The Guardian

Top scientists meeting in Oxford this week say they see few scenarios that would meet the Paris target to limit temperature rise to 1.5C

The global target to prevent climate catastrophe, crafted at a landmark summit last year in Paris, will be very difficult if not impossible to hit, said some of world’s top scientists meeting this week in Oxford.

The first-ever climate pact to enjoin all nations vows to cap global warming at “well below” 2C compared to pre-Industrial Revolution levels – and under 1.5 C if possible.

Group including William Hague, Jane Goodall and Stephen Hawking write to prime minister Theresa May saying recent crackdown on sales of ivory less than 70 years old does not go far enough

The government must implement a total ban on ivory sales in the UK, according to scores of politicians, conservationists, scientists and entertainment stars including William Hague, Jane Goodall, Stephen Hawking and Ricky Gervais.

Ministers this week announced a ban on ivory younger than 70 years old, but stopped short of a total ban.

From advances in the storage of electricity to creative techniques to distribute energy, in this animated video series we’ll explore some of the most inventive ways energy is being collected and used by humans

Bayer and Syngenta criticised for secrecy after unpublished research obtained under freedom of information law linked high doses of their products to damage to the health of bee colonies

Unpublished field trials by pesticide manufacturers show their products cause serious harm to honeybees at high levels, leading to calls from senior scientists for the companies to end the secrecy which cloaks much of their research.

The research, conducted by Syngenta and Bayer on their neonicotinoid insecticides, were submitted to the US Environmental Protection Agency and obtained by Greenpeace after a freedom of information request.

Oil Change International argues there is a compelling case for six proposed Queensland projects to be axed in ‘managed decline’ of fossil fuel

Miners seeking the green light to dig up Queensland’s Galilee basin should be stopped as a priority, according to a new report showing existing fossil fuels projects worldwide are enough to push global warming beyond 2C.

The report by the research and advocacy group Oil Change International argues there is a compelling case for the six Galilee coalmining proposals in the hands of Australian regulators to be axed in line with a “managed decline” of global coal, oil and gas supplies already on tap.

Exclusive: Bleaching may be standard by 2020s says leading reef researcher as new images show the damage to areas around Japanese islands of Okinawa

Coral bleaching in Okinawa gallery

The worst global bleaching event on record could simply be the new normal, according to one of the foremost experts on coral reefs and their response to warming oceans.

Mark Eakin, head of the Coral Reef Watch program at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has told the Guardian he was hopeful the current global bleaching event would end in 2017, but said it was possible it would just roll on, alternating between the northern and southern hemispheres as the seasons changed.

Sir James Bevan, head of the UK’s Environment Agency, says waste crime offers huge profits while costing England £1bn a year

Waste crime is the “new narcotics” according to the head of the Environment Agency (EA), offering huge profits as the authorities race to catch up with the damage caused to society.

Illegal waste activity costs England £1bn a year and more than 1,000 illegal waste sites were discovered last year, more than in the previous two years combined, with 662 still active as of the end of March.

From Bangalore’s water riots to Russia’s “river of blood”, rivers are under threat from many sources including industry, agriculture and climate change

As the worst global bleaching event on record stretches across its third year, coral reefs around Okinawa in Japan are being hit hard. Experts warn this type of bleaching event may become the new normal. These images from the XL Catlin Seaview survey reveal the devastating effect warming water is having on coral in the area

Henley, Oxfordshire The palaeontologist and author offers a tour of Grim’s Dyke Wood, which he bought in 2011

Five years after the palaeontologist Richard Fortey bought Grim’s Dyke Wood, a small Chiltern beech wood, he shows no diminution in enthusiasm for his “nature reserve”. He gives me a tour, though in truth we delight in each other’s discoveries. I find him a ring of bright feathers on a pile of rotting pine logs, a raptor’s kill, the buffs and browns speaking of a song thrush forever silenced. He finds bracket fungi that have insinuated themselves into the thin, horizontal lesions on a cherry tree’s trunk.

Related: Writers' rooms: Richard Fortey

Research says genetically modified enzymes, which allow products to be still labelled as ‘natural’, should be tested like potentially hazardous chemicals

Genetically modified enzymes used in food, perfumes, medicine and cleaning products are “potent allergens” and should be tested like other potentially hazardous chemicals, experts have said.

There has been an explosion in the use of enzymes to boost flavours and aromas, including in low-fat foods, helping to create a sector worth about $10bn (£7.7bn), according to a study published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

Months after the worst coral bleaching event to hit the reef, Australian conservationist Tim Flannery returns to a tourism hot spot 50km north-east of Port Douglas to witness the destruction wrought by a warming planet

John Rumney says that just a year ago, this particular spot was once the most stunning coral garden on the entire Great Barrier Reef. If a film crew said it wanted to get a cliche shot of the reef with its mind-boggling richness of coral and fish species, this was where he took them.

Now he’s taking us there to see the destruction wrought by climate change. He says the fact this reef was used in so many films and magazines means it’s a perfect location to see the effects of the recent bleaching event.

The Australian conservationist travels back to the Great Barrier Reef with the Climate Council after witnessing extensive coral bleaching in the area in May. An estimated 30% to 40% of the previously bleached sections of the reef have now died, which Flannery attributes to ‘the burden of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere causing these unprecedented underwater heatwaves’

Natural Resources Defence Council claims Samsung, LG and Vizio have designed sets that perform well in testing but disable energy-saving features in real-world conditions, causing energy consumption to soar

Independent tests in the US have found that the energy consumption of Samsung and LG TV sets nosedives under test conditions but can soar by up to 45% in real-world use, raising questions of manipulation by software devices.

TVs from the top three best selling US brands - Samsung, LG and Vizio - have also been found to be switching off power-saving features without warning, as soon as consumers make “out of the box” changes to their main picture menu settings, which can double the TV sets’ energy usage.

Ice cap is disappearing far more rapidly than previously estimated, and is part of a long-term trend, new research shows

The huge annual losses of ice from the Greenland cap are even worse than thought, according to new research which also shows that the melt is not a short-term blip but a long-term trend.

The melting Greenland ice sheet is already a major contributor to rising sea level and if it was eventually lost entirely, the oceans would rise by six metres around the world, flooding many of the world’s largest cities.

UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, predicts global climate deal will be fully ratified by the end of the year after 31 nations officially sign up in New York

The Paris climate agreement is on the brink of coming into force after 31 nations officially joined the landmark accord, with the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, predicting it will be fully ratified by the end of the year.

On Wednesday, 31 countries formally signed up to the Paris deal at the UN general assembly in New York. They include Brazil, the world’s seventh largest emitter of greenhouse gases, Mexico, Argentina and Sri Lanka. Oil-rich United Arab Emirates also ratified the deal, as did nations considered particularly vulnerable to sea level rise, such as Kiribati and Bangladesh.

UK ordered to pay European commission’s legal costs after ruling that coal plant was wrongly granted higher pollution threshold

A coal-burning power station in Wales repeatedly violated pollution controls for nitrogen oxide emissions, the European court of justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg has ruled.

It ordered the UK to pay the European commission’s legal costs after ruling that Aberthaw power station, near Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, should not have been allowed to exceed specially negotiated pollution limits.

375 National Academy of Sciences members sign an open letter expressing frustration at political inaction on climate change

Yesterday, 375 of the world’s top scientists, including 30 Nobel Prize winners, published an open letter regarding climate change. In the letter, the scientists report that the evidence is clear: humans are causing climate change. We are now observing climate change and its affect across the globe. The seas are rising, the oceans are warming, the lower atmosphere is warming, the land is warming, ice is melting, rainfall patterns are changing and the ocean is becoming more acidic.

These facts are incontrovertible. No reputable scientist disputes them. It is the truth.

Authorities from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have rejected recent research on the number of early deaths caused by last year’s fires

Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean authorities have dismissed research that suggested smoky haze from catastrophic forest fires in Indonesia last year caused 100,000 deaths. Some even contend the haze caused no serious health problems, but experts say those assertions contradict well-established science.

Last year’s fires in Sumatra and the Indonesian part of Borneo were the worst since 1997, burning about 261,000 hectares of forests and peatland and sending haze across the region for weeks. Many were deliberately set by companies to clear land for palm oil and pulpwood plantations.

New initiative closes loophole allowing dealers to claim ivory from recently killed elephants is antique without providing proof of age

Britain is to ban all sales of ivory which are not backed by proof that the item is over 70 years old.

Although it is already illegal to sell ivory from elephants killed after 1947, a loophole allows dealers to claim items are antique without providing documentary evidence of their age.