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RSPB Scotland’s Abernethy nature reserve in Perthshire describes hatching as ‘such a special moment’

A hidden camera has captured the first live UK footage of a wild white-tailed eagle hatching.

Staff at RSPB Scotland’s Abernethy nature reserve in the Cairngorms, where the eaglet hatched, described it as being “such a special moment”.

Several thousand XR climate crisis protesters rally in Hyde Park for the start of its latest campaign

Several thousand supporters of the protest group Extinction Rebellion were rallying near Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park on Saturday for the start of the group’s latest campaign in central London.

Hundreds of multicoloured flags bearing the “extinction” symbol of the environmental protest movement were fluttering above lawns closest to Marble Arch by 11am, while samba bands warmed up.

Exclusive: Nike and H&M are among firms whose environmental scores suggest progress. But how are these calculated?

Fashion accounts for 10% of the world’s carbon emissions and is the second-most polluting industry in the world. But in an increasingly climate-conscious society, it is increasingly trying to present itself as sustainable to appeal to customers.

One big target is reducing greenhouse gas emissions and for the past two decades many brands have signed up to a scheme called the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an independent body that awards grades for environmental performance.

In 50 years, Canvey Island’s George Whatley has won five victories against oil and gas firms trying to expand operations

George Whatley is probably Britain’s most successful anti-oil campaigner, but you won’t find him at Extinction Rebellion’s latest wave of protests or the Just Stop Oil campaign which has blocked fossil fuel infrastructure recently.

At 80 years old and after a recent spell in hospital, he will be taking it easy at his bungalow on Canvey Island, Essex. But if anyone can claim a place in the annals of successful environmental protests, it is this former Bank of England security guard.

The climate authority has warned it is now or never to cut emissions but will MPs on the campaign trail heed its warning?

Perhaps the message was too familiar. With the unofficial election campaign under way, and the prime minister mired in escalating allegations of bullying and duplicity, a major report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the world’s most respected climate science body – quickly disappeared from the Australian news cycle this week.

The report, the third major release from the IPCC’s sixth assessment of the published evidence, focused on greenhouse gas emissions cuts – what has happened to date and what is necessary from here.

Strong measures by Europe could quickly deprive Russia of oil and gas income worth billions, experts say

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates

Flights should be banned in continental Europe and car use banned in city centres to save energy and prevent Vladimir Putin profiting from fossil fuel sales, campaigners have said.

It would be possible for Europe to quickly end its reliance on oil and gas from Russia by taking strong measures, according to a report by the climate adviser Mark Lynas, energy analyst Rauli Partanen, and energy and sustainability installations specialist Joris van Dorp.

Group plans most disruptive actions yet in the city over coming week, promising most roadblocks ever

Extinction Rebellion has said it will conduct its most disruptive protest yet on the streets of London over the coming week, calling for an end to the fossil fuel economy.

The environmental activist group, which encourages supporters to cause disruption through non-violent civil disobedience, will return to the city from Saturday with new tactics it claims will “create the most roadblocks we ever have”.

Images of harp seals taken from hundreds of miles above show their plight. They should spur us to action

This week, remarkable images were released of harp seals scattered across a fragmented and rapidly disintegrating ice sheet east of Greenland. With record high temperatures and early melting in the Arctic, great cracks create a deadly mosaic on the sheet, an icy crazy paving on which you can make out dark specks – each one a seal, peering out as if bemused by its fate. In such an inhospitable environment, viewed from such height, the marine mammals resemble alien life forms glimpsed on another planet.

By 2035, it is estimated that the disappearance of Arctic sea ice will mean that around 7.5 million harp seals will lose their home. It is another cruel turn for animals that in the 20th century were extensively hunted for their fur – especially the flawless white pelts of their pups. They depend on the sea ice: it is the arena in which they rest after hunting for food, mate, and give birth. The ice is the centre of their lives.

Philip Hoare is the author of several books, including Leviathan, The Sea Inside and Albert and the Whale

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including cherry head tortoises, basking hippos and a cheeky squirrel

RSPB scientists say small increase in sightings points to first signs of recovery of beleaguered species

Greenfinch populations, which were previously in steep decline in the UK, are showing the first signs of recovery, according to the latest annual RSPB big garden birdwatch results.

The citizen science survey gives a good idea of how bird populations are faring in Britain. This year almost 700,000 people took part, counting more than 11 million birds.

Exclusive: Pathologists find what is believed to be the first evidence of the infection in the planet’s longest-lived vertebrate species

A stranded Greenland shark found off the coast of Cornwall died from meningitis, according to a postmortem, providing what is believed to be the first evidence of the disease in the species.

The 4-metre long shark, thought to be about 100 years old, was first discovered by a dog walker on 13 March on a beach near Penzance but was washed back into the sea before it could be properly examined. After a two-day search it was discovered floating in the water off Newlyn harbour beach by a tourist boat and a postmortem was carried out.

Climate scientists say plugging methane leaks and phasing out fossil fuels are necessary to avert catastrophic global heating

Atmospheric levels of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, increased by a record amount for the second year in a row in 2021, according to US government data.

The concentration of methane in the Earth’s atmosphere jumped by 17 parts per billion (ppb) in 2021, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) monitoring found, the largest annual increase recorded since modern measurements began in 1983. The previous record increase, of 15.3ppb, was set in 2020.

The candidates I speak up for want to do more than send prayers as another climate disaster hits – it is so important they get into power

This week I was shocked to discover myself on the front page of the Australian and other Murdoch-owned media where I was accused of being anti-Israel. This came as a huge surprise not just to me, but to my family, my neighbours and the many professional colleagues I have worked with as an editor and climate activist.

It was a shock because, while I’ve been targeted for years for my climate change work, I have never been the target of a politically motivated hit job designed to undermine the independent candidates I support.

Turbine blades owned by ESI Energy hacked many birds to death, a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act

An American wind energy company that pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges after at least 150 eagles were killed, most hacked by turbine blades, has agreed to spend as much as $27m on efforts to prevent more deaths.

ESI Energy, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, one of the largest US providers of renewable energy, entered a plea agreement for violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), the US Justice Department said.

The government has failed to seize the moment and build on public enthusiasm for renewable energy

A few weeks after the November Cop26 summit concluded in Glasgow, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy published a striking snapshot of public attitudes towards the climate emergency. It showed that popular support for renewable energy, including onshore wind farms, had reached record levels. Given a cost-of-living crunch caused by the rocketing price of fossil fuels, and the new priority of energy independence following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an imaginative and proactive government would move to harness this enthusiasm and seize the moment. Sadly, Britain is not blessed with such a government.

The future energy strategy unveiled by Boris Johnson on Thursday instead carries some of the hallmarks of his flawed government: a prime ministerial penchant for grands projets that may or may not be deliverable; a tendency to be unduly influenced by vocal lobby groups on the right of the Conservative party; and a propensity to set targets without doing the necessary work to enable them to be met. The aspiration that 95% of the UK’s electricity should come from renewable sources by 2030 is admirable, and the commitment to hugely increase offshore wind and solar capacity is significant. But inexplicable lacunae and wrong priorities make this a tale of missed opportunities.

This plan could have ended dependence on Russian gas and tackled the cost of living crisis. Thanks to Tory backbenchers, it did neither

At last, the energy security strategy has been published, after weeks of hedging, briefing and delays. The original aims of the strategy, which was initially promised on 7 March, were worthy: to confront rocketing energy bills and transition away from Russian fossil fuels after the invasion of Ukraine.

There was also hope in the climate world that the strategy would go further and faster in the transition to a zero-carbon economy. The cost of renewables has tumbled, and the UK’s leaky housing stock is crying out for retrofitting. This was an opportunity for an urgent response both to the climate and cost of living crises.

Eleanor Salter writes about climate, culture and politics

Boris Johnson is to put nuclear energy at the heart of the UK’s new energy strategy, which could mean eight more nuclear reactors being approved on existing sites. The government’s plans are in defiance of its own net zero targets, but Johnson insists they will ‘reduce our dependence on power sources exposed to volatile international prices we cannot control, so we can enjoy greater energy self-sufficiency with cheaper bills’

• PM to put nuclear power at heart of UK’s energy strategy

Conservationists say the farms are a danger to sea lions and other marine mammals, who can become entangled in their nets

Dozens of thieving sea lions in western Canada have spent the last few weeks gorging on fish after brazenly slipping into an industrial salmon farm – and ignoring all attempts to make them move on.

Cermaq, the aquaculture giant with operations in Norway, Chile and Canada, says the wily predators were able to evade netting and electric fences in late March as part of a “breach event” at the Rant Point farm near Tofino in British Columbia.

The government is trying to wish away problems such as flooding by doing nothing. It’s incompetence by design

We have a new term for doing nothing: “learning to live with”. Learning to live with Covid means abandoning testing, isolation and wearing masks in public places. Living with it, dying from it, what’s the difference? The same applies to climate breakdown. It’s not just that countries like the UK have failed to play their part in preventing this catastrophe. They have also failed to prepare for it.

While our primary effort should still be to decarbonise our economies, to prevent even worse impacts, we also need to brace ourselves for the heating that’s now unavoidable. But, as the government’s climate change committee points out, adaptation in the UK is “under-resourced, underfunded and often ignored”. The head of the committee has spoken of a “wilful reluctance” to include adaptation in policymaking.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist. He will discuss Regenesis at a Guardian Live event on Monday 30 May. Book tickets in-person or online here

The Morrison government touts their climate credentials but analysts say following Australia’s path would see 3C or more of global heating

• Temperature Check is a weekly column examining claims about climate change made by governments, politicians, business and in the media. See the latest column and follow the series here
  

If the rest of the world followed Australia’s “leadership” on cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reaching net zero, what would that mean? This was the question we were left to ponder after the assistant energy minister, Tim Wilson, defended the Morrison government’s record this week after the latest UN climate assessment was released.

“We need global emissions to come down, which means we need other countries to follow our leadership in making sure they take decisions and back them in,” Wilson told the ABC, while criticising the UK and China for “backsliding” and a lack of commitment on targets.

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