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State’s beloved but under-pressure sea cows were barely recorded in the area before seas warmed in the late 1700s

Manatees, long considered among Florida’s most beloved and enchanting inhabitants, are not native at all, and only came to the Sunshine state for warm temperatures and clear blue waters like any other visitor, researchers have found.

The surprise revelation by scientists at the University of South Florida (USF) and George Washington University (GWU) upends decades of thinking about the origins of the threatened species, once plentiful around the Florida peninsula, the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.

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A Dutch nature-based solutions developer has partnered with a plastic recycling company to launch a plastic credit project in Sri Lanka, with plans to register it under Verra's framework by mid-2025.

Oil and gas companies are increasingly deploying digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics for benefits such as emissions reduction, productivity gain, and supply chain optimisation, a new report has found.

The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) has released analysis on the nascent biodiversity credit market, identifying integrity and the role played by governments to be among key elements driving demand.

Taiwan has updated its GHG emissions reduction target, aiming to reduce its emissions 26-30% by the end of the decade compared to the 23-25% target set in 2022, according to an official statement.

Abu Dhabi’s Environment Agency has introduced a measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) programme to standardise emissions tracking and support the development of a carbon pricing mechanism in the emirate.

South Korea has established a blueprint that lays out the goals and policy direction of the country's emissions trading scheme (ETS) over the next decade.

China's financial regulator has given the green light to eight other securities firms to be involved in domestic carbon markets, which could lay the basis for the inclusion of financial institutions in the national emissions trading scheme, according to analysts. 

China has announced a set of trading rules for China Certified Emission Reductions (CCERs), as the country's national voluntary market is expected to see the issuance of new credits shortly.

Indonesia and Japan at a recent meeting adopted guidelines for carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCS/CCUS) projects under the latter's Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), as well as approving seven new eligible crediting methodologies.

The federal cabinet of Pakistan has approved international carbon market regulations, launched during COP29 in Baku in November last year.

About 200 footprints made by dinosaurs 166 million years ago have been unearthed in a quarry in Oxfordshire.

Society to retire plants no longer suited to UK’s changing climate after 14% fewer days of ground frost recorded

Fig and almond trees are thriving in Britain as a result of fewer frosts, the Royal Horticultural Society has said.

The lack of frost, one of the effects of climate breakdown, means plants used to warmer climes have been doing well in RHS gardens. Almond trees from the Mediterranean were planted at Wisley in Surrey several years ago, and without frost this year have fruited well for the first time.

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I want to give my kids that overarching sense of a single summer going on all through childhood, a door to a memory they can open any time

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You never step into the same river twice. But you can step into the same ocean, or so it seems, each January when we take that first swim: ducking our heads under a wave to feel the rush of cold and the sting of salt, shaking like dogs when we emerge, washed clean of the year just gone.

When I was a child, it was Phillip Island: a green canvas tent in my grandfather’s back yard; a chipped foam surfboard rasping against my skin as I lay on it, just floating in the channel between the island and the mainland, never daring to go into the actual surf. It was the acrid smoke of mozzie coils and the oily texture of the battered flake from the fish and chip shop. Showers under the tank stand; the sun burning our skin until it peeled.

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Jenny Sinclair is a Melbourne journalist and writer of creative nonfiction and fiction

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Bloomberg has taken ownership of carbon market data and analytics from a beleaguered AI-powered climate tech company.

An ecologist shares his passion for parasites. From their vital roles in nature, to strange super powers and extraordinarily complex life cycles, parasites are natural wonders worthy of protection. Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Researchers say new DNA research could shed new light on what history books say about ancient Britain.

With the climate crisis hitting Britain, we must build resilience at a local level by rewilding, saving water and fighting floods

Imagine, for a moment, if 2025 was the year that the UK achieved its legally binding targets of reducing dangerous carbon emissions to zero. Imagine if the Extinction Rebellions of 2019 had achieved their goal, and the government had bowed to the pressure of climate activism to meet this target. In this counterfactual reality, the world would be much saner than our own. But as the new year arrives, we’re forced to confront a stark reality. Britain is nowhere near achieving zero carbon in the next 12 months.

When Extinction Rebellion (XR) was founded in 2018, the 2025 target was conceived as a clarion call to action. It was based on the need to decarbonise quickly, to mitigate the worst impacts of climate decline, and to fulfil our historical responsibility as one of the world’s largest polluters. With the new year upon us, it’s clear that decarbonisation at the scale and speed we imagined isn’t a feasible goal within our existing political and economic frameworks. And this failure brings with it some uncomfortable truths that everyone concerned about the climate crisis must face head-on. And that means, in effect, everyone: for even if you don’t feel affected by this crisis, it still affects you.

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Behaviour experts say misinformation shared in media and by other stakeholders is impeding uptake

Experts from a “nudge unit” have been hired to help ministers fight misinformation about heat pumps to try to encourage take-up of the devices.

The appliances run on electricity instead of gas and are regarded as a way of decarbonising homes at scale. A target of installing 600,000 a year by 2028 is part of a drive to achieve Britain’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050.

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Five entire families can be killed, totalling 30 wolves, in move campaigners say is illegal under EU law

Sweden’s wolf hunt starts on Thursday, with the country aiming to halve the population of the endangered predator.

The Swedish government has given the green light for five entire wolf families, a total of 30 wolves, to be killed in a hunt campaigners say is illegal under EU law. Under the Berne convention, protected species cannot be caused to have their populations fall under a sustainable level.

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