The Guardian

Popularity of sport utility vehicles driving higher oil demand and climate crisis, say experts

The continued global rise in sales of SUVs pushed their climate-heating emissions to almost 1bn tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.

The 330m sport utility vehicles on the roads produced emissions equivalent to the combined national emissions of the UK and Germany last year. If SUVs were a country, they would rank as the sixth most polluting in the world.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall leads letter to secretaries of state voicing concerns government will renege on promises to lift ban

Fears that the government is quietly planning to renege on promises to lift the ban on onshore windfarms in England have prompted a large group of green campaigners, business leaders and prominent figures to protest to ministers.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the chef and environmental campaigner, has led a letter to secretaries of state, signed by conservation groups, academics and business people who are concerned that the pledges to free up planning restrictions are being quietly subverted.

Changing habitats and behaviours lead to interactions with a negative outcome for wildlife and humans

From blue whales colliding with ships to African elephants raiding crops in villages, the climate crisis is causing a rise in conflicts that lead to injury or death for humans and wildlife, new research shows.

The climate crisis is making food, water and healthy habitats harder to come by, forcing animals and human populations into new ranges or previously uninhabited places. It is also changing the way they behave. This means a rise in human-wildlife conflicts, as well as damage to personal property and loss of livelihoods for people, according to a review paper led by the University of Washington.

Demand for wood stoves is soaring in energy crisis despite research showing their harmful effects

Demand for wood-burning stoves, including in urban areas, has soared as households look for more affordable ways to stay warm during the energy crisis.

Campaigners have called for stricter legislation on their use because of their negative impact on air pollution and health, with wood burning in the UK gaining in popularity over the past decade.

Exclusive: Cross-party group recommends policies such as mortgage penalty for landlords of energy-inefficient homes

The UK will need to embrace innovative, community-based solutions to environmental and energy problems if it is to have any hope of meeting looming net-zero deadlines, a cross-party group of MPs and peers has recommended.

A report by the all-party group on a green new deal argues for a combination of robust, top-down policies on green issues including localised power generation, food and transport schemes. Recommendations include a mortgage penalty for landlords who let energy-inefficient homes, and also real community decision-making, notably on power schemes.

Hearing into Labor’s changes to the scheme told a 75% reduction in methane was possible using commercially competitive existing technology

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Methane emissions from the oil and gas industry are “incredibly cheap” to cut and companies could improve their financial position by embracing existing technology to stop carbon leaks, an inquiry into the Albanese government’s climate policy has heard.

A hearing into proposed changes to the safeguard mechanism – a Coalition policy applied to industrial emissions that Labor plans to revamp – was told the International Energy Agency (IEA) had estimated a 75% reduction in methane was possible using commercially competitive existing technology, such as capturing the methane and using it to generate electricity.

Only about £4.5bn of £6.6bn allocated for making buildings more energy efficient has been spent, analysis finds

A third of the funding pledged by the UK government for insulation and installing heat pumps has not yet been spent, analysis has shown, despite the continuing energy bills and cost of living crises.

About £2.1bn remains unspent of the £6.6bn that was supposed to be used between 2020 and 2025 on making buildings more energy efficient and decarbonising heat. The funding is part of the £9.2bn that was promised for such spending in the Conservative general election manifesto of 2019.

As global heating cuts snow cover, study reveals how many events, organisations and athletes have high-carbon backers

Winter sports are being sponsored by high-carbon companies despite their pollution helping to melt the snow the sports require to exist, according to a new report.

The report found that more than 100 events, organisations and athletes were sponsored by fossil fuel companies, carmakers and airlines. The sponsorships were like “winter sport nailing the lid on its own coffin”, said one Olympic champion.

Takeover of collapsed company revives hopes for the construction of a £3.8bn ‘gigafactory’ in northern England

The Australia-based company Recharge Industries will take over collapsed battery maker Britishvolt after finalising a deal with administrators late on Sunday in the UK.

The agreement revives hopes for the construction of a £3.8bn (A$6.7bn) “gigafactory” in northern England, the backbone of a plan to modernise the British automotive industry and supply the next generation of UK-built electric vehicles.

Country’s capacity to generate renewable energy shot up last year, producing enough electricity to power 64m households

A new report by Climate Central shows how US capacity to generate renewable energy shot up last year – and surprisingly, red states lead the nation in solar and wind power production.

National wind and solar capacity grew 16% compared to 2021. All told, renewables generated enough electricity to power 64m American households. The report comes as the Biden administration starts to make billions of dollars available for renewable energy projects. The administration has committed to decarbonizing the grid completely by 2030 and getting the US to net zero emissions by mid-century.

Energy prices, Brexit and climate crisis mean growers lack confidence to plant crops, says NFU deputy

Shortages of some fresh fruit and vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers could be the “tip of the iceberg”, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has said.

Certain products are hard to come by in UK supermarkets due to poor weather reducing the harvest in Europe and north Africa, Brexit rules and lower supplies from UK and Dutch producers hit by the jump in energy bills to heat glasshouses.

Arctic mammal that drew crowds in Hampshire, North Yorkshire and Northumberland is spotted 850 miles further north

A walrus that drew crowds when spotted on the south and east coasts of England appears to have arrived in Iceland.

The arctic mammal appeared in Hampshire in December before spending new year in Scarborough and then heading 70 miles further north to the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club in Blyth.

Only two of thousands of PFAS are regulated, while the EU is already contemplating stricter standards

• Ministers told to get a grip on scale of ‘forever chemicals’ pollution in UK

PFAS “forever chemicals” are everywhere, they don’t break down in the environment, and they can build up in the body and can be toxic. The world is waking up to the issue but so far action has been slow.

There are thousands of PFAS but in the UK, just two – PFOS and PFOA – are regulated, and the country risks falling behind the EU, where plans to get a grip on the substances are under way.

Conservationists say boats with propellers could destroy floating water-plantain on Montgomery canal

Conservationists are calling for only horse-drawn barges to journey along a section of the Montgomery canal when it is reopened, to protect rare aquatic plants and wildlife on the rewilded waterway.

The naturalist and broadcaster Iolo Williams has joined the campaign to protect floating water-plantain as well as dragonflies, grass snakes, kingfishers and otters on the canal between Arddlin and Llanymynech, which has been unnavigable to canal boats for decades but is to be restored with £14m from the government’s levelling up fund.

Tougher regulations needed now, says Green MP Caroline Lucas as Tory colleague calls for monitoring

• UK risks falling behind Europe in controlling ‘forever chemicals’
• What are PFAS, how toxic are they and how do you become exposed?

The UK government must get a grip on the scale of “forever chemicals” polluting rivers and seas and threatening human and animal health, the Green MP Caroline Lucas has said.

The Guardian has revealed that high levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as forever chemicals, have been found at thousands of sites across the UK and Europe in a major mapping project.

Scientists studying the Permian-Triassic mass extinction find ecosystems can suddenly tip over

The steady destruction of wildlife can suddenly tip over into total ecosystem collapse, scientists studying the greatest mass extinction in Earth’s history have found.

Many scientists think the huge current losses of biodiversity are the start of a new mass extinction. But the new research shows total ecosystem collapse is “inevitable”, if the losses are not reversed, the scientists said.

Researchers found PFAS chemicals – used to make products resistant to heat and water – in all samples of 12 species of fish

All fish caught in Michigan rivers and tested for toxic PFAS contained the chemicals – and at levels that present a health risk for anyone eating them, according to a new study.

Researchers checked 100 fish samples that represented 12 species in the Huron and Rouge rivers.

Parts of Texas, Arkansas, Ohio and Maryland, along with New York, are all recording their earliest spring conditions on record

Blooming daffodils in New York City. Leaves sprouting from red maples in North Carolina. Cherry blossoms about to bud in Washington. Record winter warmth across much of the eastern US has caused spring-like conditions to arrive earlier than ever previously recorded in several places, provoking delight over the mild weather and despair over the unfolding climate crisis.

In New York, one of several US cities to experience its warmest January on record, spring conditions have arrived 32 days before the long-term normal, which is its earliest onset of biological spring in 40 years of charting seasonal trends by the National Phenology Network.

Australia swelters while in Brazil there have been record downpours

Southern Australia has recorded significant heat over the past week with maximum temperatures widely reaching in excess of 35C (95F), as well as more than 10C above the climatological average. Many stations in the south, across Western Australia and South Australia, recorded temperatures in excess of 40C with Eucla and Red Rock Points recording their highest February temperature of 46.8C on 22 February. Two large blocking high pressure systems south and west of Australia have allowed heat to stall across western and southern parts. This will be pushed further eastwards through this week, although lessening in severity.

In addition to this, many parts of the west coast have had high sea surface temperature anomalies throughout February, about 1-2C above normal. Because of this there is a chance that further cyclogenesis off the north-west coast may take place in the coming weeks – bringing further tropical storms.

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a rescued alligator, a curious seal and the ‘Snettisham Spectacular’