The Guardian

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs, including newborn turtles, a rescued leopard and white rhinos

Exclusive: Projected emissions drop for agriculture and land use 58% below target in original net zero plan

The UK government’s pledges on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from farming and land use fall short of promises made in its net zero strategy, analysis has found.

Using figures from the government’s carbon budget delivery plan, analysts from WWF found that the total projected emissions reductions from now until 2037 for agriculture and land use were 58% less than the emissions reductions figures underpinning the original net zero strategy. This gap is equivalent to the emissions of the entire UK building sector.

Public asked to put away lawnmowers next month to deliver big gains for nature and the climate

A top 10 of the most common plants in British lawns has been revealed as conservationists urge gardeners to let their grass grow for the month of May.

Scientists at the charity Plantlife are asking the public to look out for wildflowers and other plants in their lawns as they put their lawnmowers away for a campaign labelled “No Mow May”.

The 30th edition of the ‘Green Oscars’ was held at the Royal Geographical Society in London this week, celebrating seven grassroots conservationists identified after a worldwide search for locally led solutions to the global biodiversity and climate crises

Record figures for month recorded in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, China and South Asia

Asia is experiencing weeks of “endless record heat”, with sweltering temperatures causing school closures and surges in energy use.

Record April temperatures have been recorded at monitoring stations across Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, as well as in China and South Asia.

Misguided introduction of alien predator saw partula snails driven from their habitat – but zoos have reared new populations

When French Polynesia was overrun by the invasive African giant land snail, another alien species, the predatory rosy wolf snail, was introduced to solve the problem.

Unfortunately the rosy wolf snail devoured tiny, endemic partula snails instead, hunting down the scent of their slime trails at three times the speed of a normal snail.

Judge says pollution ‘will no longer be tolerated’ after investigation found significant environmental harm

South West Water has been fined £2.15m for illegally dumping sewage into rivers and the sea in Devon and Cornwall, causing significant environmental harm.

Failures by the company between July 2016 and August 2020 led to harmful sewage discharges being dumped by treatment works at Lostwithiel, Kilmington, Crediton and Torpoint, as well as the Watergate Bay sewage pumping station.

Droughts, fires, floods, heatwaves – they’re all contributing to our supply-chain problems and brutal inflation

Families around the world are struggling with higher grocery costs and electricity and heating bills. What they may not realize is that rising inflation is increasingly driven by another global crisis: climate change.

Last year, the United States incurred over $2bn in costs due to 20 climate-related extreme weather events, from Hurricane Ian to heatwaves and drought. Lumber, cotton, tomatoes, wheat, and energy – and the products they generate, from denim jeans to your Italian takeout dinner – were all affected by these events and are now more expensive than this time last year. Climate-driven extreme weather and disasters are now more frequently responsible for production shortages, supply chain disruptions, and labor issues that lead to higher costs of living.

Suzi Kerr is the chief economist of the Environmental Defense Fund

Research shows Britain lagging behind at crucial time as US and EU pursue green growth hastened by Ukraine invasion

Investment in clean energy and the low-carbon economy fell sharply in the UK last year, even as rival nations were increasing their firepower in the global green race, data shows.

The UK’s investment in the energy transition fell by 10%, from $31bn to $28bn, from 2021 to 2022, while similar investment in the US rose by about 24% to $141bn, and in Germany by 17% to $55bn.

The 21-year-old Iraqi, who lived by a smoke-choked oilfield, died of cancer before he got to address the fossil fuel giant’s shareholders. His message must be heard

Ali Hussein Jaloud, a 21-year-old Iraqi who lives next to one of BP’s biggest oilfields, was meant to ask a question at the company’s annual shareholder meeting today. He was going to challenge the CEO on why his company continues to poison his neighbourhood with cancer-causing pollution. But, just a few days ago, Ali died of a form of leukaemia that has been linked to chemicals released by the burning of fossil fuels. His grieving father will ask why BP did not use its vast profits to help save his life.

Over the past two years, my fellow investigator Owen Pinnell and I got to know Ali while making a documentary for BBC News Arabic, Under Poisoned Skies, which revealed the deadly impact of gas flaring in southern Iraq, including at BP’s Rumaila oilfield where Ali lives, surrounded by oil company-patrolled checkpoints. We also found out that Rumaila has more gas flaring than any other oilfield in the world.

Less food is falling to dimly lit waters, home to specially adapted marine life – but emissions cuts would stem decline

Life in the ocean’s twilight zone is expected to face dramatic declines and even extinction as seas warm and less food reaches the dimly lit waters, a study has found.

The twilight zone lies between 200 metres and 1,000 metres below the surface and is home to a variety of organisms and animals, including specially adapted fish such as lantern sharks and kite fin sharks, which have huge eyes and glowing, bio-luminescent skin.

Climate models are indicating Australia may be hit by a 'super El Niño' before the end of the year. After three years of La Niña and above-average rainfall, Australia is now looking at a hot, dry El Niño period. The last extreme El Niño in 2016 helped push global temperatures to the highest on record, underpinned by human-caused global heating that sparked floods, droughts and disease outbreaks. But what exactly is an El Niño and how do they work? Matilda Boseley explains

• Climate models warn of possible ‘super El Niño’ before end of year

• The next El Niño: when is it coming and how strong might this one be for Australia?

Region is suffering its worst drought in 40 years after five consecutive years of below-average rainfall

The devastating drought in the Horn of Africa would not have happened without the human-made impact of the climate crisis, new science has shown.

The drought has affected about 50 million people in the Horn of Africa directly and another 100 million in the wider area. About 20 million people are at risk of acute food insecurity and potentially famine.

The former Fox News host liked to dredge up a laundry list of alleged errors by scientists in an effort to erode public trust

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As appears to be almost compulsory for high-profile, rightwing television presenters, Fox News’ recently departed primetime host Tucker Carlson is a climate science denier.

Carlson would preach regularly to his nightly audience of more than 3 million viewers about how concerns over climate change were like a religion, and that “the entire theory [of human-caused climate] is absurd.”

Arrays installed by more than 50,700 households in first quarter of 2023 as people seek to reduce energy bills

The number of households installing rooftop solar panels reached its highest level in more than seven years in the first months of 2023 as energy-bill payers turned to renewable energy to guard against spiralling costs.

Industry figures show that more than 50,700 households installed arrays between January and March, more than double the number in the same months last year and the highest figure since late 2015.

‘Unprecedented’ warming indicates climate crisis is taking place before our eyes, experts say

Temperatures in the world’s oceans have broken fresh records, testing new highs for more than a month in an “unprecedented” run that has led to scientists stating the Earth has reached “uncharted territory” in the climate crisis.

The rapid acceleration of ocean temperatures in the last month is an anomaly that scientists have yet to explain. Data collated by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), known as the Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature (OISST) series, gathered by satellites and buoys, has shown temperatures higher than in any previous year, in a series stretching back to 1981, continuously over the past 42 days.

Weeds protect the soil and nurture insects and birds – now they are finally having their time in the sun at the Chelsea flower show

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has declared that this year’s Chelsea flower show is all about weeds, but not as we know them. Four of its 12 show gardens will feature plants traditionally regarded as weeds, which are now being rebranded as “resilient” and “heroes”. Weeds are no longer flowers in the wrong place, according to this year’s organisers, but exactly where they should be, softening the designer’s edge and adding a wild note to far corners. I do love an about-change from the marching band. It’s so full of fanfare and drama.

Except it’s not really new, wild things have been creeping into Chelsea for many years now. Just ask Mary Reynolds, the Irish environmentalist and author of We are the Ark whose gold-winning show garden in 2002 was noted for its “subversive use of weeds”, plants that she is still very much using today in her design work.

Alys Fowler is a gardener and Guardian columnist

European Environment Agency says Ukraine crisis cannot be used to justify delay

The EU’s environmental watchdog has hit back at calls to stall a 50% cut in the use and risks of synthetic pesticides and a 20% cut in fertiliser use by 2030, arguing that the Ukraine crisis provides scant justification for delay.

EU states with the backing of powerful farm unions and centre-right parties have blocked the proposed pesticide reform unless the European Commission completes a second impact study by 28 June to assuage food security fears.

Wildlife Trusts schemes are part of wider programme to help rare habitat recover across British Isles

Two temperate rainforests in Wales and on the Isle of Man have been named as the first to be restored by the Wildlife Trusts, as part of a wider programme to help the rare habitat recover across the British Isles.

Temperate rainforests, also known as Atlantic or Celtic rainforests, are found in places with exposure to the sea – areas with “high oceanicity” – and receive high rainfall and humidity, with a low variation in annual temperature. It is a globally rare habitat, thought to be more threatened than tropical rainforest.

Environment secretary urges Britons to embrace the filth as Labour seeks to flush out Conservative failures

Day two of the Unicorn Kingdom. A world where fantasy always outdoes reality. That fair and septic isle. Who needs to go for a walk by a canal or river? Why bother to go to the beach? All you need to do is have a dump at home. Where to have an open cesspit is the latest status symbol. The estate agent’s dream. Your very own swimming pool. What more could anyone want?

To be fair, Thérèse Coffey has done more to level up the country than any of her cabinet colleagues. Though, technically speaking, one should call it levelling down. For on the environment secretary’s watch there isn’t a river in England that isn’t hopelessly polluted and subject to sewage overflow many times a day.