The Guardian

The move to grant 17 companies the right to drill for fossil fuels is ‘a pipe dream’ that will do little for energy security, say environmentalists

Britain has handed major oil companies the right to drill for fossil fuels in 24 new licence areas across the North Sea as part of the government’s mission to extend the life of the ageing oil and gas basin.

The North Sea regulator said 17 oil companies, including Shell and BP, were granted licences in the Central North Sea, Northern North Sea and West of Shetland areas to “provide benefits to the local and wider economy”.

As a young woman, I knew public life wouldn’t be easy – but Monday was a new low when my image was manipulated and misused

Monday was the day that duck shooting should have been banned in Victoria. Instead it was the day we saw the government betray parliamentary processes, our wildlife and our community. And somehow, that day ended with a bizarre form of sexism against me.

I won’t pretend public life since my election as an MP has been easy, especially as a young woman.

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Three new levels added by US Coral Reef Watch after ‘extreme’ unprecedented heat, with highest alert warning of ‘near complete mortality’

The world’s main system for warning about heat stress on the planet’s coral reefs has been forced to add three new alert categories to represent ever-increasing temperature extremes.

The changes introduced by the US government’s Coral Reef Watch program come after reefs across the Americas were hit by unprecedented levels of heat stress last year that bleached and killed corals en masse.

Order to leave 4% of land fallow to encourage biodiversity waived for year in light of flooding, drought and heatwaves

Farmers protesting across Europe have won their first concession from Brussels, with the EU announcing a delay in rules that would have forced them to set aside land to encourage biodiversity and soil health.

The European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, described Wednesday’s decision, which is expected to be rubber-stamped by member states within 15 days, as “a helping hand” for the sector at a difficult time.

Business leader says investment in low-carbon economy is ‘absolute minimum’, a view echoed by other experts

• What is Labour’s £28bn green plan – and could it be shelved?

Labour’s proposed investment of £28bn a year in the low-carbon economy is an absolute minimum, a leading business figure has said, adding that without green investment on that scale the UK will face steep decline as a result of crumbling infrastructure and stagnating industry.

Jürgen Maier, the former UK head of Siemens, the German industrial giant and major investor, said massive investment was needed to rebuild the UK economy and make it fit for the future, and that it should concentrate on low-carbon energy, transport and industry.

When Rakel took over the last farm in her Norwegian village, she was not only taking responsibility for a flock of accident-prone woolly animals, but also a way of life at a crossroads. This was a chance to follow in the footsteps of her much-loved father, and live the way she had always dreamed, alongside her wife. A flock of sheep comes with a flock of problems, so the saying goes. With the help of community and family, can Rakel succeed?

A historic legal victory in Oslo has boosted our campaign against the Rosebank field and other British drilling projects

• Tessa Khan is executive director of climate action organisation Uplift

There has been a dramatic change in how oil drilling rights are approved on one side of the invisible line that divides the North Sea between the UK and Norway.

On the Norwegian side, after a groundbreaking decision by the Oslo district court on 18 January, the government must now take into account the emissions that come from the burning of oil and gas reserves in addition to the impact of getting the reserves out of the ground, before they approve a new field. The legal win, which applies for the first time the reasoning of a separate case in the Norwegian Supreme Court, was a result of Greenpeace Norway and Young Friends of the Earth Norway challenging the approval of three new oil and gas fields by the government. They argued the government had not been properly vetted for climate harm. The court agreed.

Exclusive: Report proposes action to reduce overall demand rather than simply increasing ‘green’ production

The global extraction of raw materials is expected to increase by 60% by 2060, with calamitous consequences for the climate and the environment, according an unpublished UN analysis seen by the Guardian.

Natural resource extraction has soared by almost 400% since 1970 due to industrialisation, urbanisation and population growth, according to a presentation of the five-yearly UN Global Resource Outlook made to EU ministers last week.

Analysis finds difference between greenhouse gas emissions the automakers declared and the researchers’ estimates averaged 27%

Some of the world’s biggest automakers are still “grossly under-reporting” greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report, despite improvements in their estimates.

The research, undertaken by consultancy firms Carbon Tracker and Nomisma, was released on Wednesday and found car manufacturers ranked among the world’s highest carbon producers and needed to improve the way they declared their environmental impacts.

Country may be the first to do so, amid increasing concerns about the health and environmental risks posed by the virtually indestructible chemicals

New Zealand is banning so-called “forever chemicals” in cosmetics from 2026, in what could be the first example of a country doing so.

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) said it has banned the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in cosmetics to protect people and the environment from the chemicals.

Nature-based solutions such as parks and ponds are recommended – as is giving heatwaves names

The UK urgently needs a plan to prevent thousands of heatwave deaths a year as the climate continues to warm, a cross-party committee of MPs has warned.

More than 4,500 people died in heatwaves in 2022, the MPs’ report said, and this number could rise to 10,000 a year by 2050 without action. Heatwaves are “silent killers”, the MPs said, pushing up heart rate and blood pressure, with those over 65 and with existing health problems most at risk.

Government plans for fishery closures are ‘window dressing’ in face of ‘appalling record’ on meeting targets, experts warn

Ministers are “window dressing” with nature policies announced to “cover up” the government’s failings on environmental targets, wildlife groups have said.

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) found earlier this month that nature in England is at risk of falling into an “irreversible spiral of decline” because of the government’s failures to meet its legally binding targets on species abundance and water quality.

California scientist and film-maker spot apparent pup – never before seen in the wild – in drone pictures

Researchers in California may have gotten the first ever look at a newborn great white shark, which they captured in drone images taken last summer.

The newborn animal has never before been spotted in the wild. But in July, the wildlife film-maker Carlos Gauna and Phillip Sternes, a biology doctoral student at the University of California, Riverside, glimpsed something unexpected in the waters near Santa Barbara on California’s central coast.

Exclusive: one of Britain’s rarest butterflies, found only in Norfolk Broads, critically threatened by climate crisis

The swallowtail, one of Britain’s rarest butterflies and also the largest, has suffered its worst summer since records began.

The butterfly is confined to the Broads in East Anglia, where its caterpillar’s food plant is found, and is now breeding on just 16 sites.

Inquiry into invasive pest hears of risks species poses to health, agriculture and environment if it becomes endemic

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Fire ants could sting 8.6 million Australians a year if they were to become endemic – but a pathogenic fungus and pesticide-loaded drones might help avert that scenario, according to submissions posed to the federal government’s fire ants inquiry.

Submissions to the Senate inquiry into red imported fire ants (Rifa) in Australia closed on Monday, just days after the latest in a string of fire ant detections beyond south-east Queensland, where an infestation of the invasive pest is ongoing.

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Committee urges UK to set ‘powerful example’ of tackling climate change after ‘mixed messages’ of Cop28

The UK must act urgently to meet its international climate commitments, the independent climate watchdog has warned, after sending “mixed messages” to other countries at the Cop28 UN climate summit in December.

While carbon reduction from electricity generation has shown progress, the rate at which all other sources of emissions are being cut must quadruple to meet the UK’s target under the Paris agreement of 68% reductions in emissions by 2030, according to the Climate Change Committee.

Open letter calls for Soil Association certification to be removed from industry, amid concerns of negative environmental impact

The British body that certifies food in the UK as organic has been accused of misleading consumers over its labelling of Scottish farmed salmon.

Thirty charities, conservation and community organisations, including WildFish, the Pesticide Action Network and Blue Marine Foundation, say the negative environmental impacts of the industry in Scotland “run completely counter” to the principles of the Soil Association’s promotion of healthy, humane and sustainable food.

Regional mayor Dan Norris launches project to explore potential for former mines to produce low-carbon heat

When Bryn Hawkins worked in coalmines through the 1960s and early 1970s he says few understood the impact the burning of fossil fuels would have on the planet.

Now, public officials are hoping disused mines that provided millions of tonnes of fossil fuels could be used as a potential source of renewable energy across the country.

Parts of south-east Queensland have been hit by flash flooding and torrential rain with homes and businesses underwater. More than a dozen people have been rescued from areas north and west of Brisbane. The Bureau of Meteorology said forecast rainfall in those areas could lead to flash or riverine flooding in the next 48 hours. Ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily is also ensuring more wet weather in Queensland's north-west, days after crossing the coast

• Heavy rain prompts further flood rescues in Queensland, with SEQ warned of more severe storms

Exclusive: Hundreds of anglers take part in UK’s largest citizen science water-testing project

Eighty-three per cent of English rivers contain evidence of high pollution caused by sewage and agricultural waste, according to the largest citizen science water testing project ever to take place in the UK.

Hundreds of anglers took part in the study, organised by the Angling Trust, after being angered by the brown blooms of sewage in the waters they painstakingly tend for the benefit of fish.