to a highway north of the town of West Yellowstone. Continue reading...

Climate protest group says temporary shift will ‘prioritise relationships over roadblocks’The climate protest group Extinction Rebellion is shifting tactics from disruptions such as smashing windows and glueing themselves to public places in 2023, it has announced.A new year resolution to “prioritise attendance over arrest and relationships over roadblocks”, was spelled out in a 1 January statement titled “We quit”, which said “constantly evolving tactics is a necessary approach”. Continue reading...

Research in England and Wales shows that conservatories, extensions and changing behaviour cancelled out any savingsConservatories and house extensions could be helping to wipe out the reductions in gas use secured by insulating homes, according to a study that found insulation only provides a short-term fall in energy consumption.In a surprise finding, the study into the long-term effect of loft and cavity wall insulation in England and Wales showed that the fall in gas consumption for each household was small, with all energy savings disappearing by the fourth year after it had been fitted. Continue reading...

Russia’s war in Ukraine has earned Norway billions – and caused controversyAs the sun plunges into the Oslofjord on a December evening, passersby stop outside Norway’s new €620m national art gallery, the new €300m Munch Museum, the new €240m public library and the €550m opera house to take in the dying light.Thanks to oil and gas reserves in the waters off its coast, Norway is not only extremely rich but getting richer still. Already the World Bank’s seventh wealthiest country by GDP per capita at the start of this year, the resource-rich Scandinavian country’s profits have ballooned to record levels over the last 12 months, as prices on the energy markets tripled due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Norway replaced bellicose Moscow as Europe’s largest supplier of gas. Continue reading...

Authorities are confident peak flows have reached the state but worry a blackwater event may follow

Cabinet papers 2002: documents shed light on strategy amid decades-long battle to create national storage centre

As war drives up fossil fuel prices and profits, new technologies show a way forward for the generators in 2023A tall white rig punctures the Cornish skyline, offering a hint of a new industrial era at a site near Redruth, once a copper mining capital. This year, the first power produced by a geothermal plant in the UK is expected from a project three decades in the making.The United Downs project aims to produce constant low-carbon electricity for the grid, and heat for homes, from hot rocks. Geothermal energy is an established power source in volcanically active areas of the globe near to tectonic plates. However, it can also be used in other areas if the rock temperature is high enough, and the rocks are permeable enough for water to circulate. Continue reading...

Council postpones fireworks display while local wildlife experts urge public not to disturb Arctic mammal ‘taking a break’A wandering walrus has delighted locals and tourists after appearing in a North Yorkshire seaside town.The marine mammal arrived in Scarborough on Friday night and has drawn huge crowds to the harbour on New Year’s Eve. Continue reading...

Pickled veg, herb tea, vinegar, even flavoured gin … an organic tree has many uses once the baubles are banishedOver the next week, millions of trees will be ejected from homes across the UK as Christmas festivities draw to a close.But instead of sending their pine, fir and spruce trees for recycling or replanting, growing numbers of eco-conscious households are trying to make the most of them by eating various parts before throwing them out. Fir trees can be used in ice-cream, to pickle vegetables and even to flavour gin. Continue reading...

Former special forces personnel are being deployed to ‘hide in the undergrowth’ and catch criminal gangs dumping dangerous wasteSpecial forces war veterans are being deployed undercover to help tackle the increasingly violent criminal networks moving into fly-tipping and the dumping of dangerous waste.Former SAS and special reconnaissance regiment (SRR) service personnel, who specialise in surveillance and “close-target” reconnaissance and who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, are being drafted in to collect evidence against organised crime groups that use collusion, corruption and the threat of violence to profit from environmental offences. Continue reading...

The remains have caused a public stir, but authorities say the falling water level due to the climate crisis is the real scandalThe first sets of human remains that surfaced at Lake Mead appeared in quick succession, one after another.The environmental disaster unfolding at the largest reservoir in the US was already hard to ignore – there was the giant “bathtub ring” that served as a reminder of the punishing drought in the west and diminishing recreation opportunities. But the bodies were a grim new sign of the crisis. Continue reading...

From Ukraine developments and China’s Covid surge to renewable energy and hope for the AmazonA near-inevitable global recession sparked by a lengthening war in Europe’s frozen east; an energy crisis coupled with soaring inflation; Covid-19 finally running rampant in China – predictions for 2023 are grim. Still, there are reasons to be hopeful. That same energy crisis has spurred an unprecedented demand for renewables, which are expected to boom, while in Brazil, a new president has sworn to protect the Amazon. Repressive regimes, meanwhile, will be nervously looking at Iran, where hardline clerics are locked in a struggle with a formidable pro-democracy uprising that threatens to overwhelm them next year.Guardian correspondents across the globe have provided their take on what to watch out for in 2023: Continue reading...

Federal courts had thrown out Trump-era rule governing Clean Water Act lifting regulations imposed by Obama administrationThe Biden administration on Friday finalized regulations to protect hundreds of thousands of streams, wetlands and other waterways, repealing a Trump-era rule federal courts threw out and environmentalists said left waterways vulnerable to pollution.The rule defines which “waters of the United States” are protected by the Clean Water Act. For decades, the term has been a flashpoint between environmental groups that want to broaden limits on pollution and farmers, builders and industry groups that say extending regulations too far is onerous for business. Continue reading...

Greenpeace calls designer a ‘true radical’ and Hynde says ‘the world is already a less interesting place’Tributes have been paid to Dame Vivienne Westwood from across the worlds of fashion and design, and by others including figures from the environmental and political causes she supported.The pioneering British fashion designer, who played a key role in the punk movement, died “peacefully, surrounded by her family” in Clapham, south London, on Thursday, her representatives said. She was 81. Continue reading...

The agency is evaluating if the state is properly scrutinizing polluters and assessing if minority communities face harmThe US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is investigating whether industrial pollution in Colorado disproportionately affects Hispanic and other minority communities.According to federal officials, the investigation centers on state oversight of its most prolific polluters. Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including sharks swimming with a kayaker and a rainbow lorikeet Continue reading...

Meganne Christian is training for the ‘coolest job in the world’. It’s a long way from Wollongong for the 35-year-old scientist

Guardian photographers travelled across the globe to capture the work of nature lovers and conservationists. Here are some of their best shots Continue reading...