Environment | The Guardian

Unexpected appearance sparks rush to catch animal in a trash can as it hides at check-in and dangles from wiresPassengers awaiting an early morning flight at New York's LaGuardia airport were surprised by the sudden arrival of an unexpected extra flyer: a raccoon who fell through a terminal ceiling and proceeded to cause mayhem at a departure gate.Video of the animal's abrupt appearance at a Spirit Airlines gate inside the airport's Marine air terminal, and almost comical efforts to capture it in a giant transparent trash can, was posted to social media by an observer. Continue reading...

More than 150 million people and 318m acres of crops are affected by droughts after summer of record heatEvery US state except Alaska and Kentucky is facing drought, an unprecedented number, according to the US Drought Monitor.A little more than 45% of the US and Puerto Rico is in drought this week, according to the tracker. About 54% of land in the 48 contiguous US states is affected by droughts. Continue reading...

As a new report makes clear, the timetable is dauntingly tight. But the potential rewards on offer are hugeOne of Labour's first acts in government was to lift the de facto ban on new onshore windfarms introduced by the Conservatives in 2016, which closed off one of the key pathways to clean, cheap energy by the 2030s. This week, progress was resumed as plans were outlined for what would be the most productive onshore windfarm in England. According to developers, the Scout Moor scheme in GreaterManchester could meet 10% of the region's energy needs by the end of the decade.As a major new report published on Tuesday makes clear, if Labour's mission of a clean electricity system by 2030 is to be met, an avalanche of such projects will be required. The publicly owned National Energy System Operator (Neso) estimates that a doubling of onshore wind capacity will be necessary, along with a still bigger expansion of offshore wind and a tripling of solar power. When this is all considered alongside the need to transform the country's power and transmission networks at an unprecedented pace, the daunting scale of the task becomes clear. Crucially, though, Neso's analysis finds that the 2030 date is achievable if, to put it non-technically, the government, the energy industry and regulators truly go for it.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Carmakers sell 29,800 electric cars in October as diesel models drop by a fifth and petrol cars by 14%Sales of electric cars in the UK grew in October despite overall demand for vehicles shrinking as manufacturers raced to meet government targets.Carmakers sold 29,800 electric cars during the month, up by a quarter compared with the same month last year, according to data published on Tuesday by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a lobby group. Continue reading...

Christian Aslund was shocked at the difference between what he saw in 2002 and what confronted him this summerStanding in blinding sunlight on an archipelago above the Arctic Circle, the photographer Christian Aslund looked in shock at a glacier he had last visited in 2002. It had almost completely disappeared.Two decades ago Greenpeace asked Aslund to use photographs taken in the early 20th century, and photograph the same views in order to document how glaciers in Svalbard were melting due to global heating. The difference in ice density in those pictures, taken almost a century apart, was staggering. Continue reading...

Collaboration between RSPB and Chester zoo leads to best mating season on record for the semi-aquatic fen raft spiderThousands of giant spiders that can grow to the size of a human hand are thriving in the UK, thanks to a successful breeding programme from Chester zoo.The fen raft spider is a harmless arachnid that plays a vital role in aquatic ecosystems, but 15 years ago was on the brink of extinction because of habitat loss. Continue reading...

Expert analysis backs our policy and its benefits for the country. Defeatist critics should take note

Cubico project at Scout Moor near Greater Manchester could power the equivalent of 100,000 homesPlans to build what would be the biggest onshore windfarm in England will move forward this week, the first since the Labour government lifted the de facto ban put in place by the Conservatives nine years ago.An independent renewable energy developer has submitted plans to erect 21 wind turbines next to an existing windfarm near Greater Manchester. Continue reading...

Former NSW Liberal energy minister Matt Kean debated his former Coalition colleagues about the cost of nuclear power in a parliamentary estimates hearing on Monday. Now chair of the Climate Change Authority, Kean debated Nationals senator Ross Cadell over CSIRO analysis which found nuclear was the most expensive form of large-scale energy available

State-owned Neso says Britain could be net exporter of green electricity by end of decade at no extra costA plan to create a clean electricity system by 2030 promised by Labour before the election is immensely challenging" but still credible" if ministers take urgent action to fix Britain's sluggish planning system, the energy system operator has said.Britain could become a net exporter of green electricity by the end of the decade at no extra costs to the energy system under the plans and bills may even fall if ministers make the right policy changes, according to the operator. Continue reading...

Union says Defra figures show far more farmers will be hit by budget proposal and warns of militant protest' to comeThe government argument that just 28% of farmers will be affected by the new inheritance tax rules is in direct conflict with data produced by the its own environment department, according to the head of the farmer's union, as the row over inheritance tax for farmers continued.The announcement in Rachel Reeves's budget last week of plans to remove the Agricultural Property Relief inheritance tax exemption from farms worth more than 1m has been met with a storm of fury from across the farming industry and suggestions of militant protest". Continue reading...

Decision comes after military concludes projects would complicate defending Nato's newest member against attackSweden has vetoed plans for 13 offshore windfarms in the Baltic Sea, citing unacceptable security risks.The country's defence minister, Pal Jonson, said on Monday that the government had rejected plans for all but one of 14 windfarms planned along the east coast. Continue reading...

Deputy environment minister calls for urgent action as Riyadh prepares for global summit on issue next monthThe degradation of the world's soils and landscapes is threatening human life, and must be addressed as a matter of urgency, the government of Saudi Arabia has said.Neglect of the land is wiping trillions of dollars from global economies, hampering agricultural production, disrupting water supplies, threatening children with poor nutrition, and destroying vital ecosystems, according to the country's deputy environment minister. Continue reading...

One sucker is precariously attached to some flimsy reality - a wet leaf, a slippery rock - the other one pointed at the futureImagine if your Wikipedia page described you as a segmented or parasitic worm" with two head segments" and suckers at both ends". You might turn to the Bible, instead - here is the Book of Proverbs on leeches: The horseleech hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough: The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough."The daughters are the leech's words (though some interpret the daughters as the suckers): Give, give." Within this damp, humid, leech-infested jungle is the surprisingly sweet idea of the words you say as daughters you have given birth to. Continue reading...

Severe flooding is, unfortunately, inevitable. What isn't inevitable is how ready we are, from early warning systems to emergency services

Detailed plans from 30 oil and gas producers come amid historic levels of potent planet-heating emissionsA powerful US oil and gas industry lobby group has drawn up detailed plans to kill off penalties for emitting methane, a potent planet-heating gas that's increasing at the fastest rate in decades, with this effort led by a major donor to Donald Trump whose company has just been fined for methane pollution.Leaked internal documents from the American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC), a group of 30 oil and gas producers, outline a push to repeal a fee levied on methane emissions should the former US president win this week's election and Republicans gain control of Congress. Continue reading...

Analysis finds demand for wood pellets from US for North Yorkshire power plant reduces forest carbon stocksDrax will keep raising the levels of carbon emissions in the atmosphere until the 2050s despite using carbon capture technology, according to scientific research.The large power plant in North Yorkshire is a significant generator of electricity for the UK but has faced repeated criticism of its business model of burning wood pellets sourced from forests in the US and Canada. Continue reading...

Companies are waiting up to 14 years for connections, leading some to revise net zero targetsOn the south bank of the Mersey, Britain's first factory dedicated to manufacturing electric vehicles may one day be powered exclusively by wind and solar farms.Stellantis, the European carmaker that owns the Ellesmere Port site, has begun work to fit four megawatts (MW) of solar power capacity across 500 sq metres (5,400 sq ft) of its rooftop space, enough to power the equivalent of 8,000 homes. Continue reading...

Representatives at the Cop16 summit in Colombia negotiated against a backdrop of extreme weather and ecosystem collapseAs world leaders gathered in Colombia this week, they also watched for news from home, where many of the headlines carried the catastrophic consequences of ecological breakdown. Across the Amazon rainforest and Brazil's enormous wetlands, relentless fires had burned more than 22m hectares (55m acres). In Spain, the death toll in communities devastated by flooding passed 200. In the boreal forests that span Siberia, Scandinavia, Alaska and Canada, countries were recording alarming signs that their carbon sinks were collapsing under a combined weight of drought, tree death and logging. As Canada's wildfire season crept to a close, scientists calculated it was the second worst in two decades - behind only last year's burn, which released more carbon than some of the world's largest emitting countries.In global negotiations, climate and nature move along two independent tracks, and for years were broadly treated as distinct challenges. But as negotiations closed at the Cop16 biodiversity summit in Cali on Saturday, ministers from around the world underscored the crucial importance of nature to limiting damage from global heating, and vice versa - emphasising that climate and biodiversity could no longer be treated as independent issues if either crisis was to be resolved. Countries agreed a text on links between the climate and nature, but failed to include language on a phase out of fossil fuels. Continue reading...

King Felipe heckled in Paiporta, one of the municipalities worst affected by last week's floodsHundreds of people have heckled Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia, as well as the prime minister and the regional leader of Valencia - throwing mud and shouting murderers" - as the group attempted an official visit to one of the municipalities hardest hit by the deadly floods.The scenes playing out in Paiporta on Sunday laid bare the mounting sense of abandonment among the devastated areas and the lingering anger over why an alert urging residents not to leave home on Tuesday was sent after the flood waters began surging. Continue reading...

Conservationists worry amendment 2 will open the door to banned practices like blast fishing and undercut their workOn election day, Florida voters will decide whether to enshrine a constitutional right to hunt and fish in their state.Amendment 2, proposed by the Republican state lawmaker Lauren Melo, seeks to preserve traditional methods, as a public right and preferred means of responsibly managing and controlling fish and wildlife". Continue reading...

More than 130 organisations take part in protest demanding government action over country's sewage crisisThousands of blue-clad protesters have told the government to stop poisoning Britain's water" as they marched through London calling for action on the country's contaminated coastal waters and rivers.A coalition of more than 130 nature, environmental and water-sport organisations called supporters out on to the streets of the capital on Sunday afternoon, aiming to create the country's biggest ever protest over water. Continue reading...

Letter by 61 Labour MPs supports cheapest and most pragmatic' plan for new electricity infrastructureMore than 60 Labour MPs have formed a bloc to push back against anti-pylon lobbying by Conservative and Green MPs, saying they back plans to build the pylons despite local opposition in several areas.MPs, particularly in rural areas, have come under mounting pressure from anti-pylon activists to oppose the infrastructure. The Tories found themselves forced to commit to hold a rapid review" of overhead pylons in their July manifesto. Continue reading...

Brutal economic situation has inflicted misery on farmers who struggle to turn a profit and forced some to look for alternative streams of revenue

Conservation summit agrees global levy on drugs from nature's genetics and stronger indigenous representation, but developing nations furious at unmet funding promisesA global summit on halting the destruction of nature ended in disarray on Saturday, with some breakthroughs but key issues left unresolved.Governments have been meeting in Cali, Colombia, for the first time since a 2022 deal to stop the human-caused destruction of life on Earth. Countries hoped to make progress during the two-week summit on crucial targets such as protecting 30% of the Earth for nature and reforming parts of the global financial system that damage the environment. Continue reading...

Pedro Sanchez orders largest peacetime troop deployment to deal with flooding that has killed 211 peopleSpain's prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, has ordered the country's largest peacetime military deployment, announcing that 10,000 troops and police officers will be drafted in to help deal with the aftermath of this week's devastating floods, which have killed at least 211 people in eastern, southern and central regions.Speaking after chairing a meeting of the flood crisis committee, Sanchez said the government was mobilising all the resources at its disposal to deal with the terrible tragedy", which stuck hardest in the eastern region of Valencia. He also acknowledged that much of the help still wasn't getting through and called for unity and an end to political bickering and blame games. Continue reading...

Plant's owners hope analysis of tiny sample will help to establish how to safely decommission facilityA piece of the radioactive fuel left from the meltdown of Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been retrieved from the site using a remote-controlled robot.Investigators used the robot's fishing-rod-like arm to clip and collect a tiny piece of radioactive material from one of the plant's three damaged reactors - the first time such a feat has been achieved. Should it prove suitable for testing, scientists hope the sample will yield information that will help determine how to decommission the plant. Continue reading...

Concerned students press for their high schools - some with $1bn endowments - to reinvest in clean energyA high school in California has decided not to invest in coal, oil or gas, instead pledging to put money into clean energy. It's the latest win in a new fossil fuel divestment campus campaign launched by high schoolers across 11 countries that is gaining support in the US.The Nueva School, an elite private school outside San Francisco, pledged in spring 2024 to invest a portion of its $55m endowment in renewable power. The commitment followed months of pressure from students. Continue reading...

Big farms rake in record profits when food prices soar, while small farms struggle on razor-thin marginsWelfare for the rich': how farm subsidies wrecked Europe's landscapesThe income gap between the biggest and smallest farms in Europe has doubled in the past 15 years and hit record levels at the same time as the number of small farms has collapsed, a Guardian analysis of agricultural income data has found.Figures from the European Commission's Farming Accountancy Data Network (FADN) and Eurostat suggest farmers across the continent raked in record profits when the war in Ukraine sent food prices soaring, boosting a long-running trend of rising average incomes that has outstripped inflation. Continue reading...

Bondi beach's newest residents may look strange to human eyes, but goose barnacles are a normal part of the natural marine environment

Politicians say use of common yet toxic paraquat can't be justified due to apparent health and environment risksMore than 50 US lawmakers are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to join dozens of other countries in banning a widely used weedkiller linked to Parkinson's disease and other health dangers.In a 31 October letter to the agency, seven US senators said that paraquat, a weedkiller commonly applied on US farms, was a highly toxic pesticide whose continued use cannot be justified given its harms to farmworkers and rural communities". The call for a ban from the senators came after 47 members of the US House of Representatives sent a similar letter to the EPA calling for a ban earlier in October. Continue reading...

More than 200 deaths and widespread destruction in Valencia are the latest sign of danger in a warming worldThe death toll from floods in Spain's Valencia region has topped 200. A huge clean-up is under way amid desperate conditions, with severe weather warnings still in place. The storms which caused this devastation - with roads turned into muddy rivers, thousands of homes deluged and cars swept into piles - were unprecedented. The gota fria, or cold drop", is a regular occurrence when cold autumnal air moves over the warm Mediterranean, causing dense clouds to form. Butthis rain, according to the Spanish weather service, was 10 times stronger than a normal downpour.Extreme weather in Spain, and the rest of southern Europe, is more commonly understood to mean dangerous heat, drought and wildfires. The regional government is under attack regarding the lack of sufficient warnings and there is no doubt that the severity of these floods came as a terrible shock.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

US Green party leader urged to withdraw from presidential race to prevent Donald Trump victory

Conservationists warn actions and ambitions of two super powers could lead to overexploitation of vital food source for whales, penguins and seals

More than 200 people have died in Valencia and neighbouring provinces after floods hit the east of Spain. According to the country's national weather agency, Valencia received a year's-worth of rain on 29 October, causing flash floods that destroyed homes and swept away vehicles Continue reading...

As air pollution hits toxic levels, one proposal is to introduce a smog diplomacy' initiative between Pakistan and IndiaAs the smog descended over Lahore, people began to feel the familiar symptoms. First came the scratchy throat and burning eyes, then the dizziness, tightness in the chest and the dry racking cough.It's become a physical ordeal just to go outdoors," said Jawaria, 28, a master's student living in the Pakistani city. Continue reading...

As leaders gather in Colombia for the global Cop16 nature summit, photographer Dougie Wallace captures the Indigenous Arhuaco, who are deeply involved in protecting the country's biodiversity - and who have produced the region's first Indigenous film-makerThe Arhuaco live in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast, which they consider the heart of the world. They are so respected that in recent years it has become tradition for each new Colombian president to be sworn in twice: once in the capital, Bogota, and once in the Sierra with the Arhuaco.

Antonio Guterres says treaty will endure but urges US to remain amid reports that Trump plans to withdraw from the climate negotiating framework entirelyThe world needs the US to remain in the international climate process to avoid a crippled" Paris agreement, the UN secretary general has warned, amid fears that Donald Trump would take the country out of the accord for a second time.Antonio Guterres said the landmark 2015 agreement to limit global heating would endure if the US withdrew once again, but compared the prospective departure to losing a limb or organ. Continue reading...

First-of-its-kind research highlights need for change to regulation, as humans almost always exposed to mixturesMixtures of different types of PFAS compounds are often more toxic than single chemicals, first-of-its-kind research finds, suggesting humans' exposure to the chemicals is more dangerous than previously thought.Humans are almost always exposed to more than one PFAS compound at a time, but regulatory agencies largely look at the chemicals in isolation from one another, meaning regulators are probably underestimating the health threat. Continue reading...

Former allies have reacted with dismay to Kennedy's alliance with Trump, who routinely mocks the climate crisisDonald Trump has hurled insults at wind energy, calling it bullshit" and disgusting" and, if elected US president, may turn to another staunch opponent of offshore wind turbines to help stymie the nascent industry: Robert F Kennedy Jr.Kennedy has emerged as the leading foe of offshore wind in conservative circles and well-connected opposition groups, blaming new turbines, baselessly, for a spate of whale deaths and accusing former friends in the Democratic party of abandoning environmental ideals to the right. Allies see a perfect role for him in advising a new Trump administration crackdown on offshore wind energy. Continue reading...

Planned two-day protest that involves thousands of protesters poses a safety risk, police argue

The best of this week's wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

LNP urged to release details of its alternative energy plans within first 100 days of government

Wild squirrel that was taken in by Mark Longo seven years ago was confiscated after conservation officials received reports of potentially unsafe housing of wildlife'A New York man who turned a rescued squirrel into a social media star called Peanut is pleading with state authorities to return his beloved pet after they seized it during a raid that also yielded a raccoon named Fred.Multiple anonymous complaints about Peanut - also spelled P'Nut or PNUT - brought at least six officers from the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to Mark Longo's home on Wednesday, Longo said. Continue reading...

Sydney's jacaranda trees are in full bloom, blanketing the city in purple and attracting crowds of people trying to capture that perfect frame

As wildfires become more frequent and intense due to the climate crisis, combining the First Nations practice with western techniques is crucial'

Voice of the Arctic Inupiat is a backer of the controversial Willow oil drilling projectThe administration of Alaska's Republican governor, Mike Dunleavy, awarded at least $1m in state funds to a group claiming to represent a consensus of Indigenous support for new Arctic oil drilling, new research shows.The group, called Voice of the Arctic Inupiat (VAI), had just months earlier communicated with the governor's office on ways to counter other Alaska Native groups opposed to new drilling. Continue reading...

At least 155 people have reportedly died with more rain forecast for the flood-hit region of Valencia

UK government offers undisclosed sum in compensation to Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah for daughter's untimely deathThe mother of a nine-year-old girl who became the first person in the UK to have air pollution cited on their death certificate will receive an undisclosed settlement from the government in compensation for her daughter's untimely death.Settling a legal case, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Department for Transport and the Department of Health and Social Care issued a statement expressing sincere condolences to the family of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, from south-east London, who had a fatal asthma attack in 2013 after being exposed to excessive air pollution. Continue reading...

Campaigners say car park extension at Manningtree station inhibits access to Dedham Vale and threatens habitatsA commuter car park in Essex is to be one of the first test cases of whether the government will enforce new legislation aimed at protecting national parks and landscapes in England.Dedham Vale is a designated national landscape" on the border of Essex and Suffolk, home to increasingly rare species including hazel dormice and hedgehogs. Within it is Manningtree station, where the train operator Greater Anglia built an extension to the car park to cope with increased traffic. Continue reading...