The Guardian

Break in cross-party consensus on issue to be announced on Tuesday

Kemi Badenoch is dropping her party’s commitment to reaching net zero by 2050, as she launches the Conservatives’ widest policy review in a generation.

The Tory leader will give a speech on Tuesday in which she will argue that hitting Britain’s legally binding climate target is “impossible”, abandoning one of the most significant policies enacted by her recent predecessor Theresa May.

Revealed: Edelman worked for Brazilian trade group accused of pushing for environmental rollbacks in Amazon

Edelman, the world’s largest public relations agency, is in talks to work with the Cop30 team organising the UN climate summit in the Amazon later this year despite its prior connections to a major trade group accused of lobbying to roll back measures to protect the area from deforestation, the Guardian and the Centre for Climate Reporting can reveal.

The summit is set to take place in November in the city of Belém on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, which has been ravaged by deforestation linked to Brazil’s powerful agriculture industry. For the first time, the talks will be “at the epicenter of the climate crisis”, the summit’s president wrote last week. “As the Cop comes to the Amazon, forests will naturally be a central topic,” he added.

Village joins continental network alongside nearby Knepp estate, as birds previously extinct in Britain flourish

The Saxons knew the West Sussex village of Storrington as Estorchestone, the “abode of the storks”.

But the graceful white birds disappeared from its skies more than 600 years ago, when they became extinct in Britain.

The toxic smog that settles over the Mongolian capital every winter has been a suffocating problem for well over a decade that successive governments have failed to dispel. In the depths of winter, the city’s daily average of PM 2.5 small particulate that can enter the lungs and bloodstream, can be 27 times higher than the level considered safe by the World Health Organization. Respiratory illness cases have risen steadily, with pneumonia the second leading cause of death for children under five

At least 34 people killed as storms sweep midwest and southern states, while rain causes chaos in Melbourne race

At least 34 people have died across six states in the US in the past week as a powerful storm system swept through the midwest and south, affecting Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Mississippi. The storms brought a devastating combination of dust storms, tornadoes, wildfires, flash flooding and large hailstones, and left behind a trail of wrecked vehicles, severely damaged buildings and widespread power outages. More than 60 million Americans have been affected by the severe weather.

Since Friday, 68 tornadoes have been observed, an unusually high number for this time of year, as tornado season doesn’t typically begin until May. Wind gusts reached up to 70mph. These intense storms were fuelled by a clash of warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, which mixed with colder air from Canada and the Rocky Mountains. This temperature contrast combined with strong wind shear strengthened the rotating vortex of the thunderstorms. The flat terrain of Tornado Alley also assisted the storms, allowing them to develop and move rapidly across the region.

New evidence of particles damaging crops strengthens the case for an international plastics treaty

New and concerning findings from environmental scientists about the impact of microplastics on crops and marine algae add to a growing body of evidence about the disruption caused to living systems by plastic pollution. The results, from a team led by Prof Huan Zhong at Nanjing University, China, are not definitive and require corroboration. But analysis showing that plastics could limit photosynthesis (the conversion of sunlight into chemical energy) must be taken seriously. If the researchers are correct, and staple crops are being reduced by about 12%, there are huge implications for global agriculture and food supplies. This could inject new urgency into efforts to tackle plastic pollution.

There is no single route by which microplastic particles inhibit plants from growing. The overall effect is attributed to a combination of blocked sunlight and nutrients, and damage to soil and cells. This can lead to reduced levels of chlorophyll – the pigment enabling photosynthesis. When the researchers modelled the crop losses caused by an effect of this size, they found Asia was hardest hit, potentially contributing to food insecurity and worsening hunger.

Gulls are known for being ravenous – check out a selection of things they like

Co-leader says deprioritisation of net zero is ‘extremely dangerous’ as he rejects ‘nimby-in-chief’ characterisation

Labour’s push for economic growth at the expense of climate and nature is “extremely dangerous”, the co-leader of the Green party has said.

Adrian Ramsay, the MP for Waveney Valley between Norfolk and Suffolk, was one of the five Green MPs elected to parliament last July in their best ever result. He said and his colleagues knew they would be holding Labour to account, but did not expect to be as disappointed as they have been.

Birdwatchers’ thrill of seeing birds up close that usually spend their lives at sea is tempered by sadness and pity at the extent of injuries

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Most people in Brisbane were battening down the hatches ahead of the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Alfred. For a few, though, it was one of the most exciting natural events of their lives.

Over the course of the weekend and into Monday, throngs of birdwatchers lined the shores of Bramble Bay in the bayside suburbs of Shorncliffe, Sandgate and Redcliffe, telescopes and cameras at the ready.

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Sam Jones, who left Australia on Friday, posted a 900-word statement questioning outrage in country where ‘slaughter of wombats’ is permitted

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A US hunting influencer who caused outrage in Australia after grabbing a baby wombat from its mother says she is sorry for the incident but was only trying to ensure its safety by removing it from a road.

Sam Jones left the country on Friday morning after the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said immigration authorities were checking if she had breached the conditions of her visa.

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Ed Miliband visits Beijing as part of plan to create global axis working in favour of climate action

• Ed Miliband: ‘The global battle against the climate crisis needs China’

The UK is hoping to shape a new global axis in favour of climate action along with China and a host of developing countries, to offset the impact of Donald Trump’s abandonment of green policies and his sharp veer towards climate-hostile countries such as Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Ed Miliband, the UK’s energy and net zero secretary, arrived in Beijing on Friday for three days of talks with top Chinese officials, including discussions on green technology supply chains, coal and the critical minerals needed for clean energy. The UK’s green economy is growing three times faster than the rest of the economy, but access to components and materials will be crucial for that to continue.

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

I will be the first UK energy secretary since 2017 to visit. It is negligence towards today’s and future generations not to engage China on this critical topic

The climate crisis is an existential threat to our way of life in Britain. Extreme weather is already changing the lives of people and communities across the country, from thousands of acres of farmland being submerged due to storms such as Bert and Darragh to record numbers of heat-related deaths in recent summers.

The only way to respond to this challenge is with decisive action at home and abroad. Domestically, this government’s clean-energy superpower mission is about investing in homegrown clean energy so we can free the UK from dependence on fossil fuel markets while seizing the immense opportunities for jobs and growth.

Exclusive: Officials explore restricting incentive to allocate greater funds to farms with less money and more nature

The richest farmers will not be able to apply for post-Brexit nature funding under plans for England being considered by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Farming groups and climate experts have warned that such a plan would “leave farmers in the cold” and make it more difficult for the UK to reach net zero by 2050.

What’s happening to our native wildlife across the country is just as horrific as what we witnessed in that video – it’s just occurring behind closed doors

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We’ve all seen the distressing footage of an American influencer taking a wombat joey away from its mother. The joey hisses and stirs, while the distraught mother circles the woman until she eventually drops it back to the side of the road.

The tourist calls herself both a conservationist and an ecologist. But most of us can recognise that this is not the behaviour of someone who values our native wildlife.

The Loess plateau was the most eroded place on Earth until China took action and reversed decades of damage from grazing and farming

It was one of China’s most ambitious environmental endeavours ever.

The Loess plateau, an area spanning more than 245,000 sq miles (640,000 sq km) across three provinces and parts of four others, supports about 100 million people. By the end of the 20th century, however, this land, once fertile and productive, was considered the most eroded place on Earth, according to a documentary by the ecologist John D Liu.

Cuttings of tree captured by John Constable being planted on restored Devon floodplain

Captured by John Constable in one of his most celebrated paintings, the black poplar tree was once as common as oak and beech in Britain.

Now the rarest and most threatened native species in the country, the National Trust is creating a living gene bank of the black poplar to ensure Constable’s The Hay Wain does not become a tribute to an extinct breed.

Montana-based hunting influencer flies out of Australia on Friday after home affairs minister said he couldn’t ‘wait to see the back of this individual’

A US hunting influencer who caused outrage in Australia after from its mother has left the country after the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said immigration authorities were checking if she had breached the conditions of her visa.

A government source told Guardian Australia that Montana-based Sam Jones had left the country on Friday morning.

Automotive body says current policy is leading to job losses and has become a ‘driver of de-industrialisation’

Fresh incentives to boost a flatlining electric car market are urgently needed, according to the UK automotive industry, whose leaders called on the government to act fast and “revisit the mandate” for zero emission vehicles (ZEV).

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said its research showed growth in consumer demand for EVs was lower than expected, with only one in eight new buyers planning to switch in the next three years, putting jobs at risk.

Noaa, my former employer, is an integral part of our daily lives, tracking hurricanes, supporting safe flights and helping farmers

Across the United States, from rural communities to coastal cities, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) is an integral part of our daily lives, safeguarding communities and fostering economic vitality.

Whether it is tracking the path of hurricanes, managing our nation’s fisheries, providing critical information to air traffic controllers and airlines, or helping farmers plan for weather extremes, Noaa’s science, services and products have a significant impact on every American.