Environment | The Guardian

Coronavirus slump and sunniest spring on record send green energy soaringThe UK’s electricity system recorded its “greenest” ever month in May after running without coal-fired electricity for a full calendar month.The National Grid, the energy system operator, said the country’s sunniest spring on record helped generate enough solar power to reduce the carbon intensity of the grid to its lowest level ever recorded. Continue reading...

Durham-based firm says decision has been made because coal has ‘limited future’ in UKOne of Britain’s last remaining coalmine operators will put an end to all mining operations from next month because it is clear that coal has “a limited future” in the UK.Durham-based Hargreaves Services, one of the largest remaining operators of surface mines in the UK, told investors on Tuesday that it plans to wind down its UK mining operations in line with its long-term strategic plans. Continue reading...

The deaths in Mago National Park are unprecedented, say officialsPoachers have killed at least six elephants in a single day in Ethiopia, wildlife officials said on Tuesday, the largest such slaughter in memory in the east African nation.The elephants died last week, when they ventured out of the Mago National Park in the far south of Ethiopia to drink water, Ganabul Bulmi, the park’s chief warden, told reporters. Continue reading...

About 2,500 people evacuated, amid fears that leaking oil and gas has killed river dolphins and birdsAn oil well in the Indian state of Assam is still leaking gas “uncontrollably” after a blowout a week ago that it is feared has killed endangered river dolphins and birds and forced 2,500 people to evacuate their homes.For days authorities have failed to plug the leak from the well in the village of Baghjan after the incident on 27 May. The blowout – an uncontrolled release of oil and gas due to the failure of pressure control systems – sent a fountain of crude oil into the air, “unleashing a hell”, according to local accounts. Continue reading...

Data suggests that carmakers are making progress towards meeting emissions reductions targets

Companies could save billions, says report, as well as curbing carbon emissionsBuilding new solar power projects would generate cheaper electricity than running most of the world’s existing coal power plants, according to a global renewable energy report.New figures have revealed that more than half of the world’s coal plants could be undercut by the falling cost of new large-scale solar projects, which are now more than 80% cheaper to build than in 2010. Continue reading...

How the trappings of fame are causing problems for the placid mammal that has become a star of internet memes and InstagramNobody seems to know quite how the sloth became the rock star of the animal kingdom. From high in the Latin American rainforest, the absurd mammal is the focus of a frenzied obsession that shows no sign of abating. Sloths are on bank notes, adverts, T-shirts, internet memes and Instagram fan pages.“People are obsessed,” says Costa Rica’s president, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, when asked why people have fallen in love with the creature. “The sloth is quite a unique animal. It’s also very related to the forest. I believe it’s the elegance of the movement.” Continue reading...

Report also warns Australia will experience more extreme fire seasons due to climate crisisThe amount of pristine tropical rainforest lost across the globe increased last year, as the equivalent of a football pitch disappeared every six seconds, a satellite-based analysis has found.Nearly 12m hectares of tree cover was lost across the tropics, including nearly 4m hectares of dense, old rainforest that held significant stores of carbon and had been home to a vast array of wildlife, according to data from the University of Maryland. Continue reading...

Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon defends his call for ALP to adopt the Coalition’s target of 26-28% emissions reduction by 2030The Nationals senator Matt Canavan has been grilled over his criticism of action against climate change during an episode of Q+A where he was also asked to clarify his family’s links to the coal industry.In an episode that also featured opposition agriculture and resources spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon defending his call for Labor to adopt the government’s target of reducing emissions by 26-28% by 2030, and independent MP Zali Steggall attacking Fitzgibbon for his views on gas extraction, Canavan was pushed by host Hamish Macdonald about his “interests” in the coal industry. Continue reading...

Analysis shows 500 species on brink of extinction – as many as were lost over previous centuryThe sixth mass extinction of wildlife on Earth is accelerating, according to an analysis by scientists who warn it may be a tipping point for the collapse of civilisation.More than 500 species of land animals were found to be on the brink of extinction and likely to be lost within 20 years. In comparison, the same number were lost over the whole of the last century. Without the human destruction of nature, even this rate of loss would have taken thousands of years, the scientists said. Continue reading...

Heathrow, HSBC and National Grid among 200 CEOs calling for a ‘clean, just recovery’Britain’s most powerful business leaders have called on Boris Johnson to set out economic recovery plans that align with the UK’s climate goals to help rebuild a resilient UK economy in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.Almost 200 chief executives – from companies including HSBC, National Grid, and Heathrow airport – signed a letter to the prime minister calling on the government to “deliver a clean, just recovery”. Continue reading...

Europe is going coal-free, but a vast lignite mine is expanding in eastern Germany and coronavirus has delayed new climate lawsThe landscape makes you think of the surface of the moon. As far as the eye can see, deep gashes scar the earth. At the spot where the giant machines stand, ancient layers of bared coal are visible all the way to the base of the pit. Continue reading...

Conservationists warn the species, which was almost extinct 10 years ago, could be under threat if Japanese fishery is MSC certifiedA decade ago, the highly prized “king of fish”, the bluefin tuna, was taken off menus in high-end restaurants and shunned by top chefs, amid warnings by environmentalists that it was being driven to extinction. Recent assessments of eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna, which can grow to the size of a small car and live for up to 40 years, have shown much healthier populations.But now conservationists and scientists are warning that the largest and most valuable tuna species could once again be under threat if a Japanese bluefin fishery in the eastern Atlantic Ocean is awarded an internationally recognised “ecolabel” they claim is based on flawed science. Continue reading...

Agreements for term of mining project regardless of changing economic conditions to be on agenda, Christian Porter saysEnterprise agreements that last for the life of a mining project, regardless of changing economic conditions, are one of the options under consideration as part of the Coalition’s industrial relations changes, Christian Porter has confirmed. .The attorney general has been tasked with bringing business and union leaders in to discuss changes to Australia’s “clunky” industrial relations system beyond the Covid-19 lockdowns, a move which has been greeted with cautious, if sceptical, optimism, from those involved. Continue reading...

Unconventional gas projects use chemicals that are of ‘potentially high concern’ for sensitive region, report findsA federal government scientific report has issued a warning about chemicals used in unconventional gas drilling in the sensitive wild rivers of the Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre basin.As the government weighs up recommendations to expand the gas industry for a post-coronavirus recovery, the western rivers of Queensland loom as a significant test for how authorities will balance economics with the environment. Continue reading...

Scientists and artists take advantage of low noise levels to record birdsong around world

Country also set for driest May for 124 years, with farmers warning of serious impactThe UK has recorded the sunniest spring since records began in 1929, the Met Office has said.It is also set to be the driest May for 124 years, with official figures on rainfall to be published on Monday. Continue reading...

Cross-party group highlights new evidence on how dirty air may worsen infections

The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including tiny turtles and blossoming poppies. Continue reading...

New figures for 2018 show 2.1% drop on previous year in switch to renewablesGreenhouse gas emissions in the EU continued their fall in 2018, the latest year for which comprehensive data is available, according to a new report from Europe’s environment watchdog.Emissions fell by 2.1% compared with 2017, to a level 23% lower than in 1990, the baseline for the bloc’s emission cuts under the UN’s climate agreements. If the UK is excluded, the decline since 1990 was smaller, standing at 20.7%. Continue reading...

Creature is believed to be a juvenile fin whale, the world’s second largest mammalA dead 12-metre (40ft) whale has washed up on a beach in Essex, and police have advised people to keep away.The creature was swept ashore at Clacton-on-Sea on Friday. Continue reading...

Intensified by climate change, the current 20-year arid period is one of the worst on record, with wide-ranging effectsWhen Ken Pimlott began fighting US wildfires at the age of 17, they seemed to him to be a brutal but manageable natural phenomenon.Related: Dust bowl conditions of 1930s US now more than twice as likely to reoccur Continue reading...

Lancashire Wildlife Trust has brought the species back to peatlands following a local extinction in the 19th centuryLarge heath butterflies are returning to peatlands in greater Manchester 150 years after they went locally extinct.The acidic peat bogs and mosslands around Manchester and Liverpool were home to the country’s biggest colonies of large heath butterflies – known as the “Manchester argus” – but numbers plummeted as land was drained for agricultural land and peat extraction. Continue reading...

Date moved for Covid-19 travel reasons, but fears raised over delay to green recovery plansGlobal talks aimed at staving off the threat of climate breakdown will be delayed by a year to November 2021 because of the coronavirus crisis, the UN has confirmed.The summit, known as Cop26, which 196 nations are expected to attend, will now take place in Glasgow from November 1 to 12 next year, as reports had anticipated, with the UK government acting as host and president. They were originally set to take place from 9 November this year. Continue reading...

Rising temperatures, natural disasters and deforestation taking heavy toll, say scientistsClimate breakdown and the mass felling of trees has made the world’s forests significantly shorter and younger overall, an analysis shows.The trend is expected to continue, scientists say, with worrying consequences for the ability of forests to store carbon and mitigate the climate emergency and for the endangered wildlife that depends on rich, ancient forests. Continue reading...

Ambitious goal requires us to ‘get over the political roadblock’ says Malcolm Turnbull, who backed climate change thinktank’s report

Reduction largely wiped out by a rise in carbon pollution from big industrial sites, particularly liquefied natural gas plantsAustralia’s greenhouse gas emissions fell slightly last year, according to official data released on Friday, as new clean energy plants came online and the drought continued to limit farming output.But the reduction was largely wiped out by an increase in carbon pollution from big industrial sites, particularly liquefied natural gas plants off the country’s northern coast. Continue reading...

Delhi braces for swarm while farmers in badly-hit north play loud music and honk car horns to try to prevent decimation of fieldsResidents of Delhi are bracing themselves for a possible invasion of locusts, which have been ravaging areas in the north of the country.A change in wind direction could save the city, but Dr K L Gurjar, deputy director of the Locust Warning Organisation, has warned residents to be prepared to “make a lot of loud noise so that instead of settling, they keep flying and fly past the city. And don’t panic”. Continue reading...

There is no easy route to a greener global economy. But since coronavirus hit, politics and business are thinking againTiming matters. Early 2020 saw an economic collapse the likes of which have not been seen in living memory. Growth has collapsed, unemployment has soared, poverty has increased.Yet in different circumstances the past few months would have been dominated by calls for countries to do more to cut carbon emissions. As 2019 drew to an end, everybody from the managing director of the International Monetary Fund to the governor of the Bank of England was warning of the threat of global heating. Continue reading...

The ‘amazingly cruel’ move by the National Park Service reverses Obama-era regulations which also affect wolves and coyotesThe Trump administration is finalizing rules that will allow hunters in Alaska’s national preserves to shoot bears and wolves, and their cubs and pups, while they are in their dens.Related: A proposed mine in Alaska will endanger brown bears – and much more Continue reading...

Manure from the state’s 80 million farm animals risks overloading its rivers and lakes with nitrogen and phosphorusMillions of tons of manure from Minnesota’s animal feedlots is a risk to consumer health as it threatens to raise nitrate and phosphorus levels in the state’s rivers, lakes and drinking water, a study has found.Meat and dairy production in the US is dominated by the use of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) where animals are raised or fattened in close confinement. Continue reading...

Khonoma’s residents are sanguine about the Covid-19-enforced loss of visitor income – and it’s all thanks to their sustainable lifestyle

Broadcaster and historian says A Life on Our Planet book will record ‘dreadful damage wrought by mankind’ and propose solutionsDavid Attenborough is to publish his “vision for the future” of Earth this autumn, laying out “the dreadful damage” done by humanity, and the ways “we can begin to turn things round”.A Life on Our Planet, which the 94-year-old has described as his “witness statement”, will cover his career documenting the natural world and his first-hand observations of the decline of the planet’s environment and biodiversity, as well as possible solutions. Continue reading...

Utilities, communications and transport at risk, government advisers warnBritain’s vital infrastructure is under threat from the ravages of extreme weather and climate breakdown, unless ministers take swift action to protect against flooding, heatwaves and drought, government advisers have warned.Energy networks and water utilities, communications, transport and other essential services are all at risk, said Sir John Armitt, chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, which has published a new report on resilience. Continue reading...

Climate experts push Britain, as talks host, to work on ‘zero carbon’ route from pandemicThe UK government must urgently set out clear plans on a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis if the delayed UN climate summit is to be a success, say leading experts.The climate talks known as Cop26 and scheduled to be held in Glasgow, are expected to be postponed by a year from their original date this November, dashing hopes that the summit would be swiftly reconvened. A formal decision on the delay will be taken by the UN Thursday evening. Continue reading...

While the pandemic has dealt travel a severe blow, some hope it can be an opportunity to introduce slower, fairer, more sustainable holidaysNo planes in the sky, empty hotels and deserted attractions: with the world at a standstill, tourism has been one of the industries worst-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. International arrivals this year could be down by 80% compared with 2019, according to the World Tourism Organization, and more than 100 million jobs are under threat.But as destinations slowly start to emerge from lockdown and borders tentatively reopen, many in the sector are wondering if this is a chance for tourism to rebuild in a greener, more sustainable way. Continue reading...

Fund manager will vote against re-election of two directors and for splitting chair and CEO roleBlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager, will lodge multiple votes against ExxonMobil at its annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday as it flags concern over the oil company’s failure to make progress on its climate change targets.BlackRock will vote against the re-election of two directors and in favour of a shareholder motion that proposes splitting the role of chief executive and chairman. Continue reading...

Ten companies that allegedly polluted air and water will not be required to pay penalties they agreed to before 1 JuneTen corporations that agreed to a total of $56m in civil penalties for allegedly breaking environmental laws are not being required to make payments under a pause granted by the US government during the Covid-19 pandemic.Related: Trump dismantles environmental protections under cover of coronavirus Continue reading...

Cross-party group calls for ‘faster, further, fairer’ action to tackle climate and nature crisis

Nine-seater plane should take to skies on Thursday and produce no carbon emissionsThe world’s largest all-electric aircraft is about to take to the skies for the first time.The Cessna Caravan, retrofitted with an electric engine, is expected to fly for 20-30 minutes over Washington state in the US on Thursday. Continue reading...

Shrimpers have a long and proud cultural tradition in the US – one that is now under threat from all sides

With world’s attention on Covid-19, warnings that lack of measures to contain pandemic could lead to culling of record number of pigsThe African swine fever (ASF) pandemic will be even worse this year than in 2019, say experts, warning that the spread of the highly contagious virus, which is fatal to pigs, is unrelenting.With world attention on the human viral pandemic of Covid-19, concern is growing that countries are not focusing enough on halting the spread of ASF through better biosecurity practices, cooperation on intensive vaccine development, or transparency regarding outbreaks. Continue reading...

Exclusively compiled data from the Hadley Centre’s supercomputer shows alarming climate trajectoryThe human fingerprint on the climate is now unmistakable and will become increasingly evident over the coming decades, the UK Met Office has confirmed after 30 years of pioneering study.Since the 1990s, global temperatures have warmed by half a degree, Arctic sea ice has shrunk by almost 2 million km2, sea-levels have risen by about 10cm and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by 60 parts per million (17%), according to figures exclusively compiled for the Guardian to mark the 30th anniversary of the Met Office’s Hadley Centre for climate science and services. Continue reading...

Developer Ozy Homes agrees to stop works and allow ecological experts to assess unburnt siteClearing of bushland in the small New South Wales south coast town of Manyana will be halted temporarily after a community environment group trying to save the unburnt habitat began legal action in the federal court.Ozy Homes has a development consent for the 20 hectares that dates back to 2008. Continue reading...

Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum challenged logging by state-owned forestry corporation in 66 coupesFor the first time in 20 years forestry operations may have to be assessed under national environmental laws after the federal court ruled VicForests had breached laws related to threatened species.Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum had challenged logging by the state-owned forestry corporation in 66 coupes in Victoria’s central highlands. Continue reading...

Covid-19 pandemic forecast to cause biggest slump in history after collapse in demandInvestment in global energy will fall by $400bn (£324bn) this year, the biggest slump in the industry’s history, as the Covid-19 pandemic fuels a collapse in energy demand.The International Energy Agency (IEA) said the unprecedented investment slump follows the most severe plunge in energy demand since the second world war. The price of oil suffered an historic market crash last month when US oil prices turned negative for the first time. Continue reading...

APL England lost cargo in rough seas off Australia’s east coast, spilling household appliances, building materials and medical supplies overboardResidents of Sydney’s east have woken to beaches covered in face masks, plastic containers and other items after 40 shipping containers fell off a ship on the weekend.The APL England lost the cargo in rough seas on Sunday while en route from China to Melbourne, forcing the ship to turn around and head to Brisbane. Continue reading...

Report calls for urgent action to tackle developing countries’ reliance on bottled waterFocusing on improving the water supply in developing nations could be a powerful way to fight the scourge of plastic waste in the oceans, experts have said, highlighting that the issue has received little attention.People in developing countries, and many middle-income countries, often rely on plastic bottles of water as their piped water supply can be contaminated or unsafe, or perceived as such. Continue reading...

UK to ask for postponement to November 2021 because of coronavirus travel controls

US startup Apeel Sciences raises further $250m to help tackle supply chain disruptionA Californian startup that pioneered a high-tech solution to reducing food waste has secured personal investment from Oprah Winfrey and Katy Perry in its latest fundraising drive.Perishable produce such as avocados, lemons and limes stay ripe for twice as long as usual due to an edible spray-on coating on their skin made from plant materials and devised by Apeel Sciences. Continue reading...