Environment news

• Cop16 ends in disarray and indecision despite biodiversity breakthroughs

  03-11-2024 07:00
  
  Conservation summit agrees global levy on drugs from nature’s genetics and stronger indigenous representation, but developing nations furious at unmet funding promisesA global summit on halting the destruction of nature ended in disarray on Saturday, with some breakthroughs but key issues left unresolved.Governments have been meeting in Cali, Colombia, for the first time since a 2022 deal to stop the human-caused destruction of life on Earth. Countries hoped to make progress during the two
  
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• ‘We feel kinda bad when a solo bird shows up’: Canada sees its first European robin – but how did it get there?

  10-02-2026 13:00
  Birdwatchers flock to Montréal for rare sighting of ‘vagrant’ bird that has made its home during a bitterly cold winterOn a quiet Montréal street of low-rise brick apartment buildings on one side and cement barrier wall on the other, a crowd has gathered, binoculars around their necks and cameras at the ready. A European robin has taken up residence in the neighbourhood, which is sandwiched between two industrial areas with warehouses and railway lines and, a few blocks
  
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• Iran’s shadow fleet of old tankers a ticking time bomb for sea life, say experts

  10-02-2026 12:50
  Exclusive: Analysts say there will be oil spill catastrophe that could be far bigger than Exxon Valdez disasterDecrepit oil tankers in Iran’s sanctions-busting shadow fleet are a “ticking time bomb”, and it is only a matter of time before there is a catastrophic environmental disaster, maritime intelligence analysts have warned.Such an oil spill could be far bigger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster that released 37,000 tonnes of crude oil into the sea, they said. Continue rea
  
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• Rethinking Economics, the movement changing how the subject is taught

  10-02-2026 09:00
  Born of student disquiet after the 2008 crash, the group says it reshaping economists’ educationAs the fallout from the 2008 global financial crash reverberated around the world, a group of students at Harvard University in the US walked out of their introductory economics class complaining it was teaching a “specific and limited view” that perpetuated “a problematic and inefficient system of economic inequality”.A few weeks later, on the other side of the Atlantic,
  
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• ‘Every shirt has a story’: the designers saving football kits from landfill

  10-02-2026 09:00
  The beautiful game has a fast fashion problem, with clubs bringing out multiple kits every season. But a move towards upcycling old shirts and wearing vintage garments is on the riseIt may have been a quiet January transfer window, but even so, thousands of new shirts will be printed for Lucas Paquetá, returning to his former Brazilian club Flamengo, while his West Ham shirt instantly feels old. Not to mention the thousands of other players moving from one club to another. Uefa estimates
  
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• Country diary: Ding ding! Round 2 for the brawling badgers | Ed Douglas

  10-02-2026 06:30
  Abbeydale, Sheffield: I’m genuinely scared when I wake at 2am to the sound of screaming. Then I see two male badgers in an almighty scrapFast asleep, my dreamworld takes an unexpected swerve as raucous screaming erupts outside the open bedroom window. For a moment, I assume this is imagined, some emotional outburst from my subconscious. Then I realise that I’m awake. This is real. I check the time: 2am. The screaming continues. In fact, it’s now louder and somehow more intense.
  
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• ‘A beaver blind date’: animals given freedom to repopulate Cornish rivers

  09-02-2026 20:00
  Release into Helman Tor reserve marks historical first for keystone species hunted to extinction in UK 400 years agoShivering and rain-drenched at the side of a pond in Cornwall, a huddle of people watched in hushed silence as a beaver took its first tentative steps into its new habitat. As it dived into the water with a determined “plop” and began swimming laps, the suspense broke and everyone looked around, grinning.The soggy but momentous occasion marks the first time in English h
  
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• The Guardian view on heavy rain: England’s flood defences are not strong enough | Editorial

  09-02-2026 19:50
  The disruption and distress caused by record downpours must focus minds on the need for climate preparednessWith flood warnings still in place across south-west England and Wales on Monday, followed by another fortnight of wet weather forecasts, the sodden ground across swathes of the UK is not likely to dry up any time soon. Reports that Aberdonians have not seen so much as a sliver of sun since 21 January prompted an outburst of stoicism on BBC radio, with one resident commenting: “You h
  
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• Why is the UK so rainy this year and how is the climate crisis making matters worse?

  09-02-2026 15:56
  It has rained in parts of the country every day of the year so far and downpours are expected to continue this weekIn a “miserable and relentlessly wet” start to the year, rain has fallen somewhere in the UK every single day for weeks on end.With more than 100 flood warnings in force across the country and further downpours forecast this week, scientists say the atmospheric forces behind Britain’s endless drizzle are the same ones driving devastating floods across Spain and Por
  
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• ‘We’re being turned into an energy colony’: Argentina’s nuclear plan faces backlash over US interests

  09-02-2026 15:00
  Push to restart uranium mining in Patagonia has sparked fears about the environmental impact and loss of sovereignty over key resourcesOn an outcrop above the Chubut River, one of the few to cut across the arid Patagonian steppe of southern Argentina, Sergio Pichiñán points across a wide swath of scrubland to colourful rock formations on a distant hillside.“That’s where they dug for uranium before, and when the miners left, they left the mountain destroyed, the houses a
  
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• Businesses face extinction unless they protect nature, major report warns

  09-02-2026 14:00 via bbc.com
  Experts call for urgent action by businesses to restore the natural systems that keep them running.
  
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• US chemical giant to stop producing herbicide called ‘toxic cocktail’ by critics

  09-02-2026 13:00
  Corteva will discontinue a mixture of Agent Orange and glyphosate, but another of its herbicides will still use Vietnam war-era defoliantThe chemical giant Corteva will stop producing Enlist Duo, a herbicide considered to be among the most dangerous still used in the US by environmentalists because it contains a mix of Agent Orange and glyphosate, which have both been linked to cancer and widespread ecological damage.The US military deployed Agent Orange, a chemical weapon, to destroy vegetation
  
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• Weather tracker: Spain and Portugal hit by third deadly storm in two weeks

  09-02-2026 12:00
  Storm Marta sweeps Iberian peninsula just days after Storms Kristin and Leonardo brought deadly flooding and major damageSpain and Portugal have endured another storm over the weekend, just days after the deadly flooding and major damage caused by Storm Kristin and Storm Leonardo last week. Storm Marta passed over the Iberian peninsula on Saturday, bringing fresh torrential rain and killing two people. Storm Kristin killed at least five people after it made landfall on 28 January with Storm Leon
  
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• Economic growth is still heating the planet. Is there any way out?

  09-02-2026 09:00
  Rising GDP continues to mean more carbon emissions and wider damage to the planet. Can the two be decoupled?During Cop30 negotiations in Brazil last year, delegates heard a familiar argument: rising emissions are unavoidable for countries pursuing growth.Since the first Cop in the 1990s, developing nations have had looser reduction targets to reflect the economic gap between them and richer countries, which emitted millions of tonnes of CO2 as they pulled ahead. The concession comes from the ide
  
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• ‘To live a normal life again, it’s a dream come true’: UK’s first climate evacuees can cast off their homes and trauma

  09-02-2026 07:00
  Forty-odd residents of Clydach Terrace in Ynysybwl, south Wales, relieved by council buyout after years in fear of fast floodingWhen Storm Dennis hit the UK in 2020, a wall of dirty, frigid water from a tributary of the Taff threw Paul Thomas against the front of his house in the south Wales village of Ynysybwl. He managed to swim back into his home before the storm surge changed direction, almost carrying him out of the smashed-in front door.“I was holding on to downpipes to stop myself b
  
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• Country diary: A walk on the wild side of Whin Sill | Susie White

  09-02-2026 06:30
  Cullernose Point, Northumberland: These cliffs are always thrilling, but today is a riot of sound and damp air as we take the coastal pathThe sea is still raging after yesterday’s storm, waves the highest that I’ve seen here, more ocean than North Sea. The grey-green water, full of churned up sand, is frothing and erupting against dark rocks, bursting with the force of geysers as it collides with the land.Here at Cullernose Point, the dolerite cliffs of the Whin Sill thrust a giant w
  
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• ‘We’ve lost everything’: anger and despair in Sicilian town collapsing after landslide

  09-02-2026 06:00
  People in Niscemi struggle to comprehend loss of homes and businesses and feel disaster could have been avoidedFor days, the 25,000 residents of the Sicilian town of Niscemi have been living on the edge of a 25-metre abyss. On 25 January, after torrential rain brought by Cyclone Harry, a devastating landslide ripped away an entire slope of the town, creating a 4km-long chasm. Roads collapsed, cars were swallowed, and whole sections of the urban fabric plunged into the valley below.Dozens of hous
  
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• ‘It’s sacred and transformative’: Somerset holds Saxon-inspired festival to embrace ‘month of mud’

  08-02-2026 16:00
  Community organiser Jon Barrett says event, inspired by the tradition Solmōnaþ, aims to reconnect people with benefits of mudA misty, rainy day in the uplands of Somerset and the mud was thick and sticky. In some patches, just putting one foot in front of the other without plunging into the mire felt like a win.But Jon Barrett, a community engagement officer for the Quantock Hills national landscape, had a broad grin on his face as he negotiated the ooze. Continue reading...
  
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• Office buzz: UK employers turn to beehives to boost workplace wellbeing

  08-02-2026 13:34
  Providers report rise in demand as companies seek mental health benefits and increased sense of communityIn a growing number of workplaces, the soundtrack of the lunch break is no longer the rustle of sandwiches at a desk, but the quiet hum of bees – housed just outside the office window.Employers from Manchester to Milton Keynes are working with professional beekeepers to install hives on rooftops, in courtyards and car parks – positioning beekeeping not as a novelty but as a way to
  
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• 'Rare moss species are fighting climate change'

  08-02-2026 10:04 via bbc.com
  An extinct moss is reintroduced across Yorkshire's moors in the battle against climate change.
  
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• In your face: Close-up Photographer of the Year Awards 2026 – in pictures

  08-02-2026 10:00
  Animals, insects, flora and fauna – the world photographed in close-up in the annual competition dedicated to micro and macro photography. Cupoty 7 was won by underwater photographer Ross Gudgeon, triumphing over 12,000 entries from 63 countries Continue reading...
  
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• Chance of El Niño forming in Pacific Ocean may push global temperatures to record highs in 2027

  07-02-2026 20:00
  One expert says 2027 could be even hotter than the last three years, which have been the top three warmest on recordSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereWeather agencies and climate scientists have pointed to the possibility of an El Niño forming in the Pacific Ocean later this year – a phenomenon that could push global temperatures to all-time record highs in 2027.
  Both the US government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheri
  
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• UK electric vehicle charging firms ‘seeking buyers amid rising costs and tough competition’

  07-02-2026 13:00
  Mergers and acquisitions will shrink number of operators from more than 100 to five or six, says Be.EV co-founderBritish electric charger companies are asking rivals to buy them as they run out of cash amid rising costs and intense competition, according to industry bosses.A wave of mergers and acquisitions is likely to shrink the number of charge point operators from as many as 150 to a market dominated by five or six players, said Asif Ghafoor, a co-founder of Be.EV, a charging company backed
  
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• Post-Brexit sales of British farm products to EU fall by 37%

  07-02-2026 13:00
  NFU warn it could take years to restore Brexit losses despite efforts to smooth negotiations on farming and other elements of UK-EU resetExports of British farm products to the EU have dropped almost 40% in the five years since Brexit, highlighting the trade barriers caused by the UK’s divorce from the EU in 2020.Analysis of HMRC data by the National Farmers’ Union shows the decline in sales of everything from British beef to cheddar cheese has dropped by 37.4% in the five years sinc
  
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• Deafening, draining and potentially deadly: are we facing a snoring epidemic?

  07-02-2026 13:00
  Experts say dangerous sleep apnoea affects an estimated 8 million in the UK alone, and everything from evolution to obesity or even the climate crisis could be to blameWhen Matt Hillier was in his 20s, he went camping with a friend who was a nurse. In the morning she told him she had been shocked by the snoring coming from his tent. “She basically said, ‘For a 25-year-old non-smoker who’s quite skinny, you snore pretty loudly,’” says Hiller, now 32.Perhaps because o
  
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• Bermuda snail thought to be extinct now thrives after a decade’s effort

  07-02-2026 07:00
  Special pods at Chester zoo helped conservationists breed and release more than 100,000 greater Bermuda snailsA button-sized snail once feared extinct in its Bermudian home is thriving again after conservationists bred and released more than 100,000 of the molluscs.The greater Bermuda snail (Poecilozonites bermudensis) was found in the fossil record but believed to have vanished from the North Atlantic archipelago, until a remnant population was discovered in a damp and overgrown alleyway in Ham
  
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• Country diary: Which farm produces the smelliest silage? I went to find out | Rev Simon Lockett

  07-02-2026 06:30
  Peterchurch, Herefordshire: Some silage competitions are assessed in a lab far away, this one takes place in a noisy pub, with judges getting their hands dirtyWhat a night. I’ve just got home from the Nags Head, Peterchurch, having attended the Eskleyside Agricultural Society’s annual silage competition. The Nags is one of the great social spots in the Golden valley. Here you can meet potato growers, social workers, sheep farmers, stranded pilgrims, water diviners and Thomas the cat.
  
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• ‘Quality really matters’: why the organic food market is booming again

  06-02-2026 17:52
  Greater awareness of healthy diets and concerns over ‘trusted’ food mean sales are growing at fastest pace in two decadesWhen household finances were plunged into turmoil during the credit crunch, one of the first things that Britons cancelled was their veg box delivery.But although the cost of living crisis persists, the organic market is enjoying its biggest boom in two decades, according to the veg box seller Riverford. It is not just fruit and veg, with a “massive” in
  
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• ‘On a knife edge’: can England’s red squirrel population be saved?

  06-02-2026 16:00
  Government plans to protect species by increasing woodland and removing greys, but campaigners say it needs to go furtherWhen Sam Beaumont sees a flash of red up a tree on his Lake District farm, he feels a swell of pride. He’s one of the few people in England who gets to see red squirrels in his back garden.“I feel very lucky to have them on the farm. It’s an important thing to try and keep a healthy population of them. They are absolutely beautiful,” he said. Continue r
  
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• Roses are red, violets are blue: why Valentine’s Day flowers need a redo

  06-02-2026 15:00
  What could be more romantic than those three little words: locally grown, seasonal? How to choose flowers that show you care – about both a Valentine and Australia’s environmentChange by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprintGot a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at [email protected] dozen red roses may say “I love you”, but many conventional bouque
  
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