Government backs plan by London-based Entocycle to build facility outside capital

PM pledges to transform country in keynote address to Conservative party conference

Gruesome find comes as 12 people are reported killed with a further 20 still missing

Inquiry into encounters off coasts of Spain and Portugal says speed could be a factor

The Guapinol community, on the country’s north coast, has become militarized in an effort to defend the river that supplies itGabriela Sorto has not seen or spoken to her father in six months, since the Honduran government’s draconian Covid-19 measures banned most travel and prison visits.Porfirio Sorto Cedillo, a 48-year-old builder and farm worker, is one of eight protesters held in pre-trial detention since 2019 for alleged crimes linked to their opposition to an iron oxide mine which threatens to contaminate their water supply. Five more water defenders from Guapinol, a small low-income community on the country’s north coast, could also soon be sent to jail. Continue reading...

Grazer, a 15-year-old sow, will maul, swat or bite any bear that even thinks about getting too close to her cubsMore than 2,000 bears live within Katmai national park in Alaska, where they spend the precious few warm-weather months fishing for salmon, swimming and strolling over the park’s nearly 4.1m acres. But in recent years, one bear has cultivated an internet following for demonstrating uncommonly aggressive behavior with others.Related: Fat bear week: America's most body positive contest nears climax Continue reading...

Author Chris Goodall says tackling the climate crisis is neither difficult nor expensive and can help boost the economy

Those hoping to future-proof their careers are turning to green industries such as windfarms

In a special two-part takeover by colleagues from the age of extinction project, Patrick Greenfield and Phoebe Weston investigate whether national parks actually benefit the environment and biodiversity, or if there might be a better way of doing things Continue reading...

Scientists say hotter and longer summers make such an unusually fierce fire more likelyA bushfire that destroyed most of a village in New Zealand’s South Island has sparked a fierce debate between high-country farmers and conservationists, as those affected struggle to understand the unusually fierce nature of the blaze.Lake Ōhau village is located at the foothills of the Ben Ohau mountain range, and is home to just 15 permanent residents but its numbers swell significantly during the holiday season. On Sunday morning, a fire tore through the foothills and into the village, forcing 90 people to evacuate. Continue reading...

New law to boost investment is a ‘tragic miscalculation’, campaigners say, as unions plan strike action in protestIndonesia has passed a wide-ranging bill that will weaken environmental protections and workers’ rights in an attempt to boost investment, a move condemned as a “tragic miscalculation” that could lead to “uncontrolled deforestation”.Groups representing millions of workers said they would strike on Tuesday in response to protest against the bill, which will amend about 1,200 provisions in 79 existing laws after it was pushed through parliament with unprecedented speed. Police said that a permit for the protest had not been approved, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading...

National Trust encourages people to get out into nature to enjoy spectacular displaysA spectacular and prolonged autumn display of colour is predicted for the UK’s parks and gardens thanks to good sunny spells in the spring and September and some nurturing dampness in the summer.The golds, reds, purples, russets and oranges that provide a burst of joy before the winter months are likely to be particularly vivid this year, the National Trust said. Continue reading...

PM vows to make Britain world leader in low-cost clean power with ‘Build Back Greener’ driveBoris Johnson will promise to power every home in the UK with offshore wind energy within a decade, pledging to make the coronavirus pandemic a catalyst for green growth.In a speech to the virtual Conservative party conference on Tuesday, he will say that the government will invest in a clean energy future to create “hundreds of thousands, if not millions of jobs” in the next decade. Continue reading...

Injured surfers and large number of dead sea creatures reported in Kamchatka regionWater pollution in Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula that caused sea creatures to wash up dead on beaches has prompted fears that rocket fuel stored in the region’s military testing grounds may have leaked.The pollution came to light late last month after surfers reported stinging eyes and said the water had changed colour and developed an odour. Officials later confirmed the surfers had sustained mild burns to their corneas. Continue reading...

Higher public spending urged as way of boosting employment and GDP at relatively low costThe International Monetary Fund has told its member governments they can create millions of jobs and boost recovery prospects if they use higher public investment to respond to the severe economic challenge posed by Covid-19.Before its annual meeting this month, the Washington-based fund said historically low interest rates meant it was a good time to borrow for long-term infrastructure projects and said the spending would help tackle rising unemployment. Continue reading...

Frantic search under way in the state before Asian hornets embark on a murderous rampage among honeybeesOfficials in Washington state are conducting a frantic search for a nest containing Asian giant hornets, also known as murder hornets, before the creatures enter what is known as their “slaughter phase”.Related: ‘Murder hornets’: race to protect North America's honeybees from giant invader Continue reading...

Fiona Banner artwork is part of group’s direct action campaign against illegal North Sea fishingSecurity had been told to expect an artwork for the secretary of state at 9am. Perhaps they were not expecting it to be an enormous chunk of granite painted with squid ink and so heavy it will need a crane to remove.The artist Fiona Banner and a team from Greenpeace deposited the 1.5-ton artwork outside the Westminster offices of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on Monday. Continue reading...

Climate crisis and logging is leading to shift from canopy rainforest to open grassland

With a piece of environmental journalism published every three hours, the Guardian is a leading voice in the fight to save the planet

Last year, we vowed to prioritise climate journalism and cutting our own emissions. So much for promises: how are we actually doing this?

As the climate crisis intensifies, we publish a regularly updating dashboard of key indicators measuring the health of the planet Continue reading...

The Guardian is prioritising the environment both in editorial and commercial decisions. We know the situation is dire but that the worst can yet be averted

Since we launched our climate pledge last year, we have been working hard to make it a reality

Global heating is the emergency of our times. So we are taking action to confront it

Once one of Europe’s ‘most wanted’ wild animals, the now incarcerated bear has become symbolic of the conflict over the reintroduction of large predatorsThe prisoner is in a cage measuring two by six metres, surrounded by three 7,000-volt electric fences, a four-metre-high barrier, CCTV and a number of rangers. From afar, the structure resembles a maximum-security prison or even the T rex enclosure in Jurassic Park. The inmate is not, however, an oversized reptile or a Sicilian mafia boss, but a bear. His code name is M49, AKA Papillon, and until his capture last month, he was Europe’s most wanted wild animal, accused of having slaughtered dozens of cows and sheep in the mountains of northern Italy.Papillon, weighing 149kg (23st), is considered by the authorities to be an “escape genius”. He was recaptured by Italian rangers on 7 September having fled six weeks earlier from his enclosure at the Casteller wildlife centre, south of the city of Trento. The enclosure had previously been reinforced after Papillon escaped. Another escape would be a public embarrassment for the authorities, which means that since 7 September, Papillon has been locked up, an official source told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Firm says it wants to help Britain become ‘best place to invest in clean energy’Octopus Energy plans to create 1,000 new technology jobs across sites in London, Brighton, Warwick and Leicester, and a new tech hub in Manchester, as part of its vision to make the UK the “Silicon Valley of energy”.The supplier will employ graduates at the new sites to help develop the proprietary green energy technology platform which has helped to make Octopus one of the fastest-growing companies in the UK. Continue reading...

UK alone spends €5.7bn and Germany €12bn but analysis finds subsidies often go towards most polluting fleet vehiclesUK and European governments give companies subsidies worth €32bn (£29bn) a year towards buying cars, the vast majority of which are polluting diesel and petrol models, new analysis has found.The UK subsidies were worth €5.7bn (£5.2bn) to company car owners in 2019, according to the study by analysts Dataforce on behalf of Transport & Environment, a campaign group. Germany, the EU’s largest car market, provided subsidies worth €12bn. Continue reading...

If the 30 animals thrive in the predator-free area in the Barrington Tops, it could be a step towards reintroduction on Australia’s mainlandConservationists working with disease-free Tasmanian devils have taken the next step in what they hope will be a “rewilding” project that could eventually see the species reintroduced to the Australian mainland.About 30 devils, free of devil facial tumour disease, have been released into a 500ha, predator-free sanctuary in the Barrington Tops national park, north of Sydney. Continue reading...

Torrential rains sweep away houses and roads, and 21 people are reported missingSeven bodies have been found in a region straddling the French-Italian border near Nice after torrential rains swept houses and roads away, officials in both countries said.Five of the bodies were discovered on Sunday in northwestern Italy, including four washed up on the shore between the towns of Ventimiglia and Santo Stefano al Mare, near the French frontier. Some of the corpses might have been swept down the coast from France. Continue reading...

Dannenröder tree felling will be a catastrophe, say environmental campaignersThousands of climate activists gathered in a stretch of woodland north of Frankfurt on Sunday as a planned motorway extension through the Dannenröder forest pits the autobahn against 250-year-old oak trees.About 27 hectares (67 acres) of forest are to supposed to cleared by next February to make way for a new 3km stretch of the A49 dual carriageway. Police in the state of Hesse are preparing for months of stand-offs with protesters, who say the erosion of a healthy mixed forest makes a mockery of the German government’s ambitious climate targets. Continue reading...

The city plans to build Britain’s biggest zero-carbon housing project, boasting 600 homes in car-free cycling paradises full of fruit trees and allotments. When will the rest of the UK catch up?

Government must ‘put down a red line’ in the agriculture bill, says NFU president

Populations of mountain ringlet in Lake District face being wiped out as cooler habitats disappearThe diversity and resilience of cold-loving butterfly species is threatened by global heating which will destroy genetically unique populations, according to a study.Native mountain-dwelling butterflies such as the mountain ringlet, the bright-eyed ringlet and the dewy ringlet will have to be translocated to higher altitudes as their cooler habitat disappears to avoid extinction. Continue reading...

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s three children quiz veteran broadcaster on his passion for natureThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s children have shared their passion for animals with Sir David Attenborough in an adorable video.Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, two, quizzed the 94-year-old broadcaster in a video recorded at Kensington Palace in August. Princess Charlotte revealed that she likes spiders, and Attenborough told Prince Louis that his favourite animals were monkeys. Continue reading...

Rapid industrialisation in Gujarat threatens the mangroves that kharai camels and their nomadic herders depend on

Exclusive: Number of people living with illegal pollution levels has fallen by 94% since Sadiq Khan became mayorAir pollution in London has plunged since Sadiq Khan became mayor, with a 94% reduction in the number of people living in areas with illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide. The number of schools in such areas has fallen by 97%, from 455 in 2016 to 14 in 2019.Experts described the reductions as dramatic and said they showed the air pollution crisis was not intractable. More than 9,000 people in the capital were dying early each year due to dirty air in 2015. Continue reading...

Government has nominated ‘clean hydrogen’ using gas and CCS but for many countries ‘clean’ already means without fossil fuels“Green hydrogen” made with wind and solar electricity could become the cheapest form of what the Australian government has described as a “transformative fuel” much faster than expected, analysts believe.Chinese manufacturers have reported making systems to create hydrogen with renewable energy for up to 80% less than official Australian estimates from just two years ago. Continue reading...

Planning permission granted to Cumbria project that will extract 2.7m tonnes of coal per yearPlans to open the UK’s first new deep coalmine in 30 years have been given the go-ahead by councillors in Cumbria.West Cumbria Mining (WCM) said it plans to mine under the seabed to extract around 2.7m tonnes of metallurgical coal annually, which is solely for use within industry and not for power stations. Steel and chemical factories in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire and Port Talbot are expected to burn the coal’s output, with the company arguing that the coal will replace imports and will not increase emissions because it will not be shipped over from the US. Continue reading...

Cllr Richard Robertson says the environmental impact of air travel needs to be recognised, while Matthew G Andersson thinks the most central question is whether airlines are really for-profit commercial businesses any longerYour long read on the airline industry’s collapse was really quite depressing (Inside the airline industry’s meltdown, 29 September). Yes, the airlines are suffering huge losses and many jobs have been lost, but the assumption that passenger numbers will eventually return to pre-pandemic levels would be to throw away one of the only big gains from the lockdown.Airlines pay no duty on fuel and their tickets are very cheap, but they are costing the Earth as a result. It is disingenuous to assume that biofuel will ever be available in sufficient volume or that enough trees be planted (and survive) to offset the carbon released by the air industry. There is no place in a sustainable future world for the scale of flying that had been reached prior to the pandemic. Continue reading...

Environment Agency says pollution from nine companies at worst level in five yearsWater companies in England were responsible for their worst levels of environmental pollution in five years in 2019, leading to condemnation from ministers and the Environment Agency.In its annual assessment of the nine privatised water and sewerage companies, Emma Howard Boyd, the chair of the EA, said their performance continued to be unacceptable. More investment was needed by several of the companies wich were failing to protect the environment, she said. Continue reading...

While the US closes the doors on climate migrants from abroad, it must acknowledge that the problem has already come homeIn November 2018, I traveled with a caravan of thousands of Central American migrants as they marched across Mexico towards the US border. While some were seeking refuge in the US from gang violence or political persecution, many others were looking to escape something much more subtle: climate change. The Trump administration decried these climate migrants as “invaders” and attempted to build a wall to keep them out.But today, as much of the western US burns, and the country looks on in horror as San Francisco suffocates in an orange cloud of ash, we see that the US way of life is also gravely threatened by climate change. More than 8,100 wildfires have burned over 3.9m acres in California this year. The fires have killed 30 people, destroyed more than 7,500 structures, and displaced thousands in the state. Meanwhile in Oregon, half a million people were put under an evacuation order. Continue reading...

The financial system is what’s driving the climate emergency. It needs a complete structural overhaulIt’s been a year of considerable blows to the fossil fuel industry. Thursday’s announcement that the University of Cambridge will divest its endowment fund from fossil fuel corporations is another considerable win for campaigners, who have spent many years doggedly demanding change from an institution that – despite being a global leader in scientific research and education – has been obstinate about severing its many ties to the fossil fuel industry, including significant research funding from Shell and BP.Of course, serious questions will doubtless be raised about why a full decade is needed to shift money out of direct fossil fuel investments, and until 2038 to arrive at a “net-zero portfolio”. And the absence of a commitment on cutting the university’s close research ties with fossil fuel companies is also sure to draw some ire. Continue reading...

Michael Mann, one of the world’s most eminent climate experts, says Earth’s future ‘is in the hands of American citizens’This article is published as part of Covering Climate Now, a collaboration of 400-plus news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. The Guardian is the lead partner of CCN.Michael Mann, one of the most eminent climate scientists in the world, believes averting climate catastrophe on a global scale would be “essentially impossible” if Donald Trump is re-elected. Continue reading...

The cruise ships that normally throng south-eastern waters are absent, giving researchers a unique opportunity to eavesdropSign up for monthly updates on America’s public lands Continue reading...

Woods that inspired Beatrix Potter and John Constable in danger after hot, dry spring speeds up diseaseWoods that inspired Beatrix Potter and John Constable could be lost because of a surge in a disease affecting ash, the National Trust has warned.The conservation charity said it faced its worst year on record for felling trees owing to ash dieback, in part due to one of the warmest and driest springs on record. Increased prolonged hot and dry conditions driven by the climate crisis were putting trees under stress and making them more susceptible to disease, dramatically speeding up the impact of ash dieback, the trust said. Continue reading...

Labor MP for Port Stephens alleges NSW Nationals accepted nearly $20,000 despite ban on developers donating to political partiesThe NSW Labor party has written to the state’s electoral commission asking it to investigate allegations the NSW National party accepted nearly $20,000 in breach of the ban on donations by property developers.In a letter submitted on Tuesday, the local MP for Port Stephens, Kate Washington, alleged the NSW branch of the Nationals accepted $19,350 between 2013 and 2018 from David Maurice (Maurie) Stack, the chairman of Stacks Law Firm on the mid-north coast, and Paul Stack, who runs Stacks Finance. Continue reading...

Mark Coulton says the Santos project will benefit the entire country as the PM obfuscates on the cost of the ‘gas-led recovery’The Nationals frontbencher Mark Coulton has declared the controversial Narrabri gas project is a winner for his community, despite continuing opposition from landholders, environmentalists and Indigenous traditional owners.With coal seam gas development a divisive issue in regional Australia, the National Farmers Federation last week warned the Morrison government to tread carefully with its much-vaunted “gas-led recovery” after the coronavirus pandemic. NFF affiliate NSW Farmers has voiced its opposition to the Narrabri gas project. Continue reading...

Freedom of information request shows dramatic fall in number of inspectors and 30% rise in whistleblower complaintsThe safety of US meat plant workers is at risk, workers and campaigners believe, because of a triple whammy of increased line speeds, higher turnover and fewer workers due to coronavirus.Authorities, meanwhile, are failing to keep up with the problem. A freedom of information request to the US government shows a dramatic decrease in the number of plant inspectors, while the number of whistleblower complaints has increased by 30% over the past year. Continue reading...