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Trees are advancing into the Arctic tundra and retreating from boreal forests further south, where stunting and die-offs are expected

Forests from the Arctic to the Amazon are transforming at a “shocking” rate due to the climate crisis, with trees advancing into previously barren tundra in the north while dying off from escalating heat farther south, scientists have found.

Global heating, along with changes in soils, wind and available nutrients, is rapidly changing the composition of forests, making them far less resilient and prone to diseases, according to a series of studies that have analyzed the health of trees in north and South America.

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Melting of the world’s biggest ice sheet would cause catastrophic sea level rise, but can be avoided with fast climate action

The fate of the world’s biggest ice sheet rests in the hands of humanity, a new analysis has shown. If global heating is limited to 2C, the vast East Antarctic ice sheet should remain stable, but if the climate crisis drives temperatures higher, melting could drive up sea level by many metres.

The East Antarctic ice sheet (EAIS) holds the vast majority of Earth’s glacier ice. Sea levels would rise by 52 metres if it all melted. It was thought to be stable, but is now showing signs of vulnerability, the scientists said.

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Study suggests waste disposal system of the creatures, which look like little chimneys, is more complex than thought

Birds do it, reptiles do it, and humans do it with an almighty “achoo!” – now it has emerged that sponges can also sneeze, casting off accumulations of particles trapped in mucus on their surface in the process.

The team behind the research said that while the aquatic organisms had previously been observed making contractions, which they had dubbed “sneezes”, the details of the process remained unclear.

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Public urged to be take precautions after second large landslide along Jurassic region in two weeks

Experts are urging the public to be hypervigilant on south coast beaches as this week’s heatwave could trigger cliff collapses.

One geologist said the area seemed the most vulnerable and beachgoers should take heed of official guidance.

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Antony Blinken announces formal working group during Kinshasa visit, while voicing concerns over auction of oil and gas permits

The US and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have agreed to form a working group to protect the enormous Congo basin rainforest and peatlands, which are threatened by oil and gas exploration.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, made the announcement in Kinshasa on Tuesday while expressing his concern over the sale of dozens of oil and gas permits in the DRC that included blocks in Virunga national park and the Cuvette Centrale tropical peatlands, part of an area described as “the worst place on the planet” to drill for oil and gas.

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Obsession with efficiency means infrastructure has been run into the ground rather than upgraded

The government is drawing up contingency plans for power cuts this winter as it finally wakes up to the reality of what the next few months will bring.

Britain has a cost of living crisis. It also has a housing crisis and an energy crisis. Weeks without rain in southern England mean there is a looming drought crisis. The NHS is only one serious Covid-19 outbreak away from crunch point.

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Invasive species on islands: Macquarie Island, a Unesco world heritage site, was being eaten alive until an ambitious eradication programme restored it

• Driving out invasive species on islands has high success rate and big benefits – study

On a world map, Macquarie Island is a speck in the Southern Ocean, but for ecologists it is a beacon, illuminating a future for grand-scale environmental recovery projects.

Melissa Houghton first set foot on the 34km-long green streak as a dog handler in late 2011. Rabbits, cats, rats and mice had been introduced by sealers in the 1800s and were wreaking havoc on the world heritage site. At their peak, there were approximately 300,000 European rabbits and an untold number of black rats and house mice.

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New research finds that eradicating non-native rats, cats, rabbits and goats is 88% effective in restoring biodiversity

Eradicating rats, goats and other invasive animals from islands is one of the most effective tools for protecting wildlife, resulting in dramatic transformations to degraded archipelagos and atolls, according to a new study.

From the dodo to Daudin’s giant tortoise, island species have been disproportionately affected by extinctions, often caused by the arrival of alien species brought by colonisers that killed wildlife found nowhere else on Earth.

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Only one out of 20 industrial companies assessed in Australia passed a new test on their ability to meet their declared Paris Agreement goals, according to a study from three major universities published on Wednesday.

CEFC allocates $160 million to allow Powerlink to supersize connection to Australia's biggest wind project and create a new renewable zone in the area.

The post CEFC money to supersize link to Australia’s biggest wind project, creating new REZ appeared first on RenewEconomy.

EUA prices dropped sharply in late morning trading on Wednesday as traders anticipated the UK allowance auction in the afternoon that was expected to lead to some selling of EUAs, while energy prices rose as tensions in Ukraine mounted after attacks on Russian forces in Crimea.

Australia’s Commonwealth Bank on Wednesday set targets for reducing its financed emissions in some carbon intensive sectors, while the weekly number of newly minted Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) fell to around 300,000.

The share price of Indian carbon offset developer EKI Energy Services slumped by nearly 20% on Wednesday in the fallout from India’s energy minister stating that the country would not export any carbon credits until it has met its international climate commitments.

Chinese observers are awaiting more policy clarity on the methodologies used for nature-based solutions, despite new development projects springing up across the country.

Whale had been lifted out of river as part of ambitious attempt to return it to sea

A beluga whale that strayed into the River Seine and began swimming in the direction of Paris has died during an ambitious rescue effort intended to help it back to its traditional cold Arctic waters.

The four-metre animal was euthanised by vets after it developed breathing difficulties while being transferred by road to the Normandy coast. Hours earlier, it had been lifted out of the freshwater of the Seine, where it could not survive.

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South Korea on Wednesday sold around 97% of the 2.3 million KAUs on offer in the environment ministry’s August auction, as the market remains upbeat over the projected reduced allowance surplus in the 2022 compliance cycle.

The Inflation Reduction Act is a big win for jobs and the environment, but Truss and Sunak have nothing similar to offer

Over the weekend, US Democrats overcame months of political struggle to pass the Inflation Reduction Act in the Senate, marking a major victory for the president, Joe Biden, and for “Bidenomics” before the US midterms.

The bill makes the single largest climate investment in US history, with $369bn for climate and clean energy. It is expected to enable the US to get two-thirds of the way towards its Paris agreement commitments while reducing energy costs. It lowers health costs for millions of Americans. It seeks to tackle inflation by directly reducing costs for individuals and by reducing the deficit through closing tax loopholes and increasing tax on corporates and the wealthy.

Carys Roberts is executive director of the Institute for Public Policy Research

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Opposition from vested interests – including oil refineries and the car dealership industry – has held Australia back on fuel efficiency. The onus is now on the Albanese government to intervene. John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The New Zealand government’s lingering decision on whether to remove exotic plantations from the permanent category in the ETS is causing investor uncertainty in the forestry sector, while fears of the planting type’s impact on rural communities is unfounded, according to the industry. 

Inflation, energy bills and stagnant wages could mean destitution for millions. But Conservative ideology forbids offering answers

Has Boris Johnson ended his holiday? It’s hard to tell. He was never committed to government, even during national emergencies, as his serial absence from Cobra meetings at the beginning of the pandemic revealed. Now, while several national crises converge, he seems to have given up altogether. But his detachment is not just a pathology. It is also a doctrine. Absence is what the party donors paid for.

Whether physically present or not, recent prime ministers and their governments have prepared us for none of the great predicaments we face. They have looked the other way as the water companies failed to commission any new reservoirs since they were privatised in 1989, and allowed astonishing volumes of that precious commodity we call treated drinking water – 2.4bn litres a day on current estimates – to leak away. It’s a carelessness so grand that it feels like a metaphor. Instead of forcing them to stop these leaks, the government has allowed these corporations to pump the rivers dry: the living world, as ever, is the buffer that must absorb failure and greed.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

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