Environment | The Guardian

Exclusive: Andre Correa do Lago says rise of clean energy must be acknowledged and rich countries need to do more

We want to hear about how these shifts showed up in your everyday lives this yearThe climate crisis is reshaping our lives: extreme weather events are intensifying, extinctions are accelerating and the urgency for both adaptation and intervention only increase.But there are also the smaller, more personal impacts. Perhaps it's not being able to fish with your kids in the place where your childhood memories were made because the river has dried up. Maybe it's not being able to gather around a campfire in the summer, due to wildfire risks and restrictions. It can be the loss of a favorite tree, a personal sacrifice you've made for the greater good, or a change you've observed through the seasons. Continue reading...

Governments across the continent have attacked green rules with increasing ferocity - all while professing their commitment to existing climate targets Don't get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereTo little fanfare and few international headlines, Denmark just announced one of the world's most ambitious climate targets.The unusually wind-powered and cycle-friendly Nordic nation - whose ruling Social Democrats suffered a setback in elections on Tuesday - promised on Monday to cut planet-heating pollution by at least 82% by 2035 from 1990 levels. The goal inches past the UK's landmark 81% target for that year and races ahead of the EU's rather wide goal of 66.3% to 72.5%. Continue reading...

If it makes impact on Friday, it would be the earliest cyclone of the season to make landfall in Australia since 1973

Report commissioned by conservationists suggests some recorded new growth is misclassified or otherwise not equivalent to losses in species-heavy forests

Exclusive: A top official in Beijing's Cop delegation says China is committed to clean energy - but US's absence is a problemChina is committed to the energy transition needed to avert climate breakdown - but does not want to take the lead alone in the absence of the US, one of the country's senior advisers has told the Guardian.Wang Yi said China would provide more money to vulnerable countries, but the EU's climate commissioner has warned Beijing is not doing enough to cut emissions. Continue reading...

Drone footage shows hundreds of tonnes of rubbish piled up in a field in a small village in Oxfordshire. The illegal waste was left by fly-tippers between the River Cherwell and the A34 near Kidlington. It is said to be 150 metres long and at least 6 metres high, according to local media

Fallout from increased emissions linked to president's America First' policies expected to most affect those in poor, hot countriesThis article is co-published with ProPublica, a non-profit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.New advances in environmental science are providing a detailed understanding of the human cost of the Trump administration's approach to climate. Continue reading...

Almost two out of three corals across popular tourism spots at the world heritage-listed Ningaloo reef have died after an unprecedented marine heatwave hit the Western Australia region, scientists have discovered. The areas in Ningaloo's northern lagoon have undergone a 'profound ecological simplification' with coral species that were keystones to the habitat among those killed

Analysis of new-builds in Birmingham suggests all-electric homes not only use less energy but vary in peak usageSome of the first homes in the UK designed to meet new building standards put less pressure on the electricity grid than expected, a study has found.The all-electric properties in Handsworth, Birmingham, have heat pumps, which use electricity to provide heat rather than oil or gas. Continue reading...

Researchers from New Zealand's conservation department conducting an annual grasshopper survey near Lake Tekapo on the South Island have spotted a rare pink grasshopper. The species - the robust grasshopper - is native to New Zealand and is the country's largest lowland grasshopper. The pink hue is thought to be caused by a genetic mutation, as the insect is typically grey or brown like the river stones of its native habitat in the MacKenzie basin

Analysis published at Cop30 summit shows adhering to pledges offers world hope of avoiding climate breakdownSticking to three key climate promises - on renewables, energy efficiency and methane - would avoid nearly 1C of global heating and give the world hope of avoiding climate breakdown, analysis published at the Cop30 climate summit suggests.Governments have already agreed to triple the amount of renewable energy generated by 2030, double global energy efficiency by then, and make substantial cuts to methane emissions. Continue reading...

The Neoliner Origin set off on its inaugural two-week voyage from France to the US with the aim of revolutionising the notoriously dirty shipping industryIt is 8pm on a Saturday evening and eight of us are sitting at a table onboard a ship, holding on to our plates of spaghetti carbonara as our chairs slide back and forth. Michel Pery, the dinner's host, downplays the weather as a tempete de journalistes" - something sailors would not categorise as a storm, but which drama-seeking journalists might refer to as such to entertain their readers.But after a white-knuckle night in our cabins with winds reaching 74mph or force 12 - officially a hurricane - Pery has to admit it was not just a journalists' storm", but the real deal. Continue reading...

Young humpback whale was found washed ashore and individuals had rallied together to try to helpA humpback whale stranded off the coast of Oregon was euthanized on Monday following a failed rescue attempt from several organizations and agencies.On Saturday, the young whale was found washed ashore near San Marine state park, KOMO News reported. Over the weekend, individuals rallied together to try to help the mammal, who appeared to be caught in a fishing net, but were unsuccessful. Continue reading...

Thousands of youth activists from around the world presented a global youth statement calling for full, fast, fair fossil phase-out"We should not fear the forces of denial and delay, UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has warned, because they are losing this fight".Speaking to delegates at Cop30, the Labour politician acknowledged the existence of climate deniers and delayers across the world - including in the UK - and described them as well funded, well organised, and determined". Continue reading...

Countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Pacific and Europe plead for transition to be central outcome of talksMore than 80 countries have joined a call for a roadmap to phasing out fossil fuels, in a dramatic intervention into stuck negotiations at the UN Cop30 climate summit.Countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific joined with EU member states and the UK to make an impassioned plea for the transition away from fossil fuels" to be a central outcome of the talks, despite stiff opposition from petrostates and some other major economies. Continue reading...

Leah Lendel was bitten by a bull shark as she was snorkeling with her family from a beach in Boca GrandeA 10-year-old girl whose hand was reattached after it was severed in a shark attack has spoken of her remarkable recovery after a miracle" six-hour operation that has allowed her to resume knitting outfits for her beloved Barbie dolls.Leah Lendel's right hand was left hanging by shreds of skin after the bite by a 9ft bull shark as she was snorkeling with her family at a beach in Boca Grande, Florida, in June. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Tshering Tobgay says his country is doing a lot more than our fair share' on climate and west must cut emissions for the happiness of your people'The wealthy western countries most responsible for the climate crisis would improve the health and happiness of their citizens by prioritising environmental conservation and sustainable economic growth, according to the prime minister of Bhutan, the world's first carbon-negative nation.Bhutan, a Buddhist democratic monarchy and biodiversity hotspot situated high in the eastern Himalayas, is among the world's most ambitious climate leaders thanks to its people's connection with nature and a strong political focus on improving gross national happiness rather than just GDP, Tshering Tobgay told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Decade after officials promised to cut flood risks, Edgemere residents and experts say it continues to be vulnerableThis article was produced in partnership between Floodlight, New York Focus and the Guardian.Baba Ndanani has lived in one of New York City's most flood-prone neighborhoods for more than 20 years, and he knows the risks all too well. Continue reading...

Reintroducing the apex predator would control deer populations, maintaining healthy ecosystems and bolstering biodiversity, rewilding group saysLast summer, a wildlife photographer saw, or believed he saw, a mountain lion in South Burlington, Vermont. While it's possible, it is also remarkable: the apex predator was rendered extinct in northern New England in 1881 and the nearest confirmed breeding population is in North Dakota, 2,000 miles (3,200km) away.But there could be in years hence more definitive sightings if Mighty Earth, a US-headquartered rewilding organization, convinces state and local authorities, along with Vermonters in general, that returning the top-level predator - known in various regions as the cougar, puma, panther and, in the north-east, catamount - to the region. Continue reading...

Planned route linking Cambourne to Cambridge will go through one of county's last traditional orchardsA 160m busway scheduled to be built through one of Cambridgeshire's last traditional orchards would cause irreversible ecological harm, a public inquiry has been told.The plans being examined for an off-road busway linking Cambourne to Cambridge follow a route through Coton Orchard, a 24-hectare (60-acre) orchard and nationally recognised priority habitat. A public inquiry, held by planning inspectors appointed by the transport secretary, is examining the scheme until 21 November. Continue reading...

Forever chemicals' sprayed on almonds, grapes, tomatoes and other crops as activists warn of obvious problem'California farms applied an average of 2.5m lb of Pfas forever chemicals" per year on cropland from 2018 to 2023, or a total of about 15m lb, a new review of state records shows.The chemicals are added to pesticides that are sprayed on crops such as almonds, pistachios, wine grapes, alfalfa and tomatoes, the review of California department of pesticide regulation data found. The Environmental Working Group non-profit put together the report. Continue reading...

Prime minister says fight over hosting rights jeopardises global unity needed for action to help Pacific islands

My advice to you if you want to avoid repeating 2025 is to pay far greater attention to the quality of your research sourcesSussan Ley, as your teacher I'm duty bound to give you an honest appraisal of your work.I've just read your team research assignment on Australian energy and climate policy and I'm afraid to say that unless you and your other team members pull up your socks, you will be forced to repeat 2025. Continue reading...

As the summit entered its second week, complex issues remain with anxiety growing over conference outcomesColombia will host a first international conference on the phase out of fossil fuels in April next year, according to advocates of more ambitious action to eliminate the main source of the gases that are heating the planet.The South American country, which has demonstrated strong climate leadership in recent years, is among a group of 17 nations that have joined the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative which held a press conference on its plans at Cop30 on Monday. Continue reading...

Scientists find tiny amounts can be a fatal dose' for marine life in the most comprehensive study of its kindIngesting less than three sugar cubes worth of plastic is enough to kill a puffin, a new study has found.Scientists measured how much different kinds of plastic seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals have to ingest to have a 90% risk of it killing them, in the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Continue reading...

Decision announced at Cop30 climate conference signposts risks for Australia's reliance on fossil fuel exports, analysts say

CEO of Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry calls Sussan Ley's new policy a bit of a plan not to have a plan', echoing business scepticism

More than half a million people gathered in Rizal Park in Manila on Sunday wearing white shirts and carrying signs reading 'transparency for a better democracy'. Concerns rose after the country's president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, published an internal audit into flood control projects in August that revealed significant irregularities. It showed that of almost $10bn in spending, thousands of projects were substandard, poorly documented or non-existent

Castle Water says restructuring plans do not go far enough and extra funds will help resolve pollution crisis

The search for a ginkgo-toothed beaked whale had taken five years, when a thieving albatross nearly ruined it allIt was an early morning in June 2024 and along the coast of Baja California in Mexico, scientists on the Pacific Storm research vessel were finishing their coffee and preparing for a long day searching for some of the most elusive creatures on the planet. Suddenly a call came from the bridge: Whales! Starboard side!"For the next few hours, what looked like a couple of juvenile beaked whales kept surfacing and disappearing until finally Robert Pitman, a now-retired researcher at Oregon State University, fired a small arrow from a modified crossbow at the back of one of them. Continue reading...

A new study suggests heatwaves will not revert back towards preindustrial conditions for at least 1,000 years after emissions target reached

Wait ... I'm hearing you have worked it out you're just not doing it

Analysis shows small hike in populations of insect-eating species after 2018 ruling, but full recovery may take decadesInsect-eating bird populations in France appear to be making a tentative recovery after a ban on bee-harming pesticides, according to the first study to examine how wildlife is returning in Europe.Neonicotinoids are the world's most common class of insecticides, widely used in agriculture and for flea control in pets. By 2022, four years after the European Union banned neonicotinoid use in fields, researchers observed that France's population of insect-eating birds had increased by 2%-3%. These included blackbirds, blackcaps and chaffinches, which feed on insects as adults and as chicks. Continue reading...

Marina Silva says contentious plan would be ethical answer' to climate crisis but does not commit Brazil to itBrazil's environment minister, Marina Silva, has urged all countries to have the courage to address the need for a fossil fuel phaseout, calling the drawing up of a roadmap for it an ethical" response to the climate crisis.She emphasised, however, that the process would be voluntary for those governments that wished to participate, and self-determined". Continue reading...

Ending use of coal, oil and gas is essential in tackling climate crisis - but even talking about it is controversial Continue reading...

Champions of exceptionalism say humans hold a unique moral status. Yet there's only one species recklessly destroying the planet it needs to surviveAt first light in Massachusetts bay, a North Atlantic right whale threads the shallows with her calf tucked into her slipstream. She surfaces, and the V-shaped breath - two brief feathers of vapor - vanishes in the cold air.The calf is roughly three months old, about the length of a small truck, still learning the rhythm: rise, breathe, tuck back into mother's wake. They are doing what every mammal mother and baby do: moving toward food and a safer place. Continue reading...

Rescue operations in Wales, submerged railway lines in Cornwall - these events are ever more common. So why have we utterly failed to prepare?As autumn blurs into winter, the news is once again filling up with a familiar story: overflowing rivers, inundated streets and overwhelmed infrastructure. Since Friday, England, Wales and Ireland have been hit by the storm the Spanish meteorological agency has elegantly named Claudia, with grim results. One place in particular massively bore the brunt of it all: the Welsh border town of Monmouth, where the raging River Monnow spilled into the streets, people had to be rescued from their homes and drones captured aerial views of the scene, showing fragile-looking buildings suddenly surrounded by a huge clay-brown swamp.Claudia and her effects made it into the national headlines - but mostly, local and regional floods now seem too mundane to attract that kind of attention. Eleven days ago, Cumbria saw submerged roads, blocked drains and over 250 flood-related problems reported to the relevant councils. Railway lines in Cornwall were submerged; in Carmarthen, in west Wales, there were reports of the worst floods in living memory. But beyond the areas affected, who heard about these stories? Such comparatively small events, it seems, are now only to be expected.John Harris is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Nationals and Liberals agree on new emissions plan after joint party room as opposition leader promises new immigration policy within weeks

Falcon fledglings' inaugural flight watched by dedicated fans includes dramatic crash-landing

Late last week, three peregrine falcons - two females and one male - left their ledge high above Melbourne's CBD for the first time. One suffered a dramatic crash landing but successfully left the nest on the second attempt. The trio hatched at the end of September with thousands tuning into a 24-hour live stream of their nest.

Commons committee report challenges lazy narrative' used by ministers that scapegoats wildlife and the environmentNature is not a blocker to housing growth, an inquiry by MPs has found, in direct conflict with claims made by ministers.Toby Perkins, the Labour chair of the environmental audit committee, said nature was being scapegoated, and that rather than being a block to growth, it was necessary for building resilient towns and neighbourhoods. Continue reading...

In this post-truth environment, the interests of coal and gas are somehow able to win the hearts and minds of voters

Offsets were meant to be a last resort for mitigating environmental damage from development projects, but rapidly became the default

Exclusive: Growth has been steady even since Trump's re-election, building on increase from $20bn to $157bn, says thinktank

Area's MP says it would cost more than local council's annual budget to remove the 10-metre high pile of wasteFly-tippers have dumped a mountain of illegal waste" in Oxfordshire so large that removing it could cost more than the local council's annual budget, the area's MP has said.Hundreds of tonnes of waste, stacked 10 metres high, appeared in a field between the River Cherwell and the A34 near Kidlington. One charity called the huge dump of rubbish an environmental catastrophe unfolding in plain sight". Continue reading...

In January the island's beaches were inundated with waves of plastic pollution, a phenomenon that has been getting worse by the year. Photographer and film-maker Sean Gallagher travelled to Bali to document the increasing tide of rubbish washing up on beaches and riverbanks, and the people facing the monumental challenge of cleaning up. His portraits are on show as part of the 2025 Head On photo festival at Bondi Beach promenade until 30 November Continue reading...

Sonia Guajajara tells Cop30 the rights of traditional communities must be maintained in the face of exploitation by the mining industryCountries must recognise the demarcation of Indigenous lands as a key component of tackling the climate crisis, and civil society must help in the defence of such lands against mining interests, Brazil's minister for Indigenous peoples has said.Sonia Guajajara, a longtime Indigenous activist before being appointed a minister by President Lula da Silva, said: [Among the goals of the Cop30 summit is] a request that countries recognise the demarcation of Indigenous lands as climate policy." Continue reading...

A huge cleanup effort has seen volunteers working to remove beads by hand and machine. They can only wait and see the extent of damage to wildlife and dune habitatJust past a scrum of dog walkers, about 40 people are urgently combing through the sand on hands and knees. Their task is to try to remove millions of peppercorn-sized black plastic biobeads from where they have settled in the sand. Beyond them, a seal carcass grins menacingly, teeth protruding from its rotting skull.Last week, an environmental disaster took place on Camber Sands beach, on what could turn out to be an unprecedented scale. Eastbourne Wastewater Treatment Works, owned by Southern Water, experienced a mechanical failure and spewed out millions of biobeads on to the Sussex coastline. Southern Water has since taken responsibility for the spill. Ironically, biobeads are used to clean wastewater - bacteria attach to their rough, crinkly surface and clean the water of contaminants.Camber Sands is one of England's most popular beaches, with rare dune habitat Continue reading...

Ford denies having created defeat devices' in legal action on behalf of 1.6 million owners against five carmakersAbout a million Ford diesel cars were sold in the UK with serious defects in components supposed to curb toxic exhaust emissions, the high court has been told.The highly polluting vehicles were produced and sold between 2016 and 2018 after Ford's engineers became aware of the issues, and many were never formally recalled or fixed, lawyers said. Continue reading...