Compromise deal falls far short of carbon levy poor countries were hoping forShipping companies will have to pay for the carbon dioxide produced by their vessels for the first time under new rules agreed by the world's maritime watchdog.The regulations agreed on Friday fall far short of the levy on CO that poor countries were hoping for, which would have funded their efforts to combat the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Some farmers recovered from president's first-term trade war and a fresh one is estimated to cost the state $6bn a yearCalifornia's $59bn agricultural industry is bracing for disruption as Donald Trump's tariffs continue to spike tensions and trigger economic turmoil with China - one of the state's biggest buyers.California is the country's breadbasket, supplying roughly one-third of US vegetables and 75% of its fruits and nuts. But it also exports much of its produce - close to $24bn worth in 2022. This means farmers in the state could lose out significantly as China imposes retaliatory tariffs on US goods. Continue reading...

Five thousand new homes alongside a paradise for newts appears to fly in face of government's false wedge'Arriving at the Kidbrooke Village housing development in Greenwich on a morning in early spring, the first thing you notice is the sound of birdsong and the scent of blossom. Geese are gently honking in the distance.This was once the Ferrier estate, a postwar housing estate that was demolished in 2009 to regenerate the area. Continue reading...

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

The chickens aren't really happy about it either - whomst would be a chicken

Clean energy investors likely to pull back from US, but other countries may seize opportunity to speed transitionDonald Trump's upending of the global economy has raised fears that climate action could emerge as a casualty of the trade war.In the week that has followed liberation day", economic experts have warned that the swathe of tariffs could trigger a global economic recession, with far-reaching consequences for investors - including those behind the green energy projects needed to meet climate goals. Continue reading...

RSPB urges people to support threatened birds by cutting lawns less frequently and avoiding pesticidesFewer starlings than ever have been spotted by participants in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch, raising fears for their numbers.The bird conservation charity is urging Britain's gardeners to keep their lawns wild by not cutting them too often, and to avoid the use of pesticides, which reduce the number of insects to eat and can poison birds. Continue reading...

The EU neither kissed ass' nor unleashed its most powerful trade weapon. Now it must provide the world with an alternative to US chaosMy condolences to everyone who spent days trying to play 5D chess with Donald Trump's market-exploding tariff mess. Where Trump is involved, there is a cloud of malevolent chaos, and there is grift amid the chaos. What grandmasters there are to be found are almost certainly grandmasters of grift.When markets dump $10tn in three days and then gain trillions back in a single afternoon on the erratic decisions of one deeply corrupt person, you can be sure that a small number of people have made immense sums of money out of that volatility. Were the people responsible for abnormal spikes of buying into the markets (including call options on various indexes and exchange-traded funds) on Wednesday morning - and again, 20 minutes before the tariff announcement went public - extraordinarily lucky? Were they in the right Signal group? Or were they just simply following Trump on Truth Social, where he posted: THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT" -just a few hours before dropping the news that he was kind of pulling back.Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe correspondent Continue reading...

There has been little talk about how Australia's economy will get to net zero. That's a terrible reflection on the state of our politicsThe Coalition has been forced to reassert its commitment to the Paris climate agreement after its energy spokesperson, Ted O'Brien, appeared to waver on the pledge on Thursday.O'Brien faced off against the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, at a debate in Canberra, weeks out from a federal election in which energy policy is emerging as a hot-button issue.Labor, the Coalition, nobody in this country will be able to achieve the emission target set by Chris Bowen and Anthony Albanese. The difference between Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese is that Peter Dutton has been honest and upfront about that.... go against the spirit, if not the letter, of the Paris Agreement, and - in some circumstances - could constitute a breach of those obligations.Tony Wood is the energy and climate change program director at the Grattan Institute. This article was originally published in the Conversation Continue reading...

Workers had spent weeks in limbo amid legal rollercoaster but letters confirm block on terminations no longer in effectLetters went out to hundreds of workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) on Thursday, informing them their jobs had been terminated - again.The probationary employees, many who performed important roles at the US's pre-eminent climate research agency, have spent weeks in limbo after being dismissed in late February, only to be rehired and put on administrative leave in mid-March following a federal court order. Continue reading...

White House claims university's work exposed students to climate anxiety' and exaggerated climate threats'

Flemming Hansen and Mette Helbaek reject criticism of how they abandoned resort and fled to GuatemalaA Danish couple who fled their forest resort" in Sweden for Guatemala and left behind a large tax debt and 158 barrels of human waste have hit back at criticism and claimed that their handling of the compost toilets was very normal".Flemming Hansen and Mette Helbaek, both chefs, abandoned their purportedly eco-friendly retreat, Stedsans, in Halland, southern Sweden, last year. They owed large sums to Swedish and Danish tax authorities. They have since set up a business in Guatemala. Continue reading...

Addressing the Australian extinction crisis and the decline of our environment will be possible when political leaders embrace it

Guardian Australia is highlighting the plight of our endangered native species during an election campaign that is ignoring broken environment laws and rapidly declining ecosystems

Agapanthus are daggy, environmental pests. Can we stop and think before these unsightly shrubs take over?On my birthday I made time for my one true passion. Hating agapanthus.I was walking my kids to school, taking time from their precious blink-and-you'll-miss-it childhoods to seethe and take a picture of the revolting, saggy mess of agapanthus on the way. I have urgently supplied this picture to the Guardian and I'm ready and willing to speak out further.Emily Mulligan is a writer from Sydney

Global research reveals most of 400m tonnes produced using fossil fuels, predominantly coal or oilLess than 10% of the plastic produced around the world is made from recycled material, according to the first detailed global analysis of its life cycle.The research reveals that most plastic is made from fossil fuels, predominantly coal and oil, despite rhetoric by producers, supermarkets and drinks companies about plastic being recycled. Continue reading...

In December 2024, when unseasonable flooding threatened the breeding season of a critically endangered turtle, Marilyn Connell and other members of a Queensland community conservation group sprang into action. The Mary river turtle is one of 2,000 Australian species listed as under threat in what scientists are calling an extinction crisis

John Todd's eco-machine stunned experts by using natural organisms to remove toxic waste from a Cape Cod lagoon. Forty years on, he wants to build a fleet of them to clean up the oceansJohn Todd remembers the moment he knew he was really on to something: There was no question that it was at the Harwich dump in 1986," he recalls. This was in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, close to where Todd still lives. Hidden away from the picturesque beaches was the town landfill, including lagoons of toxic waste from septic tanks, which was being left to seep into the groundwater below. So Todd, then a 45-year-old biologist, decided to design a solution. What he was on to", he came to realise, was not just a natural way of removing pollution from water, it was a holistic approach to environmental restoration that was way ahead of its time, and possibly still is.An early eco-machine purifying toxic waste on Cape Cod in 1986. Photograph: John Todd Continue reading...

Camilla Hempleman-Adams, who says she is first woman to traverse Canada's Baffin Island solo, accused of privilege and ignorance'A British adventurer has apologised after her claims to be the first woman to traverse Canada's largest island solo were dismissed by members of the Inuit population who criticised her dangerous privilege and ignorance".Camilla Hempleman-Adams, 32, covered 150 miles (240km) on foot and by ski while pulling a sledge across Baffin Island, Nunavut, in temperatures as low as -40C and winds of 47mph during the two-week expedition last month. Continue reading...

After seeing the farmer mental health crisis up close, Kaila Anderson developed new treatment techniques based on growers' deep connection to the landKaila Anderson stands in front of some photos in the farmhouse where she grew up, near the tiny town of Sabetha, in the north-east corner of Kansas. Outside, frozen February fields of wheat, hay and corn stubble repeat across the rolling hills. This agrarian landscape inspired a breakthrough she made four years ago that now promises to help farmers struggling with their mental health.A licensed social worker, Anderson knows first-hand that farmers have a high propensity for depression and one of the highest rates of suicide of any occupation, often attributed to the demanding and precarious nature of the job. Yet she has found that crisis-line staffers, doctors and therapists in farm country often don't have the cultural training to recognize the signs of emotional stress unique to farmers. Continue reading...

A global trade-war rollercoaster was not enough to distract Donald Trump from fulfilling one of his longtime priorities on Wednesday: changing the federal definition of 'shower head', a move the White House claimed would end the Obama-Biden war on water pressure and restore 'shower freedom' Continue reading...

Climate denialism should not blind investors and governments to the very real opportunities to be found in financing solutionsAmong the many shocks currently facing the international development community is the new direction of the US administration on climate, and the implications worldwide for mitigation and adaptation efforts.This is not uncharted territory. While a withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement is undoubtedly a setback, it no longer carries the same level of disruption as it did. The global community has become more resilient and will continue to advance climate action. Continue reading...

Dutch group Follow This says it will not file any resolutions against oil and gas companies this AGM seasonA green shareholder activist group has decided to pause" its work pushing oil companies to reduce their emissions amid a growing investor backlash against climate action.Follow This has confirmed that it will not file any climate resolutions against oil and gas companies during the forthcoming AGM season for the first time since 2016. Continue reading...

Scientists say a complex mix of factors are making seasonal allergies worse for longer in many parts of the world - but why is it happening and is it here to stay?The first time it happened, Laszlo Makra thought he had flu. The symptoms appeared from nowhere at the end of summer in 1989: his eyes started streaming, his throat was tight and he could not stop sneezing. Makra was 37 and otherwise fit and healthy, a mid-career climate scientist in Szeged, Hungary. Winter eventually came and he thought little of it. Then, it happened the next year. And the next.I had never had these symptoms before. It was high summer: it was impossible to have the flu three consecutive years in a row," he says. Continue reading...

Poorer households shut out of heat pump market and grants should be increased to speed up rollout, thinktank saysGas boiler fittings outnumbered new heat pump installations by more than 15 to one last year, and only one in eight new homes were equipped with the low-carbon alternative despite the government's clean energy targets.Poorer households are also being shut out of the heat pump market as the grants available are inadequate and should be increased, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation thinktank. Continue reading...

Advocacy group says the firm has doubled the number of methane gas burning turbines it's using without permitsKeShaun Pearson took a seat in front of the Shelby county board of commissioners in Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday morning. In the gallery behind him, a small group of people held up signs that said Our air = our lives" and Our water, Our future." With a manner-of-fact demeanor, Pearson addressed the commissioners.I'm here because today we've learned that xAI is using 35 methane gas burning turbines," said Pearson, who is the director of the advocacy group Memphis Community Against Pollution. They have submitted a permit to our Shelby county health department for 15, yet they are using double that amount with no permit." Continue reading...

President orders justice department to stop enforcement of critical policies holding fossil fuel companies accountableDonald Trump is taking aim and city- and state-led fossil fuel accountability efforts, which have been hailed as a last source of hope for the climate amid the president's ferociously anti-environment agenda.In a Tuesday executive order, Trump instructed the Department of Justice to stop the enforcement" of state climate laws, which his administration has suggested are unconstitutional or otherwise unenforceable. Continue reading...

Going nuclear will cost real dollars for farmers, real dollars for country towns and real blue-collar jobs', Clean Energy Council says

Exclusive: Judge says case appears to be making no real progress towards trial' as mining company files fourth statement of claim since 2020

Document says levy would be blatantly unfair' and inconsistent with international law of the seaPlans for a levy on the carbon produced by ships are being opposed by the US government, on the apparent basis they would impose substantial economic burdens" and drive inflation".There will be fierce debate in London this week on the future of global shipping over the proposals to charge up to $150 (117) a tonne for the greenhouse gas emissions from ships. Those in support say the measure will be crucial to generating billions of dollars of climate finance a year to help poor countries cope with the impact of the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Metuktire, in the Indigenous Capoto-Jarina territory in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, is a pocket of resistance against mining, which has devastated the landscape in nearby areas. The AFP photographer Pablo Porciuncula travelled deep into Mato Grosso state to see how it has staved off deforestation and continued to honour its traditional ways of life - while also facing the threats of miners and the climate crisis Continue reading...

Victorian Energy Policy Centre director says constraining exports would be seismic policy shift'

Heads of 32 charities warn proposals could push species towards extinction and lead to irreversible habitat lossThe heads of 32 UK nature organisations have written to the government warning that the planning bill throws environmental protection to the wind".The planning and infrastructure bill, which is at committee stage in parliament, aims to streamline regulations for developers so they can speed up their projects. Continue reading...

Surangel Whipps Jr also strongly backs Australia's bid to host a UN climate conference

Tests ahead of Sunday's race revealed E coli levels three times above the threshold for poor bathing waterWater quality along the stretch of the River Thames which will host the iconic Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race has been classified as poor by clean water campaigners, as a result of E coli from sewage pollution.Testing carried out along the four-mile route, which the university rowing teams will tackle on Sunday, has revealed E coli levels which are three times above the threshold for poor bathing water status. Continue reading...

Outcry as CNN reports president to stop funds for program that would have created jobs in Middletown, OhioDespite promises to bolster the US manufacturing industry, the Trump administration is reportedly planning to cut a key program that invests in some of the biggest manufacturing industries in the US, including in JD Vance's home town of Middletown, Ohio.Donald Trump is looking to slash a $500m grant from the Biden administration that was slated for Cleveland-Cliffs, a steel manufacturing giant in America's rust belt, according to reporting from CNN. The grant was intended to help the company upgrade its ageing blast furnaces, so they would be powered by hydrogen, natural gas and electricity instead of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. Continue reading...

Move aimed at addressing rise in power demand for datacenters, AI and EVs, but environmentalists call it a step backDonald Trump signed four executive orders on Tuesday aimed at reviving coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel that has long been in decline, and which substantially contributes to planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.Environmentalists expressed dismay at the news, saying that Trump was stuck in the past and wanted to make utility customers pay more for yesterday's energy". Continue reading...

Deberra, as the insects are known in the Taungurung language, are a vital food source for animals across Victoria's alpine country - so their rapid decline has implications for the entire ecosystem. The bogong moth is one of the more than 2,000 Australian species listed as being under threat in what scientists are calling an extinction crisis Continue reading...

Analyst says nuclear is the thirstiest' energy source, as report commissioned by Liberal supporters throws doubt on plan's feasibility

Taking action against species extinction can be risky but it's better than surrender

Nathaniel Smith, previously a NSW state MP, is a member of the party's religious conservative faction

Conservation groups condemn the move along with the government's decision to extend the life of coal power stations

Harsh weather is normal in Mongolia but the climate crisis has made conditions even more extreme. As millions of animals die and age-old traditions become harder to maintain, nomadic herders are forced into towns, where coal-fired heating has led to a health crisis

Thinktank says solar has been fastest-growing energy source for last 20 years, but remains dwarfed by hydro powerThe world used clean power sources to meet more than 40% of its electricity demand last year for the first time since the 1940s, figures show.A report by the energy thinktank Ember said the milestone was powered by a boom in solar power capacity, which has doubled in the last three years. Continue reading...

A three-yearly environmental update issues stark warning over biodiversity - and reports air pollution has improved in some areasA major new report on New Zealand's environment has revealed a worrying outlook for its unique species and highlighted declining water health, while also noting some improvements in air quality.The ministry of the environment's three-yearly update, Our Environment 2025, collates statistics, data and research across five domains - air, atmosphere and climate, freshwater, land, and marine - to paint a picture of the state of New Zealand's environment. Continue reading...

Transport secretary says overhaul in response to Trump tariffs supports car firms and climate goals

Nature will reclaim its place as a terrifying quasi-divine force that cannot be mastered. I find this strangely comforting

The government's promise to slash the cost of household batteries should be welcomed - it could drive a change that benefits everyone who uses the power grid

Dr Amanda Lilleyman, a shorebird expert and advocate, says a defence housing project and an industrial development plan in Darwin are threatening the habitat of the critically endangered far eastern curlew. The bird relies on undisturbed Australian shorelines to fatten up before making an epic migration to the northern hemisphere. It's one of more than 2,000 Australian species listed as under threat in what scientists are calling an extinction crisis

Charity crowdfunding initial sum to build 750,000 facility on Bodmin Moor to study overlooked but biodiverse natural habitatEurope's first research station for the study of Atlantic temperate rainforest is set to be built beside an ancient wood in Cornwall.The Thousand Year Trust charity is crowdfunding an initial amount to build the 750,000 facility, which will enable students and academics to study this historically overlooked but biodiverse natural habitat. Continue reading...