The Guardian

Lawyers acting for minister say emissions of coal extracted from mine should have been taken into account

The government has admitted that a proposed coalmine in Cumbria was approved unlawfully, as the carbon emissions of coal from the mine should have been taken into account in the planning decision.

This follows a precedent set by a supreme court judgment last month, when Surrey county council’s decision to extend planning permission for an oil drilling well at Horse Hill, on the Weald, was quashed.

Rescued chicks favour seafood, suggesting they turn to urban diet as adults from necessity rather than preference

Herring gulls have wrecked many a harbourside picnic, pouncing on unsuspecting people trying to enjoy a Cornish pasty, a sandwich or a bag of chips.

But a study from the University of Exeter suggests that gull chicks prefer seafood even after being raised on a diet of the sort of scraps found around humans.

Satellite analysis looked at credits sold by Finite Carbon, which runs some of North America’s largest offset projects

This story is co-published with SourceMaterial and Floodlight

Some forest carbon offsets sold by the biggest offsetting company in the US offer little or no benefit to the climate, a satellite analysis has found.

NYC has lagged behind the UK in waste disposal. But with wheelie bins replacing bin bags, we’re finally catching up

Last year, 200 composting bins were rolled out in New York City, with a unit on every other corner you could open and close via an app. This was exciting for those of us who have hit an age when rubbish disposal is something we think about. For a while, my kids indulged me in my need to discuss composting – whether our bag would fit in the bin; how good the exercise made us feel; whether it actually did anything useful or not – before pointing out I was talking about it too much. This week, a new fleet of wheelie bins has been introduced across the city, and the excitement has been almost too much to bear.

The “trash revolution” as Eric Adams, the mayor of New York, put it while placing a black bin bag in a wheelie bin in front of reporters on Monday, sounds like a characteristic piece of hyperbole from the man, but for once he wasn’t exaggerating. Like banking technology, rubbish disposal is one of those baffling areas in which the US in general, but New York in particular, is wildly behind Britain.

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist

A team led by an Australian researcher captured the pair swimming about 1.5km after two failed attempts

A record-breaking swim by two lion brothers across a predator-filled African river has been documented by a team led by a researcher from an Australian university.

The two-male lion coalition was filmed crossing the Kazinga Channel in Uganda at night using high-definition heat detection cameras on drones.

After decades of bags lining the streets, the mayor has proudly wheeled out a McKinsey-approved trash can

The revolution will not be televised. Unless it’s Mayor Eric Adams’s Trash Revolution, of course. In which case a press conference will be held, music blasted, and every camera crew in the five boroughs invited.

On Monday the mayor of New York, with Jessica Tisch, the sanitation commissioner, by his side, unveiled New York City’s first official trash bin. The mayor wheeled the new NYC Bin down Gracie Mansion’s driveway and, with his characteristic swagger, demonstrated how the innovative new technology works: you open the lid and you put the rubbish in. It’s highly intuitive technology.

These exotic birds are common in the UK now. That raises many questions, some fears, and a fair few myths

• Tim Blackburn is professor of invasion biology at UCL

What links a film starring Katharine Hepburn, Jimi Hendrix, bits of a plane falling on to Syon Park in London and the great storm of 1987? The answer is that they’ve all been proposed as the origin of one of Britain’s loudest, most colourful and recognisable birds: the ring-necked parakeet.

Parakeets are unusual among British birds in that they actually need an origin story. A century ago, there were none flying free in Britain and, as recently as the early 1990s, parakeets were relatively hard to find in the country. There were only a couple of reliable sites – the leafy Berkshire village of Wraysbury, or the trees around Esher rugby club in Surrey – where they would roost on winter evenings. Since then, their population has exploded into the tens of thousands. They’ve spread across the country from Plymouth to Aberdeen, and even over the water to Northern Ireland. London is their stronghold, though, and it’s increasingly rare to venture outside without hearing their raucous cries or seeing their long-tailed silhouettes skimming the rooftops.

These cheap daytime tariffs match the time when solar panels pump out the most energy and households use the least electricity

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When our ageing immersion hot water system needed replacing, I wanted to install an energy saving heat pump.

They cost more but consume far less power, and I calculated we would get the money back by trimming $270 off our annual bills. Plus we’d be doing our bit to cut greenhouse gases and reduce demand on a stressed electricity grid.

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‘Mission control centre’ to work with energy companies and regulators towards goal of clean and cheaper power by 2030

Labour has appointed one of the country’s foremost climate experts to lead a “mission control centre” on clean energy.

Chris Stark, the former head of the UK’s climate watchdog, will head a Covid vaccine-style taskforce aimed at delivering clean and cheaper power by 2030.

At least six energy companies prospecting for first windfarms in almost a decade after Labour lifts limits

Renewable energy companies have begun work on new onshore windfarms in England for the first time in almost a decade after the new government reversed restrictions the Conservatives had put in place on turbines.

At least half a dozen renewables developers have begun identifying potential sites for full-scale windfarms in England after the Labour party swept to power last week with the promise to make Britain a clean energy superpower.

From climate crisis being a crime story to presenting basic weather news in the context of climate change, here are some lessons from journalists

Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope of Covering Climate Now (CCNow) hail the winners of their organization’s annual global climate journalism awards, and here describe some lessons they have taken from the more than 1,250 entries.

Mark Hertsgaard is executive director and co-founder of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration committed to more and better coverage of the climate story, and the Nation magazine’s environment correspondent

Kyle Pope is executive director of strategic initiatives and co-founder of Covering Climate Now, and a former editor and publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review

The debate about the degree to which forests and fungi communicate raises the painful question of confirmation bias

• Sophie Yeo is editor of Inkcap Journal

You have probably heard the theory, that the health of forests depends on common mycorrhizal networks. Trees send resources to their neighbours through strands of hyphae, which act as an underground arboreal postal service, connecting root systems within the soil. Mature trees preferentially provide their offspring with resources, ensuring the survival of their own.

Not ringing any bells? Try switching “common mycorrhizal network” with “wood wide web”, the more familiar term that has described this phenomenon in hundreds of more mainstream places: novels, magazines, films and television series. The wood wide web is one of those rare things – a scientific theory that has captured the popular imagination.

Vibrant blooms mean first stage of plan to cover 1,200 hectares is hailed as a success 18 months after planting

When the sowing began on the coastline of south-west England, conservationists warned it may take a little while for the new wildflower meadows to flourish fully.

But 18 months on, a vibrant display of blooms has popped up in north Devon, a joy for human visitors and a draw for precious birds, insects and mammals.

Activists are convinced a wartime campaign of resistance is the only way to highlight the existing system’s failure to meet the moment

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As pro-Palestinian protesters sparked outrage scaling the roof of Parliament House last week, a few dozen activists at Newcastle were making an equally sharp point – mostly to less fanfare.

Over more than two weeks, campaigners under the Blockade Australia banner have been interrupting trains near the world’s biggest coal port. My colleague Jordyn Beazley reported that by Monday at least 500 train journeys had been cancelled and more than 30 people arrested.

It’s a hot topic for scientists all over the world

• See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here

Neonicotinoid was given emergency clearance under Conservative government in 2023 and 2024

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is being investigated by the environmental watchdog after Conservative ministers authorised a bee-killing pesticide that was banned by the EU.

The investigation into Defra was launched after the campaign group ClientEarth submitted a complaint to the Office for Environmental Protection, which was set up after Brexit to replace the EU’s framework for punishing environmental offences by governments in the bloc. On Monday, the OEP announced it would be investigating the emergency authorisation of a neonicotinoid pesticide in 2023 and 2024.

Researchers say EV models with vehicle-to-grid capability will be a huge and flexible resource able to respond to emergencies

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On 13 February, when freak winds brought down a transmission line in Victoria and shut down the state’s largest power station, a fleet of electric cars plugged into a charger in Canberra 500km away stirred.

Within six seconds, 16 vehicles started discharging their batteries, sending power back into the grid. While the contribution – part of a pioneering research project – was minuscule compared with the 90,000 households who lost electricity, the experiment showed how EVs could help ease grid calamities of the future.

Heat warnings or advisories in effect for states on west coast, east coast and south, with more extreme highs forecast

A fierce heatwave that shattered records this weekend will again grip much of the US on Monday, with more than 36 million Americans under excessive heat warnings.

The dangerous temperatures caused the death of a motorcyclist in California’s Death Valley. And they posed challenges for firefighters working in sweltering conditions to battle a series of wildfires across the state.

Rachel Reeves says she will revise planning policy and decisions should be taken ‘nationally, not locally’

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The effective ban on onshore windfarms has been dropped by the Labour government, in news that has delighted environmental and energy experts.

The ban was caused by two footnotes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the rules which govern the building of homes and infrastructure.

Copernicus Climate Change Service says results a ‘large and continuing shift’ in the climate

The world has baked for 12 consecutive months in temperatures 1.5C (2.7F) greater than their average before the fossil fuel era, new data shows.

Temperatures between July 2023 and June 2024 were the highest on record, scientists found, creating a year-long stretch in which the Earth was 1.64C hotter than in preindustrial times.