Environment news

• UK drops bid for instant return of fisheries control – sources

  18-03-2018 19:54 via theguardian.com
  Latest Brexit concession is blow to ambitions of environment secretary Michael GovePlans to take back control of UK fisheries the moment Britain leaves the EU appear to have been abandoned in the face of united EU opposition, dealing a significant blow to the ambitions of the environment secretary, Michael Gove.Gove put repatriating control of fisheries at the heart of his post-Brexit strategy. But as the negotiations to secure the terms of a transition deal go to the wire in Brussels, the UK ha
  
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• The Guardian view on extreme heat: as risks escalate, adaptation plans are dangerously lagging | Editorial

  23-06-2026 19:30 via theguardian.com
  Record-breaking temperatures should focus minds on the UK’s lack of preparedness for the climate dangers aheadAs western Europe bakes under what scientists describe as a heat dome, or “atmospheric lid”, reports of dozens of drownings, and heat-linked deaths of children and elderly people in France, are a stark reminder of the threat to life from extreme heat – and the fact that some people face higher risks than others. The red alert covering most of s
  
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• France records hottest day ever as 40 people drown across country

  23-06-2026 18:31 via theguardian.com
  French weather service says temperature hit 44.3C in Pissos as heat forces Louvre and Eiffel Tower to close earlyEurope heatwave live – latest updatesFrance has registered its hottest day on record as 40 people across the country were confirmed to have drowned while swimming in unsupervised areas over the last few days.“There is a tragic scourge of drownings,” prime minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Tuesday. “The latest figures we’ve received are 40 deaths s
  
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• Europe battles record-breaking heat: is this the new normal? - The Latest

  23-06-2026 17:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Europe is dealing with a debilitating heatwave, with schools closed, trains cancelled and France holding an emergency meeting after heat-related deaths.António Guterres, the UN chief, is urging the world to act on fossil fuels as the continent braces for record-breaking heat.Lucy Hough speaks to Europe environment correspondent Ajit Niranjan Continue reading...
  
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• Europe heatwave live: Forty people drown in France; Met Office warns UK temperatures could reach 39C

  23-06-2026 17:13 via theguardian.com
  Millions in France and across Europe are enduring extreme heat; ‘London is cooking,’ says UN secretary generalTell us: how is the heatwave in the UK and across Europe affecting you?Forty drown across France in heatwave and parts of Spain above 30C at nightItaly’s health ministry has declared a red heatwave alert in 15 cities including Milan and Rome on Tuesday and said the number would go up to 16 on Wednesday.During a red alert – the highest level – the ministry ad
  
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• From yoghurt to luxury sails: how to shade your home from supercharged UK heatwaves

  23-06-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As hot weather becomes more common, companies and homeowners are coming up with innovative ways to keep properties coolWhen graphic designer Marc Alabaster had a new set of glass doors installed at his West Sussex home eight years ago, he soon realised how they magnified the heat of the afternoon sun.“The kitchen was 40-plus degrees,” he said. Then he went on holiday to Spain and saw an apartment building wrapped in louvre-like rows of angled fins or blades that shaded the external w
  
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• A super El Niño threatens disaster. Trump is handling it recklessly | Terry Garcia

  23-06-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  The administration interrupted data streams that are key to forecasting. These systems should not be vulnerable to political whimsIn 1877, North Americans experienced an unusually mild winter – it was known as the “year without a winter”. It coincided with one of the strongest El Niño events ever recorded. Scientists suspect the same El Niño was a major factor in one of the worst environmental disasters in history. As much of the world was enveloped in drought, ha
  
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• Europe’s June heatwave – in pictures

  23-06-2026 13:50 via theguardian.com
  The ‘heat dome’ settling over western Europe could bring temperatures of up to 40C to some parts of England and Wales in the middle part of this week Continue reading...
  
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• Can the UK kick its cod habit? Fish and chip shop favourite slips down the menu as prices soar

  23-06-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  The cost of the traditional takeaway has doubled since 2019, and more outlets are trying to tempt customers with cheaper options such as coley, pollack and hakeIn late April, visitors to Harbour Lights in Falmouth, Cornwall, may have raised an eyebrow. The fish and chip shop was in the midst of a “cod-free week”, its owners having removed cod from its menu entirely.It was the second time owner Pete Fraser had undertaken the experiment, 15 years after the first. He also removed cod fr
  
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• Scientists alarmed after two wildfires hit Greenland within a week

  23-06-2026 12:44 via theguardian.com
  Researchers say it is ‘quite wild’ to see fires at such high northern latitudes happen so early in the yearScientists have expressed concern after two wildfires broke out within a week of each other on the Arctic island of Greenland earlier this month.Fires were burning close to Sisimiut, Greenland’s second largest town and a popular tourism centre, on 14 and 15 June, satellite imagery has shown, while a second blaze hit Kujalleq, on the island’s southern tip, on 17 June.
  
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• Air pollution is a fixable problem – just look at how London and New York have cleaned up their acts | Sadiq Khan and Michael Bloomberg

  23-06-2026 12:42 via theguardian.com
  We’ve shown that rapid, measurable progress is achievable in our cities. Here’s how that can now be replicated worldwideSadiq Khan is the mayor of London. Michael Bloomberg is a former mayor of New York CitySome public health threats make global headlines: Covid-19. Ebola. Famine. When these disasters hit, photographs and videos of people suffering and dying spur countries to respond, international bodies to cooperate and individuals to donate supplies and money. Yet one of the world
  
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• Europe heatwave live: ‘London is cooking,’ says UN chief as UK forecast to hit 38C; France has hottest night since records began

  23-06-2026 12:23 via theguardian.com
  António Guterres urges world to act on fossil fuels as continent braces for record-breaking heat; French PM to hold emergency meeting after heat deathsTell us: how is the heatwave in the UK and across Europe affecting you?Two children found dead in car in France as heatwave hits EuropeItaly’s health ministry has declared a red heatwave alert in 15 cities including Milan and Rome on Tuesday and said the number would go up to 16 on Wednesday.During a red alert – the highest leve
  
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• Europe heatwave live: UK temperatures forecast to reach 38C after overnight storms; France has hottest night since records began

  23-06-2026 11:26 via theguardian.com
  Temperatures could smash June record in England and Wales set in 1976; French PM to hold emergency meeting after heat deathsTell us: how is the heatwave in the UK and across Europe affecting you?Two children found dead in car in France as heatwave hits EuropeItaly’s health ministry has declared a red heatwave alert in 15 cities including Milan and Rome on Tuesday and said the number would go up to 16 on Wednesday.During a red alert – the highest level – the ministry advises peo
  
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• Goodbye, pilates princess – hello, gym goblin: how the just-got-out-of-bed look took over fitness

  23-06-2026 11:00 via theguardian.com
  The colour-coordinated ‘clean girl’ athleisure aesthetic is dead. Now it’s all about mismatched outfits and vintage sportswearAt first, the goblins came for our downtime. Going “goblin mode” was a lifestyle confined to the home – to the bed, mostly. The “comforts of depravity” it brought (“watching 90 Day Fiancé on mute while scrolling endlessly through social media, pouring the end of a bag of chips in your mouth”, for example)
  
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• ‘Climate change is a form of oppression’: the voices affected most by environmental crisis

  23-06-2026 11:00 via theguardian.com
  In HBO documentary The Welcome Table, director Josh Fox brings together people from across the world whose lives have been dramatically altered by the climate crisisIn an age of division, director Josh Fox is hoping to bring people of all kinds together. Specifically, he wants them to share a table – to break bread for a meal, and come together in exuberant song.In his new documentary film The Welcome Table, the director of the the Emmy-winning Gasland travels around the world to talk to p
  
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• Europe heatwave live: UK temperatures forecast to reach 38C; French PM to hold crisis meeting after heat deaths

  23-06-2026 09:21 via theguardian.com
  Temperatures could smash June record in England and Wales set in 1976; red alerts in France after 19 heat deathsTwo children found dead in car in France as heatwave hits EuropeHere are the UK temperature milestones that could be passed during the current heatwave, according to data published by the UK’s Met Office. Continue reading...
  
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• Ed Miliband to say UK must stick to net zero targets to deliver jobs and growth

  23-06-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Energy secretary expected to argue that UK clean economy is booming as private sector pledges over £100bn of investmentEd Miliband is to say that the UK must stick to net zero targets to deliver jobs and growth, as speculation surrounds the energy secretary’s role under a new prime minister.He will make the speech as data shows more than £100bn in green investment has been pledged by private sector companies in this parliament. Continue reading...
  
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• Clean economy brings jobs and growth, says Miliband as £100bn invested in green energy

  23-06-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Energy secretary hails £100bn milestone in this parliament and says it is ‘only the start of what we want to achieve’Ed Miliband has hailed a boost to UK jobs and growth as government data reveals that private sector companies have pledged more than £100bn in investment into the green economy so far in this parliament.Offshore wind, solar power and the electricity grid make up the bulk of the planned investment, most of it between 2024 and 2031, which will go to all regio
  
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• Levitating penguins and predatory ants: Australian Geographic nature photographer of the year 2026 shortlist – in pictures

  23-06-2026 07:43 via theguardian.com
  A hundred incredible images have been shortlisted by the South Australian Museum as part of this year’s Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition. In its 23rd year, the competition attracted 2,129 entries from 501 photographers in 17 countries. Entries were accepted covering content from across the ANZANG bioregion – Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea Continue reading...
  
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• Remembering summer 1976: how the historic heatwave has become our new normal

  23-06-2026 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Half a century on, Britain braces for temperatures up to 40C as global heating brings yet more extreme weatherThe summer of 1976 is seared on to national memory as one of record heat. Harvests failed, farmers despaired, Britain imported an extra million tonnes of grain, food prices rose by 12%, taps ran dry, and each day, 250 people died from heat-related deaths.The heatwave, which began 50 years ago on Tuesday, brought 15 consecutive days where the peak temperature was above 32C. Half a century
  
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• Country diary: Birds of a feather in a noisy argument | Mary Montague

  23-06-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Queen’s University, Belfast: The corvids in the branches above me spring a surprise – there’s a black crow among themThe rain hurries me to shelter at the woods’ edge, but I’m scarcely under the branches of a mature sycamore when the canopy starts to thrash. Abrasive voices erupt from the foliage as a rabble of crows dispute. One leaps into a gap between the leaves, crouching, its ash-grey body low over a branch and fanning its black tail. The throat inflates to bra
  
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• Piglet, it’s a purple, psychedelic shapeshifter! The wild new creature prowling Winnie-the-Pooh’s wood

  23-06-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Is it an alien? A dinosaur? Is it going to kill us all? Our writer hits Ashdown Forest for the Big One Hundred celebrations – and finds its magic enchanting new generationsThe rolling idyll of heath and forest, spinney and stream that gave us the Heffalump, the Woozle and, most famously of all, Winnie-the-Pooh, has a new fantastical resident. Creeping through the bracken, making strange cooing and purring noises, is a shapeshifting creature with a huge tubular nose and eyes inspired by add
  
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• A thousand years old and 20 storeys high: tracking down Taiwan’s tallest trees

  23-06-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  The country’s biggest tree – named Heaven Sword of the Da’an River – is a carbon-storing behemoth hosting whole neighbourhoods of wildlife. But this and other giant trees are under threatThe higher you climb up the gigantic, millennia-old trees of Taiwan’s forests, the more layers of habitat and life emerge. On the forest floor, ferns thrive in the moist shade. Flying squirrels and owls sleep inside the hollow tree trunks. Yellow bell-shaped rhododendron flowers spr
  
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• Whyalla wipeout fears: cuttlefish usually gather in their thousands, but few have appeared since a massive algal bloom

  22-06-2026 17:10 via theguardian.com
  Divers have observed just a ‘couple of dozen’ of the cephalopods along the heritage-listed Cuttlefish Coast in South Australia, causing locals and marine scientists to worryFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMid-June is usually the peak time for giant Australian cuttlefish to gather near Whyalla, in South Australia’s Spencer Gulf.Nearly every year, they come in their thousands – and sometimes hu
  
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• Trapped by floods and fearing death in the heat: the Australians taking legal action over the climate crisis

  22-06-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Ten people affected in different ways by extreme weather are taking a case against the federal government to the UNGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAs flood waters rose in Brisbane’s West End in February 2022, Brendon Donohue was trapped alone in his second-storey apartment for 10 days. The 33-year-old is legally blind and his movement is limited by Peters plus syndrome. He received evacuation alerts on his phone in the middle of the night. But with the lift, inte
  
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• Met Office issues rare red weather warning for Wednesday and Thursday

  22-06-2026 14:58 via theguardian.com
  UK Health Security Agency also issues red heat alert for six English regions, indicating risk to life even for the healthyMet Office forecasters have issued a rare red weather warning for Wednesday and Thursday in the face of extreme heat and humidity, while a red heat health alert has been issued in England indicating “a risk to life for even the healthy population”.The weather warning covers southern Wales as far west as Swansea, and an area of England that includes London and runs
  
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• ‘Emotional and horrific’: volunteers ‘live’ as Somerset animals to study wildlife risks

  22-06-2026 14:14 via theguardian.com
  People trained to experience world as otters, salmon and other River Tone creatures for pioneering researchWhat does a kestrel make of the dog sniffing in the long grass below? Why does an exhausted salmon pause before a weir? How will an otter experience the rumble of a passing train?Eighteen people have spent six weeks swimming, slithering and soaring as otters, salmon, earthworms, red deer and kestrels in an attempt to better document the risks for wild animals in our human-dominated landscap
  
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• Starmer has a strong green record – but a rightwing backlash weakened his plans

  22-06-2026 13:19 via theguardian.com
  Prime minister was forced to row back on some policies despite strong support among voters for climate actionKeir Starmer has faced a problem no Labour government has needed to deal with before. His energy and climate policies – core to solving the cost of living crisis – have come under attack from opposition parties, which have made dismantling the agenda one of their top priorities, second only to immigration, in their pitch to voters.This is new in British politics, where a cross
  
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• Europe suffers under record heatwave as temperatures forecast to reach 44C

  22-06-2026 12:14 via theguardian.com
  Rail services, schools and sports events hit, with deaths of three elderly people in France partly blamed on intense heatWestern Europe is enduring a ferocious heatwave forecast to break temperature records, with half of France on red alert, rail services in Belgium disrupted and sports events in Spain and Germany cancelled or postponed.French authorities on Monday placed 49 of the country’s 96 mainland departments on a level 1 danger-to-life warning, urging 35 million people to exercise &
  
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• Woman finds rare pink grasshoppers in garden

  22-06-2026 07:14 via bbc.com
  
  Usually, they get eaten by birds due to their inability to camouflage, making them a rare sight.
  
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