The Guardian

Secretariat on biodiversity says fungi should be recognised and protected on equal footing with plants and animals

The word “funga” should be used alongside flora and fauna when discussing conservation issues to reflect the importance of fungi to ecosystem health, a UN body has said.

The secretariat of the UN convention on biological diversity (UNCBD) said it was time that fungi were “recognised and protected on an equal footing with animals and plants in legal conservation frameworks”.

Rule requires wetlands to be more clearly connected to other waters, overturning half-century of federal regulation

The Biden administration weakened regulations protecting millions of acres of wetlands on Tuesday, saying it had no choice after the supreme court sharply limited the federal government’s jurisdiction over them.

The rule would require that wetlands be more clearly connected to other waters like oceans and rivers, a policy shift that departs from a half-century of federal rules governing the nation’s waterways.

Britons consume among the most water in Europe and drought planners want efficiency data on show

Australian-style water labelling must be introduced at pace to reduce the UK’s daily consumption of water, which is among the highest in Europe, according to experts drawing up plans to tackle drought.

Billions of pounds more are likely to be added to customer water bills to pay for investment in new infrastructure if ministers do not act soon, according to specialists drawing up plans to tackle acute water shortages in south-east England.

As the world heats up, we need to confront what our urge to travel is really rooted in – and rethink it

While Rhodes burned, tourists kept flocking in. Homes were being turned to ash, thousands of holidaymakers were being evacuated, and still the visitors came. In the wake of the Hawaii wildfires, which have killed hundreds and counting, the island of Maui experienced the same phenomenon.

These images played on my mind as I set off on my own holiday abroad a week later. They niggled at me as I fumbled my way through Turkish thank-yous and waited dutifully in line to see Istanbul’s Blue Mosque. Why did they do it? There were partial explanations available: a lack of funds to book alternate trips, the lingering question of whether refunds would be issued, the quest to escape the grim British summer. But none of these felt enough to explain why people would walk towards the flames – why they’d put their lives and welfare at risk for a holiday.

Moya Lothian-McLean is a contributing editor at Novara Media

Forestry wives, farmers’ wives, coalminers’ wives: they were the backbone of communities. But men always write the narratives

My mum is a forester’s wife. Growing up, I remember her collecting logs every autumn and stacking them in the log shed, picking out the Sitka spruce needles from inside the drum of the washing machine.

When my brother and I were born in the 80s, prospects for working-class women in rural areas were few and far between. Especially for mothers. We grew up on a country estate in Yorkshire in a tied house, which meant it came with my dad’s job. Each morning Dad set off for the woods with his lunchbox and Mum stayed at home to look after us.

Drop in first half of year driven by fall in demand and some growth in clean power, study says

The European Union is stoking its power plants with fewer lumps of coal and barrels of oil and gas than it has ever recorded, data shows.

The 27 member states burned 17% less fossil fuel to make electricity between January and June 2023 than over the same period the year before, a study from the clean energy thinktank Ember found. The EU made 410TWh of electricity from sources that release planet-heating gases, which analysts say is the lowest level since 2015 – the first year for which they have monthly data – and “very likely” since 2000.

Only two companies make bids for right to develop offshore wind off Gulf coast, in setback for administration’s green-energy plans

The Biden administration on Tuesday held the first ever auction for the right to develop offshore wind in the Gulf of Mexico, with just one of the three available leases provisionally awarded and only two bidders.

The historic sale fell on the anniversaries of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina and 2021’s Hurricane Ida, climate crisis-fueled disasters that devastated Gulf communities. It also comes the day after the Gulf cities of New Orleans and Houston saw their hottest temperatures in recorded history, and as the largest wildfire in state history ravages Louisiana.

Ministers have claimed Ulez is cash-raising ploy – but letter reveals Grant Shapps backed a separate charge for same reason

Ministers have been accused of hypocrisy in claiming Sadiq Khan expanded London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to raise revenue after it emerged the Department for Transport urged the mayor to extend the city’s congestion charge for the same reason.

On the first day of Ulez covering every London borough there was renewed bickering between the Labour mayor and the government, with Khan castigating Mark Harper, the transport secretary, for what he called factual mistakes after the pair crossed paths at a TV studio.

Amid the culture war bickering and rightwing campaigns, it’s time to remember why this move is practical, popular and essential

On this day, Ulez day – after all the misrepresentations and smothering of the concept by toxic, opportunistic politicians – there are basic facts that bear repeating. When people are breathing in polluted air, doing nothing about cleaning it up means that people will die prematurely. The connection between dirty air and asthma, strokes, Alzheimer’s, bronchus and lung cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and respiratory infections is all proven. If one of your relatives or friends has suffered from any of these serious conditions, then air pollution could have been a contributory factor. And if you are still arguing that you have the right to drive a polluting, life-curtailing vehicle, then ask yourself: is that the person you really want to be?

That doesn’t mean that the capital’s now extended ultra-low emission zone, or Ulez, is the only solution, but it is the most effective one we can put in place today. The Ulez gives us the best and most immediate chance of reducing the number of people dying prematurely, children developing smaller lung capacity and many of us suffering lung and respiratory problems. I agree we should heavily regulate the use of domestic wood burners, have better public transport and dramatically increase the number of electric charging points. I’m happy to listen to anyone who makes the case for additional measures that we should be taking. But having spent 24 years campaigning for clean air, I know that there has never been a shortage of solutions – it is only the political will to implement them that has been lacking.

Jenny Jones is a Green party peer and former deputy mayor of London

Canada and UK only donor countries to contribute so far, leaving scheme short of $40m to formally launch

Developed countries have been urged to contribute to a new nature fund after it was left undercapitalised by $40m (£32m), receiving money from just two donors.

At the Cop15 biodiversity summit in December, where countries agreed this decade’s biodiversity targets that included aims to protect 30% of Earth, governments agreed to the creation of a fund to help developing countries meet the deal’s aims, which included a target to provide $200bn for nature a year by 2030.

Sadiq Khan defends expansion of ultra-low emission zone as government continues to criticise it

Clean air is “a right not a privilege”, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has said as the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) was expanded to include the outer boroughs of London.

People who drive in the zone in a vehicle that does not meet minimum emissions standards are required to pay a £12.50 daily fee or risk a £180 fine, reduced to £90 if paid within 14 days.

Swedish teenager Ia Anstoot says group’s ‘unscientific’ opposition to EU nuclear power serves fossil fuel interests

An 18-year-old climate activist has called for Greenpeace to drop its “old-fashioned and unscientific” campaign against nuclear power in the EU.

In April, the environmental campaign group announced it would appeal against the EU Commission’s decision to include nuclear power in its classification system for sustainable finance. This “taxonomy” is designed as a guide for private investors wanting to fund green projects, aiming to boost environmental investment.

Ministers hope anti-green message will impress voters, as London mayor says he is ‘a doer, not a delayer’

The government is to use the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to go on the attack over what it has called “Labour’s war on motorists”, part of a wider battle against green policies it hopes could prove popular with voters.

With the extension of the clean air scheme to every London borough beginning at midnight on Monday, Sadiq Khan, the capital’s Labour mayor, said that while the decision was difficult, the devastating health effects of toxic exhausts trumped other considerations.

Exclusive: Announcement set to anger environmentalists, but builders say nutrient neutrality laws are exacerbating housing crisis

Michael Gove is planning to rip up water pollution rules that builders have blamed for exacerbating England’s housing crisis but which environmental groups say are essential for protecting the country’s rivers.

The housing secretary, alongside Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, will announce the move on Tuesday, according to several people briefed on the plans, alongside hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of extra funding to mitigate the potential impact on England’s waterways.

Sadiq Khan deserves credit for pressing ahead with a scheme to improve the capital’s air

Everyone who cares about public health and environmental regulation should welcome the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), which launches on Tuesday. Air pollution is estimated to cause 4,000 premature deaths each year in the capital, with nitrogen dioxide from exhausts being the main danger, along with particulate matter whose effect is likened by scientists to inhaling tiny particles of tar. Air pollution causes disproportionate harm to low-income families, who are most likely to live on main roads and least likely to own cars. It is particularly damaging to children’s growing lungs. That the mayor, Sadiq Khan, has defied pressure to delay or weaken the scheme is to his credit.

In France, vehicles that do not meet new limits have been banned from urban areas. In London, drivers of non-compliant vehicles – mostly petrol ones dating from before 2005, and diesel before 2015 – must pay a daily charge of £12.50, with higher charges for lorries and coaches. While no scheme is flawless, the improvements to air quality achieved by the existing scheme, covering inner London, mean that Londoners can be confident of the extension’s health benefits.

Heatwaves, wildfires and floods are just the ‘tip of the iceberg’, leading climate scientists say

• ‘Crazy off-the-charts records’: has humanity finally broken the climate?

The “crazy” extreme weather rampaging around the globe in 2023 will become the norm within a decade without dramatic climate action, the world’s leading climate scientists have said.

The heatwaves, wildfires and floods experienced today were just the “tip of the iceberg” compared with even worse effects to come, they said, with limitations in climate models leaving the world “flying partially blind” into the future.

In the early 2000s, our safety plan was to stay and defend. But catastrophic fires since have drastically changed the thinking

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I’ve spent every night for the past few weeks trawling classified ads for horse floats. For our budget there are not many available that are big enough for my ridiculously large horses, but we’re on a deadline: the fire season is approaching and we need a way to get the horses to safety. I couldn’t live with myself if I left them behind – and I don’t rate our chance of survival if we stay.

It will be the first bad fire season since we bought the place. After three wet La Niña years, the Australasian Fire Authorities Council is predicting an “increased risk” across much of eastern and central Australia this year. We’re not in the areas coloured red on the map, but the risk remains. As the Victorian and New South Wales fire chiefs told reporter Emily Middleton this month, it’s best to be prepared early.

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Comprehensive analysis calls into question whether such resorts have a future as global heating intensifies

A quarter of European ski resorts will have scarce snow every other year with 2C of global heating, a comprehensive analysis has found. It calls into question whether such resorts have a future as the climate crisis intensifies.

The study took into account artificial snowmaking, without which half the resorts would have scarce snow every other year at 2C. Current action and policies mean the world is on track for 2.7C of global heating.

Fast charging points that allow for longer journeys are being installed in regions beyond London

Charging companies are plugging the gaps in the UK’s high-speed charger network, with hundreds added this year outside London in a shift that will help end the “range anxiety” that holds back some would-be electric car buyers.

The capital and the south-east still have far more chargers of all speeds – ranging from slow to rapid and ultra-rapid – than the rest of the country. But the presence of high-speed chargers, generally used for quick recharging on longer journeys, is increasing in other regions as electric car sales surge.