The Guardian

Cairngorms national park drawing up plans as RSPB says latest survey shows population at critical level of 540

An emergency plan is being drawn up to save the capercaillie, one of the UK’s most elusive and threatened woodland birds, after its numbers plunged.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said the latest population survey found its estimated population had fallen from roughly 1,114 in 2015/16 to about 542 birds last winter, putting it at a critically low level.

YouGov survey for major charities finds 81% believe wildlife and environment are under threat

A majority of the public believe nature is under threat and needs urgent action to protect and restore it, according to a YouGov poll.

The poll for the National Trust, RSPB and WWF comes as they and other mainstream green groups are mobilising their millions of members to counter what they say is the government’s attack on nature.

In Surrey, the cost of living crisis could push voters away from the Conservatives and towards a progressive alliance

Deep in the rolling hills of the Surrey commuter belt lies a narrow, winding lane overhung with trees. Halfway down the bridleway that leads off it, Sarah Godwin points out the barn one of her farming neighbours has converted into a wedding venue. Brides and grooms use this unspoilt view, over grazing sheep and ancient woodland to the beauty spot of Hascombe Hill, as the backdrop for wedding photographs. But soon, that view might include an oilwell.

This summer, ministers granted permission for exploratory drilling here, overruling objections from the Conservative-controlled county council and local Conservative MP Jeremy Hunt.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian economist

National Parks and Wildlife Service says threat ‘should be condemned by all Australians’

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Police are investigating a letter threatening to “firebomb” a New South Wales national parks office in the Snowy Mountains region over the culling of feral horses in the Kosciuszko national park.

The state’s environment minister, James Griffin, said the “disgraceful and unacceptable” behaviour had been reported to NSW police, while the head of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Atticus Fleming, said the threat “is a criminal act, and should be condemned by all Australians”.

Scientists ‘shocked’ by rate of change as rapid sea-ice melt drives absorption of CO2 – with ‘huge implications’ for Arctic sea life

Acidification of the western Arctic Ocean is happening three to four times faster than in other ocean basins, a new study has found.

The ocean, which absorbs a third of all of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, has grown more acidic because of fossil fuel use. Rapid loss of sea ice in the Arctic region over the past three decades has accelerated the rate of long-term acidification, according to the study, published in Science on Thursday.

Planting trees, rainwater gardens and de-paving can mitigate effects of climate crisis, according to analysis of 2,000 cities

Urban greening initiatives such as planting street trees, rainwater gardens and de-paving can help mitigate the impacts of urban heating due to the climate crisis and urban expansion, according to a study that has found cities have been warming by 0.5C a decade on average.

Scientists at Nanjing and Yale Universities analysed satellite data from across 2,000 cities and compared surface temperature readings between cities and rural areas from 2002 to 2021.

Bill would see 570 EU-derived environmental laws removed at end of 2023, with little time to replace them

The government’s “Brexit freedoms bill” could see all legal protections from pesticides abolished, wildlife campaigners have warned, putting insects, wildlife and human health in danger.

The bill, published a week ago by prime minister Liz Truss’s new administration, would result in all EU-derived laws being removed at the end of 2023, including 570 environmental regulations. The government could retain or amend some regulations, but has not set out plans to do so. Campaigners are worried there is insufficient time to put new regulations in place.

Andrew Forrest urges businesses to aim for ‘real zero’ to reduce environmental impact

Carbon offsets are questionable, dangerous and far from a good investment for companies hoping to reduce their environmental impact, Australia’s richest man has said.

Andrew Forrest, a billionaire turned philanthropist who made his fortune in mining and minerals, is turning his vast iron ore extraction operation, Fortescue Metals Group, into a zero carbon business.

Asked what local consent looks like, PM hesitates and says she will make sure there is local consent

Liz Truss has refused to give details of how local consent would be given for fracking in a particular area, amid growing evidence that it will be pushed through as a national infrastructure project.

In an interview with BBC Radio Lancashire, the prime minister said she was not familiar with the Preston New Road site in the county and had never visited.

On Mongolia’s coal highway to the Chinese border, truck driver Maikhuu dreams of a better life and financial security for her three children. However, the road from the mines to China is riddled with accidents, toxic pollution, poor hygiene and now,  amid the Covid crisis, drivers face days of quarantine on the border. Trapped in a hazardous industry, Maikhuu's journey reflects the human and environmental costs of Mongolia’s mining boom

National Trust says dazzling display this year may be reversed if trees continue to face extreme summers

After a year of extreme weather, a “unique” show of golden browns and buttery yellows could light up the UK’s trees in the next few weeks, a conservation charity has predicted, while warning that the impact of the climate emergency could threaten the show in autumns to come.

The National Trust said that some stressed trees had shed leaves early during a “false autumn” because of the summer’s exceptional heat and dryness but said that it, nonetheless, believed a particularly vivid October and November could be on the way.

David Littleproud and Matt Canavan have turned the scare rhetoric up to 11, but the energy market operator has already accounted for much of their criticisms

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Australia’s electricity networks are going through a revolution, with massive solar and wind farms, huge batteries and new hydro-electric plants pushing out coal and gas.

If necessity (read: the climate crisis) is the mother of invention, then getting our energy without burning fossil fuels is the only idea on the drawing board.

A measure of success for food producers should be local, healthy, nutritious food that doesn’t cost the earth – literally

We are constantly being exposed to chemicals in our food, many of which are linked to health issues and have devastating effects on our environment. From endocrine disruptors to PFAS, plastics to pesticides, just how much of these do we wish to include in our everyday lives?

Globally, Australia is one of the heavier users of pesticides in food production, as Guardian Australia’s recent investigation into pesticides shows. This is partly because of Australia’s unique conditions and farming methods. But it’s also because Australia has less rigorous standards on pesticides than much of Europe or the US.

Figures likely to be an underestimate, says Global Witness, as land defenders are killed by hitmen, crime groups and governments

More than 1,700 murders of environmental activists were recorded over the past decade, an average of a killing nearly every two days, according to a new report.

Killed by hitmen, organised crime groups and their own governments, at least 1,733 land and environmental defenders were murdered between 2012 and 2021, figures from Global Witness show, with Brazil, Colombia, the Philippines, Mexico and Honduras the deadliest countries.

Organisers call on nations to carry on crucial climate negotiations despite differences on geopolitical issues

The Egyptian hosts of the next UN climate summit have issued a plea for countries to set aside tensions and animosity over the Ukraine war for the sake of focusing on the climate crisis.

Egypt will host the Cop27 conference in Sharm El-Sheikh in November, intended as a forum for companies to fulfil the promises they made at the landmark Cop26 summit in Glasgow last year.

Hartlepool and Heysham 1, operational for four decades, are due to close in 2024 but EDF says that is under review

France’s EDF is considering extending the life of two British nuclear power plants due to the severity of the energy crisis.

EDF said on Wednesday that it would review whether there was a case to keep open the Hartlepool nuclear power plant in County Durham and Heysham 1 on the north-west coast of England near Lancaster. Both plants had been scheduled to close in March 2024.

‘Colossal amount’ of leaked methane, twice initial estimates, is equivalent to third of Denmark’s annual CO2 emissions or 1.3m cars

Scientists fear methane erupting from the burst Nord Stream pipelines into the Baltic Sea could be one of the worst natural gas leaks ever and pose significant climate risks.

Neither of the two breached Nord Stream pipelines, which run between Russia and Germany, was operational, but both contained natural gas. This mostly consists of methane – a greenhouse gas that is the biggest cause of climate heating after carbon dioxide.

Wildfires, floods, heatwaves, hurricanes and drought are not waiting for politicians to act – the president must step in

Millions of people across the United States have witnessed, often tragically, how the climate crisis is here and levying steep costs on communities. Black, Indigenous, and other frontline communities, including those in my home state of West Virginia, are experiencing these impacts – measured in lives lost, homes destroyed, and livelihoods upended – first and worst.

Hurricane Fiona, which has washed away mothers and fathers from their children and left nearly all of Puerto Rico without power, and the remnants of Typhoon Merbok, which destroyed homes and inundated western Alaska with historic levels of water, underscored this reality more than a week ago. And Hurricane Ian, which is about to push into Tampa, Florida, will underscore it again as it leaves entire communities in Florida and the Southeast inundated with water and likely without power and access to essential services.

The proposals would ensure the power of our wind and waves is harnessed for everyone – not just foreign governments and multinationals

How can Britain achieve 100% clean energy by 2030? Yesterday, Keir Starmer set out an answer: a new publicly owned clean energy generator. Great British Energy would own, run and invest in new, clean energy infrastructure, from offshore wind to tidal and solar. Operating as a generating company, not energy retailer, it would have the potential both to reduce our household fuel bills and create a future of clean, affordable, abundant energy.

The full scale and details of Great British Energy are yet to be determined. But though Labour’s proposal may appear novel in Britain, public ownership of renewables is already commonplace. Indeed, nearly half of the UK’s offshore wind capacity is publicly owned – just not by the British public. Instead, it is owned by foreign governments.

Mathew Lawrence is director of Common Wealth and co-author of Owning the Future with Adrienne Buller

Exclusive: A further 35,000 flights have operated almost empty, with climate campaigners calling the revelations ‘shocking’

More than 5,000 completely empty passenger flights have flown to or from UK airports since 2019, the Guardian can reveal.

A further 35,000 commercial flights have operated almost empty since 2019, with fewer than 10% of seats filled, according to analysis of data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). This makes a total of about 40,000 “ghost flights”.