Environment | The Guardian

National Farmers Federation argues ‘non-monetary benefits’ should be included in workplace deals ahead of jobs summit

A rare bright spot for the UK’s energy supply as Seagreen’s £3bn project begins generating powerSteve Wilson is a little windswept after stepping off a rocking boat in choppy North Sea waters. Wilson is programme director of Seagreen, Scotland’s largest offshore windfarm, which this week began producing power.Wilson has just sailed an hour out to sea from Montrose, in Angus on the east coast of Scotland, with other local, interested parties. There, they witnessed a technician hop aboard one of the first turbines to feed power back to the mainland. A drone operator onboard protested about conditions that made it tricky to send up the machine. “We did deliberately decide to build it somewhere windy,” Wilson laughed after landing safely back on shore. Continue reading...

Carpet shark species can walk for up to two hours, enabling them to survive increasingly hostile environments, researchers sayResearchers at a Florida university say a small but feisty species of carpet shark with an extraordinary ability to walk on land is evolving to better survive warming seas and the climate crisis.The epaulette shark, commonly found on shallow reefs of Australia and New Guinea, can walk for up to 30 meters on dry land using paddle shaped fins, and survive hypoxia – a deficiency of oxygen – for up to two hours. Continue reading...

Climate group data shows it is 115 times more expensive to suspend a parking bay than pay for a permitCouncils have been accused of allowing public spaces to be “held hostage” by motorists after the huge difference in cost between parking charges and the cost of suspending parking was revealed.The latest figures, published by the climate charity Possible, lay bare the significant cost increase between a parking permit, used for vehicles such as cars and vans, and the cost of parking bay suspensions to use the space for other purposes. Continue reading...

Perenco sues Peru government for repeal of law that offers recognition to proposed Napo-Tigre reserveIsolated Peruvian tribes face a threat to their existence from a push to scrap a planned Indigenous reserve led by an Anglo-French oil company, Indigenous groups say.The firm, Perenco, whose slogan is “Oil remains an adventure”, filed an injunction in May for the repeal of a law offering preliminary government recognition to a proposed Napo-Tigre reserve. The first hearing is scheduled on 7 September. Continue reading...

Essex police arrest 18 people at three locations as protesters try to disrupt distribution of fuelDozens of environmental protesters have blocked critical oil infrastructure in Essex and the Midlands as they revived a campaign to “just stop oil”.At daybreak on Tuesday, about 50 people took part in protests targeting three oil terminals, from where fuel is distributed to petrol stations, the activist group Just Stop Oil said. Continue reading...

Sales at world’s top four traders have soared, raising concerns of profiteering and speculationCompanies at the centre of the global grain trade have enjoyed a record bonanza amid soaring food prices around the world, raising concerns of profiteering and speculation in global food markets that could put staples beyond the reach of the poorest, and prompting calls for a windfall tax.The world’s top four grain traders, which have dominated the global grain market for decades – have seen record or near-record profits or sales. They are forecasting demand to outstrip supply at least until 2024, which is likely to lead to even higher sales and profits in the next two years. Continue reading...

Researchers design composite resin for blades that can be broken down to make new products including sweetsThe next generation of wind turbine blades could be recycled into gummy bears at the end of their service, scientists have said.Researchers at Michigan State University have made a composite resin for the blades by combining glass fibres with a plant-derived polymer and a synthetic one. Once the blades have reached the end of their lifespan the materials can be broken down and recycled to make new products including turbine blades – and chewy sweets. Continue reading...

Local authorities have had to slash funding for maintaining their open spaces, and friends groups are picking up the slack

Deep cuts by local authorities leaving green spaces in decline, with poorest areas losing out the most

Senior Tories rule out asking households to reduce energy use despite planning for winter blackoutsNo 10 and allies of Liz Truss are resisting the idea that people should be asked to cut their energy use, with the government insisting that consumption of gas and electricity is a “decision for individuals”.With the threat of shortages possible this winter, officials have raised the option of the UK public being requested to reduce their energy usage, after countries in the EU including France and Germany were asked to cut gas demand by 15%. Continue reading...

Federal court hearing on the islands, north of Darwin, told a spill would mean ‘everything ends up dead’ in delicate marine ecosystem

South32 says expected financial returns on project do not justify investment as green groups welcome decision

Meteorologists issue warnings for more than 13 million people in north-east Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico and ArizonaMillions of Americans are under flood warnings after heavy rain this weekend in a large portion of the south and south-western US, where high waters submerged vehicles in Texas and swept hikers in Arizona off their feet.Government meteorologists issued flood warnings for more than 13 million people after torrential rainfall created life-threatening conditions in a region including north-east Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and New Mexico. Continue reading...

Target of 300,000 new homes a year not sustainable, finds researchers, with negative biodiversity and climate impactsEngland would use up the entirety of its 1.5C carbon budget on housing alone if the government sticks to its pledge to build 300,000 homes a year, according to a new study.The building of new homes under a business as usual scenario, coupled with current trends on making existing homes more efficient, would mean the housing system would use up 104% of the country’s cumulative carbon budget by 2050. Continue reading...

Olaf Scholz is in Canada where he plans to sign hydrogen supply chain deal as pressure mounts over looming winter crisisThe German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said he is working as fast as he can to extricate Germany from its dependence on Russian gas and pursue new energy supplies, as pressure mounts on his government to come up with solutions to tackle a looming crisis.On the first day of a three-day visit to Montreal, Scholz met Canada’s prime minster, Justin Trudeau, on Monday. “Canada plays a really, really central role for the development of green hydrogen,” Scholz said. “That’s why we are very glad to be able to expand our cooperation in this area on this occasion too.” Continue reading...

Untreated human waste dumped in waters containing shellfish 29,000 times last year, Environment Agency data showsEnglish shellfish could be contaminated with sewage as untreated human waste was dumped 29,000 times by water companies last year in the water where they are cultivated.The new statistics found sewage was dumped into waters containing shellfish for 207,013 hours in one year. The worst offenders were South West, Southern Water and Anglian Water. There are fears that this could be happening again this year. Continue reading...

Ex-president says he will clamp down on illegal miners and loggers after murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno PereiraThe leading candidate to become Brazil’s next president has vowed to launch a major crackdown on the illegal miners and loggers laying waste to the Amazon in the wake of the “barbaric” murders of the Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and the British journalist Dom Phillips.Speaking to foreign journalists in São Paulo, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva paid tribute to the two men, who were gunned down in June while documenting the historic assault on Indigenous lands that has unfolded under Brazil’s current leader, Jair Bolsonaro. Continue reading...

Unusually the violet helleborine is only pollinated by wasps and is thriving thanks to nectar that is irresistible to the insectsA rare orchid that reproduces by getting wasps drunk is thriving in the gardens of Charles Darwin’s house after a two-year restoration programme.The violet helleborine is entirely pollinated by wasps, which are usually not perceived to be the best pollinators. They’re regimented and meticulously clean themselves, scientists say, which makes the process of pollination a fairly futile prospect – there’s nothing for the pollen to cling to. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Truss oversaw cut in funds to tackle water pollution, since when raw sewage discharge has risenThe Tory leadership frontrunner, Liz Truss, was responsible for cutting millions of pounds of funding earmarked for tackling water pollution during her time as environment secretary, the Guardian can reveal.Truss, who was in charge at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) between 2014 and 2016, oversaw “efficiency” plans set out in the 2015 spending review to reduce Environment Agency funding by £235m. Continue reading...

Federal environment minister says Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation supports development despite concerns over impact on culturally important sites

Ofwat is criticised for failing to curb huge bonuses for CEOs of companies that polluteOfwat, the water regulator, is not using its full powers to clamp down on sewage pollution and leaks, ministers, MPs and charities have said.The regulator has been criticised for giving water companies a “licence to leak” for years and not curbing massive bonuses for CEOs who preside over a system of pollution and chaos. Continue reading...

Bee populations are in steep decline in UK but community funded projects have led to recovery of the ‘vital ecosystem engineers’Encouraging numbers of bees have been recorded at a handful of locally funded wildflower projects in the South Downs, showing that populations can recover if given support.For several decades, bee populations in the UK have seen a steep decrease owing to the stress of the climate emergency. Continue reading...

Nationwide alert issued with south-west especially badly hit, as major companies forced to suspend workA record-breaking drought has caused some rivers in China – including parts of the Yangtze – to dry up, affecting hydropower, halting shipping, and forcing major companies to suspend operations.A nationwide drought alert was issued on Friday as a long-running and severe heatwave in China’s heavily populated south-west was forecast to continue well into September. Continue reading...

As Dutch government weighs resuming gas production in earthquake zone this winter, anxiety is rising in GroningenBastiaan Jeroen’s farm in ’t Zandt has columns made of reinforced concrete. “During one earthquake, I saw them twisting,” he said. “If a chip comes off, it will cut you in half. That’s the fear we’re living in.”Jeroen lives in the province of Groningen, home to a vast gas field and the subject of a parliamentary inquiry into the links between gas extraction and the hundreds of earthquakes and tremors that have traumatised residents. His farmhouse has been shattered by hundreds of cracks from the last decade’s quakes. One outer wall is propped up by several large wooden beams. Continue reading...

Environment Agency figures indicate people could be swimming in human waste this summer without warningSewage monitors at some popular seaside destinations in England and Wales are faulty or not installed, Environment Agency data has revealed, meaning people could be swimming in human waste this summer without realising.Seaside holidays this year have been marred by water companies pumping raw sewage into the ocean, with popular beaches in areas including Sussex and Devon having to close. Continue reading...

Touring flood-hit region of Nelson, prime minister says country must do ‘all we can’ to deal with damaging events triggered by a warming climateNew Zealand’s flood- and slip-prone regions do not have the mechanisms in place to cope with rapid environmental changes brought about by the climate crisis, Jacinda Ardern has said after visiting the aftermath of a monster storm.The prime minister was touring the site of devastating flooding and landslips around Nelson, at the top of the South Island, when she was asked if she was satisfied that New Zealand had the framework and investment to cope with weather events that are becoming more frequent. Continue reading...

Clearing has risen by 73% since new laws allowing the clearing of native flora were introduced as independent MP criticises lack of action

‘Seal crackers’ and bean bag rounds are designed to scare off protected wildlife but critics say the occasionally deadly measures amount to animal cruelty

Areas where energy use is high but average income low include Birmingham, Bradford and Cornwall, says Friends of the EarthResidents in Birmingham, Bradford and Cornwall will be hit hardest by spiralling energy prices as the crisis threatens to deepen this week, a study has shown.The areas contain the largest number of “energy crisis hotspots”, where communities are at greatest risk of serious financial hardship as a result of unaffordable energy costs, according to Friends of the Earth. Continue reading...

Research from Onward outlines ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cut energy billsThe two Conservative leadership candidates are failing to promise the policies needed to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions, a right-leaning thinktank has warned, despite a clear need for measures that would cut consumer bills as well as carbon.Insulating Britain’s draughty homes would cost the government just over £1bn a year in grants plus a similar amount in subsidised loans, while a 50% cut in stamp duty could encourage people to install low-carbon heat pumps when they move house, according to the proposals from Onward. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson gives financing go-ahead after warnings decision could limit incoming governmentBoris Johnson has approved funding for a new nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk in the final weeks of his premiership, but some of Liz Truss’s senior allies are split over the decision.The prime minister and the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, approved financing for the construction of two new reactors known as Sizewell C, enabling private funding of about £20-30bn to be raised. Continue reading...

As sewage is discharged into the UK’s seas and targets are missed, company chiefs use their time on other rolesSome of the highly paid bosses of England’s water companies are earning tens of thousands of pounds in second boardroom jobs, advising on the pay deals of other top executives.Five of the chief executives of England’s nine water and sewerage companies are also working as non-executive directors in other firms, sitting on remuneration committees. Continue reading...

Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, world’s smallest sea turtle species, discovered in Chandeleur Islands off coast of New OrleansFor the first time in 75 years, hatchlings of the world’s smallest sea turtle species have been discovered on the Chandeleur Islands, a chain of barrier islands in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of New Orleans.Wildlife experts at the Breton national wildlife refuge have documented more than 53 turtle crawls and two live hatchlings that were navigating towards the sea, Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority announced in a press statement this week. Continue reading...

Calls for greater oversight of parliamentary groups after concerns raised about Tory backbench committeeA lobbying firm whose clients include the oil giant BP provided “administrative support” to a committee of Conservative MPs conducting an inquiry into the energy crisis.Crowne Associates took meeting minutes and helped compile reports for the 1922 backbench committee on business, energy and industrial strategy. The influential sub-committee, chaired by the former business secretary Andrea Leadsom, went on to recommend policies sympathetic to the oil and gas industry, including calling for a loosening of planning laws to enable fracking. Continue reading...

Dubbed a ‘great outdoor museum’, the fossil-rich region will be assessed by the World Heritage Centre, a process expected to take another two years

Some restaurants are listening, with Corrigan’s not sourcing from intensive shoots and the Ritz not serving a Glorious Twelfth dishFrom 12 August to early December, it’s usually possible to walk into old-fashioned fine dining establishments across the country and order the rare British delicacy that is grouse, frequently served with bread sauce and game chips.But those hoping to eat the tiny game bird in the gilded Ritz dining room in London will be out of luck this year, as the world-famous hotel has quietly removed it from the menu after an outcry from environmental campaigners. Continue reading...

Billions of the pellets end up in the sea, killing turtles, whales and dolphins, and are washed up on beaches around the worldMaritime authorities are considering stricter controls on the ocean transport of billions of plastic pellets known as nurdles after a series of spillages around the world.Campaigners warn that nurdles are one of the most common micro-plastic pollutants in the seas, washing up on beaches from New Zealand to Cornwall. The multicoloured pellets produced by petrochemical companies are used as building blocks for plastic products, from bags to bottles and piping. Continue reading...

Demand goes through the roof as struggling British households try to tackle soaring electricity pricesBritish households are racing to install roof-top solar electricity panels amid huge energy price rises, with installers saying demand has “exploded”.Simon Dudson, the chief executive of the Little Green Energy Company, which serves London and south-east England, says: “It’s absolutely crazy times. It’s unprecedented. We have had a 400-500% increase in business.” Continue reading...

Four years of failed rains in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia have left the region facing catastrophe this yearThe number of people at risk of starvation in the drought-ravaged Horn of Africa has increased to 22 million, the UN’s world food programme (WFP) says.Years of insufficient rainfall across Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia have caused the worst drought in 40 years and conditions akin to famine in the hardest-hit areas, aid groups say. Continue reading...

Four days after a ‘suspicious’ break-in, one pup is found safe and another appears to have been hit by a carEmotions are bittersweet at a Canadian zoo after a runaway wolf pup was safely located after four days on the loose, but another was found dead along a road.Conservation officers and zoo staff in Canada have spent the last four days searching for a runaway wolf after mysterious break-in freed a pack of the predators from the popular zoo. Continue reading...

Royal Foundation also places investments in trust that owns shares in firms that buy palm oil, investigation revealsThe charity founded by the Duke of Cambridge, who launched the Earthshot prize, keeps its investments in a bank that is one of the world’s biggest backers of fossil fuels, according to an investigation.The Royal Foundation, the charity set up by the Cambridges, also places more than half of its investments in a fund – advertised as green – that owns shares in large food companies. Some of these firms buy palm oil from companies linked to deforestation, the investigation by the Associated Press (AP) claimed. Continue reading...

Several species including orange-tip show marked increase but climate crisis poses long-term threatSun-loving butterflies are flourishing in Scotland’s hotter summers with significant increases across a number of species including red admiral, orange-tip and ringlet, according to a report.However, the report’s authors say this trend is likely to be short-lived without measures to reduce the effects of the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Forces already receiving 999 calls before restrictions come into force, diverting call handlers from emergenciesPolice chiefs have urged members of the public not to report suspected breaches of hosepipe bans to forces.Police forces have already received 999 calls about residents’ use of water, even before restrictions are in place. Continue reading...

Business Roundtable aims to weaken efforts that would enable investors to hold companies accountable for their climate promisesThree years ago today, in a statement that would be described as “historic”, “monumental” and “revolutionary”, America’s most powerful and politically connected corporations promised to “protect the environment by embracing sustainable practices across our businesses”.The “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation” came from the Business Roundtable, an influential Washington DC lobbying group whose 200-plus members include the chief executives of some of the world’s biggest companies, including Apple, Pepsi, Walmart and Google.Generate goodwill and positive PR by publishing bold climate goals, with little fear of being held accountable or legally liable for achieving those goals.Can choose to selectively disclose certain parts of their carbon footprint, or none at all.Are not required to reveal the greenhouse gas emissions generated throughout their supply chains – which, for most companies, make up the majority of their emissions.Make high-profile pledges to fight climate change, while paying to maintain memberships in the Business Roundtable and other trade associations that spend millions of dollars to lobby governments against meaningful climate action. Continue reading...

Polish minister Anna Moskwa says experts have found algal bloom in water samples, after mass die-off puzzled scientistsRare micro-organisms known as golden algae could be the cause of a mass die-off of fish in the Oder River that has puzzled scientists for days, Poland’s environment minister has suggested.“After further investigations, the Institute of Inland Fisheries in Olsztyn has found rare microorganisms, so-called golden algae, in water samples from the Oder River,” Anna Moskwa said on Thursday. Continue reading...

Receding rivers and lakes have exposed ghost villages, a Nazi tank and a Roman fortThe warning could not be starker. Wenn du mich siehst, dann weine (“If you see me, then weep”), reads the grim inscription on a rock in the Elbe River near the northern Czech town of Děčín, close to the German border.As Europe’s rivers run dry in a devastating drought that scientists say could prove the worst in 500 years, their receding waters are revealing long-hidden artefacts, from Roman camps to ghost villages and second world war shipwrecks. Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a baby Sumatran elephant, gemsboks and copulating praying mantice Continue reading...

Despite the arrival of heavy rain, nine UK regions remain drought zones. But what is a drought and why is it happening?Despite the heavy rain and thunderstorms that have hit the UK this week, several areas of the country remain in drought. Drought was officially declared across eight regions of England on Friday 12 August, with a ninth – Yorkshire – added a few days later. Continue reading...