Environment | The Guardian

Campaigners point out it is often cheaper to drive or even fly within the UK than take the trainFuel duty is expected to rise by up to 7p a litre after the budget, with speculation intensifying that the chancellor will restore inflationary rises as well as ending the temporary cut.Environmental and transport campaigners have urged Rachel Reeves to bring the cost of motoring more in line with other forms of transport, after more than a decade of fuel duty freezes at the pumps and heavy increases in rail fares. Continue reading...

Lowering voltage about 5% could lower emissions and save customers on the national electricity market around $110 a year, research shows

Ed Miliband seems happy to see the landscape blighted. We value townscape - everywhere else has to fend for itselfDoes Labour believe in beauty? The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, celebrated his arrival in office this summer by permitting three of the largest solar panel arrays in Britain. One, a Suffolk array covering nearly 2,800 acres, was described by a county councillor as the poorest infrastructure application that I have ever dealt with".Now Miliband is demanding a procession of pylons filling the glorious Amber Valley in the Derbyshire uplands. Another parade of 420 pylons, each nearly as tall as Nelson's column, will run down the east of England from Grimsby to Walpole, near King's Lynn in Norfolk. The government also wants to allow the return of onshore wind turbines, overriding local objections.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Government accused of shocking' choice to dilute protection standards in first animal welfare policyLabour is using its first animal welfare policy since entering government to dilute standards by legalising the harmful practice of carrying chickens by their legs, charities have said.European transport regulation 1/2005, which still applies in the UK, prohibits lifting chickens by their legs on farms and during loading and unloading, but the government is going to change the law to permit the widespread but illegal method, according to the Animal Law Foundation. Continue reading...

High blood concentrations of forever chemical' compound PFOS linked to problems falling asleep and waking upSome of the most common types of PFAS may cause sleep disorders in young adults, new research finds, and the study's authors for the first time identified how the chemicals probably impact the brain to cause disruptions.The peer-reviewed University of Southern California (USC) study looked at PFAS levels in the blood of adults between 19 and 24 years old, and found those in the highest one-third slept an average of about 80 fewer minutes nightly than those in the lowest third. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Data on number and nature of wildfires at odds with claims of landowner seeking to ban wild campingWild camping is not a significant fire risk on Dartmoor, data shows, despite claims by a wealthy landowner who has been trying to ban the practice.The supreme court is deciding on a case brought by the hedge fund manager Alexander Darwall, who is seeking to remove the right to camp on Dartmoor without landowner permission. Continue reading...

Hail swath estimated at 120 miles damages crops in western Victoria as winds break windows and rip tiles from roofsOn Wednesday, the Australian state of Victoria was hit by thunderstorms. The town of Casterton was particularly badly affected, receiving 21mm of rain in just 30 minutes, followed by large hailstones.Vehicles and properties were severely damaged, with reports of broken windows and tiles blown off roofs due to strong winds. Continue reading...

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

Scientists examining petroleum-based balls believed to have come from an oil spill off Sydney as Bondi beach reopens

Thinktank says government should set up arm's-length company to buy Harland & Wolff site, which is in administrationThe UK government should set up an arm's-length company to buy the Harland & Wolff naval shipyard in Belfast as part of a drive to repurpose arms manufacturing towards producing green infrastructure, according to a report.The study from the thinktank Common Wealth is launching what it describes as a Lucas Plan for the 21st century" setting out how the UK's military industrial capacity can be transformed into a supply pipeline for green energy, benefiting workers, communities and the environment. Continue reading...

Survey of young people aged 16-25 from all US states shows concerns across political spectrumThe overwhelming majority of young Americans worry about the climate crisis, and more than half say their concerns about the environment will affect where they decide to live and whether to have children, new research finds.The study comes just weeks after back-to-back hurricanes, Helene and Milton, pummeled the south-eastern US. Flooding from Helene caused more than 600 miles of destruction, from Florida's west coast to the mountains of North Carolina, while Milton raked across the Florida peninsula less than two weeks later. Continue reading...

Only baby formula, expressed milk and prescription medicines will be allowed with large bags also prohibited under new measuresThe National Gallery has announced a raft of increased security measures after protesters attacked paintings including Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers, John Constable's The Hay Wain and Diego Velazquez's The Rokeby Venus.From Friday morning there will be a ban on bringing into the London gallery any liquids except for baby formula, expressed milk or prescription medicines. Continue reading...

Campaigners call for tightening of measures around wild' pheasants which are not subject to rules to help control bird fluThe most serious outbreak of bird flu this year has been found in a group of pheasants in England, sparking criticism of the loose restrictions around their rearing.Twenty of the non-native birds were found by the Animal and Plant Health Authority (Apha) to have been infected with the disease, which is decimating bird populations across the UK, in Worcestershire. All other reports from Apha show no more than five birds have been affected at any one location since January 2024. Continue reading...

Spider eyes, butterfly wing scales, truffle spores and slime mould come under the spotlight in the 50th anniversary of the Nikon Small World photomicrography competition. The award celebrates photography through the light microscope, capturing the breathtaking beauty of a world hidden from the naked eye

Scientists are working to find cause of death of shark found in Cape Cod, a popular summer tourist destinationA great white shark named Koala, measuring more than 12ft, washed up on the shore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Wednesday.According to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy charity, the shark was first identified by the group in 2022, and the cause of death was unknown. Continue reading...

Companies often claim confidential business information' to not disclose key information about dangerous chemicalsTwo lawsuits aim to stop US federal regulators and industry from illegally" hiding basic information about toxic chemicals used in consumer products that are potentially polluting the environment and endangering public health.Companies often claim that toxic chemicals' health and safety data, and even their names, are confidential business information" (CBI) because making the data public could damage their bottom line. Continue reading...

Oil majors' conduct can constitute reckless endangerment due to fossil fuels' effect on global heating, advocates claimNew York state prosecutors could press criminal charges against big oil for its role in fueling hurricanes and other climate disasters, lawyers wrote in a new prosecution memorandum that has been endorsed by elected officials across the state.The 50-page document, published by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen and the progressive prosecutors network Fair and Just Prosecution on Thursday, comes as the US south-east struggles to recover from the deadly hurricanes Helene and Milton, both of which scientists have found were exacerbated by the climate crisis. It details the havoc wrought on New York by 2021's Hurricane Ida and 2012's Hurricane Sandy, and other deadly climate events such as extreme heatwaves across the US this past summer. Continue reading...

Anti-waste charity Wrap wants ban on 21 items including tomatoes, apples, potatoes, bananas and carrotsSupermarkets should be banned from selling fresh produce such as bananas, apples and potatoes in plastic packaging so we can go back to shopping like our nan", according to the influential anti-waste charity Wrap.It is calling for the government to ban packaging on 21 fruit and vegetables sold in supermarkets, including salad tomatoes, carrots and avocados, by 2030. Continue reading...

Newly discovered' underwater topographical features are paving the way for nation states to exploit previously untouched marine resourcesThe sea does not belong to despots," Jules Verne wrote in 1869 in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Upon its surface men can still exercise unjust laws, fight, tear one another to pieces, and be carried away with terrestrial horrors. But at 30 feet below its level, their reign ceases, their influence is quenched, and their power disappears."Now, more than 150 years later, geopolitics experts are warning that Verne's final sentiment, expressed as it was through the character of Captain Nemo, was wrong. From seabeds and sea caves to sea canyons, underwater ridges, seamounts, sea knolls and reefs, academics say countries around the world are using the politics of nationalism to permanently stamp their mark on the topography of the ocean. Continue reading...

Some of Sydney's most popular swimming spots including Coogee and Gordons Bay beaches will remain closed after thousands of mysterious balls washed ashore. Preliminary test results identified the dark spheres as 'tar balls' - which are formed when oil comes into contact with debris and water, usually as a result of oil spills or seepage. Addressing reporters on Thursday, Randwick council mayor Dylan Parker said the beaches will stay closed while further investigations are carried out by government agencies. Bondi, Tamarama and Bronte beaches had also closed 'out of precaution', Waverley council said in a statement on Thursday

Supermarket will buy almost two-thirds of the energy generated by the new 450m Cleve Hill solar park in KentTesco has struck a deal to buy enough solar power to run 144 of its large supermarkets, buying almost two-thirds of the entire electricity output from the Cleve Hill solar park in Kent.The 450m solar park is being built on farmland near Faversham by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, a London-based firm that invests in renewable and low-carbon energy in the US, UK and Australia. Continue reading...

Levy rising by 100 for each return flight after the first in a year could cut emissions by 21%, report saysA jet-setter" tax on Europe's frequent flyers could slow global heating and raise 64bn (54bn) a year at no extra cost to most people, a report has found.Carbon pollution pumped out of planes could fall by 21% if people were made to pay more for each extra flight they take beyond the first return trip, according to analysis from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and partner organisations. Just over half the benefits in a given year would come from the 5% of people who fly the most, while 72% of people would escape fees by flying once or not at all. Continue reading...

Forest Alliance of NSW report says current regulations are a licence to kill' endangered species in four state forests where logging is scheduled

Landmark review says urgent action needed to conserve resources and save ecosystems that supply fresh waterMore than half the world's food production will be at risk of failure within the next 25 years as a rapidly accelerating water crisis grips the planet, unless urgent action is taken to conserve water resources and end the destruction of the ecosystems on which our fresh water depends, experts have warned in a landmark review.Half the world's population already faces water scarcity, and that number is set to rise as the climate crisis worsens, according to a report from the Global Commission on the Economics of Water published on Thursday. Continue reading...

Emergency requests by 27 states to pause rule requiring fossil fuel-powered plants to reduce emissions were deniedThe US supreme court declined on Wednesday to put on hold a new federal rule targeting carbon pollution from coal- and gas-fired power plants at the request of numerous states and industry groups in another major challenge to Joe Biden's efforts to combat the climate crisis.The justices denied emergency requests by West Virginia, Indiana and 25 other states - most of them Republican-led - as well as power companies and industry associations, to halt the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule while litigation continues in a lower court. The regulation, aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions that drive the climate crisis, took effect on 8 July. Continue reading...

Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd organisation faces extradition to Japan after arrest in Nuuk in JulyPaul Watson, the anti-whaling activist detained in Greenland and awaiting possible extradition to Japan, has appealed to Emmanuel Macron for political asylum in France.Watson was detained in July after a Japanese request to Interpol over his confrontational tactics aimed at disrupting whaling operations in the Antarctic, and could face up to 15 years in prison if he is extradited and convicted. Continue reading...

True cause of why southern resident killer whales are on brink of extinction becomes murkier as conservationists warn of marine noise and ship trafficLast month, the ailing southern resident killer whales of the Pacific gave researchers a rare moment of hope: a new calf was spotted swimming alongside her mother. Until that point, only one calf had appeared this year, only to die a few months later.But by mid-October, this new calf, named L128, also appeared to succumbto poor health, appearing lumpy and skinny" as researchers with the Center for Whale Research watched an older orca swim with the infant draped across her snout. Continue reading...

Bailiffs working on behalf of TfL recoup 25m in 12 months from people who refuse to pay penalty charge notices Business live - latest updatesMore than 1,400 vehicles have been seized from drivers who have persistently ignored fines relating to London's Ulez clean air zone, Transport for London has revealed, with more than 25m being recouped by bailiffs.Bailiffs working on TfL's behalf seized 1,429 vehicles in the last year from drivers who had repeatedly ignored penalty charge notices, with 710,000 being raised from the sale of nearly 800 of these cars. Continue reading...

The South American leaders are in the spotlight as they prepare to host this week's Cop16 biodiversity summit, November's G20 meeting and next year's Cop30 climate summitThe rainforest nations of Brazil and Colombia have the best opportunity in a generation to drag the Amazon back from the abyss as they host three of the world's most important environmental negotiations in the space of little more than a year.In the process, their leaders - pacesetting Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, and the more cautious and contradictory Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva - will offer up overlapping visions for the future of the Amazon, and the world's path to net zero. Continue reading...

More than 94,000 birds have died at Tule Lake wildlife refuge in northern California, its worst recorded epidemicAn ongoing outbreak of botulism, a bacterial illness that causes muscle paralysis, has killed more than 94,000 birds at Tule Lake national wildlife refuge in northern California, the worst such outbreak at the lake ever recorded, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.Affected birds often cannot control their muscles and suffocate in the water, said biologist and ornithologist Teresa Wicks with Bird Alliance of Oregon, who works in the area. It's a very traumatic thing to see," Wicks said. Continue reading...

Wolsingham school's carbon-cutting event had been planned by pupils but parents raised concernsA school has made a U-turn on a student-led plan to turn the heating off for a blue nose" climate action day after parents raised concerns.The heating was due to be turned off at Wolsingham school, County Durham, on Friday but the plan has now been postponed until the summer term of next year when it is likely to be warmer. Continue reading...

Chris Bowen questions why gas companies who already produce energy should get windfall gain under opposition's plan

Coogee and Gordons Bay beachgoers had been warned not to touch the material. Tar balls' form from oil spills or seepage at sea

Surfers were seen catching waves near a suspected oil slick off the coast of Coogee in Sydney a day after hundreds of pieces of black debris washed up along the beach. The beach was closed and beachgoers warned not to touch the material, which could be 'tar balls' formed from oil spills or seepage at sea

Bring in future homes standard' or leave families at risk of higher bills and emissions for decades, MPs and experts sayMinisters must take steps now to ensure that all homes are built to the most efficient low-carbon standards, or risk locking households into higher bills and greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come, a group of MPs and experts have urged.The government is mulling changes to the building regulations in England to bring in a future homes standard" that would require all new homes to be built with low-carbon equipment such as heat pumps and solar panels. Continue reading...

These remarkable fish need clean rivers to breed in. Their decline highlights the collapse of environmental regulationThe collapse in the number of wild salmon in England and Wales is deeply dismaying. These fish are widely regarded as wonders of the natural world because of their extraordinary life cycle. This takes them thousands of miles out into the North Atlantic Ocean, before they return to our rivers - swimming and leaping upstream - to spawn.Climate change and failures of marine conservation have contributed to the decline in numbers across their entire range, which extends from Russia to Portugal. But in Britain, the poor state of rivers is another obstacle to the species' survival. As well as a warning of the global threat to biodiversity, their dwindling numbers are a reminder of the price paid for the repeated breaking of environmental law.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...

Spy says he accessed details of legal advice Starmer gave campaigners in McLibel caseAn undercover police officer has admitted that he spied on Keir Starmer while he was a radical barrister, a public inquiry has heard.The police spy has said that he accessed confidential details of the legal advice that Starmer was giving to two environmentalist campaigners in the well-known McLibel case in the early 1990s. Continue reading...

A spokesperson for the airline says it is doing what we can with what's available now' after Environmental Defenders Office singles out carbon neutral' claim

Investors say climate change poses biggest risk to their assets, and urge Albanese government to see the economic dangers of a slow path to net zero

Conservative wishlist' of policies for a future Trump administration goes so far as transforming food and farmingWhen Project 2025 began making headlines this summer, it was largely for the ways the conservative wish list" of policies for a future Trump administration would restructure the entire federal bureaucracy, deepen abortion restrictions and eliminate the Department of Education.But the document - a proposed mandate for the next Republican president authored by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative thinktank - also outlines steps that would radically transform food and farming, curtailing recent progress to address the excess of ultra-processed foods in the United States. Among those: weakening the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), ending policies that consider the effects of climate change - and eliminating the US dietary guidelines. Continue reading...

UC San Diego has added an innovative prerequisite to prepare students for the future they really will encounter'Melani Callicott, a human biology major at the University of California, San Diego, thinks about the climate crisis all the time. She discusses it with family and friends because of the intensity of hurricanes like Milton and Helene, which have ravaged the southern US, she says. It just seems like it's affecting more people every day."That's one reason why she is glad that UC San Diego has implemented an innovative graduation requirement for students starting this autumn: a course in climate change. Courses must cover at least 30% climate-related content and address two of four areas, including scientific foundations, human impacts, mitigation strategies and project-based learning. About 7,000 students from the class of 2028 will be affected this year. Continue reading...

Residents and marine scientists unable to identify pale masses, as myriad theories are blown out of the waterThey are slimy on the outside, firm and spongy on the inside and surprisingly combustible. And in recent months, they have been washing up on the shores of Newfoundland.The depths of the Atlantic have long held mysteries, but the riddle of the mysterious white blobs" spotted on the beaches of the eastern Canadian province has baffled both residents and marine scientists. Continue reading...

As he travels along the Iranian coast, Khashayar Javanmardi photographs rusting ships, blazing wetland fires - and humans struggling to stay alive Continue reading...

Natural sinks of forests and peat were key to Finland's ambitious target to be carbon neutral by 2035. But now, the land has started emitting more greenhouse gases than it storesRead more: Trees and land absorbed almost no CO2 last year. Is nature's carbon sink failing?Tiina Sanila-Aikio cannot remember a summer this warm. The months of midnight sun around Inari, in Finnish Lapland, have been hot and dry. Conifer needles on the branch-tips are orange when they should be a deep green. The moss on the forest floor, usually swollen with water, has withered.I have spoken with many old reindeer herders who have never experienced the heat that we've had this summer. The sun keeps shining and it never rains," says Sanila-Aikio, former president of the Finnish Sami parliament. Continue reading...

A US study estimates the total climate pollution from LNG was 33% greater than that from coal over a 20-year period. This should have major ramifications for emissions policy

Stellantis chief says company is nearing decision on Ellesmere Port and Luton amid row over EV quotas

Poorly maintained and uninsured vessels transporting up to 70% of country's seaborne oil, says reportRussia's shadow fleet of oil tankers is expanding, according to research, transporting up to 70% of the country's seaborne oil despite western efforts to curb Moscow's wartime energy revenues.The volume of Russian oil being transported by poorly maintained and underinsured tankers has almost doubled in a year to 4.1m barrels a day by June, according to a report published on Monday by the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE). Continue reading...

We've all been there. We've all felt like a badly made-up, odd-limbed, irritable floor-dwelling messAs you contemplate the wonders of evolution, and how a creature can be born with something weird and new, and that thing can either help it get ahead or not hurt its chances, and it can then reproduce and make another one like it, spare a thought for the red-lipped batfish.A real animal, it has the kind of mouth that, as a kid, you may have made from Babybel cheese wax, to go with your red wax fake nails. It has a beard of white whiskers. It has fins that bend backwards, like a person's arms at yoga when they are about to do upward dog. Before your eyes, it sprouts a new limb from its nostril. Its nose - technically a snout - is long, at the top of its head, and hook-shaped. It cannot swim, only crawl. Its crawl is more like a waddle. Continue reading...

Peter Malinauskas says South Australia's renewable energy credentials make it a logical host for UN's annual climate summit

The sudden collapse of carbon sinks was not factored into climate models - and could rapidly accelerate global heatingIt begins each day at nightfall. As the light disappears, billions of zooplankton, crustaceans and other marine organisms rise to the ocean surface to feed on microscopic algae, returning to the depths at sunrise. The waste from this frenzy - Earth's largest migration of creatures - sinks to the ocean floor, removing millions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year.This activity is one of thousands of natural processes that regulate the Earth's climate. Together, the planet's oceans, forests, soils and other natural carbon sinks absorb about half of all human emissions. Continue reading...