The Guardian

European Commission accused of acting unlawfully in two separate cases bought by environment groups

The European Commission is being sued by environmental campaigners over a decision to include gas and nuclear in an EU guide to “green” investments.

Two separate legal challenges are being lodged on Tuesday at the European Union’s general court in Luxembourg – one by Greenpeace and another by a coalition including Client Earth and WWF – after the classification of fuels in the so-called taxonomy, a guide for investors intended to channel billions into green technologies.

Change to bill says opening and licensing of new coalmines by the Coal Authority to be prohibited

An amendment to the energy bill currently going through the House of Lords means that it will not be possible to open a new coalmine in England.

The amendment may still be reversed in the House of Commons, but it marks the growing frustration of politicians as they press the government to move faster and harder on the climate crisis.

Footage released by Catalonia's fire brigade showed firefighters tackling a large wildfire on the French-Spanish border. The blaze spread around the French villages of Cerbère and Banyuls-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean coast before advancing into Spain, fire services said. Hundreds of firefighters were mobilised on both sides of the border to stem the blaze, which destroyed almost 1,000 hectares of land. An unusually dry winter and spring have raised fears of a repeat of last summer's fires and droughts across Europe. One firefighter was being treated with minor injures.

PM’s spokesperson says people will continue to use national park’s English name despite change to Welsh one, Bannau Brycheiniog

Downing Street has stepped into a growing row over a decision to ditch the English name of the Brecon Beacons in favour of the old Welsh one, Bannau Brycheiniog.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson said he was sure people would continue to use the national park’s English name and questioned the move to drop a symbol of a flaming beacon from the park’s logo.

To get earthworms for fishing, people do a thing called ‘worm grunting’

An article on earthworms published in the New York Times in 1881 – “Habits of earth-worms: The curious work which they accomplish” – describes a helminth British empire. “In England they abound in the fields, in the paved courts of houses, though they are rarer in bog fields,” the author writes. “Worm castings have been found as high as 1,500 feet in the Scotch hills and at great altitudes in south India, and on the Himalaya mountains. Both in the extremes of a climate like England and in very hot weather, worms cease their work.”

Earthworms are hermaphrodites, which the journalist, all the way back in 1881, expresses in a glittering sentence: “Two sexes unite in one individual but two individuals pair”.

Conservationists blame changing weather patterns as low numbers of amphibians found across country

Frog and toad populations in England have been devastated by climate breakdown, conservationists fear, after the drought dried up their breeding ponds last year.

Usually at this time of year, ponds are full of jelly-like frog and toadspawn. But conservationists have found the habitats to be bare, with no amphibians or their young to be seen.

Indians warned to stay vigilant during spell of very hot weather. Elsewhere, sandstorms plague China

The heatwave that has been plaguing the states of West Bengal, Bihar, and Andhra Pradesh in north-west India is forecast to continue through the coming week. Daytime temperatures of 40C have been recorded for several consecutive days in these regions, about 5C above the seasonal average.

This excessive heat is linked to a north-westerly flow of air, which is also bringing much drier than usual conditions. The authorities have advised people to be vigilant about their health by staying hydrated, wearing breathable clothing and avoiding street food, which could easily go off in these conditions. They have also closed schools and universities for a week in response to schoolchildren complaining about headaches.

Compostable packaging is popular for environmental reasons, but it can be treated with ‘forever chemicals’ linked to health problems

A group of toxic PFAS chemicals that industry has claimed is safe to use in food packaging are concerning and present a health threat because they can break off and end up in food and drinks, a new peer-reviewed study finds.

The subgroup of PFAS, called “fluorotelomers”, have been billed as a safe replacement for a first generation of PFAS compounds now largely phased out of production in the US, Canada and the EU because of their high toxicity.

More than 40m birds have disappeared from UK’s skies since 1970: a trend that imperils the network that gives us life

Most mornings in spring I listen for a sequence of birdsongs to know that my local area is in good heart, but also to reassure myself that the world is working largely as it should. The default soloist of my dawn in Buxton, Derbyshire, is a mistle thrush that delivers from the ash tree above our house.

As I listen to my soloist there is an added delight in knowing that, from Cape Wrath in northernmost Scotland to Kingsdown in Kent, his voice unites with tens of millions of other dawn birds. The blue and great tits of the inner cities, blackbirds and robins among the English villages, chaffinches and wrens through the remotest Scottish glens: it is a collective performance, free of charge, unfolding across all Britain to all people.

Krill are in danger and that means the oceans are in danger too

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Society is wedded to a belief that it is OK to control animals for profit. We hoped halting the race would make people stop and think

As a country of people who love animals, it shocks and saddens many of us that watching a horse break their neck on national TV is still considered entertainment. That’s why 300 people from Animal Rising went to Aintree on Saturday to stop the Grand National.

We did not fully succeed, and – like last year – more horses died. Hill Sixteen fell at the first fence and was put down due to the horse’s injuries. Hill Sixteen’s death followed those of two others at Aintree last week. We mourn the loss of these animals.

Chris Bowen is expected to introduce an EV and vehicle fuel efficiency standards policy next week

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Australia’s long-awaited national electric vehicle strategy is expected to be released next week, finally detailing the introduction of pollution standards that should accelerate the uptake of electric cars.

Industry sources say the federal climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, will release the strategy ahead of an event in western Sydney on Wednesday.

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Bonds, insurance, fines or mandatory remediation are being considered as part of a plan to restore Great Barrier Reef islands smashed by cyclones and left abandoned

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Across the Great Barrier Reef, cyclones have left tropical island paradises shuttered and abandoned, replete with ruined infrastructure and damaged environments.

Now the state government is considering how to force the owners of these “derelict” island resorts to pay bonds, insurance, fines or otherwise ensure remediation, as conservationists join calls for overseas owners to foot the bill.

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Closures, delayed after Russia reduced Europe’s gas supplies, leave conundrum for energy policymakers

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Germany’s three remaining nuclear power stations will shut down on Saturday, 12 years after the Fukushima disaster in Japan accelerated the country’s exit from atomic energy.

The closures mark the conclusion of a stop-start approach to atomic energy and a victory for the country’s vociferous anti-nuclear movement.

Readers say they are afraid to let children outside after warnings from authorities and neighbours’ threats

Cars, dog poo and delivery drivers: why children don’t play out anymore

Families are facing threats and police warnings for letting their children play in the street, Guardian readers have reported, leaving parents afraid to let their children spend time outside.

Liz Swift thought a basketball hoop on wheels pushed to the corner of her street on sunny afternoons would be a great way to keep her 13-year-old active. But the local authority did not agree. The family received letters from Waltham Forest council warning them that children playing in the street were “causing a nuisance to neighbours”.

Inflation and the climate crisis are hitting developing economies hardest. Trade is the key to helping them

• Mia Mottley is prime minister of Barbados. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is director-general of the World Trade Organization

The Covid-19 pandemic derailed economies everywhere, and in most developing countries incomes remain well below pre-pandemic levels. Inflation, made worse by the war in Ukraine, is particularly painful for low-income and vulnerable countries, where essentials like food and energy dominate household budgets. Higher interest rates are exacerbating debt distress across much of the developing world, squeezing public and private investment and paring back growth. To compound this, the climate crisis is hitting the very countries that contribute least to the problem, and which have the most limited means to cope.

Already, we are seeing the reversal of hard-won development gains. The World Bank estimates that the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have pushed up to 95 million more people into extreme poverty. The World Food Programme projects that almost 350 million people may be food insecure in 2023, more than double the number in 2020. In the wake of the pandemic, unemployment is higher, gender gaps are wider and the share of young people with neither jobs nor sufficient education has risen, according to the International Labour Organization.

Mia Amor Mottley, SC, MP is prime minister of Barbados. Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is director-general of the World Trade Organization

Dartmoor National Park Authority is preparing to appeal against court decision to overturn right to wild camp

A wealthy landowner has accused Dartmoor National Park Authority (DPNA) officials of “acting like campaigners” as they prepare to appeal against a court decision to overturn the right to wild camp.

Earlier this year, as a result of a court case brought by a local landowner, backpack camping, also known as wild camping, was made illegal on Dartmoor without landowner permission, overturning what campaigners claim was a long-held right to camping on the moor.

‘Exceptional’ super-colony of endangered barbastelles found in path of proposed road near Norwich

The centre of an “exceptional” super-colony of one of Britain’s most endangered bats has been discovered in the path of a proposed road across a chalk stream.

A planning application for the Western Link dual carriageway near Norwich is expected to be submitted this summer despite researchers identifying the UK’s largest known colony of barbastelle bats in the threatened Wensum valley woodlands.

Slow-moving supercell thunderstorms trigger flooding in Florida and a cyclone hits Australia

Fort Lauderdale experienced a historic rainfall event this week. As low pressure developed across the northern Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday morning, a warm front lifted slowly north across southern Florida, bringing moderate rainfall through the early afternoon.

Multiple slow-moving supercell thunderstorms developed, each following similar tracks across the area. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport provisionally measured 25.91in (65.8cm) of rainfall during the 24 hours to 7am on Thursday, mostly falling within 12 hours. The previous daily rainfall total at the travel hub was 14.59in in 1979.

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs, including a green forest lizard, gentoo penguins and a wild beaver