Environment | The Guardian

UN-backed research has found emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane coming from Glencore's Hail Creek coalmine are probably between three and eight times higher than officially reported. Two aircraft with different types of monitoring equipment and flying at different altitudes looked for plumes of methane coming from the coalmine in Queensland's Bowen Basin - a site highlighted in a previous study as a major emitter. Glencore has challenged the results, saying in a statement it had 'significant doubts' about the research, claiming it used 'out of date' dataSubscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

Data collected by two planes suggests large open-cut coalmine in Bowen Basin is releasing methane at higher rates than official estimates

New powers mean regulator can ban payouts under criteria of Ofwat's choosingBonuses for water bosses in England could be banned this year for companies that spill sewage, break the law or mismanage their finances, Ofwat has announced.The regulator has launched a consultation into draft criteria under which it would ban bonuses being paid to chief executives. Sources at Ofwat told the Guardian they are near-certain to ban some water CEO bonuses this year. Continue reading...

Opposition says Labor's national vehicle emission standard is poorly designed', despite data showing uptick in green vehicle sales

Bombylius major, the thieving, deceiving, fluffy flying narwhal-like insect, that is a harbinger of spring

Panther Minerals set to start exploring Elim's land as Trump seeks to expand drilling and resource extraction in AlaskaFor generations, the people of Elim have subsisted off the forests and waters of north-west Alaska: hunting caribou and bearded seals in the late winter, gathering bird eggs and wild greens from the tundra in early spring, and fishing the salmon run in the late summer.The Inupiat community of 350 people lives on one of the state's most productive and biodiverse fisheries, an inlet of the Bering Sea called the Norton Sound. They refer to their land as Munaaquestevut, or the one who cares for us". Continue reading...

As the climate heats up, Grenada's beaches have become swamped with rotting sargassum. But biotech can turn it into fuel, fertiliser and plastic

Every bee is precious, and as the weather gets more erratic I'm growing concerned about the effect it is having on their wellbeing

US Department of Agriculture calls in university to help study decline as Trump administration staff cuts stingHoneybee deaths have hit record highs in the US, with the unprecedented loss of colonies pushing many beekeepers close to ruin as scientists scramble to identify the main cause of the huge declines.Commercial beekeepers have reported losing more than 60% of their colonies, on average, over the winter, according to an ongoing Project Apis m. survey that covers more than two-thirds of America's managed bees.We're running our invertebrate of the year competition again! Between March 24 to April 2, we'll be profiling a shortlist of ten invertebrates which were chosen by readers and selected by our wildlife writers from over 2500 nominations. The voting will open at midday on Wednesday April 2 until midday Friday April 4, with the winner to be announced on Monday April 7. Continue reading...

Algae blooms can be a problem for marine life and people but it's not yet clear if warmer oceans and nutrient runoff are causing more of themConfronting images of dead seadragons, fish and octopuses washed up on South Australian beaches - and disturbing reports of more than 100" surfers and beachgoers experiencing flu-like symptoms after swimming or merely breathing in sea spray - attracted international concern last week.Speculation about the likely cause ranged from pollution and algae to unusual bacterial infections or viruses. We can reveal the culprit was a tiny - but harmful - type of planktonic algae called Karenia mikimotoi. Continue reading...

From our broken environmental laws to the role of gas, there are some big questions that remain unanswered by both major parties

Downing Street says PM focusing on bringing durable peace in Ukraine' after Steve Witkoff's commentsThere have been a lot of claims recently, in the rightwing papers and on social media, that the government is wasting a fortune on expensive cars for disabled people getting benefits, through the Motability scheme. Archie Bland has a very good explainer setting out how the scheme actually works, and showing why many of these allegations are false or misleading.The forthcoming plan to fix the NHS will see funds allocated to social care, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has suggested. PA Media reports:Streeting said spending NHS resources more effectively though social care" will be better for patients and deliver better value for taxpayers.At present, social care is most often paid for by councils, but thousands of people at any one time are stuck in NHS hospital beds even though they are fit to be discharged. Continue reading...

Exclusive: RSPB and National Trust among groups saying rhetoric from Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer at odds with public sentimentNature charities with a combined membership of about 8 million people are pressing the prime minister and chancellor to stop demonising wildlife and to urgently strengthen environmental protections in new planning laws.Organisations which are household names, such as the RSPB, the National Trust and the Wildlife Trusts, are calling on MPs to back amendments to the planning and infrastructure bill to end what they say is the scapegoating of nature for the failures of the planning system. They say the anti-nature rhetoric employed by Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer, who has labelled environmental objectors as blockers", is at odds with public sentiment. Continue reading...

This is my last column in this series. Farewell, all joys!'This morning I learned the word limn". It looked at first like a typo, and I almost ignored it. But I pressed on the letters on my phone, which caused its meaning to pop up in a little box, like a window appearing in a wall. To limn is to depict or describe in painting or words".I was drinking cold coffee in my kitchen, and preparing to write this column - my last. Because I knew that I would do the swan, a large, long-necked water bird had started gliding around my mind, so it seemed clear that the word limn looks like a swan: the tall l with the tiny flick of a dipped head, and the letters after.I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,

A carbon crime or bright new future? For nearly four years, a fierce debate raged over demolishing the site's high-rise flatsFor nearly four years, a fierce debate raged over the future of the Wyndford estate in Glasgow, dividing residents and sparking wider national controversy. Was the demolition of its high-rises an environmental travesty or the first step toward much-needed regeneration?The dispute began in November 2021, days after the city hosted the UN climate conference Cop26, at which politicians and businesses promised to curb wasteful building destruction. Yet residents of Wyndford soon found leaflets on their doorsteps heralding a bright new dawn" - one that involved the demolition of all four high-rise blocks on the estate. The decision set off years of protests, legal challenges and community divisions.The four high-rise blocks of the Wyndford estate one week before demolition. Three blocks were demolished by controlled explosion on 23 March - the block on the left will be brought down floor by floor because of its proximity to other homes on the estate Continue reading...

Handbook outlines practical ways faith organisations can speak truth to power' to help protect planetChristians around the world are being encouraged to take legal action against polluters and those who finance them.In a new climate justice handbook, the World Council of Churches sets out practical ways faith organisations can help protect young people and future generations from the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Twenty-three people hospitalised with fire ant stings amid an increase in reports of the highly invasive pest in south-east Queensland

Party's full caucus endorsed legislation on Monday morning after three meetings, meaning it can go before parliament this week

Energy expert Tony Wood says there is no evidence to support the policy pledge

Measures blocking companies involved in modern slavery from receiving public money could be overturnedMeasures that would have blocked companies found to have used forced labour in any part of the state-owned Great British Energy supply chain from receiving public money could be overturned this week.Labour MPs are being whipped on Tuesday to throw out the clause that was inserted into the energy bill in the House of Lords in February. Continue reading...

BYD, a Chinese carmaker once dismissed by Tesla's CEO, claims to have outpaced western rivals with charging tech that's as fast as filling petrol enginesTesla's boss, Elon Musk, once thought the idea that China's BYD could compete with his company was laughable. In 2011, he smugly dismissed the Chinese carmaker as unimpressive, its products unattractive and its technology not very strong". He's not laughing now - and not just because Tesla's stock has plummeted amid a boycott by motorists protesting against his embrace of far-right politics. More pressingly, Mr Musk, like other western carmakers, has been outpaced by BYD.Last week, the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer unveiled new charging technology that, it says, is capable of delivering 400km (249 miles) of driving range in just five minutes - as quick as filling up a petrol car. The system, released next month, will be fitted in two EVs, priced from 270,000 yuan (29,000) - comparable to Tesla's most affordable model in China. Yet BYD claims to quadruple Tesla's kilometres-per-minute charging rate. Technological supremacy at a competitive price may help to explain why BYD now sells seven times as many cars in China as Tesla. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Australia's top green organisations suspend anti-nuclear power ads to fund campaign against Labor's move to protect salmon industry

MPs claim during her 2022 party leadership campaign she promised them she was committed to green targetsKemi Badenoch has been accused of breaking a promise made to Tory MPs during her leadership campaign after abandoning the party's commitment to reaching net zero by 2050.Speaking to the Observer, Chris Skidmore, who served as a government minister between 2016 and 2020, said that Badenoch had made clear to a group of Tory MPs and other Conservatives at a leadership hustings in 2022, when she was seeking their votes in the race to replace Boris Johnson, that she backed the policy. Continue reading...

Australia's world heritage-listed reefs - Ningaloo on the west coast and the Great Barrier Reef on the east - are being hit by simultaneous coral bleaching, with teams of scientists on both coasts monitoring and tracking the event across thousands of kilometres of marine habitat. On Western Australia's Ningaloo reef, waters have accumulated the highest amount of heat stress on record during an extended marine heatwave that has hit coral reefs all the way along the state's vast coastline

Giant blobs along 5,000-mile-wide sargassum belt has killed animals, harmed human health and discouraged tourismScientists in Florida believe they have identified a tipping point" in atmospheric conditions in the Atlantic Ocean they say caused giant clumps of toxic seaweed to inundate beaches around the Caribbean in recent summers.Previous theories for the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt that has killed marine animals, harmed human health and plagued the tourism industry in several countries include a surfeit of nutrients in the water, such as nitrogen and phosphorus in runoff from intensive farming and carried into the ocean in the Congo, Amazon and Mississippi rivers. Continue reading...

Conservationists find critically endangered species thriving on Indian Ocean island of ArideRecord numbers of Wright's gardenia, one of the world's rarest and most fragrant trees, have been counted on the tiny tropical island of Aride in Seychelles.The only place in the world where the critically endangered tree occurs naturally is on the 72-hectare granite island in the Indian Ocean. The tree was once found on other, larger islands in the Seychelles archipelago but its sturdy wood was harvested for firewood, leading to its disappearance from everywhere except Aride. Continue reading...

PM's pledge to protect Tasmanian industry will weaken laws already failing to protect natural sites and at-risk species, environmentalists say

Bird of prey's violent reign in Flamstead could soon come to an end, according to parish councilIt stole two woolly hats from the head of a 91-year-old pensioner. It clawed a jogger's scalp and left him reeling. It is said to swoop in from behind without making a sound, has a penchant for tall men's heads and - so far - has evaded capture.But the violent reign of the Flamstead hawk, which has made men in the Hertfordshire village of Flamstead afraid to go out without covering their heads, may soon be at an end. Continue reading...

Low waste doesn't have to mean no fun - with a little creativity you can celebrate an occasion without hurting the planet

A new prize recognises the power of storytelling to address the biggest issue of our timeNo novelist should ignore the climate emergency, Paul Murray, author of the bestselling novel The Bee Sting, told the Observer last year: It is the unavoidable background for being alive in the 21st century." In recognition of the vital role of literature in responding to the Anthropocene moment, this week the inaugural shortlist was announced for the Climate Fiction prize.The five novels include Orbital by Samantha Harvey, set during one day on the International Space Station and the winner of last year's Booker prize; time-travelling romcom The Ministry of Time from debut novelist Kaliane Bradley; eco-thriller Briefly Very Beautiful by Roz Dineen; And So I Roar, about a young girl in Nigeria, by Abi Dare; and a story of migrants in an abandoned city in Tea Obreht's The Morningside. Allthe shortlisted authors are women.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Researchers spot orange Maori octopus clinging to back of large shark off coast of New Zealand in December 2023Footage of an octopus riding a shark has stunned scientists - and delighted marine animal enthusiasts.Researchers spotted the orange Maori octopus clinging to the back of a large shortfin mako shark in the Hauraki Gulf off the northern coast of New Zealand in December 2023. The University of Auckland research team was searching the ocean for feeding frenzies at the time. Continue reading...

As Trump pushes drill, baby, drill' agenda, Greenpeace verdict offers startling outlook for environmental activismA pipeline company's victory in court over Greenpeace, and the huge damages it now faces, will encourage other oil and gas companies to legally pursue environmental protesters at a time when Donald Trump's energy agenda is in ascendancy, experts have warned.On Wednesday a North Dakota jury ruled that three Greenpeace entities collectively must pay Energy Transfer, which was co-founded by a prominent Trump donor, more than $660m, deciding that the organizations were liable for defamation and other claims after a five-week trial in Mandan, near where the Dakota Access pipeline protests occurred in 2016 and 2017. Continue reading...

Campaigners condemn North Dakota jury's ruling as Greenpeace must pay Energy Transfer at least $660m

An investigation found thousands of white bags near Monterrey, but aerial footage shows a bigger problem

Broadcaster and nature campaigner claims Labour's attack on wildlife in push for economic growth is PR disaster'Bats are being scapegoated" by Rachel Reeves, Chris Packham has said, after the chancellor suggested the winged creatures were getting in the way of economic growth.Reeves recently said she wanted businesses to focus on getting things built, and stop worrying about the bats and the newts", and this week the press release announcing her shake-up of all the UK's regulators mentioned bats six times. A very niche directive to Natural England, the nature watchdog, to take advice from the Bat Conservation Trust out of a planning document, became the linchpin of Reeves's deregulation plan. Continue reading...

Campaigners welcome long-delayed proposals to reduce pesticide-related harms to pollinatorsThe use of pesticides on UK farms is to be reduced by 10% by 2030 under government plans to protect bees and other pollinators.Campaigners welcomed the news, but said they were disappointed that the target applied only to arable farms and not to urban areas and parks. Continue reading...

The pumping of sewage into rivers and seas has become a scandal in Britain. Photographer Dylan Martinez has spent years travelling around the country to capture the story of its broken sewage system.In England, water companies discharged sewage for 3.6m hours in 2023, polluting streams, rivers and coastlines, littering them with sanitary products and condoms, damaging ecosystems and habitats, and scaring away tourists. Continue reading...

Water companies let waste disposers, for cash, dump their loads into sewage farms. When it is recklessly used as fertiliser, we are all at riskIf humanity has an epitaph, it might read something like this: Knackered by the things we missed." It is true that several existential threats are widely known and widely discussed. But some of the greatest dangers we face appear on almost no one's radar.How often have you thought about this one: spreading sewage sludge on farmland? I would guess very few would include it in their top civilisational hazards. Despite the best efforts of a handful of us, it trundles on, unknown to most. Surprising as it may seem, new research suggests that it could help call time on us.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Kangaroos and wallabies are the only hopping species heavier than 5kg, and the small musky rat-kangaroo might help us learn why

Hilo office, with scientists and their volcano-monitoring equipment, may have lease cancelled from Doge cutsAs Hawaii's most active volcano shot out fountains of lava on Thursday, some of them reaching as high as 700ft, scientists from the US Geological Survey have been posting regular updates on the scale and pace of the eruptions.But those same scientists, along with their volcano-monitoring equipment, may soon be evicted from their office because of Elon Musk's federal government cost-cutting, the Honolulu Civil Beat reported. Continue reading...

Unesco report highlights unprecedented' glacier loss driven by climate crisis, threatening ecosystems, agriculture and water sourcesRetreating glaciers threaten the food and water supply of 2 billion people around the world, the UN has warned, as current unprecedented" rates of melting will have unpredictable consequences.Two-thirds of all irrigated agriculture in the world is likely to be affected in some way by receding glaciers and dwindling snowfall in mountain regions, driven by the climate crisis, according to a Unesco report. Continue reading...

Amendment brought by coalition of parties says wolves add to food waste due to remains of livestock they killThe Spanish parliament has voted through a measure that will in effect lift the hunting ban on wolves that was imposed in 2021.A coalition led by the conservative People's party, with the support of the far-right Vox party and Basque and Catalan nationalists, added an amendment to a law aimed at reducing Spain's estimated 1.2bn kilograms of food waste. Continue reading...

Thousands of acres of rainforest is being cleared to produce palm oil, used in popular Nestle and Mondelz brandsWest Papua's Indigenous people have called for a boycott of KitKat, Smarties and Aero chocolate, Oreo biscuits and Ritz crackers, and the cosmetics brands Pantene and Herbal Essences, over alleged ecocide in their territory.All are products that contain palm oil and are made, say the campaigners, by companies that source the ingredient directly from West Papua, which has been under Indonesian control since 1963 and where thousands of acres of rainforest are being cleared for agriculture. Continue reading...

A consortium of Black farmers in the north-east take financial hits as harsh USDA cuts threaten their operationsFor the last several weeks, Jocelyn Germany has been asking herself is it safe for us to exist" as Black farmers?, since US Department of Agriculture cuts have put her work in jeopardy.Germany is the farmer advocate of Farm School NYC (FSNYC), an urban agriculture education center focused on food sovereignty and social, economic and racial justice. About 85% of Farm School NYC's funding comes from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Continue reading...

Exclusive: Representatives of king, National Trust and others called on to work together to protect environment

Conservationists voice concern that the Ontario theme park will struggle to find suitable homes for its animalsCanada's embattled Marineland theme park is to raise money to expeditiously" remove animals from its grounds, including the world's largest captive beluga population, as it looks for a buyer. But a lack of available sanctuaries in the country suggests finding a home for stranded whales, dolphins and pinnipeds will be a daunting task.In February, the park won approval to divide its sprawling property so it can take out mortgages on separate parcels, with the aim of using the funds to keep the park operating and to move the animals. In documents filed to the city of Niagara, Marineland said the financing it had secured requires the owner to remove the marine animals from the property expeditiously". Continue reading...

The contagious, fatal illness in deer, elk and moose must be taken seriously, say experts as it takes hold in the US and reaches other countries. While it has not infected humans yet, the risk is growingIn a scattershot pattern that now extends from coast to coast, continental US states have been announcing new hotspots of chronic wasting disease (CWD).The contagious and always-fatal neurodegenerative disorder infects the cervid family that includes deer, elk, moose and, in higher latitudes, reindeer. There is no vaccine or treatment. Continue reading...

Experts warn new memo could deter families from accessing food assistance, despite no changes to eligibility rulesThe Trump administration is now using popular anti-hunger programs, including food assistance and school lunch, as part of its attack against immigrants in the US - a move many say will prevent large numbers of families, especially children, from getting the food benefits they're eligible for.In a recent memo, agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins told senior staff at the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS): It is essential to use all available legal authority to end any incentives in FNS benefit programs that encourage illegal immigration." Continue reading...

As droughts become more prevalent, corporate control over our drinking water is threatening the health of water sources and the access people have to them. Josh Toussaint-Strauss explores how foreign multinational companies are extracting billions of litres of water from natural aquifers to sell back to the same communities from which it came - for huge profits

The ancient Mediterranean city is at risk as sea levels rise. But most people in the vulnerable fishing village of El Max believe it will always weather the storms of timeOn a sunny January morning in El Max, west of Egypt's second city, Alexandria, where a canal meets the Mediterranean Sea, Ahmed Gaz is untangling his fishing net on the beach after landing his catch at dawn.Like almost everyone in the neighbourhood, Gaz was born and raised by the water, destined to fish for a living: My whole life is in the sea. My life, my work and my livelihood." Continue reading...