Environment news

• Unique two-clawed dinosaur discovered

  25-03-2025 16:26 via bbc.com
  
  Duonychus is one of the few species of theropod dinosaur that evolved two-fingered hands.
  
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• I’ve been thinking a lot about dog poo | Adrian Chiles

  14-01-2026 18:52 via theguardian.com
  There was a time when nobody picked up after their dogs – and it would have been considered disgusting to do so. What caused the change in attitude?A PE teacher from Cardiff called Tony is frozen solid after being caught in an avalanche in 1979. There he remains until global heating sees to his thawing and he pops up in the present day, exactly as he was back then. Comedy ensues. This is make-believe, by the way; it’s the premise of Mike Bubbins’ BBC series Mammoth. In the mast
  
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• Labour still faces risks on energy despite ‘record’ wind power auction | Nils Pratley

  14-01-2026 17:44 via theguardian.com
  Government hails step towards clean power in Great Britain by 2030 – but the auction shows trade-offs are now neededOffshore windfarm contracts to fuel 12m homes in Great Britain after record auctionEd Miliband: With this record wind power auction, we’ve proved the rightwing doubters wrongThe government has defied gloomy price expectations for its latest auction for offshore wind capacity. The worry a few months ago was that bill payers would be forced to pay more than £100 a m
  
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• BP to take hit of up to $5bn on green energy as it refocuses on fossil fuels

  14-01-2026 13:57 via theguardian.com
  Energy company also under pressure from worse oil trading performance and weaker oil pricesBusiness live – latest updatesBP has said it expects to write down the value of its struggling green energy business by as much as $5bn (£3.7bn), as it refocuses on fossil fuels under its new chair, Albert Manifold.The oil company said the writedowns were mostly related to its gas and low-carbon energy divisions in its “transition businesses”, but added that wiping between $4bn and
  
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• UK secures record supply of offshore wind projects

  14-01-2026 13:08 via bbc.com
  The government says the projects will bring down bills but the Conservatives say it is locking in high wind prices.
  
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• Solar grazing: ‘triple-win’ for sheep farmers, renewables and society or just a PR exercise for energy companies?

  14-01-2026 11:52 via theguardian.com
  For Hannah Thorogood, a first-generation Lincolnshire farmer, grazing her sheep on solar land gave her a leg-up in the industryOn a blustery Lincolnshire morning, Hannah Thorogood paused between two ranks of solar panels. Her sheep nosedived into the grass under their shelter and began to graze.“When I first started out, 18 acres and 20 sheep was as much as I could afford,” said the first-generation farmer. “Now, because I can graze this land for free, I have 250 acres and over
  
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• With this record wind power auction, we’ve proved the rightwing doubters wrong | Ed Miliband

  14-01-2026 10:30 via theguardian.com
  The only way that Britain’s energy bills can come down is if we are no longer reliant on fossil fuels. Today marks a big step towards that goalOffshore windfarm contracts to fuel 12m homes in Great Britain after record auctionIn the 18 months since I became energy secretary, the government has made a simple argument: that if we want to bring down energy bills for good, Britain needs to get off the rollercoaster of fossil fuels and instead build up clean homegrown power that we control.We k
  
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• Offshore windfarm contracts to fuel 12m homes in Great Britain after record auction

  14-01-2026 08:25 via theguardian.com
  Subsidies guaranteeing price for each unit of clean electricity generated given to 12 renewables projectsA make-or-break auction for the UK government’s goal to create a clean electricity system by 2030 has awarded subsidy contracts to enough offshore windfarms to power a record 12m homes.In Great Britain’s most competitive auction for renewable subsidies to date, energy companies vied for contracts that guarantee the price for each unit of clean electricity they generate. Continue r
  
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• Birdwatch: Cold snap brings fieldfares and redwings to the fore

  14-01-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Britain’s winter thrushes, the swallows and swifts of the season, were strangely absent until recentlyJust as swallows and swifts are the constant sight and sound of spring and summer, so our two winter thrushes – fieldfares and redwings – are usually ever-present during the autumn and winter months.Last autumn, however, the fields and hedgerows around my Somerset home were unusually devoid of these birds, while their favourite food – the hawthorn’s bright scarlet b
  
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• Country diary: Which is the ‘fast sinker’ out of me and the grebe? | Nic Wilson

  14-01-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Waresley, Cambridgeshire: In a near-freezing lake, I’m treated to an up-close view of one of my favourite birdsThe spring-fed lake is a picture of tranquillity this morning. On the far side, ivy-clad trees touch trunks with their watery counterparts, creating an image of a child’s mirror painting folded along the shoreline. Only the soft blurring of branches distinguishes reflection from reality.The scene might look serene, but I must focus on my breathing to stay calm as I lower mys
  
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• Global temperatures dipped in 2025 but more heat records on way, scientists warn

  14-01-2026 04:44 via bbc.com
  The last three years were Earth's hottest on record, as humanity's carbon emissions continue to heat the planet.
  
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• Human activity helped make 2025 third-hottest year on record, experts say

  14-01-2026 04:00 via theguardian.com
  Data leads scientists to declare 2015 Paris agreement to keep global heating below 1.5C‘dead in the water’Last year was the third hottest on record, scientists have said, with mounting fossil fuel pollution behind “exceptional” temperatures.The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said 2025 had continued a three-year streak of “extraordinary global temperatures” during which surface air temperatures averaged 1.48C above preindustrial levels. Continue readin
  
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• ‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body

  13-01-2026 15:20 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Some scientists say many detections are most likely error, with one high-profile study called a ‘joke’High-profile studies reporting the presence of microplastics throughout the human body have been thrown into doubt by scientists who say the discoveries are probably the result of contamination and false positives. One chemist called the concerns “a bombshell”.Studies claiming to have revealed micro and nanoplastics in the brain, testes, placentas, arteries and
  
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• Meet the merpeople: ‘Once I put the tail on, my life was changed forever’

  13-01-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Professional mermaids risk hypothermia, seasickness and the cling of skin-tight silicone, but the reward is becoming an ‘ocean ambassador’ – and a bit more colour in the worldPropelled by a shimmering silicon tail, Katrin Gray spins underwater, blowing kisses to the audience as her long, copper hair floats around her face. Her seemingly effortless movement is anything but – a professional mermaid’s free diving and performance skills require training, practice and to
  
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• Mapped: how the world is losing its forests to wildfires

  13-01-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Wildfires now destroy twice as much tree cover per year as two decades ago – a crisis fuelled by climate changeThe world is losing forests to fire at an unsustainable rate, experts have warned.Wildfires have always been part of nature’s cycle, but in recent decades their scale, frequency and intensity in carbon-rich forests have surged. Continue reading...
  
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• Cold weather and data centres drive up US greenhouse gas emissions

  13-01-2026 12:40 via bbc.com
  US emissions of planet-warming gases rise for the first time in three years.
  
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• 'I wake up at night in fear of losing my home'

  13-01-2026 07:21 via bbc.com
  A fourth home in the village is being demolished due to the eroding coastline.
  
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• Country diary: Hooray for the hard, frozen ground – life on Earth depends on it | Ed Douglas

  13-01-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Blacka Moor, South Yorkshire: The very cold daytime temperatures should be welcomed, and the reason is right beneath our feetAt the edge of the moor, there’s a knot of birch that over the years has become familiar to me – not for the trees themselves, but for the earth that nourishes them. Here the ground turns to a peaty gloop and the path braids as walkers explore different ways to keep their boots out of the mud. Not today, though. Today the grou
  
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• He invented mini saunas for frogs – now this biologist has big plans to save hundreds of species

  13-01-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  A deadly fungus has already wiped out 90 species and threatens 500 more but Anthony Waddle is hoping gene replacement could be their salvationStanding ankle-deep in water between two bare cottonwood trees on a hot spring day, eight-year-old Anthony Waddle was in his element. His attention was entirely absorbed by the attempt to net tadpoles swimming in a reservoir in the vast Mojave desert.It was “one of the perfect moments in my childhood”, he says. Continue reading...
  
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• Berry nice to meet you: bumper fruit crop could lead to huge mating season for NZ’s endangered kākāpō

  13-01-2026 05:21 via theguardian.com
  After a four-year wait, the abundant fruiting of the rimu tree could inspire the world’s heaviest parrots to boost their population It has been four long years, but the world’s heaviest parrots, the kākāpō, are finally about to get it on again. The mass fruiting of a native New Zealand tree has triggered breeding season – a rare event conservationists hope will lead to a record number of chicks for the critically endangered bird.Kākāpō, the world&r
  
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• Wildlife targets will be missed in England and Northern Ireland, watchdog says

  13-01-2026 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Seven out of 10 targets have little likelihood of being met by 2030, Office for Environmental Protection saysThe government will not meet its targets to save wildlife in England and Northern Ireland and is failing on almost all environmental measures, the Office for Environmental Protection watchdog has said.In a damning report, the OEP has found that seven of the 10 targets set in the Environment Act 2021 have little likelihood of being met by 2030, which is the deadline set in law. Continue re
  
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• Government’s wildlife targets will be missed in England, watchdog says

  13-01-2026 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Seven out of 10 targets have little likelihood of being met by 2030, Office for Environmental Protection saysThe government will not meet its targets to save wildlife in England and is failing on almost all environmental measures, the Office for Environmental Protection watchdog has said.In a damning report, the OEP has found that seven of the 10 targets set in the Environment Act 2021 have little likelihood of being met by 2030, which is the deadline set in law. Continue reading...
  
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• Coal power generation falls in China and India for first time since 1970s

  13-01-2026 01:01 via theguardian.com
  ‘Historic’ moment in biggest coal-consuming countries could bring decline in global emissions, analysis says Coal power generation fell in China and India for the first time since the 1970s last year, in a “historic” moment that could bring a decline in global emissions, according to analysis.The simultaneous fall in coal-powered electricity in the world’s biggest coal-consuming countries had not happened since 1973, according to analysts at the Centre for Research
  
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• US plan to exploit Venezuela’s oil could eat up 13% of carbon budget to keep 1.5C limit

  12-01-2026 18:38 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: ClimatePartner analysis shows how move would risk plunging Earth further into climate catastropheUS plans to exploit Venezuela’s oil reserves could by 2050 consume more than a tenth of the world’s remaining carbon budget to limit global heating to 1.5C, according to an exclusive analysis.The calculation highlights how any moves to further exploit the South American nation’s oil reserves – the largest in the world, at least on paper – would put increasing
  
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• Weather tracker: Canada issues warnings for freezing rain, heavy snow and strong winds

  12-01-2026 16:40 via theguardian.com
  Severe weather, driven by two low-pressure systems merging, is expected to bring power outages and hazardous road conditionsAtlantic Canada is under widespread weather warnings for snow, freezing rain and strong winds as a winter storm moves across the region. In Newfoundland, up to 40cm of snow fell on Sunday, along with wind gusts of about 74mph, creating blizzard-like conditions.The storm began late on Sunday and is forecast to persist until Tuesday morning. Freezing rain warnings are in plac
  
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• ‘It’s embarrassing’: riders say time is up for fossil fuel sponsorship of heat-affected Tour Down Under

  12-01-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Cyclists prepare for Australia’s big race by training in extreme temperatures – and they’ve noticed a contradiction in the relationship with SantosGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe first time Maeve Plouffe trained in the heat, she was in Paris in the lead-up to the Olympics. It was supposed to be an easy ride to help get used to the conditions. When she returned, she fainted from heat sickness.“That’s how badly I was affected,” she
  
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• ‘A serious amount of rain’: central Queensland flooding could isolate some communities for months

  12-01-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  ‘I don’t think anyone realised how bad it would get,’ says one resident, who says she might need a boat or a helicopterFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAshleigh Brieffies is standing on the front steps of her home in central Queensland on Monday afternoon as knee-deep water sweeps over the grounds of her property.“If it comes up another 2ft we’ll probably be underwater,” says Brief
  
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• The pet I’ll never forget: Dory the 10kg rabbit, who saved me from a diabetic coma

  12-01-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  My Flemish giant bunny loved chomping on carrots, computer cables and my skirting board – and being walked on a leash. When I suffered a medical emergency, she jumped into actionThe first time I saw a Flemish giant rabbit was at TruckFest in Peterborough in 2002. Among a sprawling maze of stalls at the East of England showground, I was led into a tent filled with the biggest rabbits I’d ever laid eyes on. I’d never heard of Flemish giants before, but I knew then that I needed o
  
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• ‘Fear of the next deluge’: flood-scarred Britons join forces to demand help

  12-01-2026 11:00 via theguardian.com
  As climate breakdown puts millions more people at flood risk, traumatised homeowners are finding common voiceDarren Ridley is always on high alert, constantly checking his phone for rain warnings – even in the middle of the night.“Our whole family is permanently on edge,” he says. “If we hear rain, day or night, we’re up and checking the house. I can’t sleep without replaying our flood plan in my head for weaknesses.” Continue reading...
  
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• Huge Roman villa found under popular park dubbed town's 'Pompeii'

  12-01-2026 07:13 via bbc.com
  The largest Roman villa ever found in Wales lies less than a metre under Margam Country Park.
  
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