John Podesta says negotiations to find a path forward' continue with urgent discussions planned for Cop29Trade frictions and increasing tension between the US and China won't affect climate negotiations between the two superpowers if he can help it, the US climate chief has pledged.John Podesta, a senior adviser to Joe Biden on international climate policy, said the relationship between the world's two biggest emitters and largest economies was critical to climate action, despite what appears to be a deepening gulf over trade policy. Continue reading...

Reusable' is now a selling point for products that should, inherently, be reusable to begin with - and we're buying itI used to keep a plastic bag of plastic bags under my kitchen sink. Like the water in the pipes above, around which they accumulated, it seemed I had bags in unlimited supply. A few years ago, when my city enacted a plastic bag ban, the collection started waning. Now, I treasure the once ubiquitous sacks, doling them out judiciously for use as diaper pail liners and stewards of wet bathing suits, while down the hall, at the back of my coat closet, another mass is metastasizing: totes upon totes upon totes.They're often referred to as reusable tote bags. And that sounds perfectly normal. But it shouldn't. Imagine saying reusable backpack" or reusable shoes". Most things were never intended to be used just once - not until several decades ago, when plastics ushered in an era in which everyday goods were designed, marketed and sold for exactly that: one, single use. Continue reading...

Oil and gas company to increase dividend and buy-backs as quarterly profit beats forecasts

State-owned SAIC, parent of the British brand MG, was responsible for biggest jump in sales in June

Harris, who had previously urged fracking ban, plans to highlight climate contrast between Democrats and TrumpKamala Harris will not seek to ban fracking if she becomes US president, campaign officials have confirmed, with the de facto Democratic nominee expected to focus instead on aggressively promoting the stark contrast on the climate crisis between Joe Biden's administration and Donald Trump.Harris had previously, as a candidate for the 2020 presidential nomination, vowed to ban fracking, as well as back a Green New Deal, a progressive resolution to shift the US to 100% renewable energy, and new government dietary guidelines to encourage people to reduce their meat eating. Continue reading...

Researchers call for immediate action to reduce methane emissions and avert dangerous escalation in climate crisisGlobal emissions of methane, a powerful planet-heating gas, are rising rapidly" at the fastest rate in decades, requiring immediate action to help avert a dangerous escalation in the climate crisis, a new study has warned.Methane emissions are responsible for half of the global heating already experienced, have been climbing significantly since around 2006 and will continue to grow throughout the rest of the 2020s unless new steps are taken to curb this pollution, concludes the new paper. The research is authored by more than a dozen scientists from around the world and published on Tuesday. Continue reading...

As blazes spew smoke across western US, research shows it may be worse for brain health than other types of pollutionA new US study has found that wildfire smoke may be worse for brain health than other types of air pollution and even increase the risk of dementia.The findings, reported on Monday at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Philadelphia, come as millions spent the weekend under air quality warnings from wildfires spewing smoke across the western US, including a huge wildfire in California that has grown to more than 360,000 acres. Continue reading...

Though 2,300 people in the US died from heat-related illness in 2023, workers await robust protection lawsOn 23 June, Shae Parker had to leave her shift early at a gas station in Columbia, South Carolina, to go to the emergency room due to heat exhaustion; she wasn't paid for missing the rest of her shift. The air conditioning at her work has been on the fritz for weeks, she said, and her station heats up easily as the sun beams through its large windows.I got nauseated, overheated, lightheaded," she said. We don't have free water, we don't have a water level on the soda machine, the ice machine is broken, so we have to buy water. The last few weeks it's been extremely hot. It's very hard to breathe when you're lightheaded and experiencing dizziness. The fatigue is like 10 times worse because your body is completely drained. I had to get two bags of fluid from being dehydrated even though I was drinking water." Continue reading...

Regulator for Great Britain also appoints Elexon to lead local flexibility markets

Corporations and politicians are pushing carbon capture despite big questions over its value as residents in the southern petrostate' fear the worstIt was a muggy morning in late April when a handful of local residents and grassroots organizers huddled in a church parking lot to strategize, before knocking on doors with information about the latest environmental threat facing St Rose, a predominantly Black community in Louisiana's Cancer Alley".It was not the first time Kimbrelle Eugene Kyereh had campaigned for better regulation of the choking sprawl of fossil fuel and petrochemical facilities that surround St Rose - and countless other communities up and down the Mississippi River. Continue reading...

Conservation charity raises alarm over climate crisis after wet spring and summer dampen mating chancesButterfly numbers are the lowest on record in the UK after a wet spring and summer dampened their chances of mating.Butterfly Conservation, which runs the Big Butterfly Count, sounded the alarm after this year's count revealed the worst numbers since it began 14 years ago. Continue reading...

Marking a pivotal moment for the fate of the barely known ecosystems on the ocean floor, 168 nations will decide this week who will head the International Seabed AuthorityLeticia Carvalho is clear what the problem is with the body she hopes to be elected to run: Trust is broken and leadership is missing." Later this week, at the headquarters of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in Kingston, Jamaica, nations negotiating rules governing deep-sea mining face a critical vote that could impact the nascent industry for years: who should be the next leader of the regulatory body?Carvalho, sponsored by Brazil, is in the running against the current secretary general, Michael Lodge, a British lawyer, who is being sponsored by Kiribati, a small Pacific state. Continue reading...

Civil society organisations demand home secretary protects the safety valve' of democracyEnvironmental groups are among 92 civil society organisations who have warned Yvette Cooper against the steady erosion of the right to protest" in the UK, and called on her to reverse the previous government's crackdown on peaceful protest.The right to protest is a vital safety valve for our democracy and an engine of social progress," the letter, delivered on Friday, said. The achievements of peaceful protest are written on the labour movement's own birth certificate." Continue reading...

Hailing the success of carrier bag laws, the Marine Conservation Society urges nations to push forward with plans for other single-use itemsThe number of plastic bags washed up on UK beaches has fallen by 80% over a decade, since a mandatory fee was imposed on shoppers who opt to pick up single-use carrier bags at the checkout.According to the Marine Conservation Society's (MCS) annual litter survey, volunteers found an average of one plastic bag every 100 metres of coastline surveyed last year, compared to an average of five carrier bags every 100 metres in 2014. Continue reading...

Ex-president's allies and Project 2025 propose restrictions to EPA's ability to protect public from toxins like PFASA second Donald Trump presidency would represent a serious threat to dealing with the toxic impact of PFAS forever chemicals", as well as other toxins, and could be a danger to the health of millions of Americans, experts and environmental campaigners warn.For example, over the last year, the Environmental Protection Agency developed groundbreaking drinking water limits for highly toxic PFAS compounds, and designated several of the forever chemicals" as hazardous substances, a move that will force industry to clean up its pollution. The steps represent a major win for the water quality and taxpayers, but a new Trump administration would likely shred the rules. Continue reading...

Residents face tough choices on whether to shelter in place or flee - There's risks associated with each', experts sayHurricane Beryl was unusual in many ways before it struck Texas on 8 July - it sped up more than 35mph in a 24-hour period twice, and it became the first category 5 storm to form as early as it did in the hurricane season. And as the world increasingly warms because of the burning of fossil fuels, research suggests that storms like Hurricane Beryl will become more common - concerning coastal residents who will have less time to evacuate.While residents are more likely to leave when directed to do so by their local government, emergency managers are shying away from enacting community-wide mandatory evacuations because of how much time they take to put in place. Continue reading...

State's wildfires have already torched more than 1m acres, and experts say heat, dryness and lightning are to blameOregon's wildfire season is off to an explosive start with more than 1m acres (405,000 hectares) charred in less than a month, as experts warn that extreme heat and unusual lightning strikes are creating catastrophic conditions" for fires to ignite and spread.The state is currently home to the largest wildfire burning in the US. By Friday afternoon, the Durkee fire had burned nearly 290,000 acres (117,000 hectares) and was only 20% contained. The fire had forced evacuations, shut down a major interstate highway and even produced its own weather system. Continue reading...

Wind turbines are among changes being considered by heir to the Duchy of Cornwall estate to tackle the climate crisisHis father thinks windfarms are a blot on the landscape, once saying he feared Britain would end up like Denmark knee deep in these damn things". But now Prince William is considering overturning their effective ban on royal land.The Prince of Wales has ordered a major review of renewable energy on his 130,000-acre Duchy of Cornwall estate, which is expected to change the face of his hereditary property empire stretching across 20 counties in England. Continue reading...

Public health adviser says higher temperatures caused by climate crisis pose danger for visitors not used to themThe climate emergency poses a real risk" to Spain's traditional mass tourist model as rising temperatures and more frequent heatwaves hit the country's most popular coastal destinations, a senior public health adviser has warned.Hector Tejero, the head of health and climate change at Spain's health ministry, said the increasingly apparent physical impacts of the climate emergency had already led the ministry to begin talks with the British embassy on how best to educate vulnerable" tourists about coping with the heat. Continue reading...

Energy secretary seeks to reestablish UK as a global leader on the climate crisis with meeting of Cop presidentsLabour will honour a pledge of 11.6bn in overseas aid for the climate crisis, the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, told an unusual meeting of Cop presidents past and present on Friday, as he sought to re-establish the UK at the heart of international climate discussions.As the Labour government prepares for this year's climate-emergency summit in November, Miliband hosted Mukhtar Babayev, the Azerbaijan government minister who will lead Cop29, and Ana Toni, the top official on the climate for Brazil, which will host Cop30 in the Amazonian city of Belem in 2025 in a meeting to discuss what steps are needed to make a success of the next two UN climate Cops, as the conferences of the parties" under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are known. Continue reading...

More than 120,000 heat-related ER visits were tracked in 2023, as people struggle in record-breaking temperaturesIn his 40 years in the emergency room, David Sklar can think of three moments in his career when he was terrified.One of them was when the Aids epidemic hit, the second was Covid, and now there's this," the Phoenix physician said, referring to his city's unrelenting heat. Last month was the city's hottest June on record, with temperatures averaging 97F (36C), and scientists say Phoenix is on track to experience its hottest summer on record this year. Continue reading...

Danielle Smith and her government's refusal to combat global heating is said to have made blazes more intenseWhen Danielle Smith, premier of Alberta, began her grim update about the wildfire damage to Jasper, the famed mountain resort in the Canadian Rockies, her voice slipped and she held back tears.Hours earlier, a fast-moving wildfire tore through the community, incinerating homes, businesses and historic buildings. She praised the true heroism" of fire crews who had rushed in to save Jasper, only to be pulled back when confronted by a 400ft wall of flames. She spoke about the profound meaning and magic" of the national park. Continue reading...

Planet's largest blanket bog is first peatland to be designated by Unesco after 40-year campaignThe Flow Country, a vast and unspoiled blanket bog that carpets the far north of Scotland, has been made a world heritage site by Unesco.The planet's largest blanket bog, the Flow Country covers about 1,500 sq miles of Caithness and Sutherland, and is the first peatland in the world to be designated by Unesco, after a 40-year campaign by environmentalists. Continue reading...

Many companies such as Chipotle and McDonald's are seeing profits jump as they continue raising prices, an analysis findsAs inflation shot to its peak around mid-2022, Chipotle's prices also rose, pushing up what customers paid for burritos and bowls by as much as several dollars. Since then, the fast casual restaurant's costs have broadly fallen. Prices have not.Chipotle's decision to maintain high prices helped boost profits 110% in recent years, while its executives boasted to investors that they raised prices higher than inflationary costs. Continue reading...

Communities affected by construction of renewable energy infrastructure have the right to see the benefits'

Owner of North Yorkshire power station earned 393m in government subsidies for biomassThe owner of the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire will give shareholders a 300m windfall after a sharp rise in taxpayer subsidies boosted its profits for the first half of the year to more than 500m.The power station, which receives hefty subsidies from burning biomass wood chips, mainly shipped from North America, generated almost a third more electricity over the first half of this year compared with the same months last year. Continue reading...

National Whale and Dolphin Watch organisers say data collected will help with research into marine mammalsHundreds of wildlife enthusiasts are expected to gather along UK coastlines over the next 10 days to count and record whales and dolphins.The National Whale and Dolphin Watch, taking place from 26 July to 4 August, is hosted by the Sea Watch Foundation and aims to get volunteers to observe and record sightings of the UK's most impressive marine mammals. Continue reading...

The best of this week's wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

From an unexpected glimpse of a silky anteater to a tagged terrapin, here is a selection of this year's winning, runner-up and commended images from the 2024 Mangrove photography awards, run by the Mangrove Action Project Continue reading...

Connection found between early exposure and bronchitic symptoms in adults without previous lung problemsAir pollution breathed in during childhood is one of the factors in adult lung health, according to a new study.The origins of the study date back to 1992 when researchers began investigating the effects of air pollution on groups of children in California. Some of these children are now in their 40s. Continue reading...

Researchers say 650 tonnes on order for Paris Games is a potential stress on local and regional resourcesFrom cold-water swimming to ice baths, deliberately freezing yourself has been hailed as a panacea for everything from menopause symptoms to arthritis, headaches and immunity conditions.And for sportspeople, ice is widely used to aid recovery after exercise. But now researchers have said the clinical benefits of ice therapy are not evidence-based and its popularity is bad for the environment. Continue reading...

European visitor rushed to hospital after briefly walking barefoot in California national park amid extreme heatA European visitor got third-degree burns on his feet while briefly walking barefoot on the sand dunes in California's Death Valley national park over the weekend, park rangers said Thursday.The rangers said the visitor was rushed to a hospital in nearby Nevada. Because of language issues, the rangers said they were not immediately able to determine whether the 42-year-old Belgian's flip-flops had somehow been broken or were lost at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes during a short Saturday walk. Continue reading...

More than 25,000 residents and tourists evacuated from national park region as firefighters forced into a retreatA fast-moving wildfire has destroyed parts of Jasper, the old mountain town in the Canadian Rockies, with the mayor warning the damage was beyond description and comprehension". The blaze had forced more than 25,000 people to flee earlier this week.Jasper national park officials said the fire entered the southern edge of the town on Wednesday evening. But, given the speed and intensity of the blaze, fire crews working to protect key infrastructure were ordered to retreat. Continue reading...

Secretary general said wealthiest countries are signing away our future' with more production and called for phase-out of fossil fuelsThe world's wealthiest countries are signing away our future" by leading a flood" of expansion in fossil fuel activity that threatens worsening heatwaves and other climate impacts that imperil billions of people, the head of the United Nations has warned.Antonio Guterres, secretary general of the UN, on Thursday called on countries to fight the disease" of the world's addiction" to coal, oil and gas, warning that tumbling heat records this week must spur rich nations to lead the way in phasing out fossil fuels. Continue reading...

Prime minister says energy plans will bring down bills and help planet as he accuses Tories of shortsightednessThe former Lib Dem leader Vince Cable is testifying at the inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal today. My colleague Mark Sweney will be sharing updates on that in the live blog here:The days of government ministers waging culture wars against civil servants are over," chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, has said.Yesterday I met the civil service unions together with my colleague, the new minister [Georgia Gould]. We had a very positive discussion covering a whole range of issues.I made it clear that the days of government ministers waging culture wars against civil servants are over. Instead, we want a civil service that's motivated, valued and helps the government deliver its priorities. And on this specific issue of pay, the government will have more to say on civil service pay before the summer recess."We do value civil servants, and of course we want all public servants to be properly and fairly rewarded, and, like any public expenditure, what's spent on pay has to be balanced against other priorities and fair to taxpayers as a whole."Departments do have flexibility on pay, they can direct pay towards the needs of their own workforces." Continue reading...

Service at Germany's busiest airport gradually resuming as oil kills' protests spread from Europe to North AmericaClimate activists have disrupted flights at Frankfurt and Oslo airports on the second day of coordinated oil kills" protests across Europe and North America.Demanding an end to fossil fuels by 2030, supporters of Letzte Generation (Last Generation) briefly suspended flights at Frankfurt airport on Thursday morning. The activists said they had cut a wire fence, entered on bicycles and skateboards and glued themselves to the tarmac. Continue reading...

At formal launch of state-run GB Energy, PM sets out plan to build enough offshore wind facilities to power 20m homes

At a wildlife centre in Mozambique, trafficked animals are fed, nursed, taken for walks and eventually released back to the wild. Vet Mercia Angela describes what it's like to bond with these rare and charismatic mammalsI had never seen a pangolin before I started working with them in Mozambique's Gorongosa national park. They are the only mammal in the world covered with scales. I think they are so handsome - just seeing them makes me fall in love.If you have never seen a pangolin, they have a cone-shaped head and snout, four short legs, small eyes and a brilliant sense of smell. Their front claws are long to help them dig for food in the ground. They have a long sticky tongue but no teeth. When they feel threatened, they curl up in a ball to protect the parts of their bodies that do not have scales. Continue reading...

Record heat is killing hundreds in Clark county. But one of America's fastest-growing metro areas just keeps getting biggerHot air wafted through the heavy, gold-lined doors of a Las Vegas casino as they opened, offering a reminder of a disaster quietly unfolding outside. Even though the sun had just set on an evening in mid-July, temperatures were yet to dip below 100F (37C).Spawned from a paved-over oasis in the Mojave, this desert metropolis has always been hot. But a string of brutal heatwaves this summer has pushed Sin City to a deadly simmer. Continue reading...

The storm has made landfall in Taiwan, unleashing torrential rain and strong gusts that have claimed at least three lives. Typhoon Gaemi also exacerbated rains in the Philippines, flooding the capital, Manila, and nearby cities, forcing authorities to shut schools, offices and declare a state of calamity

Brazil court freezes assets of Dirceu Kruger to pay climate compensation for illegal deforestationA Brazilian cattle rancher has been ordered to pay more than $50m (39m) for destroying part of the Amazon rainforest and ordered to restore the precious carbon sink.Last week, a federal court in Brazil froze the assets of Dirceu Kruger to pay compensation for the damage he had caused to the climate through illegal deforestation. The case was brought by Brazil's attorney general's office, representing the Brazilian institute of environment and renewable natural resources (Ibama). It is the largest civil case brought for climate crimes in Brazil to date and the start of a legal push to repair and deter damage to the rainforest. Continue reading...

Justice Michael Lee rules there is not enough evidence the popular weedkiller caused cancer in more than 800 non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients

This week all eyes will be on Teahupo'o as it hosts the world's best surfers. Many islanders welcome the new infrastructure brought by the 2024 Paris Games, but are concerned that any benefits will be undone by longer-term damage

State of the UK Climate report shows sea surface temperatures 0.9C higher than the 1961 to 1990 averageThe water near the UK's coasts was hotter in 2023 than scientists have ever before recorded, a report has found, with children today experiencing a hotter and wetter climate than that in which their parents and grandparents grew up.The sea surface temperature near coasts was 0.9C hotter and winter rainfall across the country was 24% greater over the last decade than the average from 1961 to 1990, according to the State of the UK Climate 2023 report. It found the number of hot" (28C) days has more than doubled over that period, and the number of very hot" (30C) and extremely hot" (32C) days has more than tripled. Continue reading...

Scheme will use taxpayer money to develop parts of seabed owned by the royal familyKeir Starmer will promise to build enough offshore wind over the next five years to power 20m homes, by using taxpayer money to develop parts of the seabed owned by the royal family.The prime minister will announce details of the government's energy generation company, known as Great British Energy, during a visit to the north-west designed to highlight the government's promises on green energy. Continue reading...

Change equivalent to removing 200,000 cars for a year, with capital's air quality improving at faster rate than rest of EnglandLevels of harmful air pollutants have dropped significantly since the ultra-low emission zone was enlarged to cover Greater London last year, according to a report from city hall.Analysis covering the first six months since the Ulez expansion found that total emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from cars across London were 13% lower than projected had the scheme remained confined to inner London, while NOx from vans was 7% lower. Continue reading...

Father says Grace Rohloff, 20, lost footing about three-quarters into 400ft cables descent and slid down mountainA father-daughter hike that began with an Arizona college student checking off a bucket list item ended tragically when she was killed after falling down Yosemite's Half Dome earlier this month.Grace Rohloff, a 20-year-old hiker, and her father, Jonathan Rohloff, were descending the cables at Yosemite's summit when she slipped and fell on 13 July, as reported by SFGate. The 14- to 16-mile round-trip hike to Half Dome is known for its difficulty and requires hikers to obtain permits in advance.This story was amended on 24 July 2024. A previous version erroneously used an image of Liberty Cap. Continue reading...

Data shows that the global surface air temperature reached 62.87F compared with 62.76F on Sunday.World temperature reached the hottest levels ever measured on Monday, beating the record that was set just one day before, data suggests.Provisional data published on Wednesday by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which holds data that stretches back to 1940, shows that the global surface air temperature reached 62.87F (17.15C), compared with 62.76F (17.09C) on Sunday. Continue reading...

No country has ever in history produced as much oil and gas as the US does now and Louisiana is ground zero

The US and the UK among countries with low dependence on fossil fuels criticized for hypocrisy' on climate pledges