Environment news

• MPs mull stricter legal climate requirements for pension funds

  05-11-2020 11:38
  
  MPs are being presented with a new Bill today which, if implemented, would force pension funds and other investors to align all 'default' funds with the Paris Agreement.
  
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• Why dodgy doors are the latest casualty of the UK heatwaves

  21-08-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Sticking or unlockable doors are yet another problem caused by the hot summer, but winter can also bring difficultiesThursday was another busy day for Alan Hickman, a Bournemouth-based locksmith who works in the area around the New Forest (“though I’m currently dodging the bit between Ringwood and Eastleigh because that’s closed because of the forest fires”).Speaking on his way to see a man who can’t close his patio doors – “probably because they’v
  
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• Week in wildlife: Bat in a toilet, a speeding gull and a bird with shoes

  21-08-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Eco homes that can stay cool for sale in England and Wales – in pictures

  21-08-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  From a triple-glazed barn conversion in a Welsh valley to a thermally regulated home in a busy area of London Continue reading...
  
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• What happens to people’s health when air pollution is reduced?

  21-08-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Growing evidence that cutting coal use and bans on high-polluting vehicles areleading directly to health benefitsFailing crops, wildfires and overloaded health systems are focusing minds on the local impacts of our changing climate.While carbon emissions reduction is normally framed as having a global benefit rather than a local gain, studies published in 2025 and 2026 from Greece have added to growing evidence that cutting coal use and air pollution can provide immediate health benefits to loca
  
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• Rewilded land remains green amid drought-stricken English countryside, images show

  21-08-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  National Trust’s Holnicote estate says restored wetlands and rivers offer proof of resilience to drought, wildfires and floodingAerial footage of an estate in Somerset has revealed the benefits of rewilding land in the face of extreme weather brought about by the climate crisis.The area of the National Trust’s Holnicote estate where rivers have been returned to their natural courses and wetlands have been restored have remained green and lush during the five heatwaves across the summ
  
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• Python named Jodie Foster first snake to receive pioneering cancer treatment

  21-08-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Chester zoo resident, 23, ‘back to her usual feisty self’ after electrochemotherapy for tumour in her jawA 15ft (4.5-metre) python is believed to be the first snake in the world to be given a pioneering, life-saving cancer treatment normally used on humans.The 50kg reticulated python, named Jodie Foster after the Hollywood star, has just turned 23 and lives at Chester zoo. Keepers first became concerned that she may be unwell when she began eating less and spending more time inactive
  
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• El Niño set to be 'strongest in living memory', says Met Office

  21-08-2026 02:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists say the growing El Niño weather pattern is an "unprecedented event" and means 2027 is likely to be the world's hottest year on record.
  
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• Rain to stop in time for weekend as sun returns

  21-08-2026 02:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The heavy downpours that have caused flash flooding will ease during Friday with sunshine returning for the weekend. But there are some chilly nights in store, as Ben Rich explains.
  
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• My family have fished this river for 300 years - now pollution has killed all the fish

  20-08-2026 22:47 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A tradition on a river once fished by US President Jimmy Carter could be coming to an end.
  
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• Glass deposit operator confirmed after months of wrangling

  20-08-2026 19:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Exchange for Change is running the new recycling programmes across the UK and will also run Wales's.
  
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• Thunderstorm warnings expire but rain continues to bring risk of floods for UK

  20-08-2026 17:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The prolonged dry spell has come to an end with heavy, thundery showers continuing to sweep across the UK, as Ben Rich explains.
  
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• Flash flooding risk as heavy rain hits UK

  20-08-2026 16:54 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Heavy showers and thunderstorms will continue to affect large parts of the UK.
  
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• Lobsters and acidic seas: can shellfish help neutralise one of the greatest threats to the ocean?

  20-08-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Crustaceans are the subject of tests to see if alkalis added to seawater, so it absorbs more CO2, harm marine life. But Trump’s halt to funding threatens to scupper the researchFor many in the US region of New England, the lobster roll is synonymous with summertime. Loaded into a toasted bun, chunks of the sweet meat are served hot and soaked in butter, or chilled and slathered in mayonnaise with celery and herbs.The only thing more debated than the recipe is the price: the once-humble rol
  
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• Northern Ireland farm profits topped £1bn in 2025

  20-08-2026 13:25 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The overall performance in 2025 was heavily influenced by developments in the beef sector which saw prices rise to record levels.
  
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• The winner of the Guardian's Invertebrate of the year 2026 revealed

  20-08-2026 13:01 via theguardian.com
  In a much closer contest than previous years – when the tardigrade and the common earthworm won with popular landslides – the winner of the 2026 Guardian Invertebrate of the year has been decided.The competition was launched three years ago to celebrate overlooked and often derided invertebrates, which number at least 1.7m species – about 97% of all animals – with probably millions more still to be discovered and described.Watch presenter and naturalist Chris Packham run
  
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• Winner of Invertebrate of the Year 2026 crowned – and it is the size of a grain of rice

  20-08-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  The leaf sheep, a neon green solar-powered slug, has inspired at least one Pokémon character and triumphs in global ballotSee the top 10 shortlist hereChris Packham: ‘Life as we know it hinges on invertebrates’A neon green solar-powered slug that lives underwater is the winner of the increasingly popular Invertebrate of the Year competition run by the Guardian.The leaf sheep, Costasiella kuroshimae, triumphed in the global ballot after hundreds of thousands of readers around t
  
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• Humans have learned to fear ‘bugs’, but we shouldn’t – life as we know it hinges on invertebrates | Chris Packham

  20-08-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  At this point of the crisis in our relations with the natural world, we’ve got to protect these creatures – and we are running out of timeRead more from the Guardian’s invertebrate of the year 2026Too many animals are regarded as “bugs”. And, if anything is a bug, it is a short step to it becoming a “pest”. Too many of us have a learned fear – it’s not innate – of anything with six legs or antennae.I’m a big fan of the invertebrat
  
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• How one American couple ditched their lawn and created a wildlife haven – and you could too

  20-08-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Novice gardeners James Reed McGuire and Crystal Fritz wanted to try something new when they moved out to the suburbs. Little did they know they were joining a nationwide movementWhen James Reed McGuire and Crystal Fritz first decided to replace their lawn with native plants, they did not really know what they were doing. As former city-dwellers who had moved from Chicago out to the suburb of Highland Park, Illinois, they had never done much gardening together beyond growing some planters of herb
  
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• Destructive and delicious: how an invasive deer in Hawaii is being turned into dinner

  20-08-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  The overpopulation of axis deer has taken an environmental toll, but Maui Nui Venison sees it as a resource instead of a pestIn 1868, the government of Hong Kong gave eight axis deer to Hawaii’s King Kamehameha V. They were a beautiful gift, these creatures that hail from south Asia, with their honey-colored pelts marked by a smattering of white spots. But their incursion into Maui started much later, in the 1950s, when they were brought to the island for recreational hunters.Now, more tha
  
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• Zoo boss calls pipeline plan on site 'unacceptable'

  20-08-2026 07:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Proposals for a pipeline to transport carbon emissions to the coast would cut through the zoo.
  
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• Weatherwatch: Climate crisis fuelling steep fall in migratory bird numbers

  20-08-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Many species under threat use the African-Eurasian flyway, one of the planet’s largest mass-migration systemsIt may still feel like summer, but in the world of birds, autumn migration is already well under way. Cuckoos and swifts have already left us, and while swallows and many species of warbler will not depart our shores until September, many species of Arctic-breeding waders have begun to stop off at our coastal marshes to refuel for their long journey south.This year, however, there c
  
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• Watermelons in Bristol: how UK heatwaves are affecting growers

  20-08-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Most allotment holders say the heat has meant more work for smaller crops, although some have found a silver liningAfter a summer of repeated heatwaves and exceptionally dry weather in the UK, rain has brought some relief this week, but drought remains widespread and experts warn it will take weeks of sustained rainfall for water supplies to recover.For people growing their own fruit and vegetables, it has been a challenging and sometimes surprising season. The Guardian spoke to growers across E
  
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• Monstera magic: Barbican hands out cuttings as ‘green lung of the city’ closes

  20-08-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Five hundred people turn up to adopt plants from conservatory that will reopen in 2030 after renovation projectAbove the waxy monstera leaves and bright pink hibiscus flowers in the Barbican conservatory hangs a giant net to catch the panes of glass that are at risk of falling from the ceiling on the unwitting plant lovers below.This precarious situation has caused the estate to shutter its greenhouse on the third and fourth floors for three years so a full refurbishment can take place. But the
  
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• From bone-dry to soaked to the bone, welcome to the age of climate whiplash | Aditya Chakrabortty

  20-08-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  This punishingly hot and dry summer will probably be followed by another wet winter. But it’s nothing compared with what Britain will endure in years to comeThis summer could be the hottest, driest and deadliest in English history. Successive heatwaves have so far claimed almost 3,000 lives. Nearly three-quarters of England and all of Wales is in drought, while key reservoirs are parched. Across this brown and stickily unpleasant land, from Grimsby down to St Ives, hosepipe bans are in for
  
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• Country diary: All hail the horsetail, a plant that could survive anything | Kate Blincoe

  20-08-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Newton Flotman, Norfolk: It looks like a toilet brush yet predates the dinosaurs. I can’t help but give it a stroke by the roadside, even if I get strange looksThe rural road is flanked with a bank of green fuzz. It’s jungly and verdant – lush in a landscape that has turned brown and yellow from drought. I run my hand over the green bristles erupting from a bamboo-like stem.Equisetum arvense, or field horsetail, looks fluffy, but it is wiry and rough. One could serve effec
  
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• The threatening thaw: climate professor on heatwave risks to tipping point of permafrost

  20-08-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Prof Gustaf Hugelius warns wildfires could accelerate release of methane and carbon as vast regions approach irreversible thresholdsHeatwaves and wildfires are not just scorching forests, they are adding to the tipping point risks in the world’s vast permafrost regions, which contain three times more carbon than all the living vegetation on Earth.This is a major concern for Gustaf Hugelius, a professor at the Bolin Centre of Climate Research at Stockholm University, Sweden, and a leading a
  
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• Giant whales move into Greenland waters as ice disappears

  20-08-2026 04:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Melting sea ice from climate change has opened up the region for giant whales to undertake "feeding frenzies".
  
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• Taxpayers to fund clear-up of illegal dumps in West Yorkshire, Surrey and Kent

  19-08-2026 23:30 via theguardian.com
  Andy Burnham promises drive to tackle toxic waste, raise fines and use AI-powered drones to detect illegal activityIllegal dumps in West Yorkshire, Surrey and Kent will be cleared up using taxpayer money, Andy Burnham has announced, as the prime minister promises a new drive to tackle toxic waste.Ministers have identified dumps in Bradford, Runnymede and the Isle of Sheppey, which collectively contain about 22,000 tonnes of illegal waste, to be cleared in the next phase of the government’s
  
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• ‘Success story’ hailed as bluefin tunas caught off Yorkshire for first time since 1960s

  19-08-2026 18:36 via theguardian.com
  Researchers laud return of giant tuna to North Sea after being fished almost to point of extinction Researchers have lauded two giant bluefin tunas being caught off the coast of Yorkshire for the first time in more than six decades as a “success story” for marine conservation.The tunas, which were caught a day apart off the coast of Whitby earlier this week, have mostly been absent along the north-east coast of Britain since the 1960s. Continue reading...
  
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