Environment news

• The tide is turning on Thames Water: special administration looks best | Nils Pratley

  16-06-2026 20:00
  It is still not totally clear what the government wants but the political mood seems to be shifting towards a decisionThames Water nationalisation moves closer as government objects to rescue dealAt last, Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, has opined on the future of Thames Water. So what’s it to be? A takeover by the company’s creditors? Special administration, which would allow anyone to pitch up with an offer while the state temporarily funds the company? Or even a quick fl
  
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• ‘At first, the idea does sound crazy’: meet the scientists trying to refreeze the Arctic

  16-06-2026 16:00
  
  Sea ice is melting fast, worsening the climate crisis, but a bold attempt to rethicken it is showing early signs of success ‘This would have been a wild dream a year ago,” says Andrea Ceccolini, standing on Arctic sea ice just a 4-mile snowmobile ride from the Inuit town of Cambridge Bay, northern Canada. To his left are sky blue ponds of meltwater created in the last few days by a sun that no longer sets in the high north summer. To his right, the sea ice is still a brilliant white,
  
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• Spanish households save €10 a month thanks to renewables expansion, report finds

  16-06-2026 09:00
  
  Thinktank says decoupling electricity from gas prices has also helped shield Spain from hikes caused by Iran warSpanish households save €10 a month on electricity bills because of wind turbines and solar panels installed in the last five years, a report has found.Typical energy bills would be 19% more expensive if electricity costs were still as tightly coupled to gas prices as in 2021, according to Ember, a climate thinktank. It found Spain’s “strategic” expansion of rene
  
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• The bat that weighs the same as a teaspoon of salt – and the biologist who rediscovered it

  16-06-2026 08:00
  The short-tailed roundleaf bat was feared extinct until scientist Iroro Tanshi found one in Afi sanctuary in Nigeria, and set out to protect the only confirmed roosting colonyJust after sunrise, a cacophony of whoops and chatter can be heard over the verdant forests of the Afi mountain wildlife sanctuary. Nestled within the Cross River rainforest in south-east Nigeria, and spanning an area about the size of central Paris, the steep sanctuary is a haven for endangered gorillas, drill monkeys, the
  
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• AI could help win ‘race against extinction’ of vital plants, say botanists

  16-06-2026 08:00
  Tech is helping to identify and save new specimens and could open ‘genomic goldmine’ of fungi dataThe rise of AI and digitisation could be a turning point in the “race against extinction” faced by botanists trying to identify and save vital plants before they vanish, according to a major report from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.New technology is enabling scientists to track how flowering times have shifted by weeks around the world, rapidly identify new specimens and even g
  
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• Half of world’s children exposed to at least three climate hazards, Unicef says

  16-06-2026 07:00
  Almost every child, including those from high-income countries, is now exposed to at least one hazardHalf of the world’s children are exposed to at least three overlapping climate hazards threatening their health, education and survival, according to a Unicef report.Globally, children face increasing threats from heatwaves, storms, floods and droughts as the climate crisis worsens, with more than one billion facing at least three of these at once. Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: A revelation among the ‘clints and grikes’ of my limestone seat | Mark Cocker

  16-06-2026 06:30
  Wharfedale, Yorkshire: On the trail of a wood warbler, I find a suite of woodland plants rising up from a fascinating land formation – limestone pavementGrass Wood is a magnificent fragment of ancient woodland owned and exceptionally well managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. It is home to some lovely plants, including lily of the valley and herb paris. What became my defining revelation about the place and, in truth, about this whole area was down to a wood warbler.It is among my favou
  
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