Environment news

• Nice auction, but Ed Miliband is still a long way from his 2030 targets for offshore wind | Nils Pratley

  03-09-2024 19:55
  
  Arithmetic over capacity does not add up, with supply chains a constraining factor Renewable energy auction secures enough power for 11m UK homesIt was a “record-setting auction” and “a significant step forward in our mission for clean power for 2030”, trumpeted the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, enjoying the contrast with last year’s auction flop under the Tories in which precisely zero bids were received to build offshore windfarms.Miliband was claiming credit whe
  
  Read more

• ‘I want out’: how a natural gas project along the Gulf coast is upending residents’ lives

  03-09-2024 16:00
  Venture Global’s plant depletes water, emergency services and road space, say local officials, people and paramedicsWhen America’s newest gas giant arrives in your town, the world turns upside down.Residents of Plaquemines parish, 70 miles south of New Orleans, say they have faced unreliable essential services, water shortages and impassible traffic since 2021, when Venture Global began construction on what will become one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) hubs
  
  Read more

• ‘A drizzle, a dollop and a crunch’: the secret to plant-based eating

  03-09-2024 15:00
  Contrary to popular belief, adopting a plant-based diet doesn’t mean eating less, nor does it mean meals will be blandI grew up in a multicultural household – my father is Norwegian, my mother Bulgarian and Danish – and spent my early years in Tanzania, where, in the 1980s, processed foods were practically nonexistent. If we wanted pizza, we made everything – from the base to the sauce – ourselves.My mother made fresh butter and yoghurt, and I also spent a lot of my
  
  Read more

• ‘Transformational’: how a California city launched America’s first hydrogen-powered passenger train

  03-09-2024 14:00
  The new zero-emission train, known as Zemu, will run through an area that has long suffered from poor air quality. Will it be the start of a clean energy rail movement in the US?There’s a new train pulling into the station in San Bernardino, a southern California city about 60 miles from Los Angeles. From the outside, it looks like any other commuter train, with three passenger carriages, blocky windows and a colourful blue exterior.But inside, it’s unlike anything the region –
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• The bitter future of chocolate? How drought and a youth exodus threaten Mexico’s prized cocoa

  03-09-2024 13:00
  As prices soar, farmers are facing the worst harvests in decades, while traditional production methods passed down for generations are being lostEdilberto Morales has been farming cocoa, the key ingredient in chocolate, in the Lacadon jungle in southern Mexico for decades. Typically, he harvests about 1,000kg of cocoa pods a year, but only produced half that last year, due to drought. It was one of the worst harvests of his lifetime.“Climate change has affected us a lot,” says Morale
  
  Read more

• UK’s methane hotspots include landfills and last coalmine

  03-09-2024 11:33
  
  Greenpeace urges Labour to ‘fulfil international obligations’ as critics question accuracy of official dataUK politics live – latest updatesBusiness live – latest updatesThe UK’s worst methane hotspots include the last coalmine, livestock farm clusters, landfills, power plants and North Sea oil and gas wells, according to an analysis.The process has also thrown up serious doubts over the UK’s ability to calculate its methane emissions. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Saving lives on a single breath: how ‘safeties’ like me allow freedivers to take part in high-stakes competitions

  03-09-2024 11:00
  
  Most of the time safety divers do not need to step in, but our presence gives athletes the security needed for their remarkable underwater feats• Photography and videos by Piko Studios and Jack Lawes for the GuardianThings started to go wrong as Gary McGrath was coming up from 95 metres below the surface, a feat managed entirely on one breath. McGrath, who holds the British freediving record of 112 metres, was met on his ascent by a team of safety divers who quickly noticed he was strugglin
  
  Read more

• Japan swelters through hottest summer while parts of China log warmest August on record

  03-09-2024 07:11
  
  Climate scientists have already predicted that 2024 will be the hottest year everJapan has recorded its hottest summer on record after a sweltering three months marked by thousands of instances of “extreme heat”, with meteorologists warning that unseasonably high temperatures will continue through the autumn.The average temperature in June, July and August was 1.76C higher than the average recorded between 1991 and 2020, the Japan meteorological agency said, according to Kyodo news a
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Pollution levels highly harmful to wildlife in quarter of England’s neighbourhoods, research finds

  03-09-2024 07:00
  
  Friends of the Earth says pollution exceeds healthy levels for nature in 9,062 localitiesMore than a quarter of neighbourhoods in England have pollution levels that are highly harmful to wildlife, new data shows.Friends of the Earth has named 27.5% of areas “nature pollution hotspots” in new research. These are defined as places where air, water, noise and light pollution all exceed levels that are damaging to nature. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• ‘Always outsiders, always men, always white’: how women are changing the narrative of wildlife film-making

  03-09-2024 07:00
  
  Three female film-makers talk about their pioneering work documenting nature in Africa, the Amazon and India, and paving the way for future generations to build a career in filmWhen Fiona Tande started in Kenya’s film industry after working in conservation, she was disappointed to find it laced with the same pervasive racism she had seen throughout her career. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Country diary: A flaming beauty that rewards close inspection | Mark Cocker

  03-09-2024 06:30
  
  Beeston Tor, Staffordshire: The silver-washed fritillary is on a very slow comeback, and this one is so close I can make out the flecks of black in its eyesFor several years, I’ve made a pilgrimage to a single, indeed the only, buddleia bush I know in this part of the Manifold Valley, and each visit has produced encounters with silver-washed fritillaries. Not only is this butterfly one of the grandest of Europe’s 50 fritillary species, it is also immensely beautiful. The wings’
  
  Read more

• How powerful is Australia’s environmental watchdog? | Fiona Katauskas

  03-09-2024 05:00
  Will its bark be worse than its bite?See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Five seabirds added to UK red list of most concern

  03-09-2024 03:32 via bbc.com
  
  Conservation groups are calling for action as populations of seabirds decline on UK cliffs.
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!