The Guardian

Proponents of ‘bathing waters’ designation say it would force action on sewage but others worry about impact of more visitors

The waters of the River Cam are an unsettling lurid green on a dull day. The river that flows through Cambridge and has been enjoyed by swimmers including Lord Byron, Charles Darwin, Virginia Woolf and Roger Deakin is increasingly polluted from sewage discharges and phosphates and nitrates from farmland.

Now swimmers hope that the government designating a short stretch of the river at Sheep’s Green as “bathing waters” will provide the impetus to clean it up.

Scientists and vets are urging the president to afford the world’s most traded species better protections

France’s hunger for frogs’ legs is “destructive to nature” and endangering amphibians in Asia and south-east Europe, a group of scientists and vets have warned.

More than 500 experts from research, veterinary and conservation groups have called on Emmanuel Macron, the French president, to “end the overexploitation of frogs” and afford the most traded species better protections.

Research shows industry lobbying against support for solar panels and electric cars while enjoying subsidies itself

The oil industry has fought against government support for clean technologies for more than half a century, the Guardian can reveal, even as vast subsidies have propped up its polluting business model.

It lobbied lawmakers to block support for low-carbon technologies such as solar panels, electric cars and heat pumps as far back as the 1960s, analysis shows. Trade associations in the US and Europe stymied green innovations under the guise of supporting a “technology neutral” approach to avoiding the damage done by burning their fuels.

With mass bleaching events so frequent, the prognosis is bad. Australia must lead with its actions on emissions and phasing out fossil fuel development

What will it take for us to collectively pay attention? Not a new question, but a reasonable one after the official declaration that the Great Barrier Reef is suffering through another mass bleaching event driven by global heating – the fifth since 2016.

There is no clearer visual demonstration of the climate crisis than what is happening to the reef. It’s a globally unique landmark, made up of thousands of individual reefs and islands and an extraordinary and eccentric array of species. It has been growing into its modern form, spread across an area the size of Italy, for about 8,000 years. People travel from across the planet to witness it. And we can literally see the impact of climate change on it as it changes colour and loses life in real time.

Exclusive: Mayor hails ‘remarkable progress’ in improving air quality after report showing much of change is result of Ulez

Sadiq Khan has hailed what he said was remarkable progress in improving London’s air quality under his tenure as mayor, after a study showed roadside pollutant levels falling faster in the city than elsewhere in the UK.

The report, produced by the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Transport for London (TfL), said a good proportion of the improvement was the result of the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), which was extended to all London boroughs last summer.

Shadow environment secretary says other countries have same target and it would save billions of pounds

A Labour government would aim for a zero-waste economy by 2050, the shadow environment secretary has said.

Steve Reed said the measure would save billions of pounds and also protect the environment from mining and other negative actions, while speaking at the Restitch conference in Coventry, held by the thinktank Create Streets.

Adelaide region expected to be worst affected with average temperatures forecast to be up by 10C

Southern parts of Australia are expected to suffer a short heatwave starting on Friday and lasting until next Tuesday. The Adelaide region will be worst affected, with highs of about 36C anticipated in the city on Friday, which is 10C above the seasonal norm.

Daytime maximums are then set to remain above 35C until Tuesday, while minimum temperatures are not forecast to drop below 25C. This will be the longest March run of high temperatures in Adelaide in four years, with only one March day above 35C being recorded over this period.

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

The animals that inspired Rodin and fed the French resistance may soon be banished from Les Invalides – but not if protesters have anything to do with it

Paris is the theatre of many battles, but none has been more burlesque than the fight to save or annihilate – according to which side of the argument you belong – the wild rabbits living in the shadow of Napoleon’s tomb. Three hundred or so of these furry friends, or fiends, have been digging thousands of tunnels underneath the manicured lawn of the Esplanade des Invalides, ruining the 16-hectare (40-acre) site overseen by the French military.

Gnawing on electrical cables and garden hoses, they have transformed the grass plot into gruyère, as well as leaving behind tons of their signature round droppings. The military personnel must be feeling their skills are wasted, spending precious hours each day, as they now must do, collecting rabbit caca.

Exclusive: Research reveals byproduct PCBs may pose ‘growing, unmonitored environmental and human health risk’

Industry could be producing more cancer-causing PCB chemicals today than at any other point in history, despite their production having been banned more than 40 years ago.

PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are human-made substances that were used as coolants and lubricants in electrical equipment until they were banned due to their links to health problems and because they do not break down easily in the environment.

Electric carmaker concerned at ‘overblown’ claims that Albanese government’s plan to import environmentally cleaner cars would increase ute prices

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Electric car brand Polestar has become the second company to quit Australia’s main auto industry lobby group over frustrations at its campaign against the Albanese government’s plan to import environmentally cleaner cars.

On Friday – a day after Tesla announced it would cease being a member of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) over the group’s opposition to the government’s proposed vehicle efficiency standard – Polestar Australia’s managing director, Samantha Johnson, wrote to FCAI CEO Tony Weber advising him the Volvo-owned brand was also cancelling its membership.

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Before climate change gets them we can have fun going bonkers at the extremely weird shit that lives under the ocean

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Particular concern raised for southern areas of the reef that have not been badly bleached since 2016 with ‘high risk’ of significant coral death

• Lord Howe island faces ‘major’ coral bleaching as ocean temperatures continue to break records

The Great Barrier Reef is in the grip of a mass coral bleaching event driven by global heating – the fifth in only eight years – the marine park’s government authority has confirmed.

The authority, together with scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science, have completed aerial surveys across 300 reefs over two thirds of the reef, with more to come.

Exclusive: firm points to risk of asbestos contamination from other sources as it seeks to have prevention order thrown out

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The landscaping materials company at the centre of the New South Wales asbestos crisis will point to the risks of contamination outside its facilities and the “unjustified impact” on its business when it argues to have an order preventing it making mulch products quashed.

Greenlife and the NSW Environment Protection Authority are expected to appear before the state’s land and environment court for a directions hearing on Friday.

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Bangkok customs officers arrest six after finding 87 animals, including lizards, birds, a monkey and snakes

Thai customs officials have arrested six Indian nationals for attempting to smuggle dozens of wild animals, including a red panda and cotton-top tamarin monkey, out of the country.

Officers found 87 animals, including monitor lizards, birds and snakes, packaged inside the suspects’ checked luggage at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport. They were trying to fly to Mumbai.

Logging stopped as Australian Agribusiness Group says its teams have resolved to increase efforts ‘on the protection of the local animal population’ and that they ‘are operating well beyond what is considered best practice for wildlife management’

WARNING: contains images some viewers may find distressing

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Government and RSPCA inspectors are investigating the logging of blue gum plantations on Kangaroo Island after the release of what the South Australian deputy premier described as “horrific” images of koalas allegedly being killed and injured.

Logging has been stopped while the investigation takes place.. It follows Guardian Australia publishing photos of seriously injured and dead koalas, and the Seven Network airing footage of koalas clinging to and being thrown from falling blue gums.

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Green economists dismayed by failure to recognise one of the fastest-expanding areas of business

Opportunities to revive the UK’s flagging economy by boosting green industry were missed in one of the least green budgets of recent years, experts have said.

Several said this failure to recognise one of the fastest-expanding areas of business – the net zero economy grew by 9% in key areas last year, while the rest of the economy was stagnant, according to CBI estimates – would drag down the UK in the short and long term.

Global average temperature for past 12 months highest on record at 1.56C above pre-industrial levels, data shows

Last month was the warmest February on record globally, making it the ninth month in a row with record temperatures for the time of year, scientists have said.

Global sea surface temperatures are also at their highest ever recorded, data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service shows.

Scientists link tiny particles in blood vessels with substantially higher risk of death

Doctors have warned of potentially life-threatening effects from plastic pollution after finding a substantially raised risk of stroke, heart attack and earlier death in people whose blood vessels were contaminated with microscopic plastics.

Researchers in Naples examined fatty plaques removed from the blood vessels of patients with arterial disease and found that more than half had deposits contaminated with tiny particles of polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

Scientists confirm cetacean’s presence but cite impact of climate change which has made North-west Passage ice-free in summer

Scientists have confirmed the presence of a whale off New England that went extinct in the Atlantic Ocean two centuries ago – an exciting discovery, but one they said that illustrates the impact of climate change on sea life.

Researchers with the New England Aquarium in Boston found the gray whale while flying 30 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, on 1 March. The whale, which can weigh 60,000 pounds (27,215kg), typically lives in the northern Pacific Ocean.