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Charging townspeople to use a beautiful park in the Cotswolds may ignite a wider right to roam movement

A small outcry over the imposition of entrance fees to Cirencester Park is an interesting moment, and it may prove more significant than it first appears. Sir Benjamin Bathurst, a wealthy slave trader, acquired the stunning estate in 1695 and it remains in the family’s hands. The park sits beside the town of Cirencester and, ever since its inception, people have been allowed through the gates for walking, playing and imbibing the scent of lime blossom from its magnificent avenue of mature trees.

The parkland, landscaped in the 18th century, has been the de facto town park: children have climbed trees there, and residents with tiny back yards have enjoyed the many scientifically proven physical and mental health benefits of exercising in a very large green back yard. There are similar arrangements at other estates, such as Blenheim, where the townsfolk of Woodstock – similarly adjacent to estate walls – can wander fairly freely into vast swathes of parkland on their doorstep.

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Bolivia supports creating a regional Amazonian mechanism for climate change mitigation and adaptation through sustainable forest management, but would avoid carbon markets, according to remarks by Bolivian Vice-President David Choquehuanca, as reported by local media.

Researchers from Mississippi State University say aggressive ocean predator appears to benefit from climate emergency

Numbers of bull sharks, one of the largest and most aggressive ocean-dwelling predators, are thriving even as rising sea temperatures kill off other marine species, a study says.

Researchers at Mississippi State University (MSU) found that the number of individual sharks, all juveniles, recorded per hour in Mobile Bay was five times higher in 2020 than at the start of the study period in 2003.

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The European Commission finalised a series of legislative proposals that would cut back on green requirements for farmers, announcing the amendments late on Friday afternoon.

Verra has removed a voluntary carbon REDD avoided deforestation project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from its registry after a senior government committee recommended that its concession contracts, alongside many others, be cancelled for breaking the law, the standard body told Carbon Pulse Friday.

Ambassadors from the 27 EU member states reached agreement Friday on a bill setting due diligence rules for large companies, including an obligation to adopt Paris-aligned climate plans, with a weakened text ending a cycle of meetings to resolve the EU's internal divisions.

The UK government has announced £25 million in funding towards 20 projects aimed at protecting and restoring wildlife habitats across a total area equivalent to the size of York.

Germany is on track to reach its 2030 national greenhouse gas (GHG) target, recording the sharpest decline in emissions since 1990 last year, but is lagging behind on sectoral goals for agriculture, transport and the building sector, the country’s environment agency said on Friday.

Legal experts say directors could face personal claims for failing to consider how businesses affect nature

Company directors in the UK could be held personally liable for failing to properly account for nature and climate-related risks, according to a group of lawyers.

A legal opinion published this week found that board directors had duties to consider how their business affected and depended on nature. These included climate-related risks as well as wider risks to biodiversity, soils and water.

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The Q1 RGGI cap-and-trade auction earlier this week cleared at a new all-time record, triggering additional volume from the programme reserve in line with broad market expectations, even as compliance participation dropped to the lowest in three years, according to results published Friday.

Discovery was made after First Nations tipped off ecologists about groups of fish gathering in a fjord off British Columbia

Deep in the hostile waters off Canada’s west coast, in a narrow channel surrounded by fjords, lies a coral reef that scientists believe “shouldn’t exist”. The reef is the northernmost ever discovered in the Pacific Ocean and offers researchers a new glimpse into the resilience – and unpredictability – of the deep-sea ecosystems.

For generations, members of the Kitasoo Xai’xais and Heiltsuk First Nations, two communities off the Central Coast region of British Columbia, had noticed large groups of rockfish congregating in a fjord system.

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Research raises more questions over safety of material that health advocates say is made with dangerous levels of ‘forever chemicals’

Athletes who play on artificial turf are likely to be coated with higher levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” than before playing on the field, new research suggests, raising more questions about the controversial material’s safety.

All artificial turf is made with what public health advocates say is dangerous levels of PFAS. When the highly mobile chemicals break off from plastic grass blades, they can be absorbed through the skin, inhaled, ingested or get in open wounds.

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European carbon prices rose for a second day on Friday morning, approaching key technical levels as a rally in gas appeared to support sustained buying in EUAs amid the strongest auction result in nearly two weeks.

Nearly 60,000 hectares of forest was cleared in Brazil's Cerrado and the Amazon in late 2023, with likely ties to the supply chains of some of the world's largest soy exporters, including Bunge and Cargill, a report has found.

The Community Advisory Panel (CAP) of the UN-backed Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA) has released draft recommendations on biodiversity credits for consultation, in a bid to bring attention to Indigenous People and local communities' rights in the emerging voluntary market.

China’s environment ministry on Friday released for public consultation draft CO2 emissions accounting and reporting guidelines for the aluminium smelting industry as part of preparations to expand its emissions trading scheme beyond coal-fired power plants.

Right to Roam finds areas of outstanding natural beauty have on average poorer footpath access than rest of England

England’s most stunning “national landscapes” are largely out of bounds, and 22 of the 34 have less than 10% of their area open to the public, research has found.

The government last year renamed areas of outstanding natural beauty to national landscapes, and said part of their aim was to widen access to nature. Ministers said at the time the new name reflected a recognition that they are not just beautiful but important for many reasons including improving wellbeing.

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The European steel industry has won a special carve-out from the EU ETS, ensuring the sector continues to receive an estimated 18 million carbon allowances for free until 2030, according to previously unreleased documents seen by Carbon Pulse.

Norway is scrapping the floor price for its indirect EU ETS cost compensation scheme and introducing an annual ceiling on the total amount of grant funding available to companies, which is intended to shield energy-intensive industries from carbon leakage.

Moscow says it is looking to build up its clean energy industry and price greenhouse gas emissions — but the talk is seen by some as purely “lip service” designed to look like Russia is acting on climate change.