Category Archives: Environment

French warned of high-risk summer for wildfires as Marseille blaze contained

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Mayor urges people to exercise utmost caution as weather service says situation around Mediterranean is critical

More than 15,000 residents of Marseille confined to their homes have been allowed out after a wildfire on the outskirts of France’s second city was brought under control, but officials have warned the country faces an exceptionally high-risk summer.

Fanned by gale-force winds and kindled by parched vegetation, several fires have burned swathes of southern France in recent days, including Tuesday’s just north of the port city. The weather service has said the weeks ahead could be critical.

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Marseille airport cancels all flights as wildfire encroaches on city

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Authorities urge residents to stay indoors and say more than 700 firefighters battling blaze

A fast-moving wildfire fanned by gale-force winds has been raging on the outskirts of France’s second-largest city, Marseille, officials said, as firefighters around the Mediterranean battle blazes sparked by an intense heatwave.

“The fire is on the fringes of Marseille,” the regional prefect, Georges-François Leclerc, told reporters on Tuesday, adding that the blaze was not yet stable or contained, but the situation appeared to be “under control”.

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Tiny fungus farming beetle from WA could wreak havoc on Sydney’s heritage trees

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Invasive shot-hole borer only found in Perth in Australia, but as WA moves from eradication to management of pest, risk of spread is ‘heightened’

The chief scientist of the Botanic Gardens of Sydney is warning of an imminent and deadly risk to the city’s trees posed by an invasive beetle that has led to the removal of thousands of trees in Perth.

The tiny polyphagous shot-hole borer, which is native to south-east Asia, is a “fungus farmer” that burrows into trees and can spread a fungus that kills the host tree.

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Dozens missing after flash floods and landslides in Himachal Pradesh

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Hundreds of homes, bridges and roads washed away in north Indian state after unusually heavy rainfall

India’s mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh has been left reeling after it was hit by rainstorms, flash floods and landslides, with dozens of people reported missing.

Hundreds of homes, bridges, roads and electricity pylons in the north Indian state were washed away after 23 flash floods and 16 landslides caused by unusually heavy rainfall over the weekend. There were also 19 cloudbursts, in which an enormous amount of rain falls in a sudden deluge, according to a report by the Himachal Pradesh state government.

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Texas’s Camp Mystic confirms 27 children and counsellors died in floods

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Camp says the search continues for missing people while life-threatening flooding still remains a threat

Camp Mystic, the girls summer camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas, has confirmed that 27 children and counsellors died in the flash floods that have wreaked devastation on the area since Friday.

“Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy. We are praying for them constantly,” a statement on the camp website read.

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Low water levels push up shipping costs on Europe’s rivers amid heatwave

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Vessels on Rhine in Germany and Danube in Hungary forced to sail partially loaded

Low water levels after heatwaves and drought are limiting shipping on some of Europe’s biggest rivers including the Rhine and the Danube and pushing up transport costs.

As much of Europe swelters in hot temperatures, water levels in its main rivers have fallen. This is affecting shipping along the Rhine – one of Europe’s key waterways – south of Duisburg and Cologne in Germany, including the choke point of Kaub, forcing vessels to sail about half full.

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UK carmakers on track to meet EV sales target despite intense lobbying to lower quota

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Electric car sales made up 21.6% of sales in first half of 2025, only just below the effective 22% share needed to meet rules

Carmakers are on track to meet existing UK electric car sales targets despite having successfully lobbied the government to water them down.

Electric car sales made up 21.6% of sales in the first half of 2025, only marginally below the 22.06% share needed to meet existing rules once concessions are taken into account, according to an analysis by New AutoMotive, a thinktank.

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Paris reopens River Seine to public swimming after century-long ban

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About 1,000 swimmers a day will be allowed to use three bathing sites after €1.4bn clean-up programme

Parisians and tourists flocked to take a dip in the Seine River this weekend after city authorities gave the green light for it to be used for public swimming for the first time in more than a century.

The opening followed a comprehensive clean-up programme sped up by its use as a venue in last year’s Paris Olympics after people who regularly swam in it illegally lobbied for its transformation. The outgoing mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, also helped to champion the plans, jumping in the river herself before the Olympics.

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Weedkiller ingredient widely used in US can damage organs and gut bacteria, research shows

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Diquat is banned in the UK, EU, China and other countries. The US has resisted calls to regulate it

The herbicide ingredient used to replace glyphosate in Roundup and other weedkiller products can kill gut bacteria and damage organs in multiple ways, new research shows.

The ingredient, diquat, is widely employed in the US as a weedkiller in vineyards and orchards, and is increasingly sprayed elsewhere as the use of controversial herbicide substances such as glyphosate and paraquat drops in the US.

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Texas floods: search continues with dozens dead and missing

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Hundreds of rescuers searching for those missing in devastating floods including girls from Camp Mystic, a Christian youth camp

The father of Blair, 13, and Brooke Harber, 11, confirmed to CNN yesterday that his daughters had died in the Texas flooding after having gone missing in Kerr County.

RJ Harber told CNN that Blair “was a gifted student and had a generous kind heart” and that Brooke “was like a light in any room, people gravitated to her and she made them laugh and enjoy the moment”.

Officials defended their preparations for severe weather and their response but said they had not expected such an intense downpour that was, in effect, the equivalent of months’ worth of rain for the area.

One National Weather Service (NWS) forecast this week had called for only 3-6in (76-152mm) of rain, said Kidd, of the Texas division of emergency management.

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‘We’ve made progress’: environment secretary is upbeat despite Labour’s struggles

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Steve Reed says changes to living standards are happening and will make a big difference to trust in government

It was probably easier for Steve Reed to feel more cheerful about Labour’s most torrid week in government while sitting on bales of hay in the blazing sunshine about 40 miles from Westminster.

The environment secretary might have sympathised with Rachel Reeves and Liz Kendall – he has experience of bearing the flak for some of the government’s most controversial decisions on family farm taxes – but at Hertfordshire’s Groundswell festival, named the Glastonbury for farms, he may simply have been happy not to be pelted with manure by unhappy farmers.

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Landmark US study reveals sewage sludge and wastewater plants tied to Pfas pollution

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New study finds troubling levels of Pfas near wastewater plants and sludge sites in 19 states

Sewage sludge and wastewater treatment plants are major sources of Pfas water pollution, new research finds, raising questions about whether the US is safely managing its waste.

A first-of-its-kind study tested rivers bordering 32 sewage sludge sites, including wastewater treatment plants and fields where the substance is spread as fertilizer – it found concerning levels of Pfas around all but one.

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Countries must protect human right to a stable climate, court rules

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Costa Rica-based inter-American court of human rights says states have obligation to respond to climate change

There is a human right to a stable climate and states have a duty to protect it, a top court has ruled.

Announcing the publication of a crucial advisory opinion on climate change on Thursday, Nancy Hernández López, president of the inter-American court of human rights (IACHR), said climate change carries “extraordinary risks” that are felt particularly keenly by people who are already vulnerable.

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NSW weather: storm brings 13-metre high waves and wild winds as BoM warns of ‘second surge’

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Vigorous coastal low forecast to keep sending severe weather across eastern New South Wales for much of Wednesday, before gradually easing on Thursday

Thousands remain without power across New South Wales after severe winds and heavy rain battered the state, with wind gusts up to 130km/h, 13-metre high waves, and several places receiving more than 200mm rain.

The Bureau of Meteorology expected a “second surge” on Wednesday night would bring a further burst of rain and wind to the south coast of NSW and eastern parts of Victoria, with peak gusts of around 90km/h possible along exposed parts of the coast.

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‘Tiny melodies’: musician uses moths’ flight data to compose piece about their decline

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Ellie Wilson’s piece titled Moth x Human assigns different sounds to the species on Parsonage Down in Salisbury

They are vital pollinators who come out at night, but now moths have emerged into the bright light of day as co-creators of a new piece of music – composed using the insects’ own flight data.

Ellie Wilson composed Moth x Human in a protected habitat on Parsonage Down in Salisbury, Wiltshire. She assigned each of the 80 resident moth species a different sound, which was triggered when it landed on her monitor.

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Tracking sea ice is ‘early warning system’ for global heating – but US halt to data sharing will make it harder, scientists warn

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News comes as research finds record lows of Antarctic sea ice had seen more icebergs splintering off ice shelves

Scientists analysing the cascading impacts of record low levels of Antarctic sea ice fear a loss of critical US government satellite data will make it harder to track the rapid changes taking place at both poles.

Researchers around the globe were told last week the US Department of Defence will stop processing and providing the data, used in studies on the state of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, at the end of this month.

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EU may allow carbon credits from developing countries to count towards climate goals

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Exclusive: Green groups furious at plans to let member states buy controversial carbon offsets from abroad

EU member states may be allowed to count controversial carbon credits from developing countries towards their climate targets, the European climate commissioner has said as states meet for a crucial decision on the issue.

The EU will discuss on Wednesday its target for slashing carbon dioxide by 2040, with an expected cut of 90% compared with 1990 levels, in line with the bloc’s overarching target of reaching net zero by mid-century.

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Wimbledon opening day hottest on record as temperatures soar

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Temperatures set to climb to 34C across much of England in one of hottest June days ever

This year’s Wimbledon tennis championships have begun with the hottest opening day on record, according to the Met Office.

Temperatures reached a provisional high of 29.7C (85.5F) at Kew Gardens in west London on Monday afternoon, surpassing the previous record of 29.3C set in June 2001.

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Seoul wrestles with how to handle invasion of ‘lovebugs’

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Swarms in South Korean capital trigger heated debate over pest control as experts say rising temperatures partly to blame

Seoul residents are grappling with an invasion of so-called “lovebugs” that have swarmed hiking trails and urban areas across the South Korean capital, with experts debating how to handle the infestations that are surging as the climate crisis draws them further north.

Viral footage shared on social media shows Gyeyangsan mountain in Incheon, west of Seoul, with hiking trails and observation decks carpeted black with the insects.

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Australian government loans $100m to install EV chargers and solar panels at Bunnings and Officeworks stores

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Work to upgrade facilities at Bunnings and Officeworks sites is expected to be completed by the end of this year

Wesfarmers has secured a $100m loan with the government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation to install more solar panels, batteries and EV chargers at its Bunnings and Officeworks stores.

The chief executive of the CEFC, Ian Learmonth, said he hoped the financing package at the high-profile stores would help create a “ripple effect” through the commercial sector, where the uptake of rooftop solar has been slower than across residential properties.

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