Environment | The Guardian

While some say CO2 capture is part of the problem, big projects are being invested in as a part solution to the climate crisis

In the past, although windfarms were located just off the coast of Scotland, manufacturing work was outsourced to IndonesiaYesterday’s speech to the virtual Conservative party conference was classic Boris: amusing metaphors, whimsical slogans and grand rhetoric. The prime minister has pledged to usher in a “green industrial revolution” that will help us “bounce back greener” from Covid-19.One of the most significant announcements was the scaling up of the offshore wind sector. The government intends to quadruple offshore wind capacity by 2030, with a promise to power all our kettles, lights and electric cars from clean, “guilt-free” electricity. Continue reading...

Wild-caught sea bass in French and Spanish waters threatens dolphin populations, warns Marine Conversation SocietyConsumers are being urged to steer clear of wild-caught sea bass fished from French and Spanish waters, but to eat farmed king and queen scallops to alleviate pressure on threatened fish stocks.Sea bass caught in the southern Bay of Biscay and Atlantic Iberian waters have been rated red in the Marine Conservation Society’s updated 2020 Good Fish Guide – joining its “fish to avoid” list – because of serious risk to local dolphin and porpoise populations. Continue reading...

Proposal to ‘empower’ landowners to clear without environmental approval labelled ‘anti-science’The New South Wales government will allow rural landholders to clear up to 25m of land from their property’s fence line without an environmental approval, a move it says will “empower” property owners to reduce bushfire risk.But the proposal, which was not one of the 76 recommendations from the NSW bushfire inquiry, has been labelled “anti-science” and prompted alarm it will lead to broad-scale clearing of endangered forest and habitat for grazing and other purposes unrelated to hazard reduction. Continue reading...

Charging for plastic bags has led to some customers concealing goods in their reusable bags, supermarket chains sayJapan’s consumers have embraced a campaign to address their addiction to plastic bags, but new measures to combat marine pollution have created an unforeseen problem: a rise in shoplifting.All of Japan’s stores were required to introduce a fee for plastic shopping bags in July with the aim of encouraging shoppers to use their own, reusable bags rather than pay for carrier bags. Continue reading...

Mining giant and energy compny say they object to advertising targeting individual parties and had asked for campaign to be haltedAustralia’s largest miner, BHP, and the largest energy company, Origin Energy, have suspended their membership of the Queensland Resources Council over state election advertisements urging people to “vote the Greens last”.Several other major resource companies are understood to have raised concerns about advertisements, which the mining industry peak body says were approved by its board. Continue reading...

The document, which cost about $200,000, fails to mention either the realities of climate crisis or the downsides of the energy industryThe Trump administration’s energy department is rolling out a lengthy report touting oil and gas as “providing energy security and supporting our quality of life”, without acknowledging that fossil fuels are the main cause of the climate crisis.Released a month before the election, the report is strikingly at odds with the realities of climate change that the American public has been coping with over the past few months, from huge wildfires to destructive derecho storms and a series of intense hurricanes. Continue reading...

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Aurora Energy Research calculates investment would have to quadruple capacity

August complex fire expanded beyond 1m acres, elevating it from a mere ‘megafire’ to a new classification: ‘gigafire’California’s extraordinary year of wildfires has spawned another new milestone – the first “gigafire”, a blaze spanning 1m acres, in modern history.Related: California fires set bleak record as 4m acres destroyed Continue reading...

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...