Global warming will not affect everyone equally. Here we look at seven key regions to see how each is tackling the consequences of climate changeIt could have been the edge of the Sahara or even Death Valley, but it was the remains of a large orchard in the hills above the city of Murcia in southern Spain last year. The soil had broken down into fine white, lifeless sand, and a landscape of rock and dying orange and lemon trees stretched into the distance.A long drought, the second in a few years, had devastated the harvest after city authorities had restricted water supplies and farmers were protesting in the street. It was a foretaste of what may happen if temperatures in the Mediterranean basin continue to rise and desertification grows. Continue reading...

Six new vehicles including Land Rover and Suzuki are adding to air pollution crisis, despite stricter rules coming in monthsThe latest diesel car models are failing to meet pollution limits when on the road, just three months ahead of stricter new tests, independent tests have found. Results show that none of six new 2017 diesel cars met the EU standard for toxic nitrogen oxides (NOx) pollution in real-world driving.The updated Equa Index, produced by the testing firm Emissions Analytics, shows that 86% of all diesel models put on to the British market since the 2015 Volkswagen emissions scandal failed to meet the official limit on the road, with 15% producing at least eight times more NOx emissions. Continue reading...

Nearly everyone other than science-denying Republican Party leaders understands the importance of a carbon pollution tax

NAO report condemns ‘risky and expensive’ nuclear project that went ahead despite the economic case crumblingThe National Audit Office does not use excitable phrases like “utter shambles.” But the spending watchdog’s verdict on Hinkley Point C, the nuclear power plant in Somerset that is supposedly inevitable, amounts to the same thing. The government “has locked consumers into a risky and expensive project with uncertain strategic and economic benefits”.The 80-page report confirms one’s worst fears about how ministers fell in love with Hinkley. First, they wedded themselves to an inflexible financial model. Then they agreed commercial terms with developer EDF in 2013, when energy prices were sky-high, and ploughed on regardless when the economic case for Hinkley started to crumble. Continue reading...

Fermyn Woods, Northamptonshire Hard to spot, sitting still under a leaf, these bugs on the move are jumping championsAs the morning sun heats the still woodland air the rides fizz with the sounds of flying insects: bumblebees buzz between bramble blossom and clover heads, a myriad of small flies zips through the air, and longhorn beetles whir and clatter around the dog roses.Each species has its own habits and lifecycle that together constitute the intricate web of life in this ancient wood. Continue reading...

Damning report says nuclear project is bad for UK consumers and governments failed to assess alternative finance modelsGenerations of British consumers have been locked into a “risky and expensive” project by the UK’s subsidy deal for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset, according to a damning report by the spending watchdog.The National Audit Office said the contract sealed by ministers last September with EDF to construct the country’s first new atomic reactors in two decades would provide “uncertain strategic and economic benefits”. Continue reading...

Jurisdiction over estimated 700 bears will pass to Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, which will allow limited hunts as long as total number stays above 600Protections against hunting Yellowstone national park grizzly bears will be lifted this summer after US government officials ruled Thursday that the population is no longer threatened.The delisting of the bears as an endangered species means that states would be allowed to plan limited bear hunts outside the park’s boundaries. Hunting bears inside Yellowstone would still be banned. The bears roam both inside and outside the park, and their range has been expanding as their numbers have grown. Continue reading...

DUP and Brexit talks | Brian Cant | Blackpool body shapes | Butterflies | SwallowsIn light of the negotiating skills shown by the DUP in securing a very favourable outcome for Northern Ireland in the ongoing “confidence and supply” talks (Report, 22 May), should the Tories not send the DUP to Europe for the Brexit talks instead of their current team. They might fare a lot better.

Hutton cited health issues when he announced his decision to quit as president of the anti-mining group Lock the GateDrew Hutton, a giant of the Australian environmental movement, has announced his retirement as a leading activist in his 70 year.Hutton, described by Australian Greens co-founder Bob Brown as the “driving force” for the party’s formation in 1992, cited health issues for his decision to quit last week as president of the anti-mining group Lock the Gate. Continue reading...

Deforestation in the Amazon is increasing amid cuts to protection, putting Norway’s financial aid in jeopardy, says minister

O desmatamento na Amazônia vem aumentando em meio a cortes à proteção do meio ambiente, e colocando o apoio financeiro vindo da Noruega em risco, diz ministro

A 20% shortfall in migrant workers relied on to pick fruit and vegetables is blamed on Brexit making the UK seem ‘xenophobic’Farms have been hit with a shortage of the migrant workers that Britain relies on to bring in the fruit and vegetable harvests, according to a series of new reports.There was a 17% shortfall in May, leaving some farms critically short of pickers, according to a new National Farmers Union (NFU) survey. The decline is blamed on Brexit, with the vote to depart the EU leaving the UK seen as “xenophobic” and “racist” by overseas workers, according to the director of a major agricultural recruitment company. Continue reading...

Move to block EU ban comes despite environment secretary Michael Gove saying, ‘I don’t want to water down’ EU protectionsConservative politicians are trying to stop a complete EU ban on bee-harming pesticides, despite the new environment secretary Michael Gove’s statement earlier this week, in which he said “I absolutely don’t want to water down” EU environmental protections.Neonicotinoids are the world’s most widely used insecticides but have been banned on flowering crops in the EU since 2013. However, the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) found in 2016 that use of the pesticides on all crops poses a high risk to bees. As a result, the European commission has proposed a ban on all uses outside greenhouses, first revealed by the Guardian in March. Continue reading...

So far, 15,696 people have taken part in the 2017 Great British Bee Count, recording 288,341 bees, some of which are pictured here. You have eight days left to join this year’s count which will run until 30 June 2017

My friend David Hoyle, who has died in a car accident aged 48, was a social scientist who devoted his life to protecting African forests and natural ecosystems for the biodiversity they harbour, for the local people who depend on them, and to secure their vital role in mitigating dangerous climate change. He worked for numerous NGOs, including VSO, WWF, and WCS, which took him to many African countries as a teacher, field project manager and national director.The second of three children born to Mike Hoyle, a management consultant, and Marion (nee Knight), a housewife, David grew up in Farnham, Surrey, completed school at Lancing college in West Sussex and read geography at Reading University before doing a master’s in natural resource management at Edinburgh. Continue reading...

Environment minister Jan Szyszko has called for Białowieża to lose its heritage status, saying it was granted ‘illegally’Poland’s environment minister, Jan Szyszko, whom green activists have criticised for allowing large-scale logging in the ancient Białowieża forest, has called for the woodland to be stripped of Unesco’s natural heritage status, banning human intervention.Białowieża, straddling Poland’s eastern border with Belarus, includes one of the largest surviving parts of the primeval forest that covered the European plain 10,000 years ago. It also boasts unique plant and animal life, including the continent’s largest mammal, the European bison. Continue reading...

Habitat loss, pollution, climate change, over-exploitation and poaching are all threatening a lifeline for local communitiesWildlife-based tourism is growing rapidly worldwide as the number of tourists continues to grow and as we, as travellers, seek out new and more enriching personal experiences with local cultures and wildlife. This is what inspired me to take six months unpaid leave from the grind of legal practice many years ago and backpack around South America with my little sister. Experiencing the natural beauty of places like the Amazon rainforest, Iguazú Falls and Machu Picchu and the local people fighting to protect them was life-changing.

Butterflies are vanishing from cities even faster than in the countryside – from paving, pesticides or just plain heat. But some cities are luring them backThe purple plumes of railway-side buddleias are emptied of insects. A single white butterfly is dancing, alone, in a grassy park. Suburban gardens are unvisited by red admirals or small tortoiseshells.

A data map of 25 London cycling corridors could be crucial for future superhighways, but critics say it’s a distraction from getting the job doneMike Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, once said “in God we trust; everyone else bring data”. London has moved towards the mantra of one man who transformed a city for cycling by using a major data analysis to show where cycling routes could be built to get the greatest number of people on to two wheels.Transport for London (TfL) has taken census data, cycle counts, surveys and data from the city’s hire bikes to identify future urban development and growth hotspots and collision data. They have created a map of 25 corridors across London, along which the greatest number of cycling trips could be generated. Continue reading...

Craig Kelly’s argument that a reverse auction would allow coal power plants to compete doesn’t stack upThe latest push by pro-coal lobbyists and some Coalition MPs – for the clean energy target proposal to be dropped in favour of a reverse auction that could be used to fund a new coal power station – has left analysts wondering if they are actually trying to “blow up” the debate.

Sandy, Bedfordshire The butterfly rested in the tractor tramline, cryptic wings held erect over its backThe open fields are no place for hot dogs in high summer. At other times dogs scamper along the straight tracks between wheat and barley, sometimes stopping to sniff, squat, or cock a leg, engrossed in a kind of Twitter wee.But when the sun burns overhead, it toasts cereals and thick coats alike. The dog walkers therefore come early here, and I run earlier still. Continue reading...

World-first climate and health framework from 30 health and medical groups calls for recognition of citizens’ ‘right to health’To save hundreds of lives and billions of dollars, Australia should rapidly phase out coal power stations and establish strong emissions reduction targets, according to a coalition of 30 major health and medical groups.Related: Australia warned it has radically underestimated climate change security threat Continue reading...

Exclusive: Shadow climate change minister rubbishes idea of federal finance for coal-fired power and says ALP will not back an energy target that includes it• We need to talk about Finkel (and Adani) – Australian politics live podcast

World’s largest banks lent $87bn to oil, coal and LNG companies in 2016 – a 22% drop from a collective $111bn worth of lending in 2015The world’s biggest banks have reduced their lending to some of the most carbon-intensive sectors of the fossil fuel industry by billions of dollars, marking a potentially seismic shift against coal investment, a new study says.The report commissioned by environmental groups tracked the lending decisions of 37 banks across Australia, the US, Europe, Canada, China and Japan in the first calendar year since the signing of the Paris climate agreement. Continue reading...

East Sussex fire and rescue service says it has been called to support coastguard, although no one has been reported missingA search operation has been launched by firefighters and the coastguard after a large cliff fall, although no one has been reported missing.East Sussex fire and rescue service says it has been called in to support the coastguard in the search at Seaford Head, which partially collapsed on Wednesday afternoon. Continue reading...

Prominent oceanographers and global leaders write to Australian prime minister and Queensland premierA group of prominent oceanographers and global leaders has written to Malcolm Turnbull urging him to reject the proposed Adani Carmichael coalmine, which it says will have a devastating impact on the Great Barrier Reef.The letter from the group Ocean Elders, which includes the renowned marine biologist Dr Sylvia Earle, argues that if it goes ahead the coalmine will damage international efforts to mitigate climate change by increasing global carbon emissions. Continue reading...

Climate change | Inflammatory language | Plagiarism | The cryptic crossword | North-south divideNormally I would write to complain about such a gendered phrase as “man-made” (Opinion, 17 June). In the case of “man-made climate change” however, I’m inclined to let it pass. On balance it seems likely that rather more men than women do bear responsibility for the changes which are leading our planet to fry. “Anthropogenic” is a much more elegant word though.

Analysis of world’s lenders reveals many claim green credentials while still financing fuels like tar sands, oil and coalSome of the world’s top banks are continuing to lend tens of billions for extracting the most carbon-intensive fossil fuels, according to a report of top lenders.Finance provided for these fossil fuels – tar sands and other unconventional oil and gas, as well as coal and liquefied natural gas – amounted to $87bn for the top 37 banks in 2016. That represented a slump of more than a fifth compared with the $111bn raised the previous year, and was also down on 2014’s total of $92bn. Continue reading...

Former US vice-president says green revolution is bigger than industrial revolution and happening at faster pace than digital revolutionThe fight against global warming is one of humanity’s great moral movements, alongside the abolition of slavery, the defeat of apartheid, votes for women and gay rights, according to the former US vice-president and climate campaigner, Al Gore.The battle to halt climate change can be won, he said, because the green revolution delivering clean energy is both bigger than the industrial revolution and happening faster than the digital revolution. Continue reading...

In echo of ‘defeat device’ scandals, one TV increased energy consumption by 47% when tested in real-world viewingTVs, dishwashers and fridge freezers have been found to guzzle up to twice as much energy as advertised on their energy labels, in a wide-ranging EU product survey.When tested under real-world conditions, the €400,000, 18-month investigation found widespread overshooting of the goods’ colour-coded A-G energy classes, due to the outmoded and selective test formats on which these have been based. Continue reading...

On behalf of students and alumni from all Ivy-Plus universities, we call on our institutions to join the “We Are Still In” coalition

Alan Finkel insists his review was independent and says building a new coal-fired power plant would not have long-term impacts on Australia’s electricity marketAustralia’s chief scientist, Alan Finkel, has defended his review into the electricity market against accusations its content was politically motivated.Speaking to the press club in Canberra on Wednesday, Finkel said also if the federal government incentivised a new coal-fired power plant to be built, it would not have long-term impacts on the electricity market. Continue reading...

Lethal risks of extreme weather are under-reported and government must stop cutting public awareness fundsHundreds of people across the UK are likely to be killed by a natural disaster this week, but their deaths will not be the subject of ministerial statements or newspaper reports, even though a failure of government policy is partly responsible.The heatwave conditions are causing preventable deaths partly because large swaths of the population wrongly believe that extremely hot days are becoming less common. Continue reading...

Firms including Penguin Random House and HarperCollins have spoken out about timber company’s ‘dangerous’ moves to quash campaigners’ claimsThe world’s biggest book publishers have been dragged into a bitter dispute between a US logging company and environmental campaigners Greenpeace. It follows legal action taken by the logging company, Resolute Forest Products, which campaigners and publishers fear has implications for freedom of speech.The dispute centres on claims by Greenpeace about the company’s logging practices in sections of Canada’s boreal forest, which are home to indigenous peoples as well as endangered wildlife. Greenpeace alleges that Resolute: “Is responsible for the destruction of vast areas of Canada’s magnificent boreal forest, damaging critical woodland caribou habitat and logging without the consent of impacted First Nations.” Continue reading...

Calstock, Tamar Valley In the woods, leaves obscure all but glimpses of the ebbing riverDogwoods, covered in flowers with cream bracts, shine from the prevailing green of Cotehele’s valley garden and in the woods leaves obscure all but glimpses of the ebbing river.Flag iris, water dropwort and reeds slow the flow of the Danescombe tributary into the Tamar and opposite this little delta, beyond the swirling current, two swans feed on the mud bank where “point stuff” – fallen leaves washed into the river – used to be shovelled into rowing boats for use as manure in the market gardens.

More than 1,000 people, spread across 300 boats, protested against the shallow-water fish farm at Okehampton BayA proposed $30m salmon farm development on Tasmania’s pristine east coast and legal challenges against Tassal’s other operations are creating a storm of opposition that has been compared to campaigns against the infamous Gunns pulp mill.More than 1,000 people, spread across 300 boats and Hobart’s Constitution Dock, staged a protest on Sunday opposing Tassal’s development of a new shallow-water fish farm at Okehampton Bay near Triabunna, about 90km from Hobart. Continue reading...

Rising temperatures and southerly winds expected to bring toxic air to large parts of England and Wales on WednesdayThe mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has triggered the capital’s emergency air quality alert as soaring temperatures combined with southerly winds are expected to bring dangerously toxic air to large parts of England and Wales on Wednesday.

Senate inquiry starts as report into political, military and humanitarian risks of climate change across Asia Pacific releasedAs the Senate launches an inquiry into the national security ramifications of climate change, a new report has warned global warming will cause increasingly regular and severe humanitarian crises across the Asia-Pacific.

Shuttering of Rough facility off Yorkshire coast by British Gas owner Centrica will increase dependence on imports, say criticsThe closure of the UK’s largest gas storage plant has prompted warnings that the country faces more volatile winter gas prices and is becoming too dependent on energy imports.British Gas’s owner, Centrica, said it was permanently closing the Rough facility off the Yorkshire coast because it had become unsafe and uneconomic to reopen the facility, which had been temporarily shut over safety fears. Continue reading...

Sadiq Khan wants to cut 3m car journeys a day and encourage cycling and walking in effort to reduce congestion and air pollutionLondon is to consider pay-per-mile road pricing and banning car parking in new developments under plans to cut 3m car journeys a day in the capital.

In the wake of Trump’s Paris withdrawal, California is taking the lead to fight emissions – and it’s rethinking how to get more out of its cap-and-trade programCalifornia has one of the world’s most sophisticated and ambitious cap-and-trade programs, which are designed to provide financial incentives to big polluters, such as electricity providers and oil refineries, to lower their greenhouse gas emissions.The complex program, which began only in 2013, is a signature component of California’s plan to cut emissions in the midst of a controversial makeover by state policymakers, after they passed a landmark bill last year that created one of the world’s most aggressive climate change goals: to lower carbon emissions to 40% below the 1990 levels by 2030. Continue reading...

Michel Temer replies to message from Brazilian supermodel to announce he will veto plans to cut conservation in the AmazonThe Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen appears to have succeeded where conservationists and scientists have failed: by persuading the president, Michel Temer, to veto legislation that would have slashed protected reserves in the Amazon.In a Twitter post last week, Bündchen urged Temer to block a bill that would have opened up 600,000 hectares (1.5m acres) of forest to development. The model – who has long been a supporter of WWF – tweeted: “It’s our job to protect our Mother Earth.”

Producing a few pounds of weed can have the same environmental toll as driving across America seven times – harming cities’ and states’ plans to curb emissionsAs he opens the steel door to the jumble of his office, located in a cloistered warehouse on the west side of Denver, Paul Isenbergh is barking down the phone about a duplicitous business rival. He’s wearing a shirt and rust-colored tie. Yards from his desk, rows of drying cannabis plants are strung up on two clothes lines.Isenbergh spent 30 years as a real estate broker in Florida. When he moved to Denver in 2011, he didn’t even know medicinal marijuana was legal in Colorado. Continue reading...

Substantial areas are being cleared under the guise of ‘thinning’, which does not require a permit. Landholders need to be rewarded for preserving native vegetationLand clearing is accelerating across eastern Australia, despite our new research providing a clear warning of its impacts on the Great Barrier Reef, regional and global climate, and threatened native wildlife.Policies in place to control land clearing have been wound back across all states, with major consequences for our natural environment. Continue reading...

Prime minister says he will restrict gas exports and ask Aemo for advice on ‘optimising affordability for consumers’The Turnbull government has moved to hose down intensifying internal concerns about rising power prices by confirming its intention to restrict gas exports, and by opening the way for an alternative to the clean energy target proposed by Australia’s chief scientist.

A new survey confirms the use of bicycles as mobility aids and the frustration felt when disabled cyclists are told to dismountLast week, my charity Wheels for Wellbeing published the results of a national survey of disabled cyclists which is, to our knowledge, the first of its kind. The results largely confirmed our suspicions, including that disabled cyclists – though part of our cycling culture – remain excluded from it in a number of ways. Continue reading...

US researchers believe worst event on record is ending but fear coral won’t recover in time before oceans warm againThe worst coral bleaching event in recorded history, which has hit every major coral region on Earth since 2014, appears to be coming to an end, with scientists now worrying how long reefs will have to recover before it happens again.After analysing satellite and model data, and finding bleaching in the Indian ocean no longer appeared widespread, the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) has announced the event is no longer occurring on a global scale, and appears to be coming to an end. Continue reading...