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Poor pollination caused by destructive farming methods leads to loss of biodiversity and is a threat to food production, inquiry told

Fruit growers in the UK are already seeing less yield and lower-quality produce because of the loss of insects, scientists have told MPs, warning that a further loss of pollinators could have “significant” impacts on all crops.

As part of a parliamentary inquiry into insect decline and UK food security, Prof Simon Potts from the University of Reading told MPs at the science, innovation and technology committee that there is already good evidence of a shortfall of pollinators and a threat to food production.

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Eastern US states including New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut issue alerts as hundreds of wildfires burn in Canada

• Canada wildfires smoke: latest updates

Tens of millions of people in the US were under air quality alerts on Wednesday, as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted south, turning the sky in some of the country’s biggest cities a murky brown and saturating the air with harmful pollution.

States across the east, including New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, issued air quality alerts, with officials recommending that people limit outdoor activity.

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A London-based ‘carbon-to-value’ startup that transforms CO2 and hydrogen into industrial and consumer products, including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), has raised £18 million in Series A funding.

A new report has called out Australia’s fifth-largest bank for continuing to invest in oil and gas companies, despite committing to align its investment portfolios with a 1.5 C temperature pathway.

Three oil and gas giants have been banned from running ‘greenwashing’ advertisements in the UK because they misled the public on the climate and environmental benefits of the groups’ products overall.

Global energy efficiency efforts are set to hit record highs in 2023, according to a special report from the International Energy Agency, but investments must double to $1.8 trillion by 2030 to align with a trajectory toward net-zero emissions by mid-century.

European carbon prices jumped on Wednesday afternoon after the publication of weekly holdings data that showed a record build in speculative short positioning, while energy prices diverged as gas moved higher to reflect increasingly competitive Asian prices.

Exclusive: UN conference president Sultan Al Jaber is also head of oil firm, which was consulted on how to respond to a media inquiry

The United Arab Emirates’ state oil company has been able to read emails to and from the Cop28 climate summit office and was consulted on how to respond to a media inquiry, the Guardian can reveal.

The UAE is hosting the UN climate summit in November and the president of Cop28 is Sultan Al Jaber, who is also chief executive of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc). The revelations have been called “explosive” and a “scandal” by lawmakers.

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Researchers have pointed to what they regard as a significant omission in the draft Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework relating to extinction risk which they have raised with the body as part of submitted formal feedback.

Canadian mining firm Teck Resources has donated C$10 million ($7.5 mln) to the Chilean Nature Fund (FNC), with the funds to go towards its work with the South American country’s marine protected areas (MPAs).

Researchers have found the first case of a crocodile who made herself pregnant.

Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings has teamed up with a climate tech startup to set up a carbon exchange in the Asian nation that will become operational this fall, Nikkei reported Wednesday.

Almost two-thirds of UK asset owners have yet to make any natural capital investments, with lack of knowledge cited as one of several barriers to progress in research conducted by advisory firm and asset manager member network Pensions for Purpose.

DuPont or 3M scientists discovered PFAS toxicity internally, but did not publish findings or report them to the EPA, study says

In 1953, a paper developed for cigarette maker RJ Reynolds detailed possible cancer-causing agents in tobacco, but the document would remain hidden from public view for decades. In the interim, the industry told the public: “We don’t accept the idea that there are harmful agents in tobacco.”

The chemical industry, it seemed, took note. Just a few years later, DuPont scientists found PFAS enlarged lab rats’ livers and likely caused birth defects in workers. Still, the company told its employees the cancer-linked compounds are “about as toxic as table salt”.

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Exclusive: Wood Group boosts fossil fuel business and shrinks renewables work after getting £430m government-backed loan

The international engineering company Wood Group has expanded its oil and gas business and dramatically shrunk its renewables business after receiving a £430m government-backed “green transition loan”, prompting calls from environmental groups for a review of the process that authorised the loan.

The growth of Wood’s fossil fuels business has shown that the government’s “transition export development guarantee” scheme, which guaranteed the loan, facilitates greenwashing and is open to abuse by polluting companies, according to environmental groups.

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Trading regulations for China’s national emissions trading scheme (ETS) have been included in the State Council’s 2023 legislative work plan, as the government's latest effort to ground the rules in law despite previous fruitless attempts.

A Brazilian company has released a methodology and guidelines for issuing biodiversity stewardship tokens to projects that successfully protect and restore habitats for jaguars.

Arguments over the green credentials of electric cars are already over. Work on 21st-century tech, and leave the past behind

• Ben Lane is co-founder and CTO at Zapmap, a UK-wide map of electric car charging points

It should by now be clear to all vehicle manufacturers and policymakers that the electric vehicle (EV) age is all but inevitable. Most drivers already get it, as shown by the huge order books for most electric models. The long-running fight over whether electric or petrol/diesel engines generate more emissions during their lifecycle, further fuelled by Rowan Atkinson’s recent intervention, is in fact all but over. After years of crunching the numbers, peer-reviewed studies consistently arrive at the same conclusion: EVs win. The UK government’s own research supports this position and concludes that transitioning to zero-emission vehicles would “significantly” reduce overall carbon use.

Of course, where the vehicle and battery are manufactured, and how the electricity is generated, make a difference to the carbon benefits of EVs. But helpful and accessible tools such as the Transport & Environment campaign’s How clean are electric cars? calculator are doing much to demystify these concerns for the average person. This tool clearly shows that across its whole lifetime, a small EV driven in Sweden using a battery produced there emits 83% less than a similar petrol car – that’s a huge improvement. Even one driven in Poland with a battery made in China still emits 37% less.

Ben Lane is co-founder and CTO at Zapmap, a UK-wide map of electric car charging points

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Secondhand clothing waste from Europe is choking the waterways of the west African country. It must not go on

My body has taught me that few things are impossible when you take your time. Sometimes I’m taken aback by how natural this has all felt to me. Since when is it “natural” to be able to swim 10km, 5km or even 2km?

How could it feel so easy to hang off the side of a boat and let go, slipping into the water, sometimes miles from the nearest land. And yet every day, for 40 days of the Agbetsi Living Water Expedition, that is precisely what I did.

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Landholders in PNG have lodged a claim in the country’s National Court to revoke the sale of 1.3 million Verra-issued carbon credits they argue were illegally sold by controversial REDD+ project developer New Ireland Hardwood Timber (NIHT).