Environment | The Guardian

Electric vehicle industry says spring data shows installations are keeping pace with rising battery salesThere are now almost 1m electric car chargers in the UK, according to data, a figure that the industry argues is proof that installations are keeping pace with increasing sales of battery vehicles.There were 930,000 UK chargers at the end of June, according to ChargeUK, a lobby group, but the majority of these have been installed in homes and business premises, with only about 65,000 public chargers available. Continue reading...

ICO calls on companies to be as transparent as possible with customers about waste release into rivers

Senior climate figures welcome move after Conservative government largely left the role to junior ministersEd Miliband is to take personal control of the UK's negotiations at vital international climate talks, in stark contrast to his Tory predecessors.The energy security and net zero secretary will attend Cop29, this year's UN climate summit, in Azerbaijan this November to head the UK's delegation and meet political leaders from around the world. Continue reading...

Bill praised for targeting corporate climate responsibility but lawyers say it could allow polluters to avoid public scrutiny for longer

Over 245 million Americans are expected to experience 90F temperatures early this week, with some as high as 105FA heatwave that impacted the US west coast over the past week is now moving east into the midwest and south-east, as millions of Americans have been under a heat alert at some point in the past week.Numerous near record-tying/breaking high temperatures are possible over the central High Plains and Southeast Sunday, and along much of the East Coast by Monday," reported the National Weather Service. Continue reading...

From Marine Tondelier to Melanie Vogel, they are whip-smart, articulate and unafraid to show emotion. It's astonishing to feel so inspired by politiciansI really like these angry green women," a French friend said recently, as the assembly elections approached. It's a funny phrase, redolent of She-Hulk, but I knew exactly what - and whom - she meant.It's impossible to overstate my crush on Marine Tondelier, the French Green party leader. Tondelier has been a revelation in the past few feverish, fretful weeks; she has cut through French politics like a hot knife through butter. Forensically, forcefully articulate and unafraid to show her emotions, she iscash", as the French say - frank, funny and down-to-earth. Continue reading...

Campaigners warn of same tragic events' as in River Wye if planners ignore pollution risks of intensive productionThe chicken industry is facing calls to halt the expansion of intensive production in the River Severn catchment, with campaigners warning that the river is at risk from the same pollution that has blighted the River Wye.An outcry over the ecological plight of the Wye has effectively halted the proliferation of intensive poultry units across the catchment. Campaigners say that the pollution threat is being transported from one catchment to the other". Continue reading...

Letter urges environment minister to investigate alleged breaches at Doongmabulla Springs

Ed Miliband sets new rules on solar panels and approves three giant solar farms as Labour seeks to end years of Tory inactionKeir Starmer's Labour government unveils plans for a rooftop revolution" today that will see millions more homes fitted with solar panels in order to bring down domestic energy bills and tackle the climate crisis.The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, also took the hugely controversial decision this weekend to approve three massive solar farms in the east of England that had been blocked by Tory ministers. Continue reading...

Johannes-Harm Hovinga has to take painkillers to complete 20-day artistic protest at Museum ArnhemEvery day for the last two weeks, Johannes-Harm Hovinga has sat at a raised table in Museum Arnhem, using a two-hole page puncher to systematically perforate the 7,705-page sixth assessment report produced by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).He has printed it out on coloured paper and the result is a vibrant heap piling up at the artist's feet. Continue reading...

Experts say devastating hurricane so early in season is big wake-up call' - and predict even more powerful stormsThe poignancy was unmistakable: prognosticators at Colorado State University amended their already miserable seasonal tropical cyclone forecast on Monday precisely as Hurricane Beryl was filling Houston's streets with floodwater and knocking out power to more than 2m homes and businesses.A likely harbinger of a hyperactive season" was how CSU researchers characterized Beryl, which set numerous records on the way to its Texas landfall, including the earliest category 5 hurricane, strongest ever June storm, and most powerful to strike the southern Windward Islands. Continue reading...

Southern Water says it wants to protect rare chalk streams, but campaigners say it could pollute the SolentA proposed 1.2bn scheme to recycle effluent from the sewage system and turn it in to drinking water has been criticised as a threat to the environment and a potential costly white elephant".Southern Water wants to treat effluent - wastewater from the sewage system - at a plant at Havant in Hampshire and pipe it into a nearby spring-fed reservoir to boost water supplies during droughts. The scheme would ensure less water is extracted from two rare chalk streams: the Rivers Test and Itchen. Continue reading...

The Campbell's keeled glass-snail was officially extinct until March 2020, when a local citizen scientist found it on the remote Norfolk Island. 40 of the thumbnail-sized snails were taken to a dedicated and quarantined captive breeding facility in Taronga zoo. 40 baby snails were born in the last fortnight, after initially struggling to reproduce in captivity

Residents suffer sleepless nights without air-conditioning as energy company blames fallen trees for outagesNearly 800,000 Houston residents remain without electricity five days after the category-1 Hurricane Beryl downed power lines across the city. The outages come as the city is under heat advisory, with heat index values over 100F (37.8C).Residents have described insufferable heat, sleepless nights, and fear for the wellbeing of elderly parents, young children and disabled relatives amid scorching temperatures. Continue reading...

Donations grew dramatically after Australia's black summer but animal carers say they didn't receive enough

Four animals released in Wallington estate in Northumberland last year have transformed the landscapeThe first beavers in Northumberland for more than 400 years have been stupendously busy. There are new dam systems, as well as canals and burrows, new wildlife-rich wetlands and, thrillingly, a baby beaver.Whether it is male or female remains to be seen. Beavers don't have external genitalia," said Heather Devey, an expert. They are really hard to sex. It's really only through their anal glands that you can tell." Continue reading...

Low yields combined with low prices for some crops also led to a 13% drop in farm output compared with 2022Income from farming in England plummeted by 19% last year after floods meant harvesting many crops was impossible.Farmers have called for more support from the government as the climate breaks down, meaning agricultural businesses are no longer able to count on mild UK weather and increasingly face drought and floods. Continue reading...

With up to 80% of butterflies in decline, people are being asked to spend 15 minutes to record number and type witnessedScientists are calling on the public to help track how British butterflies are moving north as the climate heats up.Examining 50 years of data, researchers from the wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation, which runs the annual Big Butterfly Count, have identified a clear northerly shift among many species, including the familiar garden favourites the comma, peacock and holly blue. Continue reading...

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

Hundreds of Europeans touring the American west and adventurers from around the US are being drawn to Death Valley national park, even though the desolate region known as one of Earth's hottest places is being punished by a dangerous heatwave, which was blamed for a motorcyclist's recent death Continue reading...

Researchers estimate 730,000 people a year in the US lose their ability to live independently due to traffic pollutionReducing air pollution may help elderly people to live independent lives for longer, research has found.Dr Boya Zhang, of the University of Michigan, who is one of the authors of the study, said: Air pollution is linked to worse health - more lung disease, more heart disease, shorter life expectancies and more likelihood of dementia. Knowing that air pollution increases our risk of poor health as we age made us wonder if exposures might also impact how people can care for themselves in later life." Continue reading...

Projected high of 10.3bn people is lower and will come earlier than expected, analysis suggestsThe global population is likely to peak earlier than expected and at a lower level, according to new UN projections that officials have said offer hope of reduced pressure on the environment.The analysis predicts there will be about 10.3 billion people by the mid-2080s, up from 8.2 billion this year. Continue reading...

Lawyers acting for minister say emissions of coal extracted from mine should have been taken into accountThe government has admitted that a proposed coalmine in Cumbria was approved unlawfully, as the carbon emissions of coal from the mine should have been taken into account in the planning decision.This follows a precedent set by a supreme court judgment last month, when Surrey county council's decision to extend planning permission for an oil drilling well at Horse Hill, on the Weald, was quashed. Continue reading...

Satellite analysis looked at credits sold by Finite Carbon, which runs some of North America's largest offset projectsThis story is co-published with SourceMaterial and FloodlightSome forest carbon offsets sold by the biggest offsetting company in the US offer little or no benefit to the climate, a satellite analysis has found. Continue reading...

Investigation launched after gunshot wounds and injuries from being hit by vehicles found on bodies at Gobarup and near Hotham

Seals have been biting people in the first big outbreak of the disease in marine mammals, writes Nick Dall in Cape TownIt's happened to me dozens of times: I'm riding a wave when, out of the corner of my eye, I see a black shape coming up beneath me. Being in Cape Town - a great white shark hotspot - it's hard not to assume the worst. But fear soon gives into relief when it becomes clear that I'm sharing the wave with a Cape fur seal. Sometimes, they get so close you can see the bubbles on their whiskers.Now, nine seals have tested positive for rabies - the world's first significant outbreak of the disease in marine mammals - and people like me are watching the water along this 400-mile (600km) coastline for a different reason. Continue reading...

City hits all-time high of 120F as officials set up emergency cooling centers at community centers across south NevadaLas Vegas set a new record on Wednesday as it marked a fifth consecutive day over 115F (46C), amid a lingering hot spell that will continue scorching much of the US into the weekend.The blazing hot temperatures climbed to 115F shortly after 1pm at Harry Reid international airport, breaking the old mark of four consecutive days above 115F set in July 2005. Continue reading...

After decades of bags lining the streets, the mayor has proudly wheeled out a McKinsey-approved trash canThe revolution will not be televised. Unless it's Mayor Eric Adams's Trash Revolution, of course. In which case a press conference will be held, music blasted, and every camera crew in the five boroughs invited.On Monday the mayor of New York, with Jessica Tisch, the sanitation commissioner, by his side, unveiled New York City's first official trash bin. The mayor wheeled the new NYC Bin down Gracie Mansion's driveway and, with his characteristic swagger, demonstrated how the innovative new technology works: you open the lid and you put the rubbish in. It's highly intuitive technology. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Letter from senators, led by Elizabeth Warren, says JPMorgan may have misled investors and publicJPMorgan Chase, the world's biggest investor in fossil fuels, may have misled investors and the public by backtracking on its already weak climate and environmental commitments, six US senators have warned in a letter to the CEO Jamie Dimon.Although a climate-disrupted world demands stronger action by the financial sector to reduce emissions and protect nature, the Wall Street firm is heading in the opposite direction, say the upper chamber legislators, who include Senate banking committee member Elizabeth Warren. Continue reading...

Miskito and other groups face a dire challenge as illegal deforestation threatens their ancestral lands and cultureAviles Morphy pulled out his mobile phone and swiped through the photos until he reached a shot showing fallen trees in what looked like the aftermath of a hurricane. That was a big forest and look how it is now: everything's been destroyed," he says. And these are the coordinates."Then he played a video. The camera focused on a startled man wearing a red track-and-field shirt, resting his back against a post as he responded to questioning. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Fears customers will end up paying twice for work needed in order to comply with legal pollution limitsThames Water has failed to complete more than 100 upgrades to ageing sewage treatment works to meet legal pollution limits, the Guardian can reveal.The schemes costing 1.1bn were supposed to cut pollution into rivers by increasing the capacity at sewage works, adding phosphorus removal to the treatment process, and installing new storm tanks. The upgrades, which were promised in 2018, are being paid for by customers as part of a five-year spending round to 2025 but will not be delivered within that timeframe. Continue reading...

Nearly 34 million people in those cities, or 15% of the US population, experiencing temperatures higher than in surrounding areasAlmost 34 million people in 65 major US cities, or 15% of the country's population, are experiencing temperatures that are 8F higher than their surrounding areas, according to a new analysis from Climate Central, a non-profit research group.That is largely due to built environments like parking lots and asphalt sidewalks, and a lack of trees, that contribute to what's known as the urban heat island effect. Continue reading...

A rising number of lawsuits in courts around the world are holding governments and corporations to account for their treatment of the seas and those who rely on themA few years ago, Anna von Rebay gave up her lucrative job in a corporate law firm specialising in art law to concentrate on her passion for the ocean. All threats to the sea come from humans, who behave as though nature is nothing more than a resource," says Von Rebay, who works in Germany and Indonesia. But the ocean can't stand up for itself."Inspired by a rising wave of lawsuits seeking to hold governments and companies to account for climate action, she set up Ocean Vision Legal, a law firm with a unique remit: to litigate on the ocean's behalf. Continue reading...

Advert trumpeting storm overflow plans should have disclosed past environmental harms, says ASAA Wessex Water TV advert about its plans to tackle storm overflows has been banned as misleading because it omitted key information about its record on sewage pollution.The Advertising Standards Authority investigated after receiving a complaint about the ad for the supplier, which provides water to 1.4 million customers and sewerage services to 2.9 million people in the south-west of England. Continue reading...

Forecast predicts most dangerous portion of the heatwave' would last through Tuesday evening in Pacific north-westThe Pacific north-west endured more sweltering temperatures on Tuesday as authorities in Oregon reported multiple heat-related deaths, with forecasters warning that the dangerous weather wasn't over yet.The heatwave, which has cooked Oregon in triple-digit temperatures for days on end, is suspected to have caused at least six deaths in the state, the state medical examiner's office said on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Mission control centre' to work with energy companies and regulators towards goal of clean and cheaper power by 2030Labour has appointed one of the country's foremost climate experts to lead a mission control centre" on clean energy.Chris Stark, the former head of the UK's climate watchdog, will head a Covid vaccine-style taskforce aimed at delivering clean and cheaper power by 2030. Continue reading...

Teen's injuries weren't considered life-threatening in shark attack, which are rare incidents, though Florida is US and world leaderA shark bit a Florida teen on the leg during a lifeguard training camp on Monday morning, officials said.The attack on the 14-year-old boy in question occurred near the Ponce Inlet lifeguard tower shortly before noon, Volusia county beach safety officials said. The lifeguard trainee had been practicing water entries when he landed on a shark. Continue reading...

At least six energy companies prospecting for first windfarms in almost a decade after Labour lifts limitsRenewable energy companies have begun work on new onshore windfarms in England for the first time in almost a decade after the new government reversed restrictions the Conservatives had put in place on turbines.At least half a dozen renewables developers have begun identifying potential sites for full-scale windfarms in England after the Labour party swept to power last week with the promise to make Britain a clean energy superpower. Continue reading...

From climate crisis being a crime story to presenting basic weather news in the context of climate change, here are some lessons from journalistsMark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope of Covering Climate Now (CCNow) hail the winners of their organization's annual global climate journalism awards, and here describe some lessons they have taken from the more than 1,250 entries.Mark Hertsgaard is executive director and co-founder of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration committed to more and better coverage of the climate story, and the Nation magazine's environment correspondentKyle Pope is executive director of strategic initiatives and co-founder of Covering Climate Now, and a former editor and publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review Continue reading...

Key Largo tree cactus no longer growing naturally in US thanks to salt water inundation and soil depletionScientists in Florida have recorded what they say is the first local extinction of a species caused by sea-level rise.The climate emergency has killed off the Key Largo tree cactus growing naturally in the US through saltwater inundation and soil depletion from hurricanes, according to researchers from the Florida Museum of Natural History, and Miami's Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Continue reading...

Vibrant blooms mean first stage of plan to cover 1,200 hectares is hailed as a success 18 months after plantingWhen the sowing began on the coastline of south-west England, conservationists warned it may take a little while for the new wildflower meadows to flourish fully.But 18 months on, a vibrant display of blooms has popped up in north Devon, a joy for human visitors and a draw for precious birds, insects and mammals. Continue reading...

Warning after intensification of storm aided by unusually hot ocean waters in much of Beryl's pathHurricane Beryl, which slammed into Texas on Monday after wreaking havoc in the Caribbean, was supercharged by absolutely crazy" ocean temperatures that are likely to fuel further violent storms in the coming months, scientists have warned.Beryl left more than 2m people without power after making landfall near Houston as a category 1 storm, after having rampaged through the Caribbean as a category 5 hurricane, with wind speeds reaching 165mph (265km/h), killing 11 people. Continue reading...

Report says member states poured $1.34tn into their militaries last year - an increase of $126bn from 2022As leaders from member countries gather to mark the 75th anniversary of Nato in Washington DC, researchers are warning that their military budgets are eroding the climate, producing an estimated 233m metric tonnes of greenhouse gas, more planet-heating pollution than some entire countries.Our research shows that military spending increases greenhouse gas emissions, diverts critical finance from climate action, and consolidates an arms trade that fuels instability during climate breakdown," says a new report from three international research and advocacy groups, the UK's Transnational Institute and Tipping Point North South, and the Netherlands' Stop Wapenhandel. Continue reading...

Incidents from sites and pipe network increased by 19 last year to 350 amid delays in investment, company says

Wildlife authorities are hopeful about a new technique to identify which waterways have crocs without needing to sight them

Blackened trees, dead animals and scorched earth - early wildfires have already devastated Brazil's Pantanal and local people worry they may lose the battle to save themPerched atop blackened trees, howler monkeys survey the ashes around them. A flock of rheas treads, disoriented, in search of water. The skeletons of alligators lie lifeless and charred.The Pantanal, the world's largest wetland and one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, is on fire. Huge stretches of land resemble the aftermath of a battle, with thick green shrubbery now a carpet of white ash, and chunks of debris falling from the sky. Continue reading...

Activists are convinced a wartime campaign of resistance is the only way to highlight the existing system's failure to meet the moment

Man, 53, and woman, 74, killed by fallen trees and third person drowns amid howling winds and torrential rainTropical Storm Beryl made landfall in south-east Texas on Monday with howling winds and torrential rains, causing the deaths of at least three people, closing oil ports, and knocking out power to more than 2.5 million homes and businesses.Before making landfall in Texas, the storm had already carved a path through the Caribbean as a category 5 hurricane, where it killed 11 people. It continued on to Mexico's Yucatan peninsula as a category 2, temporarily dropped in intensity to a tropical storm but again strengthened to a hurricane over the weekend. Continue reading...

More than 146 million Americans under extreme heat alerts as dangerous weather fuels outbreak of new wildfiresA fierce heatwave has shattered temperature records across the US west and has been tied to at least four deaths in Oregon, with more heat on the way as dangerous weather fueled the outbreak of new wildfires.Oregon faced triple-digit temperatures and saw several records toppled over the weekend, including in Salem, where on Sunday it hit 103F (39.4C), topping the 99F (37.2C) mark set in 1960. Authorities in Multnomah county - home to Portland, where temperatures broke daily records over the weekend - said they were investigating four suspected deaths tied to the heatwave. Continue reading...

This live blog is closed.Rachel Reeves has finished the speech, in which she confirmed a range of measures to speed up planning. I will post a full summary shortly.She is now taking questions.I have repeatedly warned that whoever won the general election would inherit the worst set of circumstances since the second world war.What I have seen in the past 72 hours has only confirmed that. Our economy has been held back by decisions deferred and decisions ducked. Political self-interest put ahead of the national interest. A government that put party first and country second.New Treasury analysis I requested over the weekend exposed the opportunities lost from this failure.Had the UK economy grown at the average rate of OECD economies since 2010, it would have been over 140bn larger. Continue reading...