Environment news

• Portugal fined £8.7m by EU court for failing to protect biodiversity

  05-03-2026 15:35
  The court of justice said Portugal had committed serious infringements of EU environmental lawPortugal has been fined €10m (£8.7m) by the EU’s court of justice for failing to comply with environmental laws that require it to protect biodiversity. It has also been ordered to pay €41,250 a day until it complies with a previous court order in 2019.The court said it was imposing the maximum fine possible to “encourage” Portugal to bring the infringement to an end. C
  
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• ‘It creates a sense of belonging’: Brazil bets on hiking trails for conservation

  05-03-2026 15:01
  The country’s network of footpaths is growing – with hopes they will develop local economies and better preserve the environment
  Follow the yellow footprints along Brazil’s newest long-distance trail, and they will take you through lush green forests and sandy shrubland, past sweeping vistas and bizarre rock formations, into grottos and rural communities.Spanning 186km (115 miles) of paths once used by 19th-century merchants, the Caminhos da Ibiapaba is the first waymarked long
  
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• Marsupials previously thought extinct for millennia discovered in New Guinea

  05-03-2026 14:01
  The chances of finding one mammal species thought to be lost was ‘almost zero’ and finding two is ‘unprecedented’, biologist Tim Flannery saysResearchers led by the Australian scientist Tim Flannery have made a once-in-a-lifetime discovery: that two charismatic marsupial species that had been thought extinct for 6,000 years are alive in rainforest in remote West Papua.The pair are rare examples of “Lazarus taxa” – species that disappeared from fossil rec
  
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• UK must double down on renewables as wars drive up energy costs, experts say

  05-03-2026 12:00
  Fossil fuel price surge after US-Israeli attacks on Iran prompts calls to end dependence on ‘volatile’ energy sourceMiddle East crisis live – latest updatesThe UK government must double down on its clean energy drive to protect bill payers from increasingly volatile fossil fuel markets in the wake of the US-Israel war on Iran, climate groups, academics and energy experts have warned.Research published on Thursday shows that the last fossil fuel energy crisis, caused by the Russ
  
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• You be the judge: should my eco-conscious husband park his dislike of flying?

  05-03-2026 09:00
  Jenny wants to spread her wings and see the world, but Teddy is happy at home. Where do they go from here? You decide• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a jurorI worry about my carbon footprint, but you can’t go everywhere by train and I want to see the worldIt’s not an environmental issue. I’ve just had my fill of flying and don’t really enjoy being a tourist Continue reading...
  
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• Wildlife trust's centenary 'free weekend in nature'

  05-03-2026 07:24 via bbc.com
  The Norfolk Wildlife Trust is opening its sites for free as part of its 100th birthday celebrations.
  
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• Weatherwatch: how a warmer world and more rain could transform Antarctica

  05-03-2026 07:00
  Shrinking and faster-moving glaciers, weakened ice shelves and more icebergs would bring fundamental changesYou don’t need an umbrella in Antarctica. With an average of just 16cm of precipitation each year, this continent is the world’s largest desert. But all that could change. A study shows that as the world warms, Antarctica is going to experience more rain, bringing with it fundamental changes to the landscape and wildlife inhabiting this unique environment.Bethan Davies, a glaci
  
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• Lobbyists send legal threats to councils over anti-wood burner campaigns

  05-03-2026 07:00
  At least eight councils receive legal threats alleging flyers criticising wood burners are in breach of advertising codesLobbyists for the UK wood-burning stove industry have threatened councils with legal action over public information campaigns warning of the harms of air pollution.At least eight councils have received legal threats, according to research by the British Medical Journal (BMJ). The Stove Industry Association (SIA), which represents the UK’s expanding industry around the bu
  
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• Country diary: When wild swans need a human hand | Sara Hudston

  05-03-2026 06:30
  Abbotsbury, Dorset: The swannery has been here since the 11th century, and this winter, after the storms harmed the flock’s feeding, it came into its ownThe sea is rough and turbid, with big, grey waves breaking white all along the pebbled length of Chesil Beach, but the water in the lagoon behind is merely ruffled. Here at the westernmost end, the shore is white not with surf but with hundreds of mute swans.There has been a swannery at Abbotsbury since the 11th century, when Benedictine m
  
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• Will China own the green energy future? – podcast

  05-03-2026 06:00
  The conflict in the Middle East has sent energy prices soaring, and for countries that import a high proportion of their fuel, it’s a reminder of the perils of energy dependence. As the recipient of almost 90% of Iran’s crude oil, China knows this only too well. Which partly explains why the country spent the last decade heavily investing in clean power.To find out what else could be driving the strategy, Madeleine Finlay speaks to senior China correspondent Amy Hawkins. And energy c
  
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• Tiny, lost and constipated: what a baby turtle told Australian scientists about warming seas

  05-03-2026 06:00
  The arrival of loggerheads in New South Wales shows these ‘sentinels of climate change’ are being forced into unknown territoryWhen Bulwal Bilima (BB for short) first arrived at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, she, or possibly he, was lethargic, badly constipated and dehydrated. Named “strong turtle” in the Aboriginal Dhurga language of the Yuin people on whose land it was found, the tiny 110g loggerhead hatchling, no bigger than a bar of soap, had a fight on its hands.
  
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• A Europe of clean, green cities and resurgent industry is a fantasy – unless we get really creative | Hans Larsson

  05-03-2026 06:00
  If we want things to be ‘Made in Europe’ again, we need to be realistic about how grimy and grey our centres of commerce once were“Bitterfeld, Bitterfeld, where dirt falls from the sky,” went a popular saying. Located in the intensely industrialised Chemical Triangle of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), in the 1980s Bitterfeld became known as the dirtiest town in Europe. Its chemical industry and lignite mines dumped toxic waste in waterways, and the air carried a con
  
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• A delightful day at the dump: ‘The trick is not to leave with more stuff than I arrived with!’

  05-03-2026 06:00
  At the council recycling tip in Chingford, people drop off fridges, dishwashers, mattresses, golf clubs, bicycles and batteries – then head into the shop to hunt through the weird and wonderful treasuresWhen an embalmed rabbit in a Perspex box arrived at the dump in Chingford, north-east London, last year, with fur on its head but its organs and skeleton exposed to teach veterinary students about the digestive system, Lisa Charlton knew she had to save it from landfill. She was sure that o
  
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