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Former New York mayor says during surprise trip to Paris on Friday that Americans ‘don’t need Washington to meet our Paris commitments’. Bloomberg, who is the UN’s special envoy for cities and climate change, says cities, states and businesses will instead step in to ensure the targets are met

• Michael Bloomberg: US states and businesses will still meet Paris targets

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Teifi Marshes, Pembrokeshire Bilidowcar the cormorant’s called in Welsh – Billy the Ducker

Bound for hides in the Teifi Marshes reserve, I paused to lean against railings on the riverside path and a cormorant arrowed into view, threw up its broad, webbed feet to brake, and touched down on the water.

Seeing it reminded me of a morning 20 years ago in a fishing boat careening into Roonagh in County Mayo on green combers that were the aftermath of an Easter storm. A cormorant had kept us close, wave-skimming company. I asked the skipper, Jack Heanue, what the folk of Inishturk – an English-speaking island – thought of these weirdly beautiful birds.

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Former New York mayor, now UN cities and climate ambassador, says Trump may have withdrawn from Paris accord but American people haven’t

The United States will meet its Paris accord greenhouse gas targets despite Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has said.

A decision by President Trump to pull the US out of Parisand seek renegotiated terms “fair” to America has drawn widespread international condemnation.

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Draft decision says Australia would not, at this rate, meet interim or long-term targets in the Reef 2050 report

Unesco has expressed “serious concern” about the impact of coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef and warned Australia it will not meet the targets of the Reef 2050 report without considerable work to improve water quality.

The criticism was contained in a draft decision published as part of the agenda for the upcoming world heritage committee meeting (pdf), which will take place in Krakow, Poland, in the first two weeks of July.

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Samples from waste water treatment plants reveal trends in populations such as the use of nicotine, pharmaceuticals or illicit drugs and the persistence of chemicals from manufacturing.

Biologist Kerensa McElroy is employing crowd funding, to quickly raise funds allowing her work to proceed now, before it is too late.

The fates of the black rat and the phasmid are as intertwined as the air roots of a banyan tree. The survival of one is linked to the extermination of the other, and the battle is on.

It’s clearer than ever the economic interests Trump claims to defend can only be served by acting on global warming

For precious decades experts have explained, over and over, that the science of climate change is incontrovertible, the consequences of blindly sticking with fossil fuels catastrophic and the costs of inaction far higher than switching to a low-emissions economy.

But these facts had no impact on the sceptics, who cling to a worldview where they find “alternative facts”, where fossil fuel power is the only path to prosperity and mounting environmental and economic evidence to the contrary is some kind of dastardly leftwing plot.

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A Canadian doctor says one short letter managed to convince doctors that opioids were safe.

A researcher says re-introducing beavers in England would help water supplies and prevent floods.

They can be controversial, but scientists say beavers are good for the environment and biodiversity.

• Scott Pruitt insists America retains a seat at the negotiating table
• Pruitt refuses to say whether Trump believes climate change is real

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency has said America has nothing to apologise for on climate change and retains a seat at the negotiating table, claiming: “After all, we’re the United States.”

Related: 'Outmoded, irrelevant vision': Pittsburghers reject Trump's pledge

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Climate scientist Michael Mann says the structural shift away from fossil fuels towards the renewable sector will continue, despite President Trump's decision to exit the accord. But if other countries follow the US, there could be profound consequences for the planet.

Talkshow hosts address Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement. On Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Trevor Noah describes Trump’s choice to make the announcement in the Rose Garden of the White House ‘a pretty gangster move’, while Jimmy Kimmel points out that the only other countries to shun the deal are Nicaragua and Syria, ‘and they’re doing great’

• Late-night hosts on climate deal: ‘Even Israel and Palestine are on the same side’

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President accused of "cherry picking" science to bolster argument for withdrawal from Paris accord.

Buildings around the world are lit green after the US withdraws from the Paris climate agreement.

Footage taken at the beginning of the year shows the split in an Antarctic ice shelf. A giant section is hanging by a thread and is due to break off at any moment

• Giant Antarctic iceberg ‘hanging by a thread’, say scientists

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A NDP-Green coalition in BC, a $15 minimum wage in Ontario, and a surging Quebec Solidaire point toward a winning agenda in the age of climate crisis

For progressive-minded people in Canada, the last few days have presented a rare, strange scenario: almost too much to celebrate.

Months might pass without victories, but this week has given us three. In British Columbia, a coalition struck by the Greens and New Democratic Party is set to replace a Liberal government that has mismanaged the province for a generation. In Quebec, the election of a young ex-student leader has galvanized the Quebec Solidaire party and begun a left-ward shift in popular opinion. And in Ontario, a grassroots campaign has won a $15 minimum wage that will vastly improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of families.

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The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

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A Sumatran tiger cub, giant panda and a ‘faceless’ deep-sea fish are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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