LA wildfires and storms this year cost $101bn, new study by non-profit resurrecting work axed by Trump saysThe first half of 2025 was the costliest on record for major disasters in the US, driven by huge wildfires in Los Angeles and storms that battered much of the rest of the country, according to a climate non-profit that has resurrected work axed by Donald Trump's administration that tracked the biggest disasters.In the first six months of this year, 14 separate weather-related disasters that each caused at least $1bn in damage hit the US, the Climate Central group has calculated. In total, these events cost $101bn in damages - lost homes, businesses, highways and other infrastructure - a toll higher than any other first half of a year since records on this began in 1980. Continue reading...

Experts say the administration's Maha agenda betrays the public' and doesn't actually seek to regulate junk foodAs health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr has repeatedly blamed industrially manufactured food products for the country's chronic illness and obesity crises, and urged Americans to limit their consumption of foods with added sugar, salt, fat, dyes and preservatives.Amid a slew of controversial and unbacked public health claims, his stance on ultra-processed foods is one of his least polarizing. More than 65% of Americans say they are in favor of reforming processed foods to remove added sugars and added dyes, according to a January Associated Press and National Opinion Research Center poll. Continue reading...

Data analysis found higher than average migration growth to the US from areas in Guatemala, Bangladesh and Senegal hit by repeated climate disastersThis article was produced in partnership between Columbia Journalism Investigations and Documented.Mohamed* sat cross-legged on the carpet before Friday afternoon prayers at a mosque in the South Bronx in New York City and shared memories of his crops. Continue reading...

Green groups defend essential' levy, but Gu desserts and Belvoir drinks among those who say shoppers pick up billA packaging tax designed to end our throwaway society is under fire for inadvertently adding to food price inflation as it pushes up the cost of everything from sausages to soft drinks.It's about 3p on a pack of sausages," says Andrew Keeble, the co-founder of Heck, of the new extended producer responsibility (EPR) tax. Continue reading...

Interviews with experts and key players across four countries reveal why efforts to stop the multibillion-euro trafficking industry have failed - and how to save the endangered fishBy 10am on the midsummer Day of the Ox, the city of Narita smells of charcoal and sugar. The cobbled road is thronged with visitors lining up to buy grilled eel, a traditional delicacy believed to cool the body and keep spirits up in the humid weather.We'll be so sad if it becomes extinct and we can't eat eel any more," says a customer sitting on the tatami-mat floor in Kawatoyo, a popular restaurant specialising in grilled eel, which has been operating for more than 115 years.Kabayaki-style eel, grilled with tare sauce, served at Kawatoyo restaurant in Narita. Photograph: Toru Hanai Continue reading...

Private briefings confirm how Labor intends to deal with some contentious elements of rewritten Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act

Sydney's Observatory Hill peaks at 37C on Wednesday - below the 39C forecast - as the mercury in other parts of the city neared 40C

Annual survey finds about 21% of 249 swimming sites across NSW received ratings of poor' or very poor' for water quality

Get out of the Honda Gwyneth!

Campaigners say figures reveal a lack of enforcement with just 24 fines issued by councils for rule violationsNot one prosecution for illegal wood burning has been made in the past year, despite 15,195 complaints across England, data shows.Additionally, just 24 fines were issued by local authorities between September 2024 and August 2025, responses to freedom of information requests by the campaign group Mums for Lungs revealed.This article was amended on 22 October 2025. The original version stated that there had been just one prosecution in the last year; in fact there have been none. Continue reading...

Bleak report finds greenhouse gas emissions are still rising despite exponential' growth of renewablesCoal use hit a record high around the world last year despite efforts to switch to clean energy, imperilling the world's attempts to rein in global heating.The share of coal in electricity generation dropped as renewable energy surged ahead. But the general increase in power demand meant that more coal was used overall, according to the annual State of Climate Action report, published on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Human-wildlife conflict has now overtaken poaching as a cause of fatalities - and is deadly for people too. Some villages are finding new ways to live alongside them

Dan Zafra captured a timelapse of something he could only dream of - red sprites, also known as red lightning, flashing above the Milky Way - while photographing from the Clay Cliffs in New Zealand's South Island on 11 October. Red sprites are brief, large-scale electrical discharges that occur high above thunderstorms, reaching altitudes of up to 90km. They are almost impossible to see with the naked eye and last just a few milliseconds

The objectives of the Paris agreement are slipping further out of reach,' say researchers from LSENo major bank has yet committed to stop funding new oil and gas fields or coal capacity, research has found.Most banks that have recently updated their climate policies have weakened them, according to the research by the TPI Global Climate Transition Centre (TPI) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Continue reading...

Government consults on allowing regulator to use lower civil standard of proof and introducing automatic penaltiesWater companies in England could face more, and automatic, fines for sewage dumping under new Environment Agency powers.The government is consulting on allowing the regulator to use a lower, civil, standard of proof instead of the higher criminal standard, for minor to moderate environmental offences. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Looming overhaul of protections should also include definition of unacceptable impact' on environment, Murray Watt says

Construction due to begin in 2027 on what is expected to become UK's largest publicly owned windfarmEvery islander on Orkney is expected to benefit from a major windfarm being built by the local council after it won 62m in financing from the UK's national wealth fund.All the profits from the project to build up to 18 turbines across three islands on Orkney will be spent on local services, council officials said, in what is expected to become the UK's largest publicly owned windfarm. Continue reading...

New rule would prohibit states from banning dangerous chemicals, and could invalidate hundreds of protectionsA new rule proposed by the Trump administration would dramatically weaken safety reviews for some of the nation's most toxic chemicals that are already on the market, public health advocates and an EPA employee warn.Many of the chemicals that would receive less scrutiny are among the nation's most dangerous substances, including PFAS, formaldehyde, asbestos and dioxins. Each poses serious health risks in consumer goods, or for workers handling the substances, advocates say. Continue reading...

Most vulnerable families could be without critical energy assistance, experts warn, as electricity and gas bills surgeMillions of Americans face having to ration heating this winter as the US federal government shutdown and mass layoffs by the Trump administration cause unprecedented delays in getting energy assistance aid to low-income households, a group that helps people pay energy bills has warned.Congress approved about $4bn for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (Liheap), after Trump's proposal to cancel the life-saving heating and cooling scheme in this year's budget was ultimately unsuccessful. Continue reading...

Climate crisis contributing to spread of diseases as hunting industry takes a hit from growing number of dead deerWhen landowner and hunter James Barkhurst went scouting his property about a month ago to assess the local deer population ahead of the fall hunting season, he was left in shock.I've seen about 14 dead in less than a mile stretch. There's a lot of does, big bucks and even fawns. You smell the dead everywhere," he says. And I haven't really went deep into the woods." Continue reading...

Three specimens discovered in what was previously one of the few places in the world without the insectsMosquitoes have been found in Iceland for the first time as global heating makes the country more hospitable for insects.The country was until this month one of the few places in the world that did not have a mosquito population. The other is Antarctica. Continue reading...

Air breathed by people in the city categorised as severe' in quality after fireworks contribute to thick smogDelhi awoke to a thick haze on Tuesday, a day after millions of people celebrated the Hindu festival of Diwali with fireworks, marking the beginning of the pollution season that has become an annual blight on India's capital.Those in the most polluted city in the world once again found themselves breathing dangerously toxic air that fell into the severe" category on Tuesday morning. Continue reading...

Guano, a fertiliser derived from seabird excrement, enriched Peru in the 19th century and was shipped around the world in huge quantities. On Santa Island, north of Lima, workers still mine it in the toughest of conditionsPhotographs by Ernesto Benavides/AFP/Getty Images Continue reading...

While Nigel Farage promotes retro plans to reopen coalmines, will he really tell thousands of clean energy workers to leave their well-paid, local jobs?This government is bad at proclaiming what it's for. But to find out, follow the money. Its boldest investment is in green energy, designed to create prodigious returns in economic growth, employment, training, climate action and more. So far it has been hard to sell. Wafty talk of greenness passes most people by, and whose growth is it, anyway?" is a realistic question in a country of stagnant pay and public decay. But, this week, Ed Miliband put flesh on the green words, making jobs and projects concrete. A very big number of green jobs - 400,000 by 2030 - are set to be created in 31 priority occupations", from welders to production managers, plumbers and joiners, everywhere from Centrica's 35m state-of-the-art training academy in Lutterworth to Teesside's net-zero decarbonisation cluster.This is what a Labour industrial strategy should look like. Nigel Farage's retro campaign for this week's Caerphilly byelection promises to reopen Welsh coalmines. But well-paid, clean, green-energy jobs within their home districts are what Miliband's Doncaster North constituents want, the minister tells me, not sending young people down reopened mines. Government figures show wind, nuclear and electricity jobs pay more than most - the average advertised salary in the wind sector is 51,000 a year, against an average 37,000. Unions, once sceptical and fearful of losing jobs in unionised industries, now sign up with guarantees that any new plant getting grants must support greater trade union recognition" and a fair work charter.Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Homeowners urged to use more robust planting and permeable materials to help mitigate flood riskNearly half of the UK's garden space is paved over, a new study has found.The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has conducted the largest ever audit of the UK's gardens, and found that they are an untapped - and until now, mostly unmeasured - potential resource for nature. Continue reading...

Conservationists argue president's oil expansion plans clash with his image as a global leader on climate changeBrazil's Petrobras has been given permission to drill for oil near the mouth of the Amazon River, casting a shadow over the country's green ambitions as it prepares to host UN climate talks.Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the president, has come under fire from conservationists who argue his oil expansion plans clash with his image as a global leader on climate change. Continue reading...

After speculation and conflicting pressures, prime minister will attend climate summit next monthKeir Starmer will travel to the Amazon rainforest for the UN climate summit next month, Downing Street has confirmed, after weeks of speculation that he would not.No 10 said on Monday the prime minister would fly to Belem, in Brazil, for what experts say will be the most significant Cop meeting since Paris in 2015. Continue reading...

A legal saga stemming from a water quality project saw Tom Van Lent briefly jailed in a case brought by allies of DeSantisAn environmental scientist briefly jailed in what he called a political prosecution" brought by allies of Florida's rightwing Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, now alleges new evidence shows his jail sentence stemmed from fraudulent allegations.Tom Van Lent's claim represents the latest twist in a three-year legal saga ignited by a disagreement over a proposed restoration project that aimed to address Florida's recurrent red tides and toxic algal blooms by helping restore the environment of the vast Everglades wetlands. Continue reading...

A burst of recent climate-themed cultural output suggests views of the topic as too depressing or dull may be changingDespite (or perhaps because of) its overwhelming awfulness, the climate crisis has been oddly underrepresented on stage and screen. Humanity's greatest challenge has often been deemed too much of a downer, too complex or too dull a topic to spawn shows and movies.A burst of recent climate-themed cultural output, however, suggests this may be changing. Weather Girl, a one-woman play about the unraveling of a TV meteorologist who can no longer bear to gloss over climate breakdown in California, has just closed in New York City to upbeat reviews. Continue reading...

Set up by three eco-anxious' farmers, WildEast has created UK-wide version of pledge to encourage people to restore natureA grassroots movement to wild a fifth of East Anglia is going national with the launch of Wild Kingdom's map of dreams" to collect pledges and connect communities, businesses and ordinary people seeking to revive nature.WildEast was formed five years ago when three eco-anxious" farmers decided to commit at least a fifth of their land to nature. Since then, thousands of people have pledged to rewild gardens, school grounds, communities and businesses. Continue reading...

Meeting called for end of sitting week inviting backbench MPs to argue for or against dumping the policy after Barnaby Joyce announced resignation

Environment Agency says pollutant in Norfolk river is an unknown substance' and is investigatingDead fish have been found on a river in Norfolk where a large stretch of white foam appeared, the Environment Agency has confirmed.Images shared by the agency on Saturday showed the foam covering an area of the River Thet. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Documents reveal state environment department had reckless indifference' to fate of individual koalas, Greens spokesperson Sue Higginson says

Jury says documentary about killing of Argentinian campaigner Javier Chocobar brings a measure of the justice' denied by the courtsA documentary about the murder of the Indigenous activist Javier Chocobar has taken the top prize at the London film festival, with the jury calling it a measure of the justice" that has long been denied by the courts.The Argentine film-maker Lucrecia Martel's first documentary, Landmarks, won the best film award in the festival's official competition, it was announced on Sunday. Continue reading...

Labour would do well to remember its manifesto promise to revive Britain's global leadership on developmentWith borrowing costs rising and western governments including the UK cutting their aid budgets, unsustainable debts are driving a development crisis across the global south.In the latest evidence, Ethiopia last week faced the threat of being sued by its creditors in the English courts, after long-running negotiations about restructuring $1bn (740m) of its debt collapsed. Continue reading...

They are peaceful, female-led and use sex in everyday interactions. Now a new conservation scheme could offer a lifeline to our critically endangered close relatives living on the Congo riverA few dozen large nests appear in the mist of equatorial dawn, half-hidden behind a tangle of vines and leaves. That is where the bonobos sleep, 12 metres above the ground. But it has rained all night, and the primates are in no hurry to get up. It is 6.30am when the first head emerges. It gives a cry, a sharp bark, and another silhouette unfolds from its cocoon of branches. And then another. Within five minutes, the whole group is awake - yawning, stretching, straightening. Their features are fine, their limbs long and delicate, their build less stocky than that of chimpanzees, their closest cousins.Bonobos live on the left bank of the Congo River Continue reading...

According to planning conditions, Wolborough Fen in Newton Abbot must be protected as groundworks are prepared for 1,200 homesA 2,000-year-old wetland which is one of England's most protected habitats has bulldozers at its gates" after developers said conditions to protect it were blocking the growth the government is demanding.Wolborough Fen in Newton Abbot, Devon, a site of special scientific interest (SSSI), must be protected from any damage by developers Vistry Group as they flatten hills and prepare the groundworks for 1,200 houses, according to planning conditions. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Environment Agency not testing for forever chemical' made by factory despite evidence of emissionsRegulators measuring forever chemicals" near a Lancashire chemicals plant are not testing for a substance made by the company itself, despite evidence it could be reprotoxic and is being emitted in large volumes.Reprotoxic means a substance can be damaging to a person's sexual function, fertility, or their child's development and, now, Continue reading...

Scheme will offer training for plumbers, welders and carpenters as well as promoting trade union recognitionPlumbers, electricians and welders will be in huge demand as part of a national plan to train people for an extra 400,000 green jobs in the next five years, Ed Miliband has said.The energy secretary unveiled a scheme to double the number of people working in green industries by 2030, with a particular focus on training those coming from fossil fuel jobs, school leavers, the unemployed, veterans and ex-offenders. Continue reading...

Dr Tom May, a mycologist at the Royal Botanic Gardens and an expert witness at the Erin Patterson trial, has collaborated with renowned fungi photographer Stephen Axford for Planet Fungi, a new book from CSIRO Publishing full of incredible macro-photography Continue reading...

If Douglas Troutman is confirmed, the top four toxics office at the environmental agency will be held by ex-lobbyistsThe US Senate is poised to approve Donald Trump's nomination of an industry lobbyist to lead the US Environmental Protection Agency's chemical safety office.If the nominee, Douglas Troutman, is confirmed, the top four toxics office positions at the EPA will be held by former chemical industry lobbyists, raising new fears about the health and safety of the American public, consumers and workers, campaigners say. Continue reading...

Stoats have been an existential threat to Orkney's rare birds but technology is helping to eradicate themAt first, the stoat looks like a faint smudge in the distance. But, as it jumps closer, its sleek body is identified by a heat-detecting camera and, with it, an alert goes out to Orkney's stoat hunters.Aided by an artificial intelligence programme trained to detect a stoat's sinuous shape and movement, trapping teams are dispatched with the explicit aim of finding and killing it. It is the most sophisticated technology deployed in one of the world's largest mammal eradication projects, which has the aim of detecting the few stoats left on Orkney. Continue reading...

Margot Raggett, whose latest compilation shows animals scrubbed from natural habitats, calls for rethink on UK accelerated housebuildingMargot Raggett has spent the past decade raising money for conservation efforts around the world but now she feels nervous about the future. It does feel like we've taken a backward step," she said.The wildlife photographer has raised 1.2m for the cause in the past 10 years through her Remembering Wildlife series, an annual, not-for-profit picture book featuring images of animals from the world's top nature photographers. The first edition was published in 2015, when the Paris climate agreement was being drafted but, in the years since, efforts to tackle the climate crisis have been rolled back. Continue reading...

Researchers say decline in phytoplankton suggests weakened planetary capacity to absorb carbon dioxideThe world's oceans are losing their greenness owing to global heating, according to a study that suggests our planet's capacity to absorb carbon dioxide could be weakening.The change in the palette of the seas is caused by a decline of phytoplankton, the tiny marine creatures that are responsible for nearly half of the biosphere's productivity. Continue reading...

Long-planned charge on greenhouse gas emissions postponed as Trump officials accused of intimidation tacticsUnder intense pressure from Donald Trump's government, countries have postponed plans to force shipowners to start paying for the damage they do to the climate.US officials were accused of bullying" and intimidation", as nations met in London for what should have been the rubber-stamping of a decision made months ago to place a small levy on the greenhouse gases from global shipping. Continue reading...

Nearby residents say they have had health concerns due to air pollution from Drax Biomass facilityResidents of a small Mississippi town are suing Drax Biomass after the company won a permit to become a major source" of hazardous air pollution at a local wood pellet production plant.The subsidiary of the FTSE 250 energy company was previously denied permission to increase emissions in the 900-person town of Gloster, Mississippi, after local residents warned that they had already suffered serious adverse health consequences because of the operation. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Rainforest Reserves Australia has published submissions naming nonexistent government authorities and a nonexistent windfarm

With AI datacenters soaring power bills for households, a policy called demand flexibility' could help ease grid strainA cheap, bipartisan tool could help the US meet increasing energy demand from AI datacenters while also easing soaring power bills for households, preventing deadly blackouts and helping the climate.The policy solution, called demand flexibility", can be quickly deployed across the US. Demand flexibility essentially means rewarding customers for using less power during times of high demand, reducing strain on the grid or in some cases, selling energy they have captured by solar panels on their homes. Continue reading...

Decision from governor, eyeing presidential bid, could echo across US as similar bans considered in states like New York

Housing minister Steve Reed refuses to back mandating measure, despite giving support while in environment jobThe government is refusing to support a new amendment to install a swift brick in every new home - a U-turn by Steve Reed since he became housing secretary.When he was environment secretary, Reed told a campaigner, Hannah Bourne-Taylor, she was pushing at an open door" and he and others wanted to add to the party's manifesto her proposal that developers must include a 35 hollow brick in every new home. Continue reading...