Environment news

• World's first grid-connected tidal array deployed in the Shetlands

  30-08-2016 13:49
  
  Scotland's efforts to become a fully-renewable nation received another boost this month, after a tidal array off the coast of the Shetlands Islands became the world's first to connect to the grid.
  
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• Tinned mackerel, hand-crank radios and bags for poo: crisis-prepping guides around the world

  23-10-2026 17:52 via Environment | The Guardian
  
  UK allies have long urged people to stockpile supplies for a crisis. How are people from France to Australia being advised to prepare?The UK has told people to fill their pantries with food for three days in case of catastrophe, joining a host of countries urging citizens to ready themselves for core systems failing.Such advice, once dismissed as the preserve of preppers, has become more common in government circles as climate breakdown worsens weather extremes and geopolitical tensions turn cyb
  
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• UK government to make unprecedented intervention in setting of water bills

  23-10-2026 15:51 via Environment | The Guardian
  Exclusive: Angela Eagle tells utility bosses next price review ‘must focus on value for money for customers’UK politics live – latest updatesMinisters will make an unprecedented intervention in water bills and how companies prioritise investment, directing bosses to bring down costs and stop leaks and sewage overflows.Angela Eagle, the environment secretary, has told suppliers in England and Wales she plans to intervene in the next price review – conducted by the water regulator, Ofwat.
  
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• ‘This is a lethal threat’: Indigenous groups fear Bolsonaro’s hold on voters in Brazil’s Amazon towns

  23-10-2026 12:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  Far-right presidential candidate is popular among those who believe more mining can help revitalise local economiesIt was the night before the first round of Brazil’s presidential election and Rosimari Monteiro was so excited she couldn’t sleep. The 38-year-old spent hours tossing and turning at her home in the Amazon town of Mucajaí before rising at dawn to cast her vote.“I was the first person to vote at my polling station … I voted 22, so we got off to a positive start,” recalls Mo
  
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• Week in wildlife: a bookworm bear, an angelic spider and a bald hedgehog

  23-10-2026 09:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• At Cop17, the pressure is on to rescue a deal that could end the destruction of nature

  23-10-2026 08:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  ​As world leaders struggle to meet deadlines to halt nature loss set four years ago, a rare leopard in host country Armenia offers a symbol of what is at stakeDon’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThe Armenian capital Yerevan is chock-a-block right now with officials, scientists and environmentalists from all over the world gathering for Cop17. Everyone is here to try to rescue a historic deal to end the destruction of nature.The pressure is on. Targets set for 2030 ar
  
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• How citizen science is tracking changes in shorelines around the world

  23-10-2026 07:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  
  An app and a camera phone are all that’s needed at more than 200 spots to help researchers monitor coastal areasThe shoreline changes with the weather. Tracking these changes over time is a labour-intensive task, and an army of citizen scientists with camera phones is a great asset.The CoastSnap project started in Australia in 2017 and has spread to beaches worldwide. You may have spotted the setup while out walking along the coast: a cradle to rest your phone on while taking a picture and a s
  
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• Country diary: Slugs? Dull? This one is pure showbiz | Charlie Elder

  23-10-2026 06:30 via Environment | The Guardian
  
  Falmouth, Cornwall: The rainbow sea slug is a bizarre and breathtaking animal, and with warming seas it’s gaining a toehold in the south-westI have never seen a species quite so flamboyant in appearance. A couple of centimetres in length, it was curled beneath the submerged rock like a piece of gaudy costume jewellery.When the cry went up that one had been found, I had to prevent myself from breaking into a run as I navigated the slippery seaweed-covered boulders to catch my first glimpse of
  
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• Heat killed ‘staggering’ 50,000 people in Europe’s cities this summer, scientists warn

  23-10-2026 06:01 via Environment | The Guardian
  People succumbed to heat at highest rates in Malta, Italy and Hungary, with health issues, loneliness and poverty exacerbating tollHeat killed a record 50,000 people in European cities this summer, new research suggests, with scientists blaming climate breakdown for two in every three of the deaths.Morgues and funeral homes filled with bodies from June to August as the heat added by planet-baking pollution cut short an extra 32,000 lives in urban areas, the researchers found. Hot days pushed vul
  
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• In allowing coal expansion in the Hunter, Chris Minns is pouring fuel on the climate fire. His decision will come back to hurt us all | Jack Egan

  23-10-2026 03:08 via Environment | The Guardian
  The high court found NSW is responsible for emissions from burning exported coal. What message does it send when the government can step in and bypass the law?Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereAs someone who lost their home in the black summer bushfires, I was buoyed by the high court finding in favour of a small community group in the Hunter Valley earlier this month.Led by two retired science teachers, Wendy Wales and Tony Lonergan, the De
  
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• Amber warning in place as Storm Austen hits parts of UK

  23-10-2026 02:08 via BBC News
  
  Disruption to travel is likely as the season's first named storm brings a swathe of powerful winds to south-west England on Friday.
  
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• Grid operator says lights will stay on this winter after concerns

  23-10-2026 01:04 via BBC News
  
  The assurance from the National Energy System Operator comes amid concern from its engineers about their ability to ensure adequate supply.
  
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• Heavy rain warning as Storm Austen sweeps across Scotland

  22-10-2026 23:59 via BBC News
  
  The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for rain across most of central and eastern Scotland on Friday.
  
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• Andy Burnham vows UK will hit net zero target despite Jackdaw gasfield approval

  22-10-2026 23:34 via Environment | The Guardian
  
  PM pledges commitment to address climate crisis, saying in Guardian article that his ‘determination is unwavering’ Andy Burnham: We will make the net-zero transition work for BritainAndy Burnham has said he will not “abandon the responsibility” of fighting the climate crisis after the government approved the Jackdaw gasfield, pledging to block new North Sea licences and keep Britain on track for net zero by 2050.The comments are the prime minister’s most forthright yet on net zero, aft
  
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• Gasps as Prince William makes surprise appearance on Graham Norton Show

  22-10-2026 23:21 via BBC News
  
  The Prince of Wales was marking his Earthshot Prize, to which all of Norton's guests were linked.
  
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• Firefighters and public 'knowingly put at risk' during summer wildfires

  22-10-2026 20:48 via BBC News
  
  Crews and control centre staff say the fires were relentless with many firefighters still off work injured.
  
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• Unsafe water, burning eyes and kerosene slicks: residents demand answers on River Taff leak

  22-10-2026 19:58 via Environment | The Guardian
  People near south Wales river were told to keep windows and doors shut after thousands of litres of kerosene from a GE Aerospace site got into the waterOily slicks of kerosene still appeared to be leaking into the River Taff this week, several days after a breach of thousands of litres was spotted by members of the public.The breach into the Welsh river was identified last Friday, after people reported strong chemical odours emanating from it. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) officers arrived on si
  
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• We will make the net-zero transition work for Britain – approving the Jackdaw gasfield is part of the plan | Andy Burnham

  22-10-2026 19:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  Protecting jobs and strengthening energy security in the short term does not mean wavering on Labour’s deep commitment to a cleaner, greener futureOn Wednesday, the energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, gave the go-ahead for gas production to begin at the Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea. This has been the subject of fierce debate for many years, with strong views on both sides. I want to explain what the decision means and how it fits with Britain’s climate commitments.At a time of acute gl
  
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• Weather warning in place ahead of Storm Boelo

  22-10-2026 17:14 via BBC News
  
  A Met Office weather warning is in place from 18:00 BST on Saturday until 15:00 GMT on Sunday.
  
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• Damaging hail pelts Phoenix in rare storm

  22-10-2026 17:11 via BBC News
  
  Videos from the Arizona capital show people sheltering inside a car as hail smashes the windscreen, while intense downpours covered neighbourhoods in ice.
  
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• First human case of Shamonda virus detected in France, officials say

  22-10-2026 15:53 via BBC News
  
  The disease, which usually affects cattle, has been identified in a patient who died in early October.
  
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• Activists celebrate as land given protected status

  22-10-2026 15:30 via BBC News
  
  Volunteers say they have been campaigning for 30 years to keep a wild space free from development.
  
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• Have scientists finally found a way to save the banana from disaster?

  22-10-2026 15:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  With the climate crisis and diseases threatening one of the world’s most popular fruits, researchers are hoping a breakthrough in breeding techniques could give the Cavendish banana a certain futureLove them or loathe them, bananas are one of the world’s most popular fruit. But a combination of the climate crisis and new killer diseases have had growers concerned over the banana’s threatened extinction, something that would impose a huge toll on farmers in countries from Guatemala to Malaw
  
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• Marine life in Gulf of Mexico has still not fully recovered from 2010 BP oil spill

  22-10-2026 14:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  New study reveals dramatic population drops in fish, cephalopods and more after the Deepwater Horizon spillMarine life in the Gulf of Mexico plummeted by about 60% after BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and has still not fully recovered, according to a new study.The April 2010 explosion of an offshore drilling unit 50 miles off the Louisiana coast triggered the largest marine oil spill in history, releasing 134m gallons of oil into the ocean. According to the study published Monday in PNA
  
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• At least four dead after storm brings flooding to southern France

  22-10-2026 13:23 via BBC News
  
  The deaths include two women found drowned in a cellar in the Bouches-du-Rhône region.
  
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• ‘Pure arrogance’: anger in Finland as Google illegally fells 250,000 trees for datacentre

  22-10-2026 13:22 via Environment | The Guardian
  Company ordered to stop work at two sites in country, which has found itself at forefront of tech firms’ latest pushBehind a wire fence lies a vast gaping wound of earth. Before Google’s arrival a few months ago, an estimated quarter of a million trees occupied the 330 hectares (815 acres) of forest near the town of Muhos in rural northern Finland. Now they are all gone.After the tech company illegally stripped the entire area to build a datacentre – taking even the top soil with it – al
  
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• Project aims to protect rare arctic-alpine plants

  22-10-2026 13:11 via BBC News
  
  The three year scheme is awarded £65,000 to collect seeds and plant them in the fells.
  
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• Blockades, checkpoints and court action: fending off Brazil’s biofuel giants in the Amazon

  22-10-2026 13:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  After decades of violent displacement and land theft, the country’s quilombola communities are fighting backFor most of his 39 years, Josias Dias dos Santos, known as Jota, has endured degrading cycles of displacement as a quilombola, a descendant of Black people once enslaved on Brazil’s sugar cane and coffee plantations. He says his and other quilombola families subsisting in the rainforests in Pará, northern Brazil, were first forced out of their settlements by violent loggers, then by r
  
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• Two storms in two days as Austen and Boelo target UK

  22-10-2026 12:34 via BBC News
  
  The Met Office has named a new storm, Boelo, which is set to bring another round of stormy weather to the UK over the weekend.
  
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• Big pharma accused of ‘free-riding on nature’ as global fund attracts just $7,000

  22-10-2026 11:00 via Environment | The Guardian
  The Cali Fund, set up to raise $1bn a year for biodiversity from drug companies, remains near emptyBig pharmaceutical companies have been accused of “free-riding on nature”, after a landmark biodiversity fund that invites businesses to put some of their profits back into conservation was left virtually empty.The Cali Fund set out to raise $1bn (£750m) annually, by asking companies that profit from nature’s genetics to contribute towards conservation in low-income countries. But more than
  
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