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Biodiversity losses are growing, the IUCN reports as summit opens, but green turtle’s recovery ‘reminds us conservation works’
More than half of all bird species are in decline, according to a new global assessment, with deforestation driving sharp falls in populations across the planet.
On the eve of a key biodiversity summit in the UAE, scientists have issued a fresh warning about the health of bird populations, with 61% of assessed species now recording declines in their numbers.
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Exclusive: Trial that has produced 13 hatchlings could help other threatened species avoid extinction
The slow-motion pitter-patter of tiny giant tortoise feet has been worryingly rare in recent years, but that looks set to change thanks to the first successful hatching of the species with artificial incubation.
One week after the intervention, the 13 babies are building up their strength on a diet of banana slices and leafy greens in Seychelles, which is home to one of the last remaining populations of the tortoise.
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Firms led by deputy Reform UK leader since 2011 have shown commitment to saving energy and cutting CO2 emissions
He never seems to tire of deriding “net stupid zero”, but Reform UK’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, has a 15-year business record of support for sustainability and green energy initiatives.
The Reform party has made opposition to green energy and net zero part of its policy platform. Its founder, Nigel Farage, has called net zero policies a “lunacy”; the party has called to lift the ban on fracking for fossil gas; and one of the first Reform-led councils, Kent, rescinded last month its declaration of a climate emergency.
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Carmakers accused of cheating air pollution rules have faced little punishment in UK but trial brought by 1.6m motorists is about to begin
“Little lungs are still paying for Dieselgate every day,” says Jemima Hartshorn, the founder of the Mums for Lungs campaign group. Her own young daughter has suffered serious breathing problems, which at their worst involved the harrowing experience of having to pin her to the floor to administer an inhaler.
It is 10 years since the scandal erupted, exposing cars that pumped out far more toxic fumes on the road than when passing regulatory tests in the lab. But Dieselgate is far from over.
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Experts warn approving a windfarm in the habitat of one of Australia’s most critically endangered birds could be ‘rolling the dice’ on their survival
One of Australia’s most critically endangered bird species has started arriving at Melaleuca, in Tasmania’s south-western world heritage area. By late this week, six orange-bellied parrots had turned up at the remote outpost to breed, having made the weeks-long flight from the mainland, across Bass Strait and down the state’s wild west coast.
Relatively little is known about where the birds go during the winter, other than that it is a hazardous journey for a bird that weighs about 40 grams. In recent years, only about half the parrots that leave Melaleuca, the species’ sole wild breeding site, have returned in spring.
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Struggling fishers in Hastings say the industry is dying after a deal giving away access to its waters made a tough job impossible
A small flotilla of gaily coloured fishing boats line the shingle beach at Hastings, East Sussex. Behind them are the bulldozers that shunt them into the waves and beyond, in neat rows, are black wooden fishermen’s huts and fish stalls, where on a good day teenage daughters, wives and retired skippers sell some of the day’s catch.
This is the Stade, a Saxon word for “landing place” from where wooden boats have set off since before William the Conqueror arrived in 1066.
Peter White outside his shed. He has been fishing for 52 years
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Prince of Wales’s decision welcomed as a means of drawing attention to the event and galvanising talks
The Prince of Wales will attend the crunch Cop30 UN climate summit in Brazil next month, the Guardian has learned, but whether the prime minister will go is still to be decided.
Prince William will present the Earthshot prize, a global environmental award and attend the meeting of representatives of more than 190 governments in Belém.
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Tariffs have caused a Chinese exit from the soybean market – and midwestern farmers are waiting on a solution
At the Purfeerst farm in southern Minnesota, the soybean harvest just wrapped up for the season. The silver grain bins are full of about 100,000 bushels of soybeans, which grab about $10 a piece.
This year, though, the fate of the soybeans, and the people whose livelihoods depend on selling them, is up in the air: America’s soybean farmers are stuck in the middle of a trade war between the US and China, the biggest purchaser of soybean exports, used to feed China’s pigs.
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Only 15 of 100 MPs surveyed knew of IPCC report that CO2 needs to peak this year to keep global heating to 1.5C
The people you hope would be best informed about the imminent threat of climate breakdown would be members of parliament. After all, droughts and storms affecting their constituents have been a recurring news item. The need to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 requires an informed debate among parties.
The key question on which the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, in 2022, reached hard-won scientific consensus was when CO2 emissions need to peak for a realistic chance of keeping global temperature increases below 1.5C, the target set by the 2015 Paris agreement as too dangerous to exceed. The answer, given great prominence in the report and the media coverage of it, was this year, 2025.
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Official reports are likely to overlook heat’s role in a death. As US temperatures rise, experts say the true toll needs to be counted
Among the autopsy reports that made my heart skip a beat was Hannah Rose Moody.
One morning last May, the 31-year-old set out on a favourite desert hike near her home in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was already 91F (33C) when she set off. On Instagram, she told her 50,000 followers: “Conquering this trail as a last hurrah before summer hits ☀️… I have like 5 gallons of water with me don’t worry .”
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