The Guardian

Exclusive: Disclosure provokes fury as Rishi Sunak accused of betraying populations vulnerable to global heating

The government is drawing up plans to drop the UK’s flagship £11.6bn climate and nature funding pledge, the Guardian can reveal, with the prime minster accused of betraying populations most vulnerable to global heating.

The disclosure provoked fury from former ministers and representatives of vulnerable countries, who accused Rishi Sunak of making false promises.

My teenage years were spent under the twin threats of drought and bushfire. But on this high cold plateau it never dries out

• Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter
• Join the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the community

There is something about growing up in drought that makes having too much water unfathomable. That’s the excuse I’m using for being so unprepared, two winters in a row, for the stinking, ankle-deep mud that has taken over our property.

It should not be a surprise. It was so muddy when we first saw this place that we swung past Bunnings before the second viewing and bought $15 gumboots. We were slipping through the cattle yards and sinking into the back paddock. But central Victoria had just been hit by the worst storm in years, so we figured it was a particularly wet month.

Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter

Our leaders’ addiction to economic growth and its consumption of environmental resources has me paralysed with fear and solastalgia

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Many of us have experienced grieving after the death of a family member or a long-time friend. We regard it as a form of suffering which we hope will be alleviated with time. Advice from love ones, doctors and therapists may help us to cope by offering the solution that time will heal.

In some, like Queen Victoria, the loss of a partner may cause lifelong grief with self-imposed withdrawal and solitude.

Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads

Team hope sale of block of rare ambergris, used by perfumers, will help victims of 2021 volcano

When a sperm whale washed up dead on a beach in the Canary Island of La Palma no one imagined a valuable treasure was hidden in its entrails.

Heavy seas and a rising tide made it difficult to carry out a postmortem, but Antonio Fernández Rodríguez, head of the institute of animal health and food security at the University of Las Palmas, was determined to find out why the whale had died.

Judge says firm tried to mislead regulator over incident involving millions of litres of undiluted waste polluting water near Gatwick

Thames Water has been fined £3.3m for a “reckless” incident in which millions of litres of undiluted sewage was pumped into rivers near Gatwick, killing 1,700 fish.

Politicians have said this is more proof that the beleaguered company, which was recently revealed to be facing financial collapse, should be reformed.

Better farming techniques across the world could lead to storage of 31 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide a year, data shows

Marginal improvements to agricultural soils around the world would store enough carbon to keep the world within 1.5C of global heating, new research suggests.

Farming techniques that improve long-term fertility and yields can also help to store more carbon in soils but are often ignored in favour of intensive techniques using large amounts of artificial fertiliser, much of it wasted, that can increase greenhouse gas emissions.

World Meteorological Organization warns of record temperatures and extreme heat in environmental ‘double whammy’

The arrival of a climate-heating El Niño event has been declared by the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO), with officials warning that preparation for extreme weather events is vital to save lives and livelihoods.

The last major El Niño was in 2016, which remains the hottest year on record. The new El Niño comes on top of the increasing global heating driven by human-caused carbon emissions, an effect the WMO called a “double whammy”. This can supercharge extreme weather, and temperature records are already being broken on land and at sea across the globe.

We are not helpless: we need to do big things quickly, though, to halt the disturbance of nature. And I fear that’s not happening

• John Vidal is a former Guardian environment editor

When he bought the pretty little striped field mouse on the internet for $8 to give to his daughter for her sixth birthday, the businessman from São Paulo was told it was free of infection and had been bred by a registered dealer. In fact, it had been sourced from the vast sugar cane fields planted in Brazil to grow biofuels to reduce the use of fossil fuels – and which were swarming with rodents after yet another heatwave.

It nipped his daughter on the finger, but no one thought much of it – and six days later, he left on a trip to Europe. By the time he reached Amsterdam, she had started suffering fevers, muscle aches and breathing problems and had been rushed to hospital, and he too felt unwell. It was the start of one of the worst pandemics in human history, killing more people than Covid-19, Sars or the 1918 flu pandemic put together.

John Vidal is the Guardian’s former environment editor and author of Fevered Planet: How Diseases Emerge When We Harm Nature (Bloomsbury, £20). To support The Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

Cane toads first crossed into WA from the Northern Territory 15 years ago and have slowly spread through the Kimberley

• Follow our Australia news live blog for the latest updates
• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Motion sensor cameras have revealed the confronting spread of cane toads across Western Australia’s eastern Kimberley region.

Supported by the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia, the Nyaliga Rangers deployed cameras at 141 locations between August 2020 and October 2022.

Thames Water’s woes are a clear sign that basic oversight of our critical industries simply isn’t happening

The potential collapse of Thames Water, sinking under £14bn of debt, is just the latest evidence that the regulatory regimes that oversee large parts of the British economy are failing.

It comes on the heels of Ofgem, the gas and electricity regulator, failing to notice that companies supplying power to consumers were undercapitalised and vulnerable to global price volatility. The rail regulator, Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), has failed to protect the users of northern rail services or of commuter services around London from the incompetence of franchise operators. Ofcom, once the most respected regulator, has failed to prevent egregious telecom double-digit price increases – one of the worst recent examples of corporate exploitation which has helped to push up the cost of living.

Scientists in Australia solve puzzle of sole egg left in museum and identify new deep-sea species with unique ridged egg case

Off the north-western coast of Australia, near the remote coral atolls of Rowley Shoals, ghost catsharks are slinking through the dim water and searching for bushy colonies of corals growing between 400 and 500 metres (1,300-1,600ft) down.

This is where the elusive sharks lay their egg cases and leave them hanging like Christmas tree ornaments.

Concerns raised after tests found stretch of river used for world-famous event had dangerous bacteria

The Henley Royal Regatta was marred by sewage pollution from Thames Water, organisers have said, as they call for urgent action on our rivers.

The prestigious event, a rowing competition on the Thames that has been going since 1839, was held last week. Chairman of the event’s organisers, Sir Steve Redgrave said: “At Henley Royal Regatta, we are deeply concerned about the impact that sewage pollution is having on our beautiful river. Sewage pollution is harming the environment that we enjoy and respect so much.” The organisers’ concerns come after two local campaign groups – River Action and Henley Locals – carried out their own tests on the Thames at Henley every weekday over a four-week period and found the stretch of river used for the world famous regatta had dangerous bacteria.

Researchers alarmed by results of study of dogs and horses living close to Chemours factory in North Carolina

Pets living near a PFAS manufacturing plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina have concerning levels of the toxic chemicals in their blood, and show evidence of health effects linked to exposure, new research finds.

PFAS were present in all 32 dog and 31 horse blood samples checked, and the findings provide evidence that human and animal exposures to the chemicals impacts their bodies, said Scott Belcher, a North Carolina State University researcher and co-author.

The first supermoon of 2023 has been seen in Spain, Russia, Greece and Argentina and according to the Old Farmer's Almanac is called the 'full buck moon', named after the antlers of male deers which are growing at this time of year. A supermoon occurs when the full moon takes place at or near the lunar perigee, which means its closest approach to the Earth. When the full moon occurs at or around this point in its orbit, it appears larger and brighter than other full moons

• Astronomers observe time dilation in early universe

• ‘It was an accident’: the scientists who have turned humid air into renewable power

Opposition by mainstream conservatives to key parts of the package is part of an insidious trend

A European parliament plenary vote, held in mid-July, might normally pass under the radar of all but the most passionate aficionados of Brussels politics. That will not be the case next week, when environmental campaigners will watch through their fingers as one of the most consequential decisions so far is made in relation to the EU’s net zero targets.

Before heading for their summer holidays, MEPs are expected to vote on a proposed nature restoration law, committing European governments to rehabilitate and rewild swathes of territory suffering from desertification, deforestation and the draining of peatlands. Along with action on pesticides, this is essentially the biodiversity strand to the EU’s green deal. The law’s role in facilitating carbon capture and creating healthy, resilient ecosystems is deemed indispensable by scientists, if emissions reduction targets are to be met. But as with other aspects of the green transition, Europe’s increasingly dominant right is now mounting a sustained campaign to derail it.

Heat dome of high pressure hovers over Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma as thousands remain without power in Chicago with heavy rains knocking down trees and power lines

A heat dome of high pressure has been hovering over Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma creating dangerously hot weather for nearly two weeks.

A heat advisory is expected to last through Tuesday, with heat index readings reaching as high as 120F last week and evening temperatures in the 80s offering little reprieve.

So when that internal heat production exceeds the heat loss, the body reaches a point that it can no longer sustain its natural thermal regulation. That’s when core temps start to rise and heat stroke occurs.

Creator of winning garden at Hampton Court flower show says US plants are ideal for changing climate

Years of hot dry summers parching lawns and killing off prize blooms have caused many gardeners to switch to using gravel and Mediterranean herbs, trees and shrubs.

But a newly fashionable style of planting known as prairie planting could be a way to maintain a lush garden that is good for wildlife, while withstanding drought and floods.

Rising temperatures in north Atlantic and drop in Antarctic sea ice prompt fears of widespread damage from extreme weather

“Very unusual”, “worrying”, “terrifying”, and “bonkers”; the reactions of veteran scientists to the sharp increase in north Atlantic surface temperatures over the past three months raises the question of whether the world’s climate has entered a more erratic and dangerous phase with the onset of an El Niño event on top of human-made global heating.

Since April, the warming appears to have entered a new trajectory. Meanwhile the area of global sea ice has dropped by more than 1 million sq km below the previous low.

Aim is to at least double size of Wistman’s Wood, a 3 hectare fragment of ancient woodland on Dartmoor, by 2040

Prince William plans to double the size of a tiny fragment of rainforest on his Dartmoor estate, the Duchy of Cornwall has announced.

Wistman’s Wood is one of Britain’s remaining ancient “temperate rainforests”, brought into the public eye after environmental campaigner Guy Shrubsole’s bestselling book on the subject.

The winners have been announced in the third edition of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s Environmental Photography award. They are being exhibited in Monaco on the Promenade du Lavotto, before touring internationally