US courts, scholars and Democrats are pushing back against the president's aggressive drive to boost fossil fuelsDonald Trump's aggressive drive to boost fossil fuels, including dirty coal, coupled with his administration's moves to roll back wind and solar power, face mounting fire from courts, scholars and Democrats for raising the cost of electricity and worsening the climate crisis.Four judges, including a Trump appointee, in recent weeks have issued temporary injunctions against interior department moves to halt work on five offshore wind projects in Virginia, New York and New England, which have cost billions of dollars and are far along in development. Continue reading...

Bill limits type of science used to determine health risks and gives industry major role in chemical review processA new Republican House bill proposes sweeping changes to US toxic chemical laws that would gut protections for consumers, workers and the environment, public health advocates mobilising against the legislation warn.Among other changes to the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA), the bill would limit the type of science that is used to determine health risks, stop legally requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure chemicals won't harm people, give industry a prominent role in chemical review processes, and make it more difficult legally for the agency to ban toxic substances. Continue reading...

Birdwatchers flock to Montreal for rare sighting of vagrant' bird that has made its home during a bitterly cold winterOn a quiet Montreal street of low-rise brick apartment buildings on one side and cement barrier wall on the other, a crowd has gathered, binoculars around their necks and cameras at the ready. A European robin has taken up residence in the neighbourhood, which is sandwiched between two industrial areas with warehouses and railway lines and, a few blocks away, port facilities on the St Lawrence River.Ron Vandebeek from Ottawa, Ontario, is here on a frigid February morning hoping to see the rare bird, which was first spotted at the beginning of January. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Analysts say there will be oil spill catastrophe that could be far bigger than Exxon Valdez disasterDecrepit oil tankers in Iran's sanctions-busting shadow fleet are a ticking time bomb", and it is only a matter of time before there is a catastrophic environmental disaster, maritime intelligence analysts have warned.Such an oil spill could be far bigger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster that released 37,000 tonnes of crude oil into the sea, they said. Continue reading...

Government also offers contracts for record number of solar schemes as it aims to create clean electricity system by 2030

Environmental groups said dicamba drift has damaged vegetable farms, trees and other critical plantsThe Environmental Protection Agency on Friday reapproved the weedkiller dicamba for use on genetically modified soybeans and cotton, a pesticide that has raised widespread concern over its tendency to drift and destroy nearby crops.The agency said dicamba was critical for farmers who would otherwise have their crops threatened by fast growing weeds. To ensure the pesticide is used safely, the agency said it imposed strong protections and limits on its use. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Campaign group calls on institutional shareholders to vote against re-election of bosses overseeing net zero row-backBank chairs who water down their lenders' climate commitments this year could face embarrassing shareholder revolts as campaigners try to hold bosses to account for environmental backtracking.ShareAction, a campaign group for responsible investment, will be issuing detailed reports to pension funds and asset managers in the coming weeks, outlining whether 34 of the world's largest lenders are sticking to their climate goals. Continue reading...

Proposals by California, Hawaii and New York lawmakers aim to hold fossil fuel industry accountable for soaring ratesAs climate disasters drive up the price of home insurance, three US states are considering empowering their state prosecutors to sue major polluters for their role in those rising costs.Lawmakers in California, Hawaii and New York have introduced measures which would authorize their attorneys general to sue fossil fuel companies on behalf of residents whose insurance premiums have soared amid climate disasters. Continue reading...

Providers report rise in demand as companies seek mental health benefits and increased sense of communityIn a growing number of workplaces, the soundtrack of the lunch break is no longer the rustle of sandwiches at a desk, but the quiet hum of bees - housed just outside the office window.Employers from Manchester to Milton Keynes are working with professional beekeepers to install hives on rooftops, in courtyards and car parks - positioning beekeeping not as a novelty but as a way to ease stress, build community and reconnect workers with nature in an era of hybrid work and burnout. Continue reading...

Animals, insects, flora and fauna - the world photographed in close-up in the annual competition dedicated to micro and macro photography. Cupoty 7 was won by underwater photographer Ross Gudgeon, triumphing over 12,000 entries from 63 countries Continue reading...

Grocery delivery firm will begin picking up broken tech across the UK and charging consumers to recycle itemsA UK dairy delivery business is to begin collecting unwanted or broken toys, mobile phones and laptops while dropping off milk, orange juice and butter in its latest attempt to expand.The Modern Milkman was founded by entrepreneur Simon Mellin in Burnley, north-west England, in 2019 and delivers groceries to more than 100,000 households across the UK. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Ministers to act after last year's legislation outwitted' by failing firms paying millions to executivesThe government is to close loopholes which allow bosses of failing water companies to continue to receive large bonuses despite a ban passed last year, it can be revealed.Bosses of companies that illegally dumped sewage into England's rivers and seas and presided over water shortages which left thousands of people in misery have still been paid millions in bonuses despite the ban. Continue reading...

One expert says 2027 could be even hotter than the last three years, which have been the top three warmest on record

Move will hit Michigan, Illinois, New York and other states with highest levels of lead drinking water pipes the hardestThere is outrage among some politicians and activists after the US Congress voted to slash $125m for replacing toxic lead drinking water pipes that are particularly a threat to children.The move will hit Michigan, Illinois, Texas, New York and other states with the highest levels of lead pipes the hardest. The cut was part of a broader government funding bill and particularly controversial in the context of the fight over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) funding. Continue reading...

Portugal's far-right Chega party has said vote should be delayed as state of calamity declared in 69 areasHeavy rains and strong winds have continued to batter parts of Spain and Portugal, causing at least two deaths, forcing the evacuation of more than 7,000 people and prompting calls to postpone the second-round of Portugal's presidential election.Storm Leonardo, which has lashed the Iberian peninsula this week, has led the Portuguese government to extend the current state of calamity in 69 municipalities until the middle of February. Continue reading...

Data shows 29 hybrid and 98 diesel cars also sold, while the figure for battery electric vehicles was more than 2,000Just seven new petrol cars were sold in Norway last month, data shows.The country, which is the frontrunner in the uptake of electric vehicles, shifted a record low number of new fossil-fuel cars in January, information from the Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council (OFV) reveals. Continue reading...

This week's best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

When marine biologist Oceane Attlan saw the tiny Braun's wrasse, it was like recognising a familiar face, but you can't put a name on it'

Toxicity from farm chemicals increased for most species groups between 2013 and 2019, with insects worst affectedEcological harm from pesticides is growing globally, a study has found, with bugs, fish, pollinators and land-based plants among six species groups hit hardest.Insects suffered the greatest increase in harm from synthetic farm chemicals between 2013 and 2019, the study shows, with applied" toxicity rising by 42.9%, followed by soil organisms, which faced an increase of 30.8%. Continue reading...

President condemns environmental and health crime' as critics say Israel seeks to make southern Lebanon uninhabitableLebanon has accused Israel of spraying a herbicide linked to cancer on farmland in the south of the country as a health crime" that would threaten food security and farmers' livelihoods.The country's president, Joseph Aoun, condemned what he called an environmental and health crime" and a violation of Lebanese sovereignty, and he vowed to take all necessary legal and diplomatic measures to confront this aggression". Continue reading...

State culled a number of the non-native reptiles after thousands were cold-stunned' and dropped from treesWildlife officials in Florida say they euthanized more than 5,000 non-native iguanas in the state after hordes of the reptiles froze and fell from trees in this week's cold snap.The Florida fish and wildlife commission (FWC) authorized the first officially sanctioned cull of cold-stunned" iguanas as temperatures plunged below freezing in many areas of the state. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Campaigners say proposed cut from 11.9bn over past five years to 9bn over next five years will cost lives and livelihoodsThe UK plans to slash its aid to poor countries stricken by the climate crisis by more than a fifth, the Guardian has learned, despite promises to increase assistance and warnings from campaigners that the move will cost lives and livelihoods.Ministers plan to cut climate finance for the developing world from 11.6bn over the past five years to 9bn in the next five. In real terms, accounting for inflation, this would represent a cut of about 40% in spending power since 2021, when the 11.6bn budget was agreed. Continue reading...

CAA's guidance also including booking sites to enable passengers to make more informed travel decisions'Airlines and booking firms should give UK customers information about the environmental impact of their flights, the regulator has said.The Civil Aviation Authority urged booking sites to enable passengers to make more informed travel decisions" by setting out estimates for carbon emissions for flights landing or taking off from British airports. Continue reading...

In first-of-its-kind complaint, state accused four fossil fuel majors and US oil lobbying group of climate disinformationAmid rising concern about global heating and soaring energy costs, Michigan has sued big oil for allegedly fueling both crises - a move experts have hailed as groundbreaking.In a first-of-its-kind complaint, the state's attorney general, Dana Nessel, accused four fossil fuel majors and the top US oil lobbying group last month of acting as a cartel" to stifle the growth of renewable energy and electric vehicles (EVs), while suppressing information about the dangers of the climate crisis. The conduct, the lawsuit alleged, violates federal and state antitrust laws. Continue reading...

Charity praises effort to stop Ramsgate's Pie Factory Music closing but calls for more youth services in coastal townsThe last remaining youth centre in one of England's most deprived coastal places has been saved from being sold after a long campaign by the charity that has for 13 years called it home.In November the Guardian revealed how the centre in Ramsgate on the Kent coast was facing being auctioned off by Kent county council, despite an independent report that estimated the centre was saving the council more than 500,000 a year in costs, including for services in mental health, youth justice and social care. Continue reading...

Shas Sheehan challenges refusal to remove 25,000 tonnes of waste causing grave environmental hazard' near schoolA 25,000-tonne illegal waste dump next to a primary school in Wigan presents a grave environmental hazard" and should be cleared, the chair of the Lords environment committee has told the government.Shas Sheehan challenged the refusal of the Environment Agency to clean up an illegal waste dump in Bolton House Road in the Greater Manchester town, given the agency was spending millions clearing up illegal waste deposited in Kidlington, Oxfordshire. Continue reading...

Industry bigger than all but seven world economies, and accounts for more than third of China's economic growthChina's clean energy industries drove more than 90% of the country's investment growth last year, making the sectors bigger than all but seven of the world's economies, a new analysis has shown.For the second time in three years, the report showed the manufacture, installation and export of batteries, electric cars, solar, wind and related technologies accounted for more than a third of China's economic growth. Continue reading...

Company publicly denied allegations that primary forests were being cut down to fuel UK's biggest power plantSenior executives at Drax raised concerns internally about the validity of the energy company's sustainability claims while it publicly denied allegations that it was cutting down environmentally important forests for fuel, court documents have revealed.Britain's biggest power plant assured ministers and civil servants of the company's green credentials as it scrambled to defend itself against claims in a BBC Panorama documentary that it had burned wood sourced from old-growth" forests in Canada. Continue reading...

Only 180 bats survived intense heat in South Australian town, including 34 babies that carers say face months of recovery

Dismantling rules will make children vulnerable to chronic diseases make America healthy again' wants to eradicateDonald Trump's aggressive rollback of environmental protections directly contradicts the promises of his make America healthy again" campaign, according to new research.Helmed by Robert F Kennedy Jr, Trump's health and human services department has touted pledges to transform our nation's food, fitness, air, water, soil and medicine" and reverse the childhood chronic disease crisis". But the president's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pushing the country in the opposite direction, says the new report from the liberal research and advocacy non-profit Center for American Progress (CAP). Continue reading...

A shortlist of 24 images has been selected for the wildlife photographer of the year people's choice award. You can vote for your favourite image online. The winner will be announced on 25 March and shown from that date as part of the overall wildlife photographer of the year exhibition, which runs until 12 July at the Natural History Museum in London Continue reading...

Grieving family of the backpacker will attend a smoking ceremony conducted by the island's traditional owners

When Essex University's Southend campus opened, it was a message of hope for a left behind' UK seaside town. Its closure will be felt far beyond its 800 students, some of whom will not get their degreesThe seaside city of Southend-on-Sea, on England's east coast, looks grey on a winter afternoon in term-time. Its high street, bordering the university campus, is sparsely populated with market stalls, vape shops and discount retailers, and feels unusually quiet.There used to be lots of shops, restaurants and youth clubs around here," says 23-year-old Nathan Doucette-Chiddicks. Now, the city is about to lose something else that it can scarcely do without. Continue reading...

Conservancy sees nonnative species as major threat to local biodiversity, while residents rally to preserve local identityCalifornia wildlife officials moved forward last week with a plan to eradicate a mule deer herd from Santa Catalina Island: extermination.The plan has long pitted locals from the island off the coast of Los Angeles against the Catalina Island Conservancy, an environmental non-profit that manages 88% of the island's terrain. The conservancy sees mule deer, which are not native to the island, as a major threat to local biodiversity, water quality and fire resilience. Continue reading...

Cartoon lump of coal with giant eyes was spotlighted by US interior secretary in X post saying: Mine, Baby, Mine!'The Trump administration has turned to an unusual weapon in its attempt to resurrect coal mining - a cartoon lump of coal, complete with giant eyes and yellow mining garb, called Coalie".The administration's new mascot, kitted out with a helmet, boots and gloves, was introduced in a seemingly artificial intelligence-generated picture posted online by Doug Burgum, Donald Trump's interior secretary. Continue reading...

It will take years for changes to take effect, but children who eat school meals and seniors served by Meals on Wheels will feel the DGA ripple effectsMost Americans ignore the country's dietary guidelines, but millions will be directly affected by upcoming changes to these recommendations.On 6 January, after months of proclamations about seismic improvements to the country's dietary recommendations, the US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Agriculture released those updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). This document - once visually presented to millennial schoolchildren as a food pyramid and to today's zoomers and gen Alpha as a segmented lunch plate - synthesizes the latest nutritional research and offers revamped eating advice every five years. Continue reading...

Trump has prioritized fossil fuel companies over consumers, hitting the lowest-income families hardestDonald Trump promised to cut energy prices by 50%. Instead, average electricity prices over the past year have risen by about 6.7%, while natural gas prices have increased by 10.8%. Energy prices are influenced by many factors beyond any president's direct control, including market conditions, weather-driven demand, regional infrastructure constraints and the rapid growth of energy-intensive datacenters that are driving new system costs. Policy choices do not determine prices on their own, but they do shape market outcomes, and the direction of this administration's energy policy has been clear.From his first days in office, President Trump made clear that his energy agenda would prioritize fossil fuel producers over consumers. His administration moved to expand US liquefied natural gas exports, increasing exposure to volatile global markets. At the same time, it froze wind power projects that provide some of the cheapest new electricity, intervened to keep costly coal plants running, and backed the elimination of energy-efficiency tax credits that lower household energy bills.Mark Wolfe is executive director of National Energy Assistance Directors Association, co-director of the Center on Energy Poverty and Climate and adjunct faculty at the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy at George Washington University Continue reading...

Australians for Prosperity received most of its funding last financial year from Coal Australia, according to disclosures made to the Australian Electoral Commission

Chagossian people would be allowed to fish in area that has teemed with life since ban was introduced in 2010One of the most precious marine reserves in the world, home to sharks, turtles and rare tropical fish, will be opened to some fishing for the first time in 16 years under the UK government's deal to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.Allowing non-commercial fishing in the marine protected area (MPA) is seen as an essential part of the Chagossian people's return to the islands, as the community previously relied on fishing as their main livelihood. But some conservationists have raised the alarm, as nature has thrived in the waters of the Indian Ocean since it was protected from fishing. Continue reading...

Ministers' proposals to tackle forever chemicals' fail to match tougher stance taken in Europe, say expertsEnvironmental campaigners have criticised a crushingly disappointing" UK government plan to tackle forever chemicals", which they warn risks locking in decades of avoidable harm to people and the environment.The government said its Pfas action plan set out a clear framework" of coordinated action ... to understand where these chemicals are coming from, how they spread and how to reduce public and environmental exposure". Continue reading...

Sector bounces back as consumers focus on provenance and healthy eating, but is still well behind EuropeConsumers searching for healthy food from trusted sources have fuelled the UK organic market's biggest boom in two decades, according to vegetable box seller Riverford.The delivery business, which sells meat, cheese, cookbooks and recipe boxes alongside vegetables, recorded a 6% increase in sales to 117m in the year to May 2025, as the UK organic food and drink market grew by almost 9% in that year, according to new figures from the Soil Association. The strong growth, significantly outpacing the wider food market, helped the employee-owned business give a 1.1m bonus to workers. Continue reading...

Researchers dig spas' and install saunas' in ACT wetlands to give green and golden bell frogs the best chance of survival

Residents living near Cadia goldmine in central western NSW allege in court filings that dust containing heavy metals has contaminated the water supply

Volunteer workers say increasing case numbers and dozens of dead birds raise fears spread is wider than recordedMembers of the public and charity volunteers are working to contain a suspected outbreak of bird flu among swans in the Thames Valley, amid signs that confirmed cases are continuing to rise.Since October, 324 cases of bird flu in swans have been recorded by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha), which is sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Of these, 39 were recorded in the first four weeks of 2026 alone. Continue reading...

A US judge will decide if, as research suggests, a chemical tyre additive is harming endangered fish speciesLast week, a district judge in San Francisco, California, presided over a three-day trial brought by west coast fishers and conservationists against US tyre companies. The fishers allege that a chemical additive used in tyres is polluting rivers and waterways, killing coho salmon and other fish. If successful, the case could have implications far beyond the United States. Continue reading...

With some of Ukraine's most valuable biodiversity sites and science facilities under occupation, experts at Sofiyivka Park in Uman are struggling to preserve the country's natural historyIn the basement laboratory of the National Dendrological Park Sofiyivka, Larisa Kolder tends to dozens of specimens of Moehringia hypanica between power outages. Just months earlier, she and her team at this microclonal plant propagation laboratory in Uman, Ukraine, received 23 seeds of the rare flower.Listed as threatened in Ukraine's Red Book of endangered species, Moehringia grows nowhere else in the wild but the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine. Of those 23 seeds, only two grew into plants that Kolder and her colleagues could clone in their laboratory, but now her lab is home to a small grove of Moehringia seedlings, including 80 that have put down roots in a small but vital win for biodiversity conservation amid Russia's war with Ukraine. Continue reading...

About 150m faced cold weather advisories along eastern US, and two in North Carolina died in storm-related conditionsA bomb cyclone produced freezing temperatures across a large portion of the US from the Gulf coast to New England, bringing heavy snow to North Carolina where two were killed in storm-related conditions, and setting records in Florida, where officials warned of ice and falling iguanas.About 150 million people were under cold weather advisories and extreme cold warnings in the eastern portion of the US, with wind chills near zero to single digits fahrenheit in the south and the coldest air mass seen in south Florida since December 1989, said Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist with the weather prediction center in College Park, Maryland. Continue reading...

Inadequate food supplies and collapsing rainforests must be recognised as national security threats - not pigeonholed as green issuesEcosystems and national security used not to be mentioned in the same breath all that often - unless environmental campaigners were doing the talking. For years, climate and nature experts have struggled to get across the message that species extinctions, dead rivers and deforestation are an existential threat to people as well as animals and plants. As George Monbiot wrote last week, the publication of a government report thought to have been authored by intelligence chiefs, about the threats to the UK's national security from biodiversity collapse, should be viewed as a step forward. The risks have become too extreme to be ignored.The document is a national security assessment, not a scientific report. The data that it relies on comes from other sources. But the warnings that it contains about the UK's heavy dependence on food and fertiliser imports, and the probable consequences of nature depletion, must be heeded. Originally due to be published in the autumn, the review appears to have had some sections removed. An earlier version is reported to have included warnings about the risks of eco-terrorism" and the growing likelihood of war between China, India and Pakistan due to competition over a shrinking water supply from the Himalayas. Continue reading...

After stories revealed high levels of contamination in neighborhood around factory processing US toxic waste, government announces sweeping array of tacticsThe Mexican government has announced it will pursue a sweeping array of tactics to combat industrial pollution, from $4.8m in fines against a plant processing US hazardous waste to the rollout of a new industrial air-monitoring system, following investigations by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, a Mexican investigative unit.Those stories revealed high levels of heavy-metal contamination in the neighborhood around the factory, Zinc Nacional, in the Monterrey metropolitan area, and showed the broader extent of industrial pollution in the region, linked to Monterrey's role in manufacturing and recycling goods for the US market. Continue reading...