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Water companies have logged five sewage spills a day, every day, for a decade, analysis by the Observer shows

Water companies in England and Wales have averaged five serious sewage spills into rivers or seas every day over the past decade, the Observer can reveal.

Analysis of Environment Agency data has found that the 10 firms recorded 19,484 category 1-3 pollution incidents between 2013 and 2022, the most recent year recorded, an average of one every four and a half hours.

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Communities in the Latrobe Valley – and those in six other locations around Australia – are on a new energy frontline. On Wednesday, the Coalition promised that, if elected to government, a part of the Loy Yang power station would be one of seven sites to host a nuclear reactor. But what do residents think of Peter Dutton's nuclear plan for their area? The Coalition's decision seems to have split opinions

• Confusion reigns about the Coalition’s nuclear proposal. Here’s how the rhetoric has shifted

• There is no shortage of Coalition U-turns on nuclear. But this Aukus example might be the most remarkable

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Exclusive: State department official urges politicians to do ‘the right thing’, citing ‘collective responsibility’

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A senior US official has urged Australia and other countries not to back away from their 2030 climate commitments, insisting that “we all have a collective responsibility for the planet we live in”.

The message from Australia’s top security ally contrasts with rhetoric from the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, who claimed on Saturday the Labor government was “appeasing the international climate lobby” and “global climate activists”.

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Thousands of people marched through central London to urge political leaders to take more decisive action in tackling the UK’s wildlife crisis. For the first time, mainstream organisations including the National Trust and the RSPB stood beside hunt saboteurs and direct action activists in the Restore Nature Now march, as campaigners called on the next government to take 'bold' steps to tackle the biodiversity crisis

• Restore Nature Now: thousands to march in London calling for urgent action

• Thousands march in London to urge leaders to tackle wildlife crisis

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Costly new vehicles, limited choice and scarce charging points are holding back a switch to electric by businesses

Carbon emissions from vans in the UK have risen by 63% since 1990, new analysis shows, as cars are getting cleaner.

While more people are opting to drive electric or plug-in hybrid cars, van drivers still prefer diesel because electric vans are much more expensive with little choice of models.

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Study suggests exposure to chemicals manufactured to resist water and heat likely to affect health of offspring

New research has found for the first time that PFAS “forever chemicals” accumulate in the testes, and the exposure probably affects children’s health.

The toxic chemicals can damage sperm during a sensitive developmental period, potentially leading to liver disease and higher cholesterol, especially in male offspring, the paper, which looked at the chemicals in mice, noted.

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A new study has cast doubts on the long-term effectiveness of large-scale tree-planting projects in sequestering CO2, with current climate models potentially overestimating the duration of retention while underestimating the impact of climate change on forests.

The first warranty and indemnity (W&I) insurance policy in the voluntary carbon market (VCM) has been arranged, a broker announced Friday, lifting due diligence and risk transfer procedures from the world of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in hopes of providing buyer-side assurances of supplier-side reliability.

The Swiss entity managing Article 6 dealings with Chile has expressed concerns about the country’s draft authorisation procedures, confirming that a wind farm project remains under consideration, despite national media in the host country reporting a done deal.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Friday that $850 million in federal funding was being made available for projects to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.

More than 2.4 million cookstove carbon credits have been tagged with an Article 6 authorisation label in the Verra registry but only a tiny number have been retired, data shows Friday.

Thanks to the tireless work of campaigners in Surrey, fossil-fuel development must now take into account ‘downstream’ emissions

• Sarah Finch is a climate campaigner and a member of the Weald Action Group

This week I found out what it feels like to go beyond your wildest dreams. A case I fronted won at the supreme court, with potentially huge positive impacts for the climate. For almost five years, I had been mounting a legal challenge to fossil-fuel production at Horse Hill in the Surrey countryside. A group of residents, activists and lawyers had been pursuing a routine legal review of a council planning decision that had given an oil company the green light to drill four new oil wells and produce oil for 20 years.

The supreme court ruling means it will now be much harder for new fossil-fuel projects to go ahead as their full climate impact will need to be factored in from the start. Our challenge centred on the fact that the oil produced by the Horse Hill site would inevitably be burned, throwing carbon into the atmosphere and heating the planet. We expected it to be a routine legal procedure lasting six months. But as the case came together, its wider significance for the climate and the fossil-fuel industry at large became clearer, and months turned into years as it worked its way through the courts.

Sarah Finch is a climate campaigner and a member of the Weald Action Group

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An international air cargo firm has launched a new carbon removal service, which blends direct air capture (DAC) with carbon emissions reductions achieved via sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

EU long-awaited rules are out on the criteria for what constitutes permanent carbon storage in products, providing clarity to firms as to how they can avoid purchasing allowances in the bloc's ETS.

A California-based water purifier facility with direct air capture (DAC) carbon removal is poised to begin operations in 2026, the firm announced.

Daily heat records were broken in the early season heatwave, yet relief in sight as cooler weather forecast

About 65 million people were under heat alerts in the north-eastern and midwest states on Friday, as an early season heatwave in the US continued to roast the region.

Record temperatures were set in some areas, with heat indexes that combine temperature and humidity hitting 100F and 110F. Calendar-day highs were broken across Maine, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

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Environmental Research Center, a consumer protection non-profit, says it found ‘forever chemicals’ in eight flavors

A wide range of No Cow protein bars are contaminated with lead and toxic “forever chemicals”, recent filings with the California department of justice charges.

The filings, made by the Environmental Research Center (ERC), a San Diego-based consumer protection non-profit, states that its testing found PFOA, a dangerous PFAS compound, and lead in eight flavors of No Cow bars.

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This summer, Ireland will launch its carbon farming framework, the first of its kind to be proposed for adoption in a European country, in collaboration with EIT Climate-KIC, a climate innovation initiative co-funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.

After a steady opening on Friday, EU carbon prices drifted over the rest of the morning in sympathy with weakening natural gas prices, reinforcing the view that EUAs are resuming their correlation to TTF prices, while UK Allowances provided the only splash of green on trading screens as the British market reacted to Thursday's steep fall.

Missisauga officials have twice forcibly cut Wolf Ruck’s grass and billed him, after he decided to rewild his garden

Most mornings, Wolf Ruck walks the mown paths in his yard in Mississauga, Ontario, watching for insects landing on the goldenrod, birds feeding on native seed heads, and chipmunk kits playing in the tall grass.

The septuagenarian artist, film-maker and former Olympic canoeist began rewilding his garden with native plants three years ago, as part of a growing movement across Canada towards replacing water-thirsty lawns with “naturalised gardens”.

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