The Guardian

Hundreds of uncontrolled forest fires have spread across Canada, threatening critical infrastructure and forcing evacuations. Wildfires are common in the country's western provinces, but this year flames have rapidly spread towards the east. About 3.8m hectares (9.4m acres) have already burned, according to government ministers. The wildfires have created a blanket of smoke that has spread across several US cities, including New York, forcing residents to stay indoors

• Canada’s wildfires are part of our new climate reality, experts and officials say

• Tens of millions under air quality alerts in US as Canada fire smoke drifts south

Scientists say world is burning through ‘carbon budget’ that can be emitted while staying below 1.5C

Greenhouse gas emissions have reached an all-time high, threatening to push the world into “unprecedented” levels of global heating, scientists have warned.

The world is rapidly running out of “carbon budget”, the amount of carbon dioxide that can be poured into the atmosphere if we are to stay within the vital threshold of 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures, according to a study published in the journal Earth System Science Data on Thursday.

Tens of millions of people in the US are under air quality alerts as smoke from the Canadian wildfires drifts south, turning the sky in some of the country's biggest cities a murky brown. In New York City, residents were advised to limit their time outdoors, as public schools cancelled outdoor activities

• Tens of millions under air quality alerts in US as Canada fire smoke drifts south

From sustainable fisheries to toxic battery waste, these images were chosen because they tell a compelling story about the state of our planet

Appea’s assertion that gas is indispensable is ludicrous when it’s renewables that are replacing coal

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Australia’s gas industry has launched a major public relations campaign to convince the public of three things: their product is clean, indispensable to our lives and crucial in getting the country to net zero.

With soft, seductive and reassuring voiceovers, a TV ad shows images of hospitals, farms and city lights with the tagline “Natural gas: keeping the country running.”

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Artists from around the world have been using detritus from beaches and waterways to respond to the plight of the marine environment. We showcase their work on World Oceans Day

Newly released report from 2021 warned existing strategies not enough to stop uncontrolled spread of invasive species

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A strategic review of Australia’s efforts to control an outbreak of red fire ants warned almost two years ago that an “urgent change of strategy” was needed to prevent the uncontrolled spread of one of the world’s most invasive species.

The Queensland government on Thursday released the August 2021 review of the national fire ant eradication program, which warned pre-existing measures and funding “will not be able to eradicate or contain” the red fire ant outbreak in Brisbane and surrounds.

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Despite several cold snaps in May that brought early dustings of snow, a warmer start to winter has meant most of that has now melted

• Bureau of Meteorology puts Australia on ‘El Niño alert’
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Australia’s ski season will start with no skiing, no snowboarding, no snow – and a drying El Niño may be to blame.

Due to a “lack of snow,” Thredbo Resort has closed its mountain to skiing and snowboarding this long weekend, a spokesperson said – just as it kicks off its official winter season.

Majid Al Suwaidi says governments not in agreement yet over whether issue should be on agenda

UN climate talks this year might skirt the vital question of whether and how to phase out fossil fuels, as nations have not yet agreed to discuss the issue, one of the top officials hosting the talks has said.

Majid Al Suwaidi, director-general of the Cop28 climate talks for its host nation, United Arab Emirates, said governments were not in agreement over whether the phase-out of fossil fuels should be on the agenda for the conference, which begins in November.

Reptile had been in captivity for 16 years when zookeepers discovered eggs, journal reports

Scientists have recorded the first known case of a “virgin birth” in a female crocodile that had no contact with males for about 16 years.

The reptile was able to produce a fully formed foetus that was 99.9% genetically identical to her.

Poor pollination caused by destructive farming methods leads to loss of biodiversity and is a threat to food production, inquiry told

Fruit growers in the UK are already seeing less yield and lower-quality produce because of the loss of insects, scientists have told MPs, warning that a further loss of pollinators could have “significant” impacts on all crops.

As part of a parliamentary inquiry into insect decline and UK food security, Prof Simon Potts from the University of Reading told MPs at the science, innovation and technology committee that there is already good evidence of a shortfall of pollinators and a threat to food production.

Eastern US states including New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut issue alerts as hundreds of wildfires burn in Canada

• Canada wildfires smoke: latest updates

Tens of millions of people in the US were under air quality alerts on Wednesday, as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted south, turning the sky in some of the country’s biggest cities a murky brown and saturating the air with harmful pollution.

States across the east, including New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, issued air quality alerts, with officials recommending that people limit outdoor activity.

Exclusive: UN conference president Sultan Al Jaber is also head of oil firm, which was consulted on how to respond to a media inquiry

The United Arab Emirates’ state oil company has been able to read emails to and from the Cop28 climate summit office and was consulted on how to respond to a media inquiry, the Guardian can reveal.

The UAE is hosting the UN climate summit in November and the president of Cop28 is Sultan Al Jaber, who is also chief executive of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc). The revelations have been called “explosive” and a “scandal” by lawmakers.

DuPont or 3M scientists discovered PFAS toxicity internally, but did not publish findings or report them to the EPA, study says

In 1953, a paper developed for cigarette maker RJ Reynolds detailed possible cancer-causing agents in tobacco, but the document would remain hidden from public view for decades. In the interim, the industry told the public: “We don’t accept the idea that there are harmful agents in tobacco.”

The chemical industry, it seemed, took note. Just a few years later, DuPont scientists found PFAS enlarged lab rats’ livers and likely caused birth defects in workers. Still, the company told its employees the cancer-linked compounds are “about as toxic as table salt”.

Exclusive: Wood Group boosts fossil fuel business and shrinks renewables work after getting £430m government-backed loan

The international engineering company Wood Group has expanded its oil and gas business and dramatically shrunk its renewables business after receiving a £430m government-backed “green transition loan”, prompting calls from environmental groups for a review of the process that authorised the loan.

The growth of Wood’s fossil fuels business has shown that the government’s “transition export development guarantee” scheme, which guaranteed the loan, facilitates greenwashing and is open to abuse by polluting companies, according to environmental groups.

Arguments over the green credentials of electric cars are already over. Work on 21st-century tech, and leave the past behind

• Ben Lane is co-founder and CTO at Zapmap, a UK-wide map of electric car charging points

It should by now be clear to all vehicle manufacturers and policymakers that the electric vehicle (EV) age is all but inevitable. Most drivers already get it, as shown by the huge order books for most electric models. The long-running fight over whether electric or petrol/diesel engines generate more emissions during their lifecycle, further fuelled by Rowan Atkinson’s recent intervention, is in fact all but over. After years of crunching the numbers, peer-reviewed studies consistently arrive at the same conclusion: EVs win. The UK government’s own research supports this position and concludes that transitioning to zero-emission vehicles would “significantly” reduce overall carbon use.

Of course, where the vehicle and battery are manufactured, and how the electricity is generated, make a difference to the carbon benefits of EVs. But helpful and accessible tools such as the Transport & Environment campaign’s How clean are electric cars? calculator are doing much to demystify these concerns for the average person. This tool clearly shows that across its whole lifetime, a small EV driven in Sweden using a battery produced there emits 83% less than a similar petrol car – that’s a huge improvement. Even one driven in Poland with a battery made in China still emits 37% less.

Ben Lane is co-founder and CTO at Zapmap, a UK-wide map of electric car charging points

Secondhand clothing waste from Europe is choking the waterways of the west African country. It must not go on

My body has taught me that few things are impossible when you take your time. Sometimes I’m taken aback by how natural this has all felt to me. Since when is it “natural” to be able to swim 10km, 5km or even 2km?

How could it feel so easy to hang off the side of a boat and let go, slipping into the water, sometimes miles from the nearest land. And yet every day, for 40 days of the Agbetsi Living Water Expedition, that is precisely what I did.

Populations of bees, spiders, ground beetles and hoverflies have declined twice as fast on land farmed for crops in the past 30 years, despite funding for more sustainable farming methods

Conservation measures over the past 30 years have failed to stop the decline of insects on British farmland, a new report shows. Populations of bees, spiders, ground beetles and hoverflies have disappeared twice as fast in areas intensely farmed for crops, according to the paper, which looked at citizen science data on more than 1,500 invertebrate species.

Although there was a push to intensify agriculture after the second world war, since the early 90s more sustainable and wildlife-friendly farming practices have emerged, with EU agri-environment funding made available for farmers to plant hedgerows and wild flowers, alongside better regulation of pesticides. However, these have not managed to stem biodiversity loss.

The country desperately needs a government prepared to invest big, to catch up with new economic times

Placing a speculative price tag on Labour party spending plans is, of course, a time-honoured pre-election manoeuvre by Conservative governments. In January 1992, as John Major seeded the ground for what turned out to be a fourth successive Tory victory later that year, voters were warned of a “tax bombshell” costing the average taxpayer £1,000. The calculations were spurious but politically damaging.

A year or so away from the next election, the front-page headline in one newspaper on Tuesday read: “Families face £1,000 a year bill for Labour eco plans”. Ministers are warning that the cost of the green strategy outlined by the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, would spook markets and drive up mortgage rates.

IPPC chair Hoesung Lee says over-reliance on the technology could mean the world misses 1.5C target

Over-reliance on carbon capture and storage technology could lead the world to surpass climate tipping points, the head of the world’s climate science authority has warned.

Hoesung Lee, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said using technologies that capture carbon dioxide or remove it from the atmosphere was “no free lunch” and that countries should be wary.