Category Archives: Environment

Ethiopia inaugurates Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam as Egypt rift deepens

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Ethiopian PM says dam will electrify entire region but Egypt fears it could restrict water supply during droughts

Ethiopia has inaugurated Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam, a project that could transform the country’s energy sector but may also aggravate tensions with neighbouring Egypt.

State media showed the Ethiopian prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, touring the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Guba district with the Kenyan president, William Ruto, the Somali president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, and the African Union chairperson, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf.

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Disposable face masks used during Covid have left chemical timebomb, research suggests

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An estimated 129bn were being used every month around the world at height of pandemic, with no recycling stream

The surge in the use of disposable face masks during the Covid pandemic has left a chemical timebomb that could harm humans, animals and the environment, research suggests.

Billions of tonnes of plastic face masks created to protect people from the spread of the virus are now breaking down, releasing microplastics and chemical additives including endocrine disruptors, the research found.

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EU states still fighting over crucial targets in run-up to Cop30, leaked draft shows

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Exclusive: Experts decry lack of nationally determined contributions in negotiating document with weeks to go before UN-set deadline

EU member states are still wrangling over crucial commitments on the climate crisis with no sign of agreement, according to a leaked draft text seen by the Guardian.

With just weeks to go before a UN-set deadline, the European Commission and key member states remain at loggerheads over targets on greenhouse gas emissions, with the prospect of a strong outcome looking increasingly imperilled.

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Hopes rise for green economy boom at Africa Climate Summit

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Renewables are thriving, with Africa breaking solar energy records – but action is needed to plug financing gap

The first signs of a takeoff of Africa’s green economy are raising hopes that a transformation of the continent’s fortunes may be under way, driven by solar power and an increase in low-carbon investment.

African leaders are meeting this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the Africa Climate Summit, a precursor to the global UN Cop30 in November. They will call for an increase in support from rich countries for Africa’s green resurgence, without which they will warn it could be fragile and spread unevenly.

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Minns’s $140m great koala national park will ‘obliterate’ regional towns, Coalition claims

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Labor’s koala strategy doesn’t go far enough, Coalition says, but environmentalists hail park a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ decision

The long-awaited great koala national park in the north of New South Wales, celebrated by wildlife groups, has drawn a mixed reaction from the state’s Coalition.

The opposition leader, Mark Speakman has hedged his party’s support, saying while he “supports the ambition of protecting koalas”, he was concerned about job losses and the cost of the park.

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WA museum tells staff ‘almost all of us are guilty’ of burning fossil fuels in email defending Woodside partnership

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Exclusive: Climate advocates reject CEO’s claim he is ‘not qualified’ to comment on risks of gas firm’s plan to extend production to 2070

The head of the Western Australian Museum has told staff that burning fossil fuels is something “almost all of us are guilty of in one way or another” in an email defending the institution’s renewed research partnership with Woodside.

The museum’s chief executive, Alec Coles, sent the email to staff before a Woodside-sponsored August open day at the Maritime Museum – one of WA Museum’s seven locations. It came amid public criticism of the extension of the “longstanding collaboration”, in which the gas company supports the museum’s biodiversity research along the WA coastline.

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NSW locks in great koala national park and brings in immediate ban on logging

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Minns government to create one of the largest national parks in the state as forest advocates welcome ‘historic’ victory

The Minns government has confirmed its long-awaited great koala national park, announcing it will add 176,000 hectares of forest to existing reserves in mid-north New South Wales to create one of the largest national parks in the state and protect more than 12,000 koalas.

The premier, Chris Minns, and environment minister, Penny Sharpe, said the government would put an immediate moratorium on logging within the park’s boundaries and roll out a jobkeeper style support package for workers at affected timber mills in the region.

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Loss of koala habitat shows ‘total failure’ of nature laws, conservationists say

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More habitat has been given up legally in 2025 so far than any other year since the animals were listed as threatened, analysis shows

More clearing of koala habitat has been approved under Australia’s nature laws in 2025 so far than in any other year since the marsupial was listed as a threatened species, according to an analysis by the Australian Conservation Foundation.

The destruction of 3,958 ha of bush approved across eight projects, including a coalmine in Queensland, equates to about four Sydney airports’ worth of clearing.

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What lies beneath: Lake Tahoe dive offers rare view of the deep

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Livestream of voyage to bottom of one of country’s deepest lakes draws thousands – but no sign of Tahoe Tessie yet

The cobalt waters of Lake Tahoe have long captivated the public, helping drive the area’s massive tourism industry and even attracting urban legends about what lies in the cold, shadowy depths.

Theories have ranged from an aquatic creature named Tessie to perfectly preserved bodies dumped by the mafia decades ago.

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Japanese man becomes oldest person to reach Mount Fuji summit at 102

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Kokichi Akuzawa climbed with 70-year-old daughter to break record for oldest person to make ascent – a second time

Kokichi Akuzawa has become the oldest person to climb to the top of Mount Fuji at the age of 102 – despite almost giving up during his trek.

“I was really tempted to give up halfway through,” Akuzawa said. “Reaching the summit was tough, but my friends encouraged me, and it turned out well. I managed to get through it because so many people supported me.”

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Spain and Portugal wildfire weather made 40 times more likely by climate crisis, study finds

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Wildfires were 30% more intense than would have been expected without global heating, scientists say

The extreme weather that fuelled “astonishing” blazes across Spain and Portugal last month was made 40 times more likely by climate breakdown, early analysis suggests.

The deadly wildfires, which torched 500,000 hectares (1.2m acres) of the Iberian peninsula in a matter of weeks, were also 30% more intense than scientists would have expected in a world without climate change, according to researchers from the World Weather Attribution network.

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Four Chinese carmakers enter Australian top 10 for first time, while Tesla sales slump

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BYD overtakes Mitsubishi after nearly quadrupling sales in past year, according to official figures, as GWM, MG and Chery also surge

Australians bought more than 20,000 Chinese-made vehicles in August, putting four Chinese brands into the top 10 for the first time, while Tesla sales have slumped by more than a third.

BYD came in sixth for the month, overtaking Mitsubishi, after its sales nearly quadrupled compared with August 2024, while GWM, MG and Chery each outsold Isuzu Ute in the month to round out the top 10.

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Mining magnate Andrew Forrest’s Minderoo charity makes undisclosed donation to the Australia Institute

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Exclusive: The progressive thinktank, which has championed a ‘real zero’ emissions policy, says it protects privacy of donors to avoid them being targeted

Andrew Forrest’s charity has made an undisclosed donation to the Australia Institute, raising transparency concerns about the funding of influential advocacy groups.

The donation to the progressive thinktank, which has been confirmed by several sources familiar with the deal but not authorised to comment, highlights differing disclosure standards across the research and advocacy sector.

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There are just 150 of these creamy-flowered shrubs left in the world – and a Victorian fire break could destroy dozens

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More than 40 round-leaf pomaderris discovered by environmental community group inside the area earmarked for fire break in July

A mere 150 round-leaf pomaderris were thought left in the world in 2021 and now a planned firebreak in Victoria could destroy dozens of the plants.

The critically endangered shrub, which bursts into cascades of creamy flowers, is known to exist in only a handful of locations in central Victoria’s hill country.

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Summer 2025 was hottest on record in UK, says Met Office

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Unprecedented average temperature made about 70 times more likely by human-induced climate change, says agency

The UK has had its hottest summer on record, the Met Office has said, after the country faced four heatwaves in a single season.

The mean temperature for meteorological summer, which encompasses the months of June, July and August, was 16.1C (60.98F), which is significantly above the current record of 15.76C set in 2018.

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Climate change kills, Spanish PM tells deniers at launch of plan to tackle crisis

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Pedro Sánchez says country’s deadly August wildfires show society needs to mobilise and take immediate action

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has announced a 10-point plan to prepare the country for the climate emergency, warning: “If we don’t want to bequeath our children a Spain that’s grey from fire and flames, or a Spain that’s brown from floods, then we need a Spain that’s greener.”

Sánchez said August’s heatwave-fuelled wildfires – which killed four people, burned through an area six times the size of Ibiza and required “the biggest human and technical deployment” ever seen in Spain – showed that immediate action must be taken to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis.

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‘We’re winning a battle’: Mexico’s jaguar numbers up 30% in conservation drive

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Conservationists hope that in 15 years species will no longer be at risk of extinction in Mexico – but challenges remain

In 2010, Gerardo Ceballos and a group of other researchers set out to answer a burning question: how many jaguars were there in Mexico? They knew there weren’t many. Hunting, loss of habitat, conflict with cattle ranchers and other issues had pushed the population to the brink of extinction.

Ceballos and his team from the National Alliance for Jaguar Conservation (ANCJ) thought there were maybe 1,000 jaguars across the country. They decided to carry out the country’s first census of the animal to find out exactly how many there were. They found 4,100.

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Tories would maximise North Sea oil and gas extraction, Badenoch to say

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Conservative leader says it is ‘absurd’ to shift away from fossil fuels and leave ‘vital resources untapped’

The Conservative party will aim to “maximise extraction” of oil and gas in the North Sea if it wins power, Kemi Badenoch is expected to announce.

Badenoch will use a speech in Aberdeen in the coming days to set out her plans to extract as much oil and gas as possible instead of shifting away from fossil fuels, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

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Murray Watt backs ‘no-go’ zones where development is banned – but not for Tasmania’s Robbins Island

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Environment minister says scientific evidence did not convince government that remote island qualified

Australia’s environment minister, Murray Watt, has backed the creation of “no-go zones” where development will be banned in some places under a revamped nature law, but said Tasmania’s remote Robbins Island – the site of a contentious windfarm proposal – does not qualify.

Watt this week said the Albanese government would accelerate its plan to overhaul the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act so that legislation was introduced to parliament this year, sooner than previously suggested.

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Labor greenlights contentious Robbins Island windfarm despite fears for endangered orange-bellied parrot

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Environment advocates have called for important migratory shorebird habitat off Tasmania to be declared ‘no-go site’

The Albanese government has greenlit a contentious windfarm proposed for Robbins Island off north-western Tasmania, promising to impose conditions to protect threatened bird species, including the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot.

The environment minister, Murray Watt, announced on Friday that he had approved an application by the renewable energy company Acen Australia to build up to 100 turbines, a 1.2km bridge between the nearly 10,000-hectare island and the Tasmanian mainland, a 500-metre wharf and four quarries.

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