Environment | The Guardian

After Met Office warning, we explain hard to predict phenomenon that could cause risk to life

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a patient great tit, a hungry lemur, and a lucky escape for one humpback whale Continue reading...

A comprehensive study confirms that oil companies are largely all talk and no action when it comes to clean energy initiativesThis week a peer-reviewed study confirmed what many have suspected for years: major oil companies are not fully backing up their clean energy talk with action. Now the PR and advertising firms that have been creating the industry’s greenwashing strategies for decades face a reckoning over whether they will continue serving big oil.The study compared the rhetoric and actions on climate and clean energy from 2009 to 2020 from the world’s four largest oil companies – ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP. Writing in the journal Plos One, researchers from Tohoku University and Kyoto University in Japan conclude that the companies are not, in fact, transitioning their business models to clean energy. Continue reading...

Taskforce will ‘listen to local people’s concerns’, as government plans to release more than 1m tonnesA UN nuclear taskforce has promised to prioritise safety as it launches a review of controversial plans by Japan to release more than 1m tonnes of contaminated water into the ocean from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.Japan’s government announced last April that it had decided to release the water over several decades into the Pacific Ocean, despite strong opposition from local fishers and neighbouring China and South Korea. Continue reading...

As Australia’s largest coal-fired plant announces an early closure, groups say government intervention in market ‘undermines confidence’

Exclusive: Dens being installed on east coast and A9 after predator’s return was found to reduce numbers of greysPine martens are to be deployed as wildlife bouncers along the east coast of Scotland and the A9 corridor to halt the northward march of grey squirrels.More than 35 artificial pine marten dens are being installed by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) at strategic locations on the grey squirrels’ path of northward migration in an attempt to save the Highland red squirrel populations. Continue reading...

UN warns of looming catastrophe as hundreds of thousands more arrive at settlements that do not have enough food or waterSomalia’s displacement camps are coming under intense pressure with more than 300,000 people leaving their homes in search of food and water so far this year as the country experiences its worst drought in decades.People have been walking miles to camps, already home to those escaping the country’s protracted violence, after three consecutive failed rainy seasons since October 2020 that have decimated crops and livestock. Somalia has more than 2,400 such settlements, which already lack resources. Continue reading...

Police and surf lifesavers searching Little Bay for further human remains after swimmer killed in first fatal shark attack in Sydney since 1963

Harmful levels of toxic lead were found in bones of 46% of bald eagles sampled in 38 states from California to Florida, study findsAmerica’s national bird is more beleaguered than previously believed, with nearly half of bald eagles tested across the US showing signs of chronic lead exposure, according to a study published Thursday.While the bald eagle population has rebounded from the brink of extinction since the US banned the pesticide DDT in 1972, harmful levels of toxic lead were found in the bones of 46% of bald eagles sampled in 38 states from California to Florida, researchers reported in the journal Science. Continue reading...

The conflict is the latest highlighting key debates on affordable housing and education equality in the stateThe University of California, Berkeley may have to slash its new admissions by about one-third after a neighborhood group in the hilly Bay Area city challenged the environmental impact of the top college’s expansion plan.The university is asking California’s supreme court to intervene after the local group, called Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods, successfully argued the university was violating a major environmental law by failing to account for increases in the trash, traffic and noise that increased enrollment and new construction would bring. Continue reading...

Colin Burke on when thick curtains won’t suffice, Phil Ebbrell on the problems of external insulation and David Symington on the joys of an air-source heat pumpWhile welcoming the Royal Institute of British Architects’ call for the insulation of 3.3m interwar houses (Report, 11 February), I am reflecting on the refusal of local planning officers to agree to effective measures to reduce the carbon footprint of my “interwar” property, although in this case the wars involved were the Seven Years and Napoleonic wars. There are over 370,000 listed buildings in the UK, listed not by worth but by age. Despite my repeated efforts to replace old and inefficient sash windows with almost identical but double-glazed ones, planners refuse to contemplate such works, recommending instead that thick curtains should suffice.Having already fitted such drapes, I am reluctant to keep them drawn for 24 hours a day, so would call upon Riba to include listed homes to its worthy campaign.

Even if the optimists are right and the picture is brighter than the ONS suggests, there’s still a long way to goThe government has big plans for the green economy. There are targets galore: 2m skilled jobs by 2030, sale of petrol and diesel cars to be phased out by 2035, a net zero carbon economy by 2050.Having been the birthplace of the first industrial revolution in the 18th century, the idea is that the UK can again lead the way in the next phase of technological development. There is a 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution as a statement of intent. Continue reading...

Mayor joined by Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, whose daughter’s death was linked to pollution, at clean air summitAir pollution is a social justice issue, the mayor of London has said, as he convened a summit of regional and national health leaders to tackle toxic emissions that are damaging the health of Londoners.“For me the issue is very simple: it’s one of social justice,” Sadiq Khan said, opening the meeting at the Royal College of Physicians in London. “It’s the poorest people, least likely to own a car, least likely to cause the toxic air problems, who are most likely to suffer the consequences.” Continue reading...

Office for National Statistics finds ‘no significant change’ in turnover and jobs in low-carbon and renewable energy sectorThe UK’s low-carbon and renewable energy economy has failed to grow since 2014, according to official data showing a fall in the number of green jobs.In a blow to the government’s pledge to boost net-zero employment opportunities, the Office for National Statistics said its latest figures, covering 2020, showed “no significant change” in turnover and job numbers in the sector compared with six years earlier. Continue reading...

Scientists plan a vast global store of aquatic noises to help monitor marine life, identify species – and even uncover regional dialectsFrom the “boing” of a minke whale to the “drum” of a red piranha, scientists are documenting more sounds in our world’s oceans, rivers and lakes every year. Now, a team of experts wants to go a step further and create a reference library of aquatic noise to monitor the health of marine ecosystems.The Global Library of Underwater Biological Sounds, “Glubs”, will include every “thwop”, “muah” and “boop” of a humpback whale as well as human-made underwater sounds and records of the geophysical swirl of ice and wind, according to a paper in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Continue reading...

Further links emerge between Craig Mackinlay’s Net Zero Scrutiny Group and Global Warming Policy FoundationA Tory MP who leads a group which campaigns against the government’s net zero measures has recruited two members of staff from a controversial organisation that questions climate science.After the Guardian revealed links between members of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, run by the MP Craig Mackinlay, and the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), further ties between the two organisations have been found. Continue reading...

New alliance from 14 nations pledges to fight latest EU curbs on ‘indefensible’ practice of scooping up fish from the sea floorAn EU action plan to deal with fishing practices that trawl the ocean floor is set to trigger a row between conservationists and a new industry alliance that says it is fighting for Europe’s culture and identity.About 32% of Europe’s fish are caught by industrial fishing vessels that rake the sea floor with enormous nets in a process called bottom trawling. Studies indicate that these nets can suck up to 41% of all invertebrate life from the sea floor and cause grave damage to marine environments such as cold water coral reefs and seagrass beds. Continue reading...

Walkers and horse riders had been given until 1 January 2026 to apply to save unmapped rights of way through private landCampaigners are celebrating a victory in the battle for public access to the countryside, after the government agreed to cancel a deadline to register forgotten footpaths.Walkers and horse riders had been given until 1 January 2026 to apply to save any rights of way through private land that existed before 1949 but did not appear on official maps, after which they would lose the opportunity to add them to maps. Continue reading...

Government-financed support in sectors including agriculture, fossil fuels and water is incentivising the annihilation of the natural world. But reforming the system is politically fraught

Research prompts warnings humanity is ‘financing its own extinction’ through subsidies damaging to the climate and wildlife

Origin Energy says the 2,880MW black-coal generator in NSW is not well-suited to rapidly changing conditions in the national electricity market

Grattan Institute energy experts say News Corp’s eye-watering figures on the projected costs and job losses of an improbable moratorium are ‘inflated’

Most comprehensive scientific analysis to date finds words are not matched by actionsAccusations of greenwashing against major oil companies that claim to be in transition to clean energy are well-founded, according to the most comprehensive study to date.The research, published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, examined the records of ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP, which together are responsible for more than 10% of global carbon emissions since 1965. The researchers analysed data over the 12 years up to 2020 and concluded the company claims do not align with their actions, which include increasing rather than decreasing exploration. Continue reading...

EPA analysis paints grim picture for ecosystems under increasing threat from habitat destruction, invasive species and climate crisis

Campaigners say Tory MP for Wycombe is trying to ‘wreck’ government plans for environmentConstituents of Steve Baker MP who are concerned about his environmental position have set up a “Steve Baker Watch” group and are launching a crowdfunding page to raise money. The constituents in Baker’s constituency of Wycombe in the rolling Chiltern Hills believe that Baker is trying to “wreck the government plans to improve the environment”.Baker, who as chair of the European Research Group was instrumental in pressing for a hard Brexit, helped set up the Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG), which has close links to the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a lobbyist group that has been accused of denying climate science. Continue reading...

Novel legal strategy argues that top schools including Princeton and Vanderbilt are legally obliged to put the public interest firstStudents at five leading universities have filed legal complaints accusing their colleges of breaking a little-known law by investing in the fossil fuel companies responsible for the climate emergency.The students from Yale, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and Vanderbilt wrote to the attorneys general of their respective states on Wednesday asking authorities to investigate breaches of the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, which requires universities to invest in a manner consistent with their “charitable purposes”. Continue reading...

New South Wales police say they ‘located human remains in the water’ after being called to south-eastern suburbs beach on Wednesday afternoon

Seas rising faster around the US than global average will cause ‘dramatic increase’ in number of people vulnerable to floodingAmerica’s vast coastline is being assailed by rapidly encroaching oceans, with up to 1ft of sea level rise expected in the next 30 years – an increase that equals the total rise seen over the past century, a major US federal government report has found.The seas are rising significantly faster around the US than the global average, a situation that will cause a “dramatic increase” in the number of Americans, already numbering tens of millions, vulnerable to disastrous flooding, the analysis warns. Continue reading...

Decision to grant Fortune Agribusiness licence to extract 40,000 megalitres a year ‘unconscionable’, Central Land Council says

Exclusive: conservationists urge caution as documents show government considering decision-making workaround after bill blocked in Senate

West Dorset MP Chris Loder caused outrage when he seemed to imply police should not prioritise eagle deathA Conservative MP who said eagles are not welcome in his constituency had his election campaign funded by a shooting estate, the Guardian can reveal.The West Dorset MP, Chris Loder, caused outrage when he seemed to imply police should not be prioritising the investigation of the recent death of an endangered white-tailed eagle, found dead on an estate in his constituency. Continue reading...

Human-caused climate change significant driver of destructive conditions as even drier decades lie ahead, researchers sayThe American west has spent the last two decades in what scientists are now saying is the most extreme megadrought in at least 1,200 years. In a new study, published on Monday, researchers also noted that human-caused climate change is a significant driver of the destructive conditions and offered a grim prognosis: even drier decades lie ahead.“Anyone who has been paying attention knows that the west has been dry for most of the last couple decades,” says Park Williams, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles and the study’s lead author. “We now know from these studies that is dry not only from the context of recent memory but in the context of the last millennium.” Continue reading...

Revised government data estimates a lower proportion of pollution comes from wood stoves but they remain a ‘major contributor’Wood burning in homes produces more small particle pollution than all road traffic in the UK, according to revised government data.The new data significantly cuts the estimated proportion of small particle pollution that comes from wood burners from 38% to 17%. But wood burning pollution remains a “major contributor” to particle pollution, another government report said. Road transport is responsible for 13% of particle pollution. Continue reading...

Warning from experts comes as government is under pressure to approve new works amid energy crisisNew oil and gas licences for the North Sea are incompatible with the UK’s international climate commitments and the Paris climate agreement, analysts have said.The government is considering licences for new oil and gas fields in the North Sea, under pressure from backbench MPs and media commentators, who claim new fossil fuel development is needed to reduce energy bills. Continue reading...

A report, shared exclusively with the Guardian, provides a snapshot of industry’s involvement in some of the country’s most controversial fossil fuel investmentsAmerican private equity tycoons are profiteering from the global climate crisis by investing in fossil fuels that are driving greenhouse gas emissions, a new investigation reveals.Oil and gas pipelines, coal plants and offshore drilling sites linked to Indigenous land violations, toxic leaks and deadly air pollution are among the dirty energy projects financed by some of the country’s largest private equity firms, according to an investigation by the corporate accountability non-profits LittleSis and the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (Pesp).The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, owns dozens of oil and gas companies including a stake in NGP Energy Capital, which boasts its own major portfolio mostly focused on fracking and drilling in states like Texas, Wyoming and Colorado. Carlyle, which recently announced a target of net zero emissions by 2050, also partners with Hilcorp Energy – a major methane emitter with a track record of offshore spills in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico – on at least $4bn in equity and debt deals. (Methane is more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, and accounts for about a quarter of today’s global heating.)Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) has a controlling stake in the Coastal Gaslink pipeline in Canada, a 400-mile multibillion-dollar infrastructure project through unceded Indigenous territories that will transport fracked gas to a Pacific coast port for export to Asia. Police have deployed to evict protests and blockades organised by the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. Co-founder Henry Kravis is a major Republican donor, donating $1m to Trump’s 2017 inauguration fund. Continue reading...

Fuel prices are already at record levels in Australia and set to rise further as oil nears US$100 a barrel mark on Ukraine worries

No such thing as time | Cushioning the blow | Out for the count | Reclaiming San Serriffe | Marine disasterPeople seem to be getting excited, again, about nuclear fusion (The power of stars to meet our energy needs? This is something to be excited about, 13 February). Given that for the past 60 years, fusion has always been 20 years in the future, is this an experiment to prove that time doesn’t exist in modern physics?

Social impact of Italy’s 50% energy price rise is evident in city where 27.6% of the population is over 65Florence residents are being asked to pay the utility bills of elderly people living alone and struggling to make ends meet as the city’s leaders seek to shield the most vulnerable from soaring energy costs.The “adopt a bill” initiative begins in the next few days and comes as the social implications of a more than 50% hike in gas and electricity bills in Italy this winter start to manifest. Continue reading...

Dramatic spread of native plants over past decade is evidence of accelerating shifts in fragile polar ecosystem, study findsAntarctica’s two native flowering plants are spreading rapidly as temperatures warm, according to the first study to show changes in fragile polar ecosystems have accelerated in the past decade.The increase in plants since 2009 has been greater than the previous 50 years combined, coinciding with rapidly rising air temperatures and a reduction in the number of fur seals, according to researchers working on Signy Island in the South Orkney Islands. Continue reading...

Just Stop Oil campaign to target petrol stations, fuel depots and refineries to demand end to fossil fuel investmentActivists fronting a new campaign masterminded by Roger Hallam, the strategist behind Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, have said they are now preparing to move beyond protest and “into civil resistance”.Two young supporters of Just Stop Oil went to Downing Street on Monday morning, where they delivered an ultimatum to ministers calling for an immediate end to new fossil fuel investments. Continue reading...

Climate experts fear attacks falsely linking net zero to energy price rises are undermining UK emissions targetsSenior figures in climate diplomacy, including the key architect of the Paris climate agreement, have urged the UK government to maintain its commitments to climate action, amid escalating attacks intended to generate a “culture war” on the net zero target.Laurence Tubiana, the French diplomat who crafted the 2015 Paris agreement, now chief executive of the European Climate Foundation, said: “We are not happy, and we are crossing our fingers [that the UK will reaffirm its net zero commitment]. It’s very important that the UK keeps this direction of travel.” Continue reading...

A group of sea life enthusiasts is documenting a wealth of species thriving in the shadow of India’s most populous city, from glowing coral to octopusesA hidden forest of algae sponges and hydroids photographed at low tide; a stunning night image of green button polyps under ultraviolet light; and a beautiful shot of a honeycomb moray eel stuck on a ledge on a rocky shore. Mumbai may be a bustling metropolis, but photographer Sarang Naik’s aesthetic and vibrant images of marine life show a different side of the city.When Naik first started exploring the coast of urban Mumbai, India’s financial capital and home to Bollywood stars, he was astounded by the diversity of creatures that he came across – from hermit crabs, barnacles and a baby octopus to zoanthids (colourful disc-shaped relatives of coral) and prickly sea urchins. The intertidal zone or foreshore – where the land is exposed at low tide and is under water at high tide – is home to diverse marine life over different terrains, from mudflats to beaches and mangroves.Clockwise from top: a honeycomb moray eel stranded at low tide at Breach Candy; a nudibranch sea slug on coralline algae; zoanthids glowing in UV Light at Malabar Hill rocky shore; squid babies inside an egg mass; an Elysia sea slug feeding on algae in a tide pool Continue reading...

Whitehaven Coal’s underground expansion has been backed by New South Wales government

Warmer weather due to climate crisis puts animals such as guinea pigs, cats and rabbits in dangerDogs are not the only pets vulnerable to heatstroke, and experts are saying that people should be aware of the risk to smaller animals such as guinea pigs and rabbits, especially as global temperatures rise.A study suggests that as well as man’s best friend, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits and ferrets are also being taken to vets with the condition. Continue reading...

Investments to drill new oil wells and tap gas reserves were made within a year of signing upEurope’s biggest banks led by HSBC, Barclays and BNP Paribas have provided £24bn to oil and gas companies that are expanding production less than a year since pledging to target net zero carbon emissions, data shows.Investments to drill new oil wells and tap fresh gas reserves, backed by funds from major banks, appear to contradict commitments to international agreements and undermine efforts to accelerate the switch to renewable energy sources, the report said. Continue reading...

Female was receiving intensive care for multiple health issues but died early Friday morning, and a male beluga died in AugustThe second of five whales brought from Canada to Connecticut’s Mystic aquarium last year for research purposes has died.The aquarium announced on its website that the female had been receiving intensive care for the past several months for multiple health issues but died early Friday morning. A necropsy was to be performed to determine the cause of death. Continue reading...

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said move was part of efforts to recalibrate the oil-led economySaudi Arabia has transferred shares worth $80bn to its sovereign wealth fund as the oil-rich nation hopes to rival Norway and Singapore’s state-managed funds and invest in green projects.Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, said 4% of shares in Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil exporter, would be transferred to the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund as part of efforts to recalibrate the oil-dominated economy. Continue reading...

The Australian company also claims coal can be burned with ‘zero emissions’ via CCS which remains largely ineffective and unproven

Letter in favour of shale gas extraction is another indication of party battle over environmental issuesThe former Brexit minister David Frost has joined Conservative MPs in writing an open letter to Boris Johnson calling for a resumption of fracking in the UK, in another indication of the ongoing battle within the party over environmental issues.Lord Frost argued that extracting domestic shale gas would give the UK a “competitive and reliable source of energy”. But Zac Goldsmith, a key green voice in the government, said it would not reduce energy prices and would put ministers at “war with furious communities”. Continue reading...

Griffith Park’s famous feline – who evades sightings better than any movie star – has inspired murals, songs and even an exhibit on his lifeThe mountain lion known as P22 has become something of a celebrity in the city of Los Angeles. The big cat resides in Griffith Park, a 4,000-acre park tucked in the Hollywood hills, and has inspired murals, songs and even an exhibit about his life.This February marks 10 years since scientists first found P22 while setting up camera traps in the area. His discovery was considered jaw-dropping, and scientists say that P22 has come to symbolize something uniquely LA, a city where wild landscapes rub shoulders with dense urbanism. Continue reading...