Right to camp in park without permission was lost last week after court challenge by wealthy landownerDartmoor landowners will be paid for allowing wild camping on their land under a new agreement with the national park.Last week, the right to wild camp in the park without permission from the landowner was lost after a wealthy landowner took the park authority to court. Dartmoor was the last place in England or Wales where there was a right to wild camp. Continue reading...

Campaigners say long delay is adding to pollution and not including glass will break manifesto pledge

What seeks to be comprehensive review actually contains huge gaps and is devastating assessment of Tories’ failuresChris Skidmore, the head of the government’s net zero review, said he aimed to provide a comprehensive assessment of the UK’s net zero ambitions. The 323-page net zero review covers the whole of the UK’s economy, as well as the impacts on individuals and communities. Continue reading...

The state’s EPA is unveiling what it calls Australia’s ‘most comprehensive plan’ to cut carbon emissions

Greta Thunberg joined a panel of climate activists in Davos to debate the environmental crisis with the executive director of the International Energy Agency. To open the discussion, Thunberg told the audience it is 'absurd' that in Davos 'we are listening to the people who are mainly causing the climate crisis, rather than those on the frontline'. She explained: 'We are being bombarded by messages by these people, those responsible for the destruction of the planet.' Thursday is the penultimate day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

A high-tech micro-dairy called Floating Farm in Rotterdam is helping rethink agriculture in the age of climate crisisSamuel L Jackson can have his snakes on a plane. Peter and Minke van Wingerden have concocted something even wilder: a herd of cows floating on the sea.The Dutch husband-and-wife team’s experiment on sustainable agriculture, a hi-tech micro-dairy called Floating Farm, can be found bobbing in the port of Rotterdam. The modernist structure houses 40 Maas-Rijn-Ijssel cows, who collectively produce some 200 gallons (757 liters) of milk per day. In addition to helping nourish the local community, the waterborne farm is playing a part in the global conversation about how the climate crisis is pushing farmers to reconsider how – and where – they produce food. Continue reading...

UK government’s piecemeal response to harmful practice attacked as too slow to stop ‘industrial fishing frenzy’The UK government has proposed “feeble” new restrictions on harmful bottom trawling within 13 marine parks in England that would only actually ban it in three, campaigners say.Under the proposals put forward by Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, three out of the 13 marine protected areas (MPAs) would introduce whole-site bans on the environmentally destructive practice of bottom trawling. The other 10 would introduce partial bans in certain areas, mostly reefs and rocks where trawling is unlikely to occur anyway. England has 40 offshore marine protected areas in total. Continue reading...

Exclusive: number of motor vehicles in 46 low-traffic neighbourhoods studied also significantly reducedLow-traffic neighbourhoods significantly reduce the amount of motor vehicles within their boundaries without appearing to push traffic on to roads around their edges, the most comprehensive study yet of such schemes in the UK has concluded.The research, which was based on traffic count data before and after the installation of 46 so-called LTNs in London, found a reduction in motor traffic within the zones of 32.7% when measured as the median, and a 46.9% drop when calculated as the mean. Continue reading...

‘Subvertisers’ hijack 400 posters in Belgium, France, Germany and the UK to satirise what they claim are misleading ads by carmakersGuerrilla “subvertisers” have taken aim at BMW and Toyota with a campaign of spoof adverts that they say reveals the truth behind the carmakers’ claims to be going green.As the European Motor Show opened its doors in Brussels for its 100th anniversary over the weekend, climate activists hijacked more than 400 advertising billboards and bus stops in Belgium, France, Germany and England, calling out the companies. Continue reading...

Offshore regulator directs company to mitigate risks as Greens call for stronger laws ‘to govern the decommissioning of these toxic facilities’

Activists spraypaint logo on masterpiece and one glues her hand to gallery wall to protest desecration of Burrup peninsula rock art

Miners to be required to set aside up to 10% of production for domestic users, Matt Kean says

Plan unveiled at Davos to find fair limits on impact of climate and other crises, which most affect poorer countriesCountries, companies and cities need to establish environmental justice targets to counter the impact of the climate and other crises on global inequality, according to the authors of the most comprehensive study of the issue to date.From floods in Pakistan to air pollution in India, the Earth Commission researchers say the poorest parts of the world are being disproportionately harmed by environmental problems, which is adding to global injustice and threatening social stability. Continue reading...

Protest held over levelling up secretary’s decision to approve new coalmine in Cumbria

Study shows ‘disastrous consequences for wildlife’ if human-caused emissions push global temperatures up 4.4CMore than 40% of land vertebrates will be threatened by extreme heat by the end of the century under a high emissions scenario, with freak temperatures once regarded as rare likely to become the norm, new research warns.Reptiles, birds, amphibians and mammals are being exposed to extreme heat events of increasing frequency, duration and intensity, as a result of human-driven global heating. This poses a substantial threat to the planet’s biodiversity, a new study warns. Continue reading...

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, accused big oil companies of peddling 'the big lie', calling for them to be held accountable. 'Today fossil fuel producers and their enablers are still racing to expand production knowing full well that this business model is inconsistent with human survival,' he said.Guterres said the world was 'flirting with disaster', warning that global temperature pledges were at risk of being breached. 'The commitment to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees is nearly going up in smoke. Without further action we are headed to a 2.8-degree increase'

Climate-induced extreme weather has damaged people and communities as much as buildings and land, researchers say

Carbon offsets can help achieve emissions goals, some experts argue, while others say they are actively dangerous

The Guardian visits the Peruvian Amazon as part of a continuing investigation into forest-based carbon offsetting

Carbon credits and offsets do not have a great record but the funds they raise are a vital part in fight against deforestation

Former ministers say PM risks counter-rebellion over planning, environment and online safety amendments

Criticism at Davos for big companies that, ‘like the tobacco industry’, ride roughshod over their own scienceThe head of the United Nations has accused the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies of refusing to abandon a business model at odds with human survival despite knowingly putting the world on course for a climate meltdown decades ago.Speaking at the Davos summit of business and political leaders, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, launched a strong attack on the world’s leading oil companies, many of which are represented at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting at the Swiss resort. Continue reading...

I recently moved from a gas stove to an induction range, and I love it. Other Americans probably will, tooOf all the political issues I assumed would come to the fore in 2023, gas stoves were not on my bingo card. And yet Americans’ right to cook on an open gas flame has turned into a red-hot culture war issue. Conservatives are gearing up for a War of the Cooktops – and unfortunately, some Democrats aren’t helping.Some five decades’ worth of studies have found that gas stoves are hazardous to human health, with a recent one suggesting that gas stoves in US homes may be to blame for nearly 13% of childhood asthma cases. Gas stoves are bad for the environment, too, powered as they are by fossil fuels. Continue reading...

Scientists say yields from crops fertilised with recycled human waste rival those produced by organic methodsUsing fertilisers derived from human faeces and urine can be as productive as conventional organic ones, with no risk of transmitting disease, according to new research.It may seem unappetising, but humans have been using human waste as a fertiliser for thousands of years because it contains the key nutrients that plants need to grow, including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Ploughing human excrement – conventionally flushed down our toilets and into the sewage system – back into the soil creates a more sustainable farming system without significant drops in yield, the researchers found. Continue reading...

Automatic warning system activated to issue flood alerts during industrial action by staff on WednesdayFlood-prone areas in England will be relying on automated back-up systems for flood alerts and warnings on Wednesday, as Environment Agency (EA) workers strike over pay.Systems that would normally be monitored by experienced staff, some of whom have been left relying on food banks as a result of the cost of living crisis, will be put on autopilot during the industrial action, after weeks of working to rule failed to bring the government to the negotiating table. Continue reading...

High court in Japan agreed defendants could not have predicted the massive tsunami that crippled the power plant and triggered a nuclear meltdownThree former executives from the company that operates the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have had their not-guilty verdicts upheld by a court in Japan, dealing a blow to campaigners demanding the firm take legal responsibility for the disaster in March 2011.The Tokyo high court on Wednesday cleared Tsunehisa Katsumata, the former chairman of Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), along with former vice-presidents Ichiro Takekuro and Sakae Muto, of professional negligence resulting in death. Continue reading...

Study also says eating one serving of fish with PFAS could be equivalent to drinking contaminated water every day for a monthWild caught, freshwater fish in the United States are far more contaminated with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” than those commercially caught in oceans, and the highest levels are found in fish from the Great Lakes, a new analysis of federal data suggests.The peer-reviewed study by public health advocate Environmental Working Group (EWG) also found eating one serving of US freshwater fish contaminated with median PFAS levels could be equivalent to drinking highly contaminated water every day for a month. Continue reading...

Visitors urged to stay away from Myora Springs on Minjerribah, also known as North Stradbroke Island

Researchers use thermal vision to unpack how the spiny monotremes tolerate the searing Australian heat

Exclusive: Sales of Chinese-made vehicles increased 61% in 2022 with one industry expert saying companies are ‘innovating faster’

Ricardo Arturo Lagunes Gasca and Antonio Díaz Valencia’s bullet hole-riddled vehicle was found after an anti-mining meetingFears are mounting for the safety of two missing Mexican land rights activists after their vehicle was found ridden with bullet holes.Ricardo Arturo Lagunes Gasca, a human rights lawyer and environmentalist and Antonio Díaz Valencia, leader of the Aquila Indigenous community in Michoacán, were last seen on Sunday evening travelling toward the neighbouring state of Colima after attending an anti-mining community meeting. Continue reading...

Thunberg was held at the Garzweiler 2 mine near the village of Lützerath, but released after an identity checkGreta Thunberg was among climate activists detained during a protest against the demolition of a German village to make way for a coalmine.Thunberg was detained after sitting near the edge of the opencast Garzweiler 2 mine, about 5 miles from the village of Lützerath. Continue reading...

Almost two-thirds of sharks and rays living on world’s coral reefs at risk, with 14 of 134 species reviewed critically endangered

The city hasn’t gone over 30C since February 2022, and is just eight days off its longest streak of days below that level

Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia have increased kangaroo harvest quotas for 2023 but impact from floods yet to be assessed

Pressure cookers can steam-cook anything from vegetables and pulses to fish and stews in a fraction of the time, and our panel of chefs agrees they preserve flavour, too

Totnes MP Anthony Mangnall was given £5,000 according to parliament’s register of members’ interests in 2020A Conservative MP who received thousands in a donation from a wealthy landowner who took Dartmoor National Park Authority to court has refused to comment on a legal decision that has led to a ban on wild camping in the park.Last week, the right to wild camp in England and Wales was lost after hedge fund manager Alexander Darwall successfully brought a case against Dartmoor national park. It was the last place it was possible to wild camp without seeking permission. Continue reading...

Whitehaven colliery will release about 17,500 tonnes of methane every year, estimates thinktankThe new coalmine in Cumbria is likely to prevent the UK from meeting its internationally agreed commitment to reduce emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane, analysis has suggested.The Whitehaven colliery, controversially approved by ministers shortly before Christmas, will release about 17,500 tonnes of methane every year, according to estimates from the Green Alliance thinktank. Continue reading...

Material from dry landscapes has surged since the 1800s, possibly helping to cool the planet for decadesDust that billows up from desert storms and arid landscapes has helped cool the planet for the past several decades, and its presence in the atmosphere may have obscured the true extent of global heating caused by fossil fuel emissions.Atmospheric dust has increased by about 55% since the mid-1800s, an analysis suggests. And that increasing dust may have hidden up to 8% of warming from carbon emissions. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed

Toxic pesticides used to eradicate grain-eating quelea may harm the country’s endangered raptors, say conservationistsA drive by the Kenyan government to kill up to 6 million red-billed quelea birds that have invaded farms will have unintended consequences for raptors and other wild species, experts have warned.The continuing drought in the Horn of Africa has reduced the amount of native grass, whose seeds are queleas’ main food source, causing the birds to increasingly invade grain fields, putting 2,000 acres (800 hectares) of rice under threat. About 300 acres of rice fields have been destroyed by the birds. Continue reading...

Financial institutions signed up to GFANZ initiative accused of acting as ‘climate arsonists’Banks and finance institutions that have signed up to net zero pledges are still investing heavily in fossil fuels, research has shown, leading to accusations they are acting as “climate arsonists”.The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) initiative was launched by the former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, as one of the main UK achievements in hosting the Cop26 UN climate summit at Glasgow in 2021. Continue reading...

‘Cease and desist’ letter signed by over 650,000 people sent to oil and gas CEOs follows removal of Greta Thunberg from coal protestHundreds of thousands of young climate activists have said they will continue “protesting in the streets in huge numbers” against fossil fuels, a day after Greta Thunberg was removed by German police from a condemned village atop a massive coal deposit.In a cease-and-desist letter to the CEOs of fossil fuel companies, youth campaigners accuse them of a “direct violation of our human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, your duties of care, as well as the rights of Indigenous people”. Continue reading...

US climate envoy says pick is a ‘terrific choice’ but activists equate pick to asking ‘arms dealers to lead peace talks’US climate envoy John Kerry backs the United Arab Emirates’ decision to appoint the CEO of a state-run oil company to preside over the upcoming UN climate negotiations in Dubai, citing his work on renewable energy projects.In an interview Sunday with the Associated Press, the former US secretary of state acknowledged that the Emirates and other countries relying on fossil fuels to fund their state coffers face finding “some balance” ahead. Continue reading...

A pair of the semi-aquatic mammals will be released on to Ewhurst Park estateBeavers are set to be reintroduced into an enclosure in Hampshire, marking the first time in 400 years that they have lived in the county in southern England.A pair of the semi-aquatic mammals will be released on to Ewhurst Park estate, which is being restored for nature and sustainable food production. Continue reading...

Nothing is produced at Sellafield any more. But making safe what is left behind is an almost unimaginably expensive and complex task that requires us to think not on a human timescale, but a planetary one Continue reading...

Plans aimed at preventing tactics such as ‘slow marching’ part of Rishi Sunak’s public order crackdownPolice in England and Wales are to be given powers to shut down protests before any disruption begins under Rishi Sunak’s plans for a public order crackdown, which aim to prevent tactics such as “slow marching”.Sparking outrage from civil liberties campaigners, the government said it would be laying an amendment to the public order bill to toughen its crackdown on “guerilla” tactics used mainly by environmental protesters. Continue reading...

Readers respond to a Pass Notes column on the four-minute showerYour article (Pass notes, 9 January) presented the idea of four-minute showers. In September 2021, at a time of water shortages, I wrote to Yorkshire Water suggesting that they adopt a measure that I saw several years ago while working in Australia – the water supplier had given each householder a three-minute hourglass egg timer to stick to the wall of the bathroom shower. The Aussies then practised “beat the egg timer” while showering. I suggested that this would save both water and energy in these difficult times. Of course, as a follically challenged older man, I might have to donate some of my minutes to my wife to deal with her more luxurious tresses. I received a “that’s interesting” acknowledgment from Yorkshire Water.

Investors paid almost £9bn in dividends and share buyback schemes over last five years, report has revealedNational Grid, which maintains the backbone of Britain’s electricity network, should be taken under government control to ensure the rapid transition to net zero, campaigners said, after a report revealed that the business paid investors almost £9bn in dividends and share buyback schemes over the last five years.The stock-market-listed firm, which counts the fund managers BlackRock, Vanguard and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority among its top five shareholders, has a 19% operating margin on its electricity business, allowing the board to fund an average £1bn a year in dividends. Continue reading...

Forty-five-year-old and her partner were hiking with a mountain guide when accident happenedA British woman has died after getting caught in an avalanche as she was hiking with two other people on the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps, rescue services have said.The accident happened on Saturday on the Argentière Glacier, one of the Mont Blanc mountain range’s biggest glaciers. Continue reading...