Representatives from nine voting nations among guests on snorkelling trip as Morrison government lobbies against Unesco recommendationAmbassadors from more than a dozen countries will fly to the Great Barrier Reef for a snorkelling trip on Thursday as part of the Morrison government’s lobbying campaign to keep the ocean jewel off the world heritage in danger list.The government’s official reef ambassador, Warren Entsch, will host the Canberra-based diplomatic group which, he said, included nine countries with voting rights at the upcoming world heritage committee meeting. Entsch said on Wednesday the diplomats were paying their own airfare. Continue reading...

About 800,000 hectares of forest destroyed so far in region enveloped by smoke as Russia suffers through ‘abnormal heatwave’Russia’s army has sent water-bombing planes to support thousands of firefighters battling huge wildfires in Siberia, a region known for its frozen tundra that is now sweltering under a heatwave.Flames are tearing across 800,000 hectares of forest, and the hardest-hit region of Yakutia in the north has been in a state of emergency for weeks as climate scientists sound the alarm about the potential long-term impact. Continue reading...

Delayed decarbonisation plan for achieving net zero emissions for transport by 2050 is publishedNew diesel and petrol lorries will be banned in Britain by 2040, under a “greenprint” to decarbonise all types of transport by 2050.The British government’s long-awaited transport decarbonisation plan, finally published on 15 July, will include what is being billed as a “world-leading pledge” to end the sale of all new polluting vehicles and move towards net zero domestic aviation emissions by 2040. Continue reading...

Agency says plane drops are ‘less stressful’ way to refill remote ponds for fishingThe Utah division of wildlife resources has released video footage showing what looks like confetti coming out of the tail of a plane – but look closer and the stream actually contains live airborne fish cascading down into the lakes below.The footage is from a drop in the state’s Boulder Mountain region earlier this month, and is part of the agency’s annual effort to restock about 200 high-elevation Utah lakes, which are popular fishing spots but aren’t easily accessible by other vehicles. Continue reading...

The wellspring of Lake Mead created by the dam’s blocking of the Colorado River has plummeted to an historic low as states in the west face hefty cuts in their water suppliesHad the formidable white arc of the Hoover dam never held back the Colorado River, the US west would probably have no Los Angeles or Las Vegas as we know them today. No sprawling food bowl of wheat, alfalfa and corn. No dreams of relocating to live in a tamed desert. The river, and dam, made the west; now the climate crisis threatens to break it.The situation here is emblematic of a planet slowly, inexorably overheating. And the catastrophic consequences of the extreme weather this brings. Continue reading...

Environment minister Angus Taylor names former Quadrant Energy boss Katherine Vidgen a member of the body supporting Australia’s emissions reduction goalsEnergy minister Angus Taylor has appointed a founding chair of a major gas and oil producer to Australia’s clean energy regulator.Katherine Vidgen’s extensive job history includes heading up Quadrant Energy, described as a “a large independent oil and gas producer and explorer in West Australia”, as well as serving as the global head of energy principle at Macquarie Capital. Continue reading...

Heavy rain flooded pavements, roads and property in parts of London on Monday nightIt was the speed of the flooding that really scared Joseph Wilkins. The manager of Trailer Happiness, a basement bar in Portobello Road in Notting Hill, watched in disbelief on Monday evening as the flood water rose from 2 inches to 1.5 feet in just five minutes.Ten minutes later, the water was waist-deep. “It was like something out of the Titanic,” said Wilkins. “We had water gushing at us from all angles: from the manhole in our floor to the ceiling, which is at ground level, and everywhere in between.” Continue reading...

Center Parcs proposal for 223-hectare woodland site faces opposition from activists and localsCenter Parcs has been criticised over plans to build a complex on rare bird habitat in Sussex, next to a site of special scientific interest.The holiday company announced it was applying to create its sixth UK holiday village on 223 hectares (551 acres) of woodland in Worth Forest, West Sussex. They hope to attract Londoners down to the wood, which was selected because of its transport links to the capital. Continue reading...

IEA analysis offers hope for climate action but says inflated oil price may slow global economic recovery from Covid-19Rising oil prices could help speed climate action by accelerating the shift to electric vehicles, but would come at the expense of the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the global energy watchdog.The world’s demand for crude surged by an average of 3.2m barrels a day (b/d) in June compared with the previous month but the return of oil production has failed to keep pace, triggering a steady rise in market prices. Continue reading...

Southern Water was one of the worst-performing companies in 2020, according to reportThe water industry in England is failing to cut pollution from spills of raw sewage into rivers and coastal waters, the Environment Agency has said.Southern Water, which was fined a record £90m last week for dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into the sea, was one of the worst-performing companies in 2020, according to the EA report on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Wildfires in several states are burning with worrying ferocity across a tinder-dry landscapeAs fires propagate throughout the US west on the heels of record heatwaves, experts are warning that the region is caught in a vicious feedback cycle of extreme heat, drought and fire, all amplified by the climate crisis.Firefighters are battling blazes from Arizona to Washington state that are burning with a worrying ferocity, while officials say California is already set to outpace last year’s record-breaking fire season. Continue reading...

Six-week-old kit seen on National Trust’s Holnicote Estate in Somerset after pair of adults were reintroducedA baby beaver has been born on Exmoor for the first time in 400 years after two adults were successfully reintroduced by the National Trust in January 2020.Camera footage shows the six-week-old kit swimming to the family lodge with its mother in a large enclosure on the Holnicote Estate in Somerset, where two Eurasian beavers were released for the first time in the trust’s 125-year history. Continue reading...

Severity of hot spell in western US underlines dangerous impact of human-caused climate disruptionExcessive heat warnings remained in place across swathes of the western US on Monday after Death Valley in California registered what could prove to be the highest reliably recorded temperature on Earth.After a cascade of record heatwaves in Canada, north-west US, northern Europe and Siberia, the severity of the hot spell has underlined the dangerous impact of human-caused climate disruption and prompted scientists to consider whether computer models may have underestimated the impacts. Continue reading...

Shareholders want Musk to refund Tesla the $2.6bn the company paid for the ailing solar energy companyElon Musk took the stand on Monday to defend Tesla’s 2016 acquisition of SolarCity against a lawsuit by shareholders seeking to recoup the $2.6bn the company paid for the ailing solar panel maker.Related: Elon Musk leads Tesla effort to build house roofs entirely out of solar panels Continue reading...

Letter to world heritage committee comes as minister embarks on week of lobbying against changeAustralia’s major environment groups have written to the UN’s world heritage committee, urging it to put the Great Barrier Reef on its “in danger” list as the Morrison government ramps up its lobbying against the change.The environment minister, Sussan Ley, was due to land in Europe on Monday evening for a week-long campaign against the in-danger recommendation for the ocean jewel. Continue reading...

Minnesota pet owners warned not to release fish into wild, where they wreak havoc on native speciesAuthorities in Minnesota have appealed to aquarium owners to stop releasing pet fish into waterways, after several huge goldfish were pulled from a local lake.Officials in Burnsville, about 15 miles south of Minneapolis, said released goldfish can grow to several times their normal size and wreak havoc on indigenous species. Continue reading...

Ambitious draft goals to halt biodiversity loss revealed, with proposed changes to food production expected to ‘raise eyebrows’Eliminating plastic pollution, reducing pesticide use by two-thirds, halving the rate of invasive species introduction and eliminating $500bn (£360bn) of harmful environmental government subsidies a year are among the targets in a new draft of a Paris-style UN agreement on biodiversity loss.The goals set out by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)to help halt and reverse the ecological destruction of Earth by the end of the decade also include protecting at least 30% of the world’s oceans and land and providing a third of climate crisis mitigation through nature by 2030. Continue reading...

Five photographers share the story behind their shot, as images go on sale to support conservation charityMore than 150 wildlife photographers are taking part in a sale of wildlife prints to raise money for African Parks, a South Africa-based conservation NGO. In 2020, the first Prints for Wildlife sale raised $660,200 (£479,000), with more than 6,500 prints sold within 30 days.This year, the initiative, founded by two photographers, Pie Aerts from the Netherlands and Austrian Marion Payr, is aiming to raise $1m. The prints will be on sale through the online shop printsforwildlife.org until 11 August. Continue reading...

State officials report ‘unprecedented’ deaths due to starvation as pollution and algal blooms take tollMore manatees have died already this year than in any other year in Florida’s recorded history, primarily from starvation due to the loss of seagrass beds, state officials have said.The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission reported that 841 manatee deaths were recorded between 1 January and 2 July, breaking the previous record of 830 that died during the whole of 2013 because of an outbreak of toxic red tide. Continue reading...

A new report has found that a policy standard would be most effective to reach the goal of 80% renewable energy use by 2030A Biden administration plan to force the rapid uptake of renewable energy would swiftly cut planet-heating emissions and save hundreds of thousands of lives from deadly air pollution, a new report has found amid growing pressure on the White House to deliver a major blow against the climate crisis.Of various climate policy options available to the new administration, a clean energy standard would provide the largest net benefits to the US, according to the report, in terms of costs as well as lives saved. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Environment officials raised concerns that damage to habitat on Robbins Island could be difficult to offsetA proposed new windfarm on Robbins Island off north-west Tasmania could threaten a disease-free Tasmanian devil population, according to federal environment officials, who say the damage to habitat could be difficult to offset.Correspondence obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws shows officials raised concerns that no comparable habitat existed anywhere else to compensate for the effects the project could have on the island’s unique devil colony, which is considered a stronghold for the survival of the species. Continue reading...

Private equity bids for supermarket chain have raised fears among Morrison’s thousands of suppliersMorrisons has written to the UK farmers whose produce fills its supermarket shelves to reassure them that the takeover offer led by US investment firm Fortress will protect the character of the business and its relationship with its suppliers.In a letter to the 3,000 farmers who supply the grocer, seen by the Guardian, Morrison’s chief executive, David Potts, writes that the company’s board believes the Fortress would be a “suitable and responsible owner”, and that its pledges about the future of the company “carry genuine weight”. Continue reading...

Campaigners say MoD and local authority agreed ‘bespoke metric’ to push through permission to develop Middlewick Ranges in EssexThe Middlewick Ranges are an ecological marvel by the standards of 21st-century Britain. The army firing range near Colchester, Essex, has been untouched by a plough for nearly 200 years, allowing skylarks and nightingales to feast on the threatened invertebrates and insects that thrive in the rare acid grassland.Yet a plan to sell off the ranges to build more than 1,000 homes has prompted accusations from campaigners that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has rewritten environmental protection rules to suit its case. Continue reading...

Records show the firm FTI and its fossil fuel clients benefit from local government tiesWhen Joe Biden paused oil and gas drilling leases on federal lands earlier this year, the alarm bells rang in south-eastern New Mexico.Officials in Eddy county – which, along with neighboring Lea county, holds New Mexico’s share of the oil- and gas-rich Permian Basin – immediately worried about potential economic fallout. Continue reading...

U-turn deals blow to Japan’s hopes of using Games to showcase recovery from 2011 tsunamiThe Fukushima prefecture of Japan will bar spectators from the Olympic events it hosts this summer owing to rising Covid-19 infections, its governor said on Saturday, reversing a position announced two days earlier by organisers.The decision deals another blow to Japan’s hopes of using the Olympics to showcase its recovery from a devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the northern coast in 2011, destroying a nuclear power station in Fukushima in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Continue reading...

From Peckham to Plymouth, wildflowers are thriving in urban areas as councils let the grass grow to create ‘managed messiness’ for wildlife to thriveA patch of purple wildflowers springs out of Peckham Rye like a bruise. Elsewhere, strips of long grass quiver in the wind, breaking up the uniformity of well-cut grass. Poppies, red campion and meadowsweet are among spring’s colourful arrivals.Since May, London’s Southwark council has mowed a third less grass than it normally does and these flowers sprouted by themselves from seeds that had lain dormant in the earth. It is the latest addition to Southwark council’s flower-rich grasslands that have been extended by seven hectares (17 acres) since 1994. Continue reading...

The world was watching as a judge formalised into law a government’s duty of care to protect under-18s from the climate crisisAt about 9.30am on Thursday morning, 17-year-old Melbourne school student Anjali Sharma was walking her two-year-old kelpie-cross dog Maya down to the creek when the notifications started buzzing on her phone.“I was getting updates from the lawyers in the court,” says Sharma, who as we speak is about to take another call from a journalist at the Times of India. Continue reading...

Privatised firm dumped billions of litres of raw sewage off north Kent and Hampshire coasts to avoid costs and penalties

Company has been issued with a huge fine but those affected by its actions are finding it hard to celebrate

Authorities reclassify animal as vulnerable with a population outside captivity of 1,800Giant pandas are no longer endangered in the wild, but they are still vulnerable with a population outside captivity of 1,800, Chinese officials have said after years of conservation efforts.The head of the environment ministry’s department of nature and ecology conservation, Cui Shuhong, said the reclassification was the result of “improved living conditions and China’s efforts in keeping their habitats integrated”. Continue reading...

Water investigators track down wasteful homeowners and public turf torn up to conserve scarce water suppliesInvestigator Perry Kaye jammed the brakes of his government-issued vehicle to survey the offense. “Uh oh this doesn’t look too good. Let’s take a peek,” he said, exiting the car to handle what has become one of the most existential violations in drought-stricken Las Vegas – a faulty sprinkler.Kaye is one of nearly 50 water waste investigators deployed by the local water authority to crack down on even the smallest misuse of a liquid perilously scarce in the US west, desiccated by two decades of drought. The situation in Las Vegas, which went a record 240 consecutive days without rain last year, is increasingly severe. Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a hungry hippo, coot chick and mother and basking turtle Continue reading...

Armin Laschet, frontrunner for next chancellor, says Germany will focus on innovation and market incentives

Harmful PFAS chemicals are being used to hold food, drink and cosmetics, with unknown consequences for human healthMany of the world’s plastic containers and bottles are contaminated with toxic PFAS, and new data suggests that it’s probably leaching into food, drinks, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, cleaning products and other items at potentially high levels.It’s difficult to say with precision how many plastic containers are contaminated and what it means for consumers’ health because regulators and industry have done very little testing or tracking until this year, when the Environmental Protection Agency discovered that the chemicals were leaching into a mosquito pesticide. One US plastic company reported “fluorinating” – or effectively adding PFAS to – 300m containers in 2011. Continue reading...

It is the monthly board meeting of the Coalbastards Corporation

Researcher accidentally spots tiny insect walking on the underside of the water surface as if it were a pane of glassAn Australian beetle has been observed walking upside down along the surface of water – the first instance that such behaviour has been visually documented.The tiny aquatic beetle, about 6mm to 8mm in length, has been recorded scuttling along the undersurface of a pool of water in New South Wales. Continue reading...

The governor has only requested, not ordered, the restriction as reservoirs have dwindled to dangerously low levelsCalifornia’s governor has asked people and businesses to voluntarily cut their water use by 15% as the western US weathers a devastating drought.Gavin Newsom’s request is not an order, but it demonstrates the growing challenges of a drought that will only worsen throughout the summer and fall and is tied to recent heatwaves. Reservoirs across the state, which are depended on for agriculture, drinking water and fish habitat, have dwindled to dangerously low levels and some counties have already enacted mandatory water restrictions. Continue reading...

State protests lost revenue and insists on right to control “its own natural resources”North Dakota has sued the Biden administration over its suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal land and water, saying the move will cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue.Joe Biden shut down oil and gas lease sales from the nation’s public lands and waters in his first days in office, citing the need to combat climate change, which he has called the “existential crisis of our time”. Continue reading...

BP’s annual report reveals renewable energy boom in pandemic coincided with slump in demand for oilThe world’s wind and solar energy capacity grew at a record rate last year while the oil industry recorded its steepest slump in demand since the second world war, according to BP.The impact of coronavirus lockdowns on the energy industry led carbon emissions to plummet by 6% on the year before, the sharpest decline since 1945, according to BP’s annual review of the energy sector. Continue reading...

Spaniards encouraged to reduce their meat consumption – the highest in EU – for sake of health and planetTo many Spaniards it was a sensible, responsible and rather overdue suggestion. But to others it was as heretical as a well-done steak, a lean slice of jamón or a barbecue of nothing but assorted veg.This week Spain’s consumer affairs minister, Alberto Garzón, launched a campaign inviting people to consider reducing their meat consumption for the good of their health and the planet. Continue reading...

Commission imposes €875m fine for breaching antitrust rules by delaying cleaner emissions technologyThe EU has fined Volkswagen and BMW €875m (£750m) after finding that the German carmakers colluded with another rival, the Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler, to delay emissions-cleaning technology.The European Commission said that the carmakers had “breached EU antitrust rules by colluding on technical development in the area of nitrogen oxide cleaning”. Continue reading...

In Canada, almost every policy to help wean us off fossil fuel has been watered down by oil and gas lobbyistsAfter recording the country’s highest ever temperatures of 49.6C, the town of Lytton in British Columbia, Canada, burst into flames. Residents had minutes to flee a “wall of fire” with nothing but the clothing on their backs. Like people in many other places in the world struggling with heatwaves, fires, droughts and strange extreme storms, BC residents now know what it feels like to live in a changing climate on an increasingly inhospitable planet.It’s the helplessness you feel as a mother when your son is throwing up from heat exhaustion. It’s the fear you feel when your asthmatic niece struggles to breathe because of the dense smoke from wildfires. It’s the panic you feel when you know that your oldest son is out in northern British Columbia tree planting and that there are now 180 wildfires raging across the province, caused by unprecedented “fire weather” – 710,000 lightning strikes in a 24-hour period. Continue reading...

British Columbia scientist says heat essentially cooked mussels: ‘The shore doesn’t usually crunch when you walk’More than 1 billion marine animals along Canada’s Pacific coast are likely to have died from last week’s record heatwave, experts warn, highlighting the vulnerability of ecosystems unaccustomed to extreme temperatures.The “heat dome” that settled over western Canada and the north-western US for five days pushed temperatures in communities along the coast to 40C (104F) – shattering longstanding records and offering little respite for days. Continue reading...

Couple steps in to rehabilitate injured sloths amid conservation crisis caused by Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing economic slumpIt is almost a year to the day that Haydée and Juan Carlos Rodríguez first spotted an injured sloth lying by the side of the road while they were out on a drive. In an attempt to cross from one tree to another in the Venezuelan town of San Antonio de Los Altos, near Caracas, the sloth had climbed on to a high-voltage power line and been electrocuted.The animal had lost the claws on three of its paws because of burns and the Rodríguezes were told by a local wildlife expert that it was not likely to survive, and that they should leave it to die. Continue reading...

Funding for offshore kelp forest, butterflies, beavers and wetlands among other schemes will help address climate crisisRestoring a kelp forest off the Sussex coast, creating new habitat for heat-sensitive butterflies and connecting fractured wetlands for the reintroduction of beavers are among 12 new projects receiving funding to help the UK tackle climate change, the Wildlife Trusts has announced.Planting new seagrass pastures in the Solent, expanding salt marshes on the Essex coast and restoring peatlands in Cumbria, Durham, Yorkshire, Northumberland and Somerset are some of the “high-impact” schemes that the nature charity said will help mitigate the impact of global heating on land and at sea. Continue reading...

Move follows recent buzz around rented clothes after Carrie Johnson wore a hired gown at her weddingWhen Carrie Johnson wore a rented gown to marry the prime minister, it prompted a fashion frenzy. And this week a study revealed that renting clothes is worse for the planet than throwing them away.Now one of the world’s most famous department stores, Harrods, is launching its first fashion rental service. In partnership with My Wardrobe HQ, which supplied Johnson’s wedding dress, it will offer showstoppers by the Italian couture designer Giambattista Valli and more everyday brands to rent from its Knightsbridge store. Continue reading...

Reducing global heating could save millions of people from mosquito-borne diseases, study findsMore than 8 billion people could be at risk of malaria and dengue fever by 2080 if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise unabated, a new study says.Malaria and dengue fever will spread to reach billions of people, according to new projections. Continue reading...

Environment minister has 28 days to appeal historic ruling that carbon emissions from coalmine should not cause young people ‘personal injury or death’• Download the free Guardian app; get our morning email briefingAustralia’s federal court has formally declared the nation’s environment minister has a “duty to take reasonable care” that young people won’t be harmed or killed by carbon dioxide emissions if she approves a coalmine expansion, in a judgment that could have wider implications for fossil fuel projects.In the federal court case, brought by eight schoolchildren and an octogenarian nun, Justice Mordecai Bromberg on Thursday also ordered the minister pay all costs. Continue reading...

The Marshall Islands’ climate request is one of 55 human rights-related recommendations Australia has rejected

Environmental groups criticise grant to Empire Energy, which had lobbied ministers for information on funding, as a ‘brazen misuse of taxpayer funds’