Category Archives: Environment

Thames Water could delay accounts as turmoil in water industry grows

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Firm refuses to say when it will publish annual report; pressure builds on regulator Ofwat

Thames Water has refused to say when it will publish its annual report and accounts, which had been expected by investors next week, as concerns mount over the company’s financial viability.

The risk of delay will add to the turmoil engulfing England’s 11 privatised water companies, after a day in which board directors, ministers and regulators scrambled to restore calm as discussions continued over a potential temporary nationalisation of Thames Water.

The Environment Agency (EA) announced it was sending specialist investigators into water companies across England to secure evidence in the biggest criminal investigation into illegal sewage dumping since privatisation.

The experienced City troubleshooter Sir Adrian Montague was parachuted in to take over as chairman of Thames, a role he will take up on 10 July.

The prime minister’s spokesperson said it was for Ofwat “in the first instance” to monitor the financial resilience of water companies, adding to pressure on the regulator.

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Many people in Mexico without power as deadly heat leads to strain on grid

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Climate change has made high temperatures more common in the country, which has already surpassed peak energy demand of 2022

When Raquel Rubio’s 13-month baby developed a 102F fever last week, she rushed to the doctor. Her son, Liam, had been in Rubio’s apartment without air conditioning for several hours; Nuevo León, the Mexican state where she lives, had reached 109F that day.

The doctor confirmed Rubio’s suspicions that the heat was driving her son’s temperature, and instructed her to bathe Liam and keep him hydrated. But Rubio couldn’t go back home; she had been dealing with power shortages for the past two weeks and didn’t want to take her son back into the blistering heat.

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Australian sea dumping law changes condemned amid warnings of gas industry expansion

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Greens and environmentalists say legislation introduced to parliament by Tanya Plibersek could facilitate new fossil fuel projects

Proposed changes to Australia’s sea dumping laws that would allow carbon dioxide to be pumped into international waters could be used to justify the expansion of the gas industry, the Greens and environment groups say.

The legislation, which was introduced to parliament by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, last week, would allow the minister to grant permits so CO2 captured during industrial processes could be exported and stored under the seabed – a process known as carbon, capture and storage (CCS) – in another country’s waters.

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Skin disease in orcas off North American coast concerns scientists

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Lesions found on 99% of southern resident orcas studied on Pacific north-west coast

Scientists studying an endangered population of orcas resident off the Pacific north-west coast of Canada and the US have recorded a “strong increase” in skin lesions on the animals’ bodies, which they believe is owing to the decreasing ability of their immune systems to deal with disease.

The lesions appear on the whales as grey patches or targets, or black pin points. Some resemble tattooed skin. Their presence on the animals’ graphically black and white bodies is “increasing dramatically”, according to Dr Joseph K Gaydos of the SeaDoc Society at the school of veterinary medicine at the University of California, lead author of the scientific paper.

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China on course to hit wind and solar power target five years ahead of time

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Beijing bolstering position as global renewables leader with solar capacity more than rest of world combined

China is shoring up its position as the world leader in renewable power and potentially outpacing its own ambitious energy targets, a report has found.

China is set to double its capacity and produce 1,200 gigawatts of energy through wind and solar power by 2025, reaching its 2030 goal five years ahead of time, according to the report by Global Energy Monitor, a San Francisco-based NGO that tracks operating utility-scale wind and solar farms as well as future projects in the country.

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Texas heatwave blamed for 13 deaths as scorching temperatures and smoke spread across US – as it happened

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Detroit extends air quality alert through Thursday while evacuation orders in effect in Arizona as crews fight Diamond fire

President Joe Biden arrived in Chicago earlier this morning, touching down at O’Hare International Airport under hazy skies caused by smoke from Canadian wildfires.

Biden is expected to deliver a major speech at 1pm EST in Chicago.

Concentrations of smoke will likely be high throughout the day in western Pennsylvania and increasing throughout the day in eastern Pennsylvania.

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Crown estate enjoys huge rise in profits thanks to offshore wind

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Fees for accessing UK seabeds help boost profits to £443m while King Charles says some of surplus will go towards public good

The crown estate has generated record profits of almost half a billion pounds from Britain’s offshore windfarms, as talks continue over how much of the windfall should be shared with King Charles.

The royal property manager made £443m in profits in its last financial year, up by almost £130m from the year before, in large part thanks to payments made by renewable energy companies for the right to access the seabed.

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Joshua Trees win long term protection in environmental victory

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The bill, to be signed by the California governor, requires drawing up a conservation plan and creates a fund to protect the species

California lawmakers have voted to permanently protect the iconic western joshua tree, delivering a hard-won victory for environmentalists who have warned that the climate crisis has imperilled these fixtures of the high desert.

The Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act was passed Tuesday, as part of the state’s budget agreement. It prohibits the unpermitted killing or removal of the trees, requires the development of a conservation plan and creates a fund to protect the species. It appears to be the first California legislation focused on protecting a climate-threatened species.

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Climate crisis linked to rising domestic violence in south Asia, study finds

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Increase of 1C in average annual temperature connected to more than 6% rise in physical and sexual domestic violence

As deadly heatwaves sweep through cities in India, China, the US and Europe amid the climate crisis, new research has found that rising temperatures are associated with a substantial rise in domestic violence against women.

A study published in JAMA Psychiatry on Wednesday found a 1C increase in average annual temperature was connected to a rise of more than 6.3% in incidents of physical and sexual domestic violence across three south Asian countries.

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Water firms push for bills in England to rise by up to 40%, say reports

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Plans drawn up to pay for cost of dealing with sewage crisis and climate emergency

Water companies are reportedly pushing for bills in England to rise by up to 40% under plans being drawn up to pay for the cost of dealing with the sewage crisis and the climate emergency.

The increases are due to be announced next year and could drive annual bills up from an average of £450 to £680 in parts of the country by the end of the decade, according to a Times report citing consultation documents.

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Solar helps Texas carry energy load as heatwave puts power grid to test

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State has managed to avoid rolling blackouts amid three-digit temperatures thanks to its supply of solar power, experts say

As a deadly, record-breaking heatwave puts Texas’ grid to the test, renewable power sources are helping the state maintain energy reliability, contrary to some of the state’s lawmakers claims that clean energy is less reliable.

Texas has for more than two weeks been blanketed by an oppressive heat dome, and federal forecasters say there is “no end in sight”. The sweltering temperatures have forced people to stay in their homes with their air conditioners cranked, causing energy demand to soar to record levels.

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Amazon facing ‘urgent’ drug crisis after gutting of protections, says narcotics chief

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Brazilian government warning comes as UN report says that flourishing organized crime groups are driving a boom in environmental devastation

The Brazilian government’s drug policy chief has admitted that the rapid advance of drug factions into the Amazon rainforest has produced a “a very difficult situation” in the region, as a UN report warned that flourishing organized crime groups were driving a boom in environmental devastation.

Marta Machado, the national secretary for drug affairs, said the previous administration’s intentional dismantling of Brazil’s environmental and Indigenous protection agencies had created a dangerous vacuum in the Amazon which had been occupied by powerful crime syndicates from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

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Canada’s wildfire carbon emissions hit record high in first six months of 2023

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This year’s wildfire season is already worst on record as nearly 600m tonnes of carbon has been released since early May

Wildfires raging across Canada, made more intense by global warming, have released more planet-warming carbon dioxide in the first six months of 2023 than in any full year on record, according to the EU’s Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service.

This year’s wildfire season is the worst on record in Canada, with some 76,000sq km (29,000sq miles) burning across eastern and western Canada. That is already greater than the combined area burned in 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2022, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

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Biden’s efforts to clear wildfire fuel in US forests are falling short

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Mixed early results from administration initiative as federal land managers skip at-risk communities for less threatened areas

Using chainsaws, heavy machinery and controlled burns, the Biden administration is trying to turn the tide on worsening wildfires in the US west through a multibillion-dollar cleanup of forests choked with dead trees and undergrowth.

Yet one year into what is envisioned as a decade-long effort, federal land managers are scrambling to catch up after falling behind on several of their priority forests for thinning even as they exceeded goals elsewhere. And they’ve skipped over some highly at-risk communities to work in less threatened areas, according to data obtained by the Associated Press, public records and congressional testimony.

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EU’s flagship nature laws in jeopardy after voting stalemate

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Nature Restoration Law vote tied at 44 in favour and 44 against amid claims of lies and fake news

The future of the EU’s flagship environment laws are again hanging by a thread with a cliffhanger vote, flared tempers and accusations of lies, fake news and manipulation of voting in the European parliament.

Emotions were running high after voting on the European parliament committee steering through the Nature Restoration Law (NRL) ended in a dead heat on Tuesday, with 44 votes in favour and 44 against. It can now progress to a vote of the full parliament in a plenary session in July.

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PwC walks back report used to claim Australia’s nature repair market could be worth $137bn

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Report cited by environment minister in support of offset bill was criticised for inflated figures and lack of clarity on outcomes

PwC has walked back a report used to claim the nature repair market could be worth $137bn, accepting it measures “indirect spending towards biodiversity” but the amount spent on “threatened species conservation, with clear outcomes, is likely much less”.

The consultancy firm made that submission to a Senate inquiry examining the Albanese government’s nature repair market bill in response to a critique of the report from progressive thinktank the Australia Institute.

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‘We could lose our status as a state’: what happens to a people when their land disappears

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Small island countries press for guarantees as rising sea levels risk leaving their citizens stateless

Small island nations would rather fight than flee, but rising sea levels have prompted apocalyptic legal discussions about whether a state is still a state if its land disappears below the waves.

The Pacific Islands Forum, which represents many of the most vulnerable countries, has invited international legal experts to consider this question and begun a diplomatic campaign to ensure that political statehood continues even after a nation’s physical fabric is submerged.

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Current heatwave across US south made five times more likely by climate crisis

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Latest ‘heat dome’ event over Texas and Louisiana, plus much of Mexico, driven by human-cause climate change, scientists find

The record heatwave roiling parts of Texas, Louisiana and Mexico was made at least five times more likely due to human-caused climate change, scientists have found, marking the latest in a series of recent extreme “heat dome” events that have scorched various parts of the world.

A stubborn ridge of high pressure has settled over Mexico and a broad swath of the southern US over the past three weeks, pushing the heat index, a combination of temperature and humidity, to above 48C (120F) in some places.

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Destruction of world’s pristine rainforests soared in 2022 despite Cop26 pledge

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An area of primary rainforest the size of Switzerland was felled last year suggesting world leaders’ commitment to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030 is failing

An area the size of Switzerland was cleared from Earth’s most pristine rainforests in 2022, despite promises by world leaders to halt their destruction, new figures show.

From the Bolivian Amazon to Ghana, the equivalent of 11 football pitches of primary rainforest were destroyed every minute last year as the planet’s most carbon-dense and biodiverse ecosystems were cleared for cattle ranching, agriculture and mining, with Indigenous forest communities forced from their land by extractive industries in some countries.

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Western Sydney airport flight paths reveal suburbs to face vacuum-level noise 100 times a day by 2040

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Modelling along planned flight paths suggest zones will be subject to noise pollution in excess of 70db, or washing machine-level

A 20km stretch of land surrounding the future western Sydney airport will be subjected to noise levels similar to or louder than a washing machine or vacuum cleaner more than 100 times a day by 2040, preliminary flight path analysis shows.

Proposed flight paths released on Tuesday have been designed to avoid areas either currently or projected to be densely populated in coming decades, ahead of the airport beginning operations in late 2026.

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