Environment news

• Surging oil price pushes FTSE higher

  30-11-2016 18:21
  By Peter Hobson and Alistair Smout LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's top share index rose on Wednesday, led by rebounding energy stocks after oil prices surged to their biggest one-day gain in nine months when major producers agreed to output cuts to curb oversupply. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed up 0.2 percent. The index has underperformed European peers this month, as it contains many defensive stocks that have lagged as investors have bet on a return of inflation and growth following the ele
  
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• New hurricane season record as 'historic' El Niño leaves Atlantic eerily quiet

  11-09-2026 01:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Atlantic hurricane season has reached its climatological peak, but a strong El Niño means no hurricanes have formed this year.
  
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• Species 'at risk of vanishing' from area of Wales' largest national park

  10-09-2026 23:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The National Trust warns species are on the brink of extinction in a valley of Eryri National Park.
  
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• Hawaii has often dodged the path of hurricanes. Why did it see so many storms this summer?

  10-09-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Despite its location, the island chain has avoided the worst effects, but Hurricanes Lowell and Lala left a trail of damage this yearHurricane Lowell surged near the Hawaiian Islands this week, leaving a trail of downed trees and power lines, crumbled roads, sunken boats and destroyed piers on the island of Kauai.Residents were left to grapple not only with the damage, but the rising risks to the tropical archipelago as sea surface temperatures climb. Continue reading...
  
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• August joint hottest month on record globally

  10-09-2026 14:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  BBC Weather Presenter Simon King explains the figures.
  
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• UK ministers explore raising price of water for some users amid shortages

  10-09-2026 13:14 via theguardian.com
  Environment Agency says talks under way about increasing prices for industrial users to try to reduce poor water managementMinisters are exploring making water more expensive for some users, in the face of severe supply shortages.Despite the UK being a famously wet country, the precarious nature of the water supply has been made particularly acute this summer, with almost three-quarters of England and all of Wales in drought and 27 million people facing restrictions on their water use. Continue
  
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• UK ministers explore raising price of water for industrial users amid shortages

  10-09-2026 13:14 via theguardian.com
  Environment Agency says talks under way about increasing prices for industrial users to try to reduce poor water managementMinisters are exploring making water more expensive for some users, in the face of severe supply shortages.Despite the UK being a famously wet country, the precarious nature of the water supply has been made particularly acute this summer, with almost three-quarters of England and all of Wales in drought and 27 million people facing restrictions on their water use. Continue
  
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• World must reject climate culture wars or face economic ruin, says UN’s Stiell

  10-09-2026 12:42 via theguardian.com
  Warning by United Nations climate chief comes as EU data shows August 2026 was joint hottest month everAttempts to stoke a climate crisis culture war must be rejected or the world will face economic disaster, the UN’s climate chief has warned.Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, warned that this year’s “hot as hell” summer had killed tens of thousands of people in Europe alone and “hammered” infrastructure, bu
  
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• Drax ash mound extraction plan approved

  10-09-2026 12:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Plans to extract and reuse million tonnes of ash from a mound next to Drax are given the go-ahead.
  
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• Climate ‘feedback loops’ could worsen global warming by 30%, study finds

  10-09-2026 10:00 via theguardian.com
  Emissions of planet-heating methane and CO2 from natural sources are worsening the climate crisis, paper saysRising global temperatures caused by the burning of fossil fuels are transforming the world’s forests, wetlands and tundra to the point they are releasing emissions that could further worsen global heating by as much as 30%, a new study has found.As the world heats up, permafrost in the high latitudes is thawing, fiercer wildfires are burning in drying forests and wetlands and lakes
  
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• How the fate of a small furry animal reveals the ecological tragedy of Israel’s war on Lebanon | Hisham Younes

  10-09-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Syrian rock hyrax depends on the fragile landscapes of the border region. Alongside other environmentalists, I have been documenting the destruction of its habitatWars are usually measured in the number of people killed, homes destroyed and towns erased. Far less attention is paid to what happens beneath the rubble. Across southern Lebanon, repeated large-scale detonations are not only causing human tragedy by demolishing villages, they are also destroying the ancient limestone habitats that
  
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• Is Burnham trying to appease Trump? Or Reform? What other reason is there for these North Sea oil plans? | George Monbiot

  10-09-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Climate catastrophe is on our doorstep – yet Labour’s impending approval of further drilling will bring more pain for negligible gainsPinch yourself, it’s happening again. Here is a Labour government spending a vast amount of political capital to earn tiny material gains while risking huge political losses. It occurred repeatedly under Keir Starmer, and now – with the impending decision to approve further gas and oil drilling in the North Sea – it is happening under
  
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• August joint-hottest month on record as climate change and El Niño drive heat

  10-09-2026 04:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Climate change and the rising influence of El Niño saw August reach the record for warmest month.
  
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• August was joint-hottest month ever recorded globally

  10-09-2026 04:00 via theguardian.com
  Temperatures reached 1.65C above preindustrial levels, months before El Niño system reaches full strengthAugust was the joint-hottest month ever recorded around the world, with global temperatures reaching 1.65C above preindustrial levels, scientists said on Thursday, amid warnings of further heating on the way.August 2026 tied with July 2023 for the hottest month ever recorded, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Sea surface temperatures also soared to their hi
  
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• Can an entire Arctic ecosystem evolve to adapt to the climate crisis?

  09-09-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  In the first project of its kind, scientists are trying to answer if the future of Alaska’s streams and tundra may depend not on survival of the fittest but on how species adapt togetherOn Alaska’s North Slope, scientists tread carefully across clumps of tussock grasses toward a fast-flowing stream draining the imposing Brooks Range of ice and snow. Near Galbraith Creek, they string out a mist net for white-crowned sparrows. The birds have recently arrived from southerly latitudes, i
  
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• Polanski calls for report on ecosystem collapse to be published in full

  09-09-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Green leader says ministers must stop ‘hiding the truth’ about threat to UK security from climate and nature crisisZack Polanski will challenge Andy Burnham’s government to publish an unredacted version of an explosive report by the UK’s spy chiefs that found the collapse of overseas ecosystems would have catastrophic consequences for the UK’s national security.The Green party leader in England will demand that the prime minister come clean about the scale and impac
  
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• Beavers 'could boost wildlife and tackle drought'

  09-09-2026 07:28 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is looking for suitable areas to reintroduce the animals.
  
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• Douglas Head designated a Conservation Area

  09-09-2026 07:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Douglas Head has been formally designated a Conservation Area - but what does that actually mean?
  
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• Backshall backs calls for natural history GCSE

  09-09-2026 07:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Steve Backshall calls for nature education as a survey says 55% of children have not climbed a tree.
  
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• 'Adrenaline got us through New Forest wildfire'

  09-09-2026 07:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Firefighters say community spirit also helped them get through the blaze that started on the A31.
  
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• Birdwatch: the avian equivalent of a catwalk model, blue cranes are under threat

  09-09-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Numbers of the exquisitely graceful species are falling amid loss of food supply and habitatFew birds are quite as elegant as the blue crane. As I watched a pair feeding alongside a busy road in South Africa, against the rather incongruous backdrop of a herd of cows, I was struck by their sheer beauty. With a slender body, curved neck, long legs, elongated tail plumes and a subtle, dove-grey plumage, this bird really is the avian equivalent of a catwalk model.But not all is well for the blue cra
  
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• Country diary: Wetland plants have prospered this year – and I love this understated beauty | Sarah Lambert

  09-09-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Ailsworth, Cambridgeshire: Trifid bur-marigold is struggling nationally, but thanks to a little ‘Goldilocks’ land management, it has the perfect conditions hereAfter a night of storms, the air feels freshly washed. I breathe in delicious scents of damp grass, earth, and sweet, winey blackberry from hedges weighed down with a bumper harvest. Once again, I’m drawn to the River Nene, a ribbon of blue and green that snakes lazily through the valley. I stand for a while on the bridg
  
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• Reclaiming the streets: the architects clawing back Europe’s car-centric spaces

  09-09-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  The European Prize for Urban Public Space’s shortlist highlights projects helping people cope with climate crisisIn the words of Joni Mitchell, the planners of many urban centres around the world “paved paradise and put up a parking lot”. The European Prize for Urban Public Space tries to show that cities don’t have to be locked in the automotive age for ever.The prize’s latest shortlist, announced on Wednesday, highlights architectural projects that convert infrast
  
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• Watch: Downed trees and flooding as Hurricane Lowell batters western Hawaii

  09-09-2026 03:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The storm brought damaging winds and torrential rain to parts of the island on Monday and Tuesday, triggering concerns about flash flooding and mudslides.
  
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• How cleaning up the air is speeding up global warming - and revealing a bigger problem

  09-09-2026 01:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A curious online row over this summer's heatwaves points to a wider - and worrying - shift in climate science.
  
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• Two more people arrested over ‘mountain of illegal waste’ dumped in Oxfordshire

  08-09-2026 23:54 via theguardian.com
  
  A total of six people apprehended as clean-up of rubbish stacked 10 metres high cost about £6mTwo men have been arrested after fly-tippers dumped a “mountain of illegal waste”, stacked 10 metres high, in Oxfordshire.Hundreds of tonnes of rubbish appeared in a field between the River Cherwell and the A34 near Kidlington in November last year. The waste tip was so large that removing it could cost more than the local council’s annual budget, the area’s MP said. Contin
  
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• US federal court says no constitutional right to clean water in Mississippi case

  08-09-2026 19:37 via theguardian.com
  
  Appeals court dismisses lawsuit from Jackson residents claiming that tainted drinking water violated their rights A US appellate court has decided that the federal constitution does not guarantee a right to clean water.That legal opinion came in the form of a decision on Friday from the fifth circuit court of appeals to uphold a lower court’s dismissal of a 2022 lawsuit from several Jackson, Mississippi, residents claiming that tainted drinking water violated their constitutional rights. C
  
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• One in 12 golf clubs in England broke water extraction rules in past five years

  08-09-2026 14:06 via theguardian.com
  More than 140 clubs breached licences, with a third caught taking water illegally, analysis shows – but no fines issuedMore than 140 golf clubs in England have breached their water extraction licences in the past five years, according to data analysis by the Guardian.More than a third of these clubs were caught taking water illegally from the environment, either by taking more than permitted or by removing it outside the permitted period. Continue reading...
  
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• Shetland spaceport project secures £30m of UK government investment

  08-09-2026 10:48 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The funding will be used to build two more launchpads.
  
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• Country diary: This moorland needed rainfall – it got something even better | Ed Douglas

  08-09-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Eyam Moor, Derbyshire: It’s a place that I treasure greatly, and now it has a change of ownership that is worth celebratingCan a landscape sigh with relief? It felt that way, pushing through bilberry and cowberry hung with pearls of overnight rain that soaked my lower legs.On the path, dry, dusty soil had reverted to reassuring gloop. I was thrilled, at one point, to step cautiously round a puddle. Overhead, a buzzard wheeled and a small gang of swallows skimmed across heather whose p
  
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