Five families who have run the city’s famous tours for decades face potential competition from China – and, even worse, nearby GhentFor decades, five families in Bruges have run the tourist boats that chug serenely along the beautiful Flemish city’s picturesque canals. Day in, day out, the guides describe the medieval belfry, low-sweeping bridges and rich history of this “Venice of the north”.But there may be stormy waters ahead for the boaters of Bruges. There is talk that Chinese investors and, even worse, people from Ghent, known locally as Stroppendragers or noose-bearers, could make waves. Continue reading...

Developers will consider contribution to environment using Urban Greening Factor formula

Taylor Energy to pay more than $43m in clean-up costs, penalties and damage, and transfer $432m clean-up fundAmerica’s longest running oil spill dispute is close to a resolution after a Louisiana-based energy firm has agreed to a proposed multi-million dollar settlement.Taylor Energy agreed to pay more than $43m in clean-up costs, civil penalties and natural resource damage, and transfer a $432m clean-up trust fund to the Department of Interior, according to a proposed settlement announced by the Department of Justice. Continue reading...

Our photographers brought the natural world to the fore, with pictures of wildlife and the efforts to conserve them across the globe Continue reading...

Study finds exports to region doubled in 2020 with practice predicted to grow as US invests in recycling plantsEnvironmental organisations across Latin America have called on the US to reduce plastic waste exports to the region, after a report found the US had doubled exports to some countries in the region during the first seven months of 2020.The US is the world’s largest plastic waste exporter, although it has dramatically reduced the overall amount it exports since 2015, when China – previously the top importer – said it “no longer wanted to be the world’s rubbish dump” and began imposing restrictions. Elsewhere around the world imports are rising, and not least in Latin America, with its cheap labour and close proximity to the US. Continue reading...

Our photographers captured many moving and inspirational moments in 2021. Here’s our pick of the most striking imagesIn 2021, our photographers told some of the most profound stories in America. They captured personal moments, like a man assessing the remnants of his home after Hurricane Ida. There were inspirational stories, like how a majority Black high school created a girls lacrosse team during the pandemic. And there were historic scenes, like the lead-up to the presidential inauguration just weeks after insurrectionists tried to overturn the election results. Thank you to all the photographers who worked with us this year.*** Continue reading...

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala calls for changes to ensure developing nations are resilient to affects of extreme weatherRemoving trade barriers around the world would help to tackle the climate crisis, enable a “just transition” away from fossil fuels and make developing countries more resilient to the impacts of global heating, the head of the World Trade Organization has said.Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who took over as director general of the global watchdog last March, said: “Trade is part of the solution, not part of the problem … We need a global effort to climate-proof the supply chains and infrastructure of the most vulnerable economies or risk undoing hard-won economic progress and development.” Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including galloping horses, a honey-bee hive and a lonely red-crowned crane Continue reading...

Conditional licence granted in 2016 at Aberpergym has led to row between Whitehall and devolved administrationPlans for the expansion of an underground coalmine in Wales could be approved imminently despite pledges made at the Cop26 climate conference to move away from the dirtiest fossil fuel.The Coal Authority is imminently expected to decide whether the conditions have been met to allow work to begin at a recently active deep-shaft site in the Neath Valley, south Wales.

Chief executive seeks public dialogue, suggesting protests against Loznica project have hindered any ‘reasonable debate’Rio Tinto will put its controversial western Serbia lithium project on hold, a news agency has reported, quoting the CEO of Rio’s Serbian arm.The mining group wants to develop the mine near Loznica in the western Jadar river valley to extract lithium, used in electric car batteries, and borates, used in solar panels and wind turbines. Continue reading...

Seismic testing is planned for an 8,000km sq area on the doorstep of two marine parks that are home to almost 100 protected species

Exclusive: Releasing nutrients can spur phytoplankton growth, absorbing carbon dioxide in the process

Campaigners help close the loophole allowing glue-trapping in France, but the battle to save endangered bird species goes on

Rare species set to return to ‘pingos’, which are basin forged by ice age and then buried to give way to farmlandGhost pingos, unique ponds forged by the ice age and buried during the era of industrial agriculture, are to be excavated to revive wildlife on two former farms.Rare species including the scarce emerald damselfly and the northern pool frog are set to return to the pingos, which are being restored on farmland next to Thompson Common near Thetford in Norfolk, a little-known nature reserve whose 400 ancient ponds make it the pingo capital of Britain. Continue reading...

Revitalized alliance could help strengthen both the fight for reducing emissions and for bolstering worker rightsAs the Biden administration attempts to increase incentives for the production of electric vehicles, labor unions and climate groups have teamed up to push for better wages and working conditions for autoworkers – and leave the door open for the nascent EV industry to unionize.Last month, leaders from some of the largest environmental groups in the country sent a letter to top executives at Toyota, lambasting the automaker for appearing to support the electric vehicle revolution all while lobbying against a proposed tax credit for union-made electric cars. Continue reading...

New figures show slow coal phaseout progress to date, with pledges not enough to limit warming to 1.5CThe majority of coal-fired power is not being phased out quickly enough to meet climate goals and avoid catastrophic global heating, despite new pledges made at Cop26.While coal is on its way out, some of the largest coal-dependent economies might be delaying for too long, according to a new report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Continue reading...

Gazprom’s $11bn project to deliver gas from Russia to Germany seems impossible to abandon and impossible to carry forwardThe saga of Nord Stream 2, the gas pipeline between Russia and Germany running along the Baltic seabed, has been stuck so long it has been likened to a suitcase at an airport without a handle – impossible to abandon, and impossible to carry forward. Most of the original cast of characters – Jean-Claude Juncker, Angela Merkel, Matteo Renzi, David Cameron, Petro Poroshenko – have left the political stage. Only one politician has survived the entire story: Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, and the master of divide and rule.First announced in 2015, the $11bn (£8.3bn) pipeline owned by Russia’s state-backed energy giant Gazprom has been built to carry gas from western Siberia, doubling the existing capacity of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and keeping 26m German homes warm at an affordable price. Continue reading...

Environment Centre Northern Territory argued the $21m for drilling program was legally unreasonable on multiple grounds

European gas prices climb close to record highs as flows on key pipeline move towards RussiaThe Kremlin has denied using Russia’s gas resources to turn the screw on Europe, after gas in a pipeline to Germany switched direction to flow eastwards for a second day, keeping prices near record highs as midwinter approaches.Flows through the Yamal-Europe pipeline to Germany declined over the weekend before stopping on Tuesday and reversing, data from the network operator Gascade showed. Continue reading...

Local people complain of high levels of hydrogen sulphide at Walleys Quarry near Newcastle-under-LymeThe Environment Agency has launched an investigation into alleged illegal waste activities at a landfill in Staffordshire which has plagued residents with noxious fumes for months.People living next to Walleys Quarry landfill in Silverdale, Newcastle-under-Lyme, are facing misery from strong smells caused by high levels of hydrogen sulphide on the site. Continue reading...

The Bamfords have enjoyed access to Boris Johnson while lobbying for hydrogen• Green cards, cannabis and a strip club: Bamford in US legal battleIn a video filmed shortly before the UK hosted the Cop26 climate conference, Boris Johnson strolls alongside Jo Bamford and his father, the JCB boss, Anthony Bamford. Behind them is a JCB digger, and a big green bus is parked just across from the Houses of Parliament for a photocall. The prime minister quizzes the men about the economics of switching engines from fossil fuel to hydrogen. “It’s the same cost as running it on diesel,” Jo Bamford replies. “It’s already the same.”The video, posted by Jo Bamford’s gas distribution company, Ryze Hydrogen, on its Instagram feed in October, shows the privileged access the businessman enjoyed while lobbying for hydrogen to take a central place in Britain’s transition from fossil fuels. Continue reading...

It would be almost impossible for the US to comply with its greenhouse gas reduction pledges without the $1.75tn package that Manchin refuses to supportThe collapse of Joe Biden’s Build Back Better legislation would have disastrous consequences for the global climate crisis, making it almost impossible for the US to comply with its greenhouse gas reduction pledges made under the Paris accords.The US president’s sweeping economic recovery and social welfare bill is in serious trouble after the Democratic senator Joe Manchin announced his opposition to the $1.75tn spending package that includes the country’s largest ever climate crisis investment. Continue reading...

People with IBD have 50% more microplastics in their faeces but more research needed to confirm connectionPeople with inflammatory bowel disease have 50% more microplastics in their faeces, a study has revealed.Previous research has shown that microplastics can cause intestinal inflammation and other gut problems in laboratory animals, but the research is the first to investigate potential effects on humans. The scientists found 42 microplastic pieces per gram in dried samples from people with IBD and 28 pieces in those from healthy people. Continue reading...

Price to offset runway’s carbon emissions has increased from £50bn since expansion approval in 2018The cost of abating the carbon impact of a proposed third runway at Heathrow has doubled since parliament approved the idea of expansion, a report presented to MPs suggests.A study by the New Economics Foundation suggests the carbon value or cleanup cost of the runway has increased from £50bn to £100bn, twice the figure presented to ministers and parliamentarians by the Department for Transport in the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS) in 2018. Continue reading...

Billionaires, princes and prime ministers are among those keen to learn from the Central American country, which has long put nature at the heart of its policies

The £1bn support package merely plays catch-up with the current ‘stealth lockdown’. More may well be needed – and soon

Microplastics from Africa and North America found airborne in French Pyrenees, 2,877 metres above sea levelFrom Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, microplastics are everywhere – even high in the Earth’s troposphere where wind speeds allow them to travel vast distances, a new study has found.Microplastics are tiny fragments – measuring less than 5mm – that come from packaging, clothing, vehicles and other sources and have been detected on land, in water and in the air. Continue reading...

Activists including Greta Thunberg criticise ‘fake climate action’ in response to planned investment taxonomyThe European Commission is facing a backlash from Greta Thunberg and fellow climate activists over plans to include gas and nuclear energy in a “green” investment guidebook.Both energy sources are expected to feature in the next part of the EU’s “taxonomy for sustainable activities”, which is expected at the end of the year, following a period of intense political bargaining between the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen; the French president, Emmanuel Macron; and Germany’s new chancellor, Olaf Scholz. Continue reading...

Jane Goodall says such donations can have unintended consequences, especially where water is scarceIt’s the classic gift given by do-gooding family members at Christmas but Jane Goodall and other scientists have warned that people should think twice before giving a donation of a goat or heifer to a developing country.Charity gifts, where the recipient is informed their present is an animal to help feed a family in an impoverished area, have been popular for decades. Continue reading...

Plan B Earth group argued ministers had not taken ‘practical and effective’ steps to reduce emissionsAn environmental campaign group that challenged the lawfulness of the UK government’s climate policies has lost a high court fight.Plan B Earth argued that ministers had not taken “practical and effective” steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It wanted Mr Justice Bourne to give activists the go-ahead for a judicial review but he refused to grant permission. Continue reading...

The rest of the world needs to start treating the US as what it is: a dangerous country that needs to be reined inAs the now very likely collapse of the Build Back Better Act underlines, what’s exceptional about the United States is its extraordinary ability to dole out harm. Besides its ever-ballooning military budget and foreign wars, America also makes the world unsafe thanks to the prodigious amount of fossil fuel it continues to send around the world.Oil Change International, Earthworks and the Center for International Environmental Law have found that burning the oil and gas expected to be drilled in the US alone over the next decade could gobble up 10% of the entire world’s remaining carbon budget, the amount of carbon dioxide that can be released before the planet warms above 1.5C.Kate Aronoff is a staff writer at The New Republic and the author of Overheated: How Capitalism Broke the Planet – And How We Fight Back Continue reading...

Money donated by nearly 4,000 readers will benefit four charities working for environmental justice

Updated Reef 2050 plan comes after UN advisers recommended the reef be placed on the list of world heritage sites in danger

Cop26 may have dominated the headlines this year, but there have been lots of other fascinating, devastating and hopeful environment stories over the past 12 months.Madeleine Finlay speaks to Guardian environment editor Damian Carrington and biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston about some of their favourites, from reintroducing wild bison to the fields of Kent to climate crisis tipping pointsArchive: UN Climate Change, The Independent, CNBC Television, Sky News, 5 News, BBC News Continue reading...

Dan Johnson was surprised to see he had hooked a shark while fishing from the Proserpine riverbank, then the region’s resident croc made his move

California attorney general accuses retail giant of failing to properly dispose of items including batteries, cleaning supplies and electronic wasteWalmart illegally dumps more than 1 million batteries, aerosol cans of insect killer and other products, toxic cleaning supplies, electronic waste, latex paints and other hazardous waste into California landfills each year, state prosecutors have alleged.In a lawsuit announced on Monday, the California attorney general, Rob Bonta, accused the retail giant of failing to properly dispose of discarded or returned goods. Continue reading...

Tim Crosland was found in contempt for prematurely revealing court’s decision on third runwayA lawyer and climate campaigner who leaked the result of a supreme court ruling on the Heathrow airport expansion has lost an appeal against a contempt of court finding.Tim Crosland, the director of environmental campaign group Plan B Earth, was found in contempt of court for prematurely revealing the court’s decision on Heathrow’s third runway 22 hours before it was made public in December 2020. Continue reading...

Florida Power & Light delivered bill text to a state lawmaker. Its parent company sent $10,000 to her campaign coffers

Florida Power & Light delivered bill text to a state lawmaker. Its parent company sent $10,000 to her campaign coffers

Nuclear waste has been reprocessed in the UK and will be stored at Lucas Heights until Napandee facility is ready

Lazare Eloundou Assomo wants to address imbalance that benefits rich nations and protect sites threatened by climate crisis and warIt covers 9 million sq miles from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean and from the Sahara in the north to Cape Point in the south. And in between lie some of the world’s most ancient cultural sites and precious natural wonders.However, despite its vast size, sub-Saharan Africa has never been proportionately represented on Unesco’s world heritage list, its 98 sites dwarfed by Europe, North America and Asia. Continue reading...

Looking back on a year in which the Age of Extinction reported on everything from summits to species loss, solutions and community involvement

Development would have to fit within the mining giant’s pledge to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050

Authorities say reptiles found in ‘SUV lying on its side’ but no indication of what caused the accidentOfficers arriving at the scene of a Florida road accident involving an overturned truck were surprised to find that two of the “victims” were large alligators, captured by the teenage driver and a friend on a morning fishing expedition and thrown into the back of their vehicle.Details of the extraordinary incident appeared in a weekend Facebook posting by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC). The post chronicled how officers found the two alligators, measuring 8ft and more than 6ft, “hanging from the rear window of an SUV lying on its side” in Hardee county, about 70 miles south-east of Tampa. Continue reading...

A former comedian and ventriloquist, Carla Rhodes’ life was transformed when she discovered a passion for wildlife conservation photography. Last winter, she placed a camera trap in her garden in the Catskill mountains in New York, with heartwarming results Continue reading...

Curiously, the Pacific football fish, with spiny teeth and a bulb on its head, is the third to wash ashore this yearAt first, the black blob spotted between rocks along the shores of San Diego this week was mistaken for a ball of tar. But as a concerned surfer approached, it became clear that this was something special.The finned creature had a gaping underbite that revealed nightmarish spiny teeth, small black eyes, a tentacle-covered appendage and bulb protruding from its head. Continue reading...

News that the average age of volunteers in some areas tops 60 has prompted park authorities to get upcoming generations more involvedKirsty Ferris started volunteering in the South Downs national park when she turned 18 and wanted to “give something back” while getting experience with practical outdoor work.Now 22 and running her own garden design business, she has spent hours coppicing trees, building fences, laying hedges, helping conserve grassland and improving access to beautiful countryside. Continue reading...

David Attenborough will tell of ‘pristine’ skeletons found with other extinct speciesFive ice-age mammoths in an extraordinary state of preservation have been discovered in the Cotswolds, to the astonishment of archaeologists and palaeontologists.The extensive remains of two adults, two juveniles and an infant that roamed 200,000 years ago have been unearthed near Swindon, along with tools used by Neanderthals, who are likely to have hunted these 10-tonne beasts. More are expected to be found because only a fraction of the vast site, a gravel quarry, has been excavated. Continue reading...

Scientists are hoping La Niña conditions might yet stave off threat from predicted heat accumulation in northern and central reef

After failure of green homes grant scheme, campaigners want future projects to be long-term and accountableRichard Derrington was one of the first people to apply for a much-hyped government grant to decarbonise his home, a cottage in the Cotswolds, and help the UK meet its aim to be net zero by 2050.His speed off the mark counted for little as he faced months of delays, bureaucracy and repeated requests to prove his identity. A year on from applying for the £5,000 green homes grant, Derrington finally had the satisfaction of seeing a new heat pump installed in his garden. Continue reading...