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Exclusive: Britain is falling behind the bloc on almost every area of green regulation, analysis reveals

• Northern Ireland ‘dirty corner of Europe due to lack of governance’
• Explainer: UK environmental protections dropped since Brexit

Vital legal protections for the environment and human health are being destroyed in post-Brexit departures from European legislation, a detailed analysis by the Guardian reveals.

The UK is falling behind the EU on almost every area of environmental regulation, as the bloc strengthens its legislation while the UK weakens it. In some cases, ministers are removing EU-derived environmental protections from the statute book entirely.

Water in the UK will be dirtier than in the EU.

There will be more pesticides in Britain’s soil.

Companies will be allowed to produce products containing chemicals that the EU has restricted for being dangerous.

EU-derived air pollution laws that will be removed under the retained EU law bill.

Dozens of chemicals banned in the EU are still available for use in the UK.

Thirty-six pesticides banned in the EU have not been outlawed in the UK.

The UK is falling behind on reducing carbon emissions as the EU implements carbon pricing.

The EU is compensating those who are struggling to afford the costs of the green transition, while the UK is not.

The EU is implementing stricter regulations on battery recycling, while the UK is not.

Deforestation is being removed from the EU supply chain, while the UK’s proposed scheme is more lax and does not come in until a year later.

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The first UNFCCC-approved sovereign credits from REDD forestry protection, that can be used towards climate targets, will appear for sale in the middle of the year, and prices will likely be fixed annually in an OPEC-like cartel to counter market volatility, Kevin Conrad, the chief executive of the Coalition of Rainforest Nations (CfRN), told Carbon Pulse this week.

The world’s top food producers could use their combined purchasing power to create demand of up to $20 billion a year by 2030 for agricultural commodities that are produced sustainably, industry figures said in Davos this week.

A farmer cooperative is using the power of scale and a collective voice to fetch a fairer price for its members in the carbon and biodiversity markets.

The UK government has opened a consultation into different bioenergy subsidy options with the goal of supporting power plants over an interim period between when current subsidies end, and new bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) facilities are expected to come online.

Panel was originally composed of 28 men, a move condemned as ‘regressive’ and ‘shocking’

The president of Azerbaijan has added 11 women to the previously all-male organising committee for the Cop29 global climate summit, which the country will host in December.

The move follows a backlash after the Guardian reported the initial 28-man composition of the committee, which was called “regressive” by the She Changes Climate campaign group. “Climate change affects the whole world, not half of it,” the group said.

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EU carbon prices extended Thursday's modest rally after the strongest auction result in five months triggered some renewed compliance buying and renewed speculation over whether the market could see a small rally after its recent run of declines.

A large investment manager has published its first timberland and agriculture nature disclosure aligned with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD) recommendations in an early move set to spark market interest.

Weekly trading volume in the Chinese carbon market has dropped to the lowest level since mid-June with prices barely moving, while the offset market this week saw liquidity increase amid heightened expectations for policy progress.

The four inhabitants of Morillo de Sampietro, an abandoned village in the Pyrenees, live a simple life

The tiny hamlet of Morillo de Sampietro stands high above a steep, wooded valley in the Spanish Pyrenees. Below is the glint of the Rio Yesa, beyond are the snow-capped peaks of Monte Perdido.

In 1860 Morillo had 76 inhabitants; by 1995 only two remained. Now there are four.

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G77 president Pedro Pedroso warns deal risks failing if polluters like UK, US and Canada don’t rethink plans to expand oil and gas

The credibility of the Cop28 agreement to “transition away” from fossil fuels rides on the world’s biggest historical polluters like the US, UK and Canada rethinking current plans to expand oil and gas production, according to the climate negotiator representing 135 developing countries.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Pedro Pedroso, the outgoing president of the G77 plus China bloc of developing countries, warned that the landmark deal made at last year’s climate talks in Dubai risked failing.

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A US-headquartered joint venture is set to expand access to its software models in a bid to underpin investments in nature capital and corporate assessments under the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework, its co-founder has said.

A German biochar firm has partnered with a British carbon removals startup to develop a facility on an industrial site in the north of England.

A major industrial firm in Japan has teamed up with a domestic utility to accelerate the development of next-generation CO2 capture technology, with a pilot project set to become operational in 2025.

Sea Ranger Service will offer the chance to carry out maintenance work and climate research on sailing vessels

A social enterprise has launched offering people between the ages of 18 and 29 the chance to protect the seas around the UK while getting paid.

The Sea Ranger Service (SRS) will offer young people the chance to sail out to sea and undertake vital work to conserve Britain’s oceans.

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The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

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A frontrunner group in Indonesia’s presidential election has told local media they would introduce the country’s much-delayed carbon tax, as a government official said the tax would unlikely come into effect until 2025, according to an industry source.

Populists are taking advantage of agrarian protests sparked by genuine crises – and it all feels horribly familiar

When environmental activists calling for less pollution sit in the streets, across Europe they are now abused and attacked, arrested and handed extreme and draconian sentences. When farmers contesting pollution rules block entire city centres and major roads and spray manure on government buildings, the authorities sit and wait for them to go home. Few, if any, are prosecuted, and those who are receive small penalties. The promise of equality before the law has seldom looked emptier.

The hard right and far right demonise people who challenge the status quo, and valorise those who seek to restore it. Governments and police forces across the rich world have proved all too responsive to their demands.

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Open letter says lawmakers must ‘reject fearmongering’ and allow scientists to develop crops that can withstand ‘climate emergency’

The EU must “reject the darkness of anti-science fearmongering” before a key vote on gene editing, 34 Nobel prize winners have said.

In an open letter shared with the Guardian and other European newspapers, the laureates demanded that lawmakers relax strict rules on genetic modification to embrace new techniques that target specific genes and edit their code. The technology could make crops more resistant to disease and more likely to survive extreme weather events that are growing more violent as the planet heats up.

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Scientists call for urgent intervention, as bearded pig populations are devastated by the deadly virus on islands such as Borneo

Populations of wild pigs are crashing due to the spread of African swine fever (ASF), threatening the livelihoods of millions who depend on them for food, researchers warn.

With a fatality rate of almost 100%, ASF has swept across Asia, Europe and Africa, devastating domestic and wild pig populations over the past 10 to 20 years. The impacts are especially significant in Borneo, in south-east Asia, where bearded pig numbers have declined by between 90% and 100% since it arrived on the island in 2021, researchers said.

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