Environment | The Guardian

Privatised water company criticised over efforts to connect private septic tanks to mains and cut pollution

Exclusive: Energy secretary examining ways to allow oil and gas exploration without breaking manifesto promiseEd Miliband is planning to encourage drilling in the North Sea despite a manifesto promise not to grant new licences on new parts of the British sea bed.The energy secretary is looking at ways in which the government can allow companies to look for and produce more oil and gas without breaking Labour's pre-election pledge not to issue new licences on new fields. Continue reading...

Better water management and efficient irrigation required to tackle issue, which can increase risk of wildfiresDroughts have occurred throughout history, but in recent years meteorologists have discovered a new and distinct form of this old threat: flash droughts.Flash droughts came to prominence in the 2010s, with Prof Jason Otkin of the University of Wisconsin proposing a formal definition in 2018: a period of less than three weeks in which the moisture level in the top 40 centimetres of soil drops severely enough to affect vegetation. Continue reading...

From August until October the wildflowers of Western Australia put on a vibrant show, much to the delight of photographer Pamela Jennings, who has been shooting them annually for almost a decade. She says some reappear each year, other patches are new - each spring is different

Environmental groups mark 10 years since Mark Carney's short-term horizons' speech with plea to act while there's still time'A coalition of 10 campaign groups is calling on the Bank of England to do more to tackle the climate crisis, a decade after the then governor Mark Carney warned of the tragedy of the horizon".Carney, now prime minister of Canada, argued in a speech at Lloyd's of London in September 2015 that the short time-horizons of politicians and policymakers made it difficult to tackle the climate emergency, despite the threat it posed to the global financial system. Continue reading...

The planet is nearing dangerous limits. Yet progress on clean energy shows what's possible. With political will, cooperation can still avert the worst of the climate crisisAll is not lost, Simon Stiell, the UN's climate chief, told the Guardian last week. But the latest planetary health check from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research is a brutal reminder of how close the Earth is being pushed beyond repair. Seven of the nine planetary boundaries are now breached, with ocean acidification added to the danger list. Yet the world has proved that cooperation works: the ozone layer is healing, air pollution controls are working. A decisive test looms at the end of the month, when governments must file new climate pledges, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs). This is no time to ease off: the fossil-fuel era must end, and the cleanenergy transition must accelerate.There is real concern that big emitters, including Australia and the EU, will fall short of what is needed to avoid extreme heating. The EU is set to miss this month's NDC deadline, while most fossil-fuel producers plan to cut emissions at the margins instead of phasing out production. Since Donald Trump has withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement, the US will make no fresh commitments at all. At the UN, MrTrump trotted out the same stale oil-industry talking points he's been peddling for years.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Chris Wright attacks Joe Biden's Green New Scam agenda' and says climate accords have not lowered emissionsThe US energy secretary, Chris Wright, on Wednesday announced that his department will return to the treasury billions of dollars set aside for green projects, while dodging questions about affordability and grid reliability and claiming international climate policy has not lowered emissions.The more people have gotten into so-called climate action, the more expensive their energy has become," Wright said. That lowers people's quality of lives and reduces their life opportunities." Continue reading...

Leaders unveil new targets to cut planet-heating pollution after Trump called climate crisis a con job'World leaders have unveiled new targets to cut planet-heating pollution at the United Nations, in a bid to spur fresh impetus to the beleaguered climate effort a day after Donald Trump called the crisis the greatest con job ever perpetrated upon the world".A total of 120 countries and the European Union announced new goals to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in New York on Wednesday. The pledges most notably include one from China, the world's leading emitter, which said it would cut emissions by 7-10% from its peak level by 2035. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Climate minister, who is trying to persuade Turkey to allow Australia to host the summit, appears with Emine Erdoan at New York event

Faroese firm Bakkafrost wants to ban campaigner Don Staniford from going within 15 metres of its fish farmsOne of Europe's largest salmon farmers has been accused of attacking the civil rights of environmental campaigners by asking for sweeping restrictions on their freedom to investigate alleged animal rights breaches.The Faroese company Bakkafrost, which produces about 20% of the UK's farmed salmon, has asked a judge to consider banning the campaigner Don Staniford from going within 15 metres of any of its fish farms, boats and barges. Continue reading...

Ralph Regenvanu, minister of climate change for the Pacific island nation said the step was on behalf of everybody'Vanuatu is working on securing a UN vote to turn a landmark ruling on the climate crisis by the international court of justice (ICJ) into concrete political action that will fight the influence of the fossil fuel industry and protect the globe from environmental catastrophe.In an effort spearheaded by the tiny Pacific island nation, the ICJ issued a rare unanimous advisory opinion in July, which clarified that all states are required under international law to protect the climate, prevent further harms and have a duty to cooperate. Continue reading...

New interactive map tracking PM2.5 air pollution reveals 900m people in path of super-emitting' industrial facilitiesFossil fuel burning is not just damaging the world's climate; it is also threatening the health of at least 1.6 billion people through the toxic pollutants it produces, data shows.Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from fossil fuel burning, does not directly damage health, but leads to global heating. However, coal and oil burning for power generation, and the burning of fossil fuels in industrial facilities, pollute the air with particulate matter called PM2.5, which has serious health impacts when breathed in. Continue reading...

US president's offshore wind crackdown targets nine projects, threatening jobs, homes and the clean energy transitionDonald Trump has jettisoned Republicans' long-standing all of the above" approach to energy by using the US government to aggressively stamp out clean energy projects - particularly offshore wind turbines.The scale of the intervention is remarkable - a total of nine already permitted offshore wind projects that were set to provide electricity to nearly 5m households and create around 9,000 jobs in the US are under investigation or have already been paused by the Trump administration. Continue reading...

Exclusive: CPRE study suggests housebuilding targets can be met without encroaching on green belt landAlmost 1.5m new homes could be built on brownfield sites in England to avoid encroaching on green belt and meet the government target for housing growth by the end of this parliament, new figures suggest.But despite the scale of brownfield land available, developers are pushing to build on green land, including increased housebuilding on and adjacent to areas of outstanding natural beauty. Continue reading...

Groundswell of support for ban propels campaign of Tabby Fletcher, 17, from her island home on Jura to parliamentTabby Fletcher, a 17-year-old from the Isle of Jura, off the west coast of Scotland, lives in what many people would probably assume is a pristine wilderness. Yet she regularly sees dead birds, their bodies entangled in plastic, among piles of waste washed up on the island's beaches after powerful storms.In January, we had Storm Eowyn," she says. Huge storm surges brought piles of plastic on to the beach close to my house. I saw dead birds wrapped in plastic. It was obvious from little bits inside their decomposing bodies they had eaten plastic. Continue reading...

After animal was sedated, wardens used an excavator to gingerly lift it out of 9ft-deep hole on family's acreageA bull moose that fell into an abandoned well in Maine was pulled to safety during an elaborate five-hour rescue.The operation happened on Wednesday after Cole Brown, whose family owns the forested land in the northern Maine community of Pembroke, spotted a pair of antlers. He heard a noise and initially thought it was turkeys but, upon, closer inspection, realized it was something a lot bigger. Continue reading...

Rabble-rousing of far-right demagogues is a reminder that the battle for a fair and habitable planet cannot be fought aloneIf it were not clear already, the biggest far-right protest in UK history is a reminder that the battle for a fair and habitable planet cannot be fought solely in the silos of science or environmentalism.That may be a source of dismay for anyone who still believed the argument for a cleaner, safer, more equitable future can be won by reason alone. But there is also an upside to the alarming scenes recently witnessed in London: the alliance between billionaires, thugs and other opponents of change has come out of the shadows. Continue reading...

I love their monochromatic beauty, I adore the sound of their warble, and above all I relate to their commitment to revenge

Australia's emissions are only about 1.1% of the global total. But it is scientifically wrong to say half a billion tonnes of CO don't matter, experts say

Species index fell by 4% between 2019 and 2024 - although data shows woodland populations beginning to stabiliseWild bird species face an accelerating decline in the UK, figures show, with some species heading for local extinction.Bird numbers have plummeted since the 1970s, and government data shows that trend continuing; between 2019 and 2024 the species index declined in the UK by 4% and England by 7%. Continue reading...

As Trump calls for more nuclear power, Piketon, the site of an enrichment facility, knows first hand its ill effectsThree years after starting work as an electrician at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Vina Colley started getting sick.The huge facility in the foothills of Appalachian Ohio was opened in 1954 to enrich weapons-grade uranium for the military as America's cold war with the Soviet Union ramped up, and later, for commercial purposes. Continue reading...

Agroforestry systems in Latin America practised by local communities are a boon to biodiversity, according to researchAs a seven-year-old, covered head to toe with only her eyes and nose exposed, Dilmer Briche Gonzalez used to pick the long, fat fruits from the cacao tree and place them in a big pile. Imagine a forest where giant mosquitoes abound," Briche Gonzalez, now 53, recalls of her childhood on her family's ancestral farm.Her grandfather, uncle and grandmother would cut each cacao fruit open, and Briche Gonzalez would join her grandmother in removing the pulp and seeds from the shell, which would then be used as fertiliser.A village in Ecuador where, along with Brazil, Colombia and Suriname, there are formally recognised Afro-descendant lands. Photograph: Conservation International Continue reading...

Humpbacks are thriving in the warm waters off the coast of Manhattan but maritime restrictions have not kept paceIt is the beginning of August and a crowd is gathered on the deck of the American Princess cruise boat waiting for one thing - and they are not disappointed. Suddenly, a juvenile humpback whale, known as NYC0318 in local records, bursts through the surface of the water, engulfing thousands of small, oily fish.For those onboard the 29-metre (95ft) vessel, the scene is a thrill to watch, in part because it is taking place not far out at sea but just off the coast of Manhattan, New York. Among the tourists watching is Chris St Lawrence, a naturalist and the communications director of Gotham Whale, a volunteer-run marine research organisation in the city. He is not just looking out for the whales, he is watching for danger around them. Continue reading...

Coal Australia also wants government to broaden restrictions on foreign donations to stop money flowing to environmental groups

Growth rate slightly lower than previous first-half years but sector still strong and resilient, experts sayInvestment in renewable energy has continued to increase around the world despite moves by Donald Trump's White House to cancel and derail low-carbon projects.In the first half of 2025, investment globally in renewable technologies and projects reached a record $386bn, up by about 10% on the same period last year. Continue reading...

Near-ideal conditions have led to high yields at some of the country's best loved orchards and walled gardensThe nights may be drawing in and the days becoming chillier, but there is cheering news from some of the UK's best loved orchards and walled gardens: a bumper crop of apples and pumpkins.Fruit and squashes have ripened weeks earlier than normal in many places and yields are higher thanks to near-ideal conditions, including 2024's wet weather followed by a warm and dry spring and plenty of summer sun this year. Continue reading...

The winners of the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2025 have been revealed. The competition, presented by Oceanographic and Blancpain, showcases breathtaking images that celebrate the ocean's beauty and highlight the urgent need to protect it Continue reading...

Murray Watt agrees recovery plans for greater glider, ghost bat, lungfish and sandhill dunnart were not made by successive governments

Fattest brown bears, bulking up for hibernation, pitted against each other in online public vote - who will win?It's that time of year again, when audiences turn to a welcome distraction from the heavy news cycle: Katmai national park and preserve in southern Alaska is celebrating its fattest brown bears.The park is set to kick off its annual Fat Bear Week on Tuesday, an online competition where the public votes for the park's fattest brown bear. Continue reading...

As the Brazilian city prepares to host 50,000 delegates, local people are being pushed from their homesThe two-bedroom apartment in Belem became Suelen Freitas's home in 2020, when she moved her family to the same building as her elderly mother. On the edge of the Amazon rainforest, it was where her story played out for five years, from enduring the Covid pandemic, to watching her two children get into the university.But in March everything changed. An eviction notice gave them and their neighbours 30 days to vacate their apartments. One by one, all 12 families were forced out. It was very painful," Freitas said. Continue reading...

Sun Day national action supported renewable energy, day after Make Billionaires Pay' march ahead of Climate WeekHundreds of environmentalists gathered in New York City's Stuyvesant Square Park and a nearby Quaker meeting house on Sunday to rally in support of solar power and other forms of renewable energy. The event was part of a national day of action" billed Sun Day, founded by veteran environmental activist Bill McKibben and first Earth Day coordinator Denis Hayes.It's so sad to watch the sun going to waste," McKibben said at a press conference, standing beside environmentalists and their children. Every single day, energy from heaven going to waste while we drill down to hell for another dose of the stuff that is wrecking this planet." Continue reading...

For years Nova Scotia's Burntcoat Head Park claimed the superior tidal height, but now a challenger from the far north is seeking the crownFor visitors to Burntcoat Head Park in Nova Scotia, a scramble along the russet shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean is a pilgrimage to the site of one of the planet's great natural wonders.Twice a day, more than 100bn tons of seawater fills and drains the Bay of Fundy - a figure comparable to the flow of all the world's freshwater rivers combined. Continue reading...

The leopard shark 'threesome' between two males and a female was filmed by a university researcher off New Caledonia. Scientists believe it to be the world's first recorded observation of two males of the globally endangered species mating in quick succession with a female

Menage a trois over in 110 seconds and then the males lost all their energy and lay immobile on the bottom', marine biologist Dr Hugo Lassauce saysA trio of leopard sharks in New Caledonia has made marine science history after they were recorded mating in a threesome".It is the first time the globally endangered species has been documented in a mating sequence, providing valuable knowledge to aid conservation efforts. Continue reading...

New data shows governments now planning more fossil fuel production in coming decades than they were in 2023Governments around the world are ramping up coal, gas and oil extraction which will put climate goals beyond reach, new data has shown.Far from reducing reliance on fossil fuels, nations are planning higher levels of fossil fuel production for the coming decades than they did in 2023, the last time comparable data was compiled. Continue reading...

Group participates in previously unthinkable mile-long swim after US made key progress to clean polluted riversHundreds of people plunged into the Chicago River's chilly waters on Sunday as part of the first organized swim in the river for nearly 100 years, a previously unthinkable act in what was once one of the most befouled waterways in the world.About 300 people, some wearing wetsuits, jumped into the Chicago River for a mile-long looping swim on an early, overcast midwest morning, a feat made possible by the often unseen but crucial progress the US has made in the past half century in cleaning its rivers of toxic pollution. Continue reading...

Queensland Nationals senator tells Cpac conference last rites being administered' and praises Andrew Hastie for threat to quit frontbench over policy

An expert team are resurrecting ice age ponds and finding rare species returning from a perfect time capsule'If you glanced into a green field and saw a yellow digger tearing into the turf, you might assume it was another site for new houses. But the two circle-shaped scars of dark soil on a Norfolk pasture are ghost ponds being brought back to life by an innovative and cheap form of nature restoration.It looks awful now. What have they done? It's a disaster!'" says Carl Sayer, a professor of geography at UCL, who is dancing with glee around the bleak-looking, freshly dug hole. The colonisation is so quick. Within a year, it is full of water plants. Within two years, it looks like it's been there forever. It's a spectacular recovery, and you're truly recovering ancient assemblages of plants." Continue reading...

Officials say deaths from Vibrio vulnificus exceeding average amid warning over climate-linked case increaseFive people in Louisiana have died in 2025 from a flesh-eating bacterium found in warm coastal waters, substantially exceeding the annual average on such deaths, state officials have said.Those who had died from contracting Vibrio vulnificus as of Wednesday were among at least 26 to be infected with the bacterium, with each case resulting in hospitalization, according to Louisiana's department of health. Most of those cases - 85% - involved wounds being exposed to seawater, and 92% of the infected had one underlying health condition, the health department said. Continue reading...

The scale of the government's ambition heightens the stakes for all sides of politics and will probably determine how Albanese's second term plays out

Researchers mapping how red squirrels would fare under climate breakdown scenarios found a natural ability to adapt'Red squirrels are thriving on the Isle of Wight where they have enough food and a suitable habitat to support a population that could almost double, a study has found.Using climate models, the researchers mapped how the red squirrel population would fare under different climate breakdown scenarios such as temperature changes and low levels of rainfall, finding no direct impact on their survivability and a natural ability to adapt to a range of climatic conditions". Continue reading...

Exclusive: Officials say they have been told to do as little as legally possible to prevent approvals for housebuilding in EnglandThe Environment Agency has been told by ministers to wave through planning applications in England with minimal resistance as part of a regulatory shakeup designed to increase economic growth and plug the government's financial hole.Officials at the agency say they have been told to do as little as legally possible to prevent housing applications from being approved and the government has drafted in senior advisers from the housing department to speed up the process. Continue reading...

Liberal leader later clarifies she doesn't support setting targets while in opposition

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

London assembly committee says move will increase cleanliness of waterways and offer more access to outdoorsTen new wild swimming locations should be created in London, a report from the London assembly has said, to boost cleanliness of the capital's waterways and increase access to the outdoors.Other cities are cleaning up their rivers for swimming: Paris has opened a swimming site in the Seine in the city centre and Chicago is running its first river swim in almost a century. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Industry delegates outnumbered climate experts by 14 to one at recent ICAO meeting, thinktank saysThe UN aviation organisation has been captured by the industry, a report has concluded, leading to the urgent action required to tackle the sector's high carbon emissions being blocked.Industry delegates outnumbered climate experts by 14 to one at the recent environmental protection" meeting of the UN International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the report found. The ICAO is the forum where nations agree the rules governing international aviation. Continue reading...

Transport body promises to crack down on the small minority of people with four or more penalty noticesTransport for London is promising to crack down on drivers who flout its ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) after revealing that 94% of the 790m owed in fines has been racked up by persistent offenders.Non-payers have been fined up to 17,000 this year, including one driver whose car was seized and sold at auction after he ignored 130 warning letters and 14 visits by enforcement officers. Continue reading...

The magnificent apex predator of the night, forced out of forests into urban landscapes, now confronts yet another silent killer: rat poison

Separate research found that at the current rate of global heating, more than 70,000 people will die in the US by 2050Smoke billowing from wildfires will cause a growing number of deaths around the world in the decades ahead as the planet continues to heat up, new research has found.Wildfire smoke is expected to kill as many as 1.4 million people globally each year by the end of the century if planet-heating emissions are not curbed, according to a study published on Thursday. Continue reading...

Whiting residents worried after facility, which has had multiple problems, shut down temporarily after rainIt was the biggest news story around the midwest as the Labor Day weekend approached earlier this month: the unexpected surging price of fuel at the gas station.But for residents of Whiting, Indiana, petroleum has been presenting an altogether bigger problem. Continue reading...