Category Archives: Environment

Large English vineyards mark boom year as output and investment soars

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Though tiny compared with rivals, English wine trade is thriving as climate crisis fuels flood of new capital from investors

The largest English vineyards increased their revenues by 15% last year, as wine investors respond to the climate crisis by planting more vines.

While the UK still languishes well down the list of the largest wine-producing nations, below countries such as Uzbekistan and Tunisia, the industry’s output has soared in recent years, rising by 77% last year to 161,960 hectolitres, equivalent to 21.6m bottles.

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Australians shunning petrol-powered cars for hybrid vehicles as bowser prices rise

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Trend also reflects concerns over range and a lack of charging infrastructure affecting purely electric vehicles, experts say

Australians are buying more cars than ever but are increasingly choosing hybrid vehicles over petrol-powered cars due to rising costs at the bowser, new data by the Australian Automobiles Association shows.

Quarterly vehicle sales data released on Monday revealed a further uptick in demand for hybrid vehicles, a trend the industry believes reflects both the rising cost of living, as well as range anxiety and concerns over a lack of charging infrastructure affecting purely electric vehicles.

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Charity appeals for people to stay away from dolphin in Thames

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Rescue body says dolphin spotted on Thursday may be further disoriented by human interference

People have been urged to stay away from a dolphin spotted in the River Thames.

The common dolphin had been seen several times near Putney Bridge, south-west London, on Thursday, and had appeared to be “struggling with the tide”, but had not been seen since.

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Weather tracker: Record-breaking rain in Delhi leaves trail of destruction

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Almost 200 killed as deluge sweeps northern India, while rain gives way to high humidity at Paris Olympics

Between Wednesday and Thursday morning, 147mm of rain was recorded in eastern parts of Delhi by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), breaking a 14-year record for the highest single day total in July.

Delhi received more than half its monthly rainfall on Wednesday. This torrential rain damaged infrastructure throughout northern India as waterlogged drains led to flash floods.

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China sees highest number of significant floods since records began

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So far this year officials warnings have been issued for 25 floods, and China is only halfway through its peak flood season

Halfway through the peak flood season, China has already experienced the highest number of significant floods since record keeping began in 1998, and the hottest July since 1961, authorities said on Friday.

This year so far it has recorded 25 “numbered” events, which the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources defined as having water levels that prompt an official warning or are measured at a magnitude of a “once in two to five years” event.

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Environmentalist becomes first juror to swear oath on river water

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Paul Powlesland, the co-founder of Lawyers for Nature, says he considers the River Roding to be sacred

When jurors are called to court, they are required to swear on a holy book or make a secular promise to tell the truth.

So court officials were perplexed when the environmental activist and barrister Paul Powlesland was called for jury service and produced a vial of river water and asked to swear on the River Roding.

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Sick sea lions stranded on California coast as experts fear algae poisoning

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At least 23 sea lions with suspected domoic acid poisoning rescued from Santa Barbara and Ventura beaches

Sea lions are stranding themselves on a long stretch of the California coast in what experts say could be a sign of widespread poisoning by a harmful algae bloom this summer.

The Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute (Cimwi) said that since 26 July, it had been inundated by daily reports of sick sea lions along the shoreline in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

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Anger mounts over environmental cost of Google datacentre in Uruguay

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Protesters say recently approved tax-free datacentre will ‘provide nothing except toxic waste and greenhouse gases’

Google’s plans to build a datacentre in Uruguay have angered environmentalists, who say the project will release thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide and hazardous waste.

Uruguay’s environmental authorities recently approved the datacentre, which will use air conditioning to cool its servers. The company initially proposed using millions of litres of fresh water to cool its infrastructure, but this caused an outcry in a country that suffered its worst drought since 1950 last year, causing its capital city to run short of drinking water.

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Australian government ‘deeply disappointed’ by Japan’s decision to expand commercial whaling target list

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Japanese government confirms it will allow whalers to catch and kill up to 59 fin whales, a species conservationists consider vulnerable

The Australian government is “deeply disappointed” by Japan’s decision to add the world’s second-largest whale species to the list of species its commercial whale hunters will target.

Tanya Plibersek, the environment minister, attacked Japan’s decision to hunt fin whales – the world’s second-longest whale and considered vulnerable.

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Colombian guerrillas withdraw threat to disrupt UN biodiversity summit

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Central General Staff militant group previously said Cop16 event scheduled for October in Cali ‘would fail’

A dissident rebel group has backed down from its threat to disrupt the UN biodiversity summit in Colombia later this year.

The Central General Staff (EMC), a guerrilla faction that rejected the country’s 2016 peace agreement, said on Wednesday it would order its militants not to target the Cop16 negotiations that are due to begin in Cali in October.

Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features.

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Death toll from landslides in India’s Kerala state rises to 166

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Almost 200 people still missing after heavy rains and access problems hamper second day of rescue operation

The death toll from a series of landslides in Kerala has risen to 166 and almost 200 people are still missing as the southern Indian state reels from one of its worst disasters in years.

Hundreds of homes were swept away and crushed by two huge consecutive landslides in the hilly district of Wayanad in the middle of the night on Tuesday.

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Wednesday briefing: Where France’s €1.6bn plan to clean up the Seine for the Olympics went wrong

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In today’s newsletter: The government has spent €1.6bn improving the river, but an ancient sewage system and the climate are muddying the waters

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Good morning.

An ambitious project to clean up the River Seine has left French officials up to their eyes in it.

Israel-Gaza war | Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, has been targeted and killed in Tehran, the group said in a statement early on Wednesday morning. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard confirmed the assassination, which was reported on Iranian state TV early on Wednesday morning, with analysts also claiming Israel killed Haniyeh, the Associated Press said.

UK news | Keir Starmer has said those who rioted in Southport on Tuesday night will “feel the full force of the law” after police vehicles were set alight and missiles hurled at officers. It came after far-right protesters pelted police with glass bottles and bricks and attacked a mosque following a knife attack that killed three children and left five other children and two adults in critical condition.

Conservatives | Kemi Badenoch, the frontrunner to be the next Conservative party leader, has been accused of creating an intimidating atmosphere in the government department she used to run, with some colleagues describing it as toxic, the Guardian can reveal.

US election 2024 | Donald Trump has repeated his weekend remarks to Christian summit attendees that they would never need to vote again if he returns to the presidency in November.

Health | The hidden cost of rising workplace sickness in the UK has increased to more than £100bn a year, largely caused by a loss of productivity amid “staggering” levels of presenteeism, a report warns.

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‘Really special’: Farm near London to be rewilded to enable new housing in Essex

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Farm north of London to be returned to something like pasture once enjoyed by Anglo-Saxon king

It was once woodland where Harold Godwinson, the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king, rode in pursuit of deer. Over recent decades, the hillside with a panoramic view of London has become arable fields, pony paddocks and a Christmas tree plantation.

But now Harold’s Park, a 200-hectare (500 acre) farm just north of the M25 on the edge of the capital, is to be rewilded and returned to something like the tangled wood pasture once enjoyed by King Harold.

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‘Apocalyptic’ floods in Vermont destroy homes as two dozen rescued by boat

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Storms result in caved-in roads and crushed cars nearly three weeks after flooding from Hurricane Beryl

Thunderstorms and torrential rain brought another wave of violent floods Tuesday that caved in roads, crushed vehicles, pushed homes off their foundations and led to dramatic boat rescues in north-eastern Vermont, nearly three weeks after flooding from Hurricane Beryl.

Flash flood warnings remained in effect through Tuesday afternoon hours after some areas got 6 to more than 8in (15 to more than 20cm) starting late the night before.

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Labour tries to attract clean energy contracts with record £1.5bn for auction

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The new budget comes after the previous government failed to award a single new offshore wind contract in 2023

The Labour government will make record amounts of funding available to clean energy developers after it increased the value of its summer subsidy auction by 50%, to £1.5bn.

The addition, compared with figures previously announced, means the total budget is seven times the amount available at last year’s auction, the government said.

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Goals to stop decline of nature in England ‘off track’, report warns

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Audit of Environmental Improvement Plan finds it inadequate as government announces overhaul of goals

Goals to stop the decline of nature and clean up the air and water in England are slipping out of reach, a new report has warned.

An audit of the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), which is the mechanism by which the government’s legally binding targets for improving nature should be met, has found that plans for thriving plants and wildlife and clean air are deteriorating. This plan was supposed to replace the EU-derived environmental regulations the UK used until the Environment Act was passed in 2021 after Brexit.

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Trade row won’t hurt US and China’s emissions talks, says US climate chief

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John Podesta says negotiations ‘to find a path forward’ continue with urgent discussions planned for Cop29

Trade frictions and increasing tension between the US and China won’t affect climate negotiations between the two superpowers if he can help it, the US climate chief has pledged.

John Podesta, a senior adviser to Joe Biden on international climate policy, said the relationship between the world’s two biggest emitters and largest economies was critical to climate action, despite what appears to be a deepening gulf over trade policy.

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India landslides: death toll passes 100 with dozens feared missing

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Heavy rainfall, difficult terrain, destroyed roads and collapsed bridge have hampered rescue efforts in Kerala

At least 108 people have died and dozens more are missing after heavy rain led to a series of landslides in the Indian state of Kerala, with rescue operations hampered by poor weather conditions and the destruction of roads and bridges.

The Kerala chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, confirmed the bodies of 108 people had been uncovered so far and dozens more were missing, feared dead after three massive landslides surged down the hills of the Western Ghats in Wayanad in southern India. About 128 people were injured in the disaster and thousands were moved to camps for safety.

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Chinese firms win record 11% EV share in Europe as buyers rush to beat tariffs

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State-owned SAIC, parent of the British brand MG, was responsible for biggest jump in sales in June

Chinese carmakers secured a record 11% of the European electric vehicle market in June, as buyers raced to beat EU tariffs on imported EVs that came into force this month.

The figures, which include the UK, show that about 23,000 battery electric vehicles were registered in June, up 72% on the previous month as consumers raced to beat the price hike in the EU.

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Weather tracker: Rain to give way to searing heat at Paris Olympics

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Temperatures expected to soar to 35C, making some competitions more challenging for athletes

The Paris Olympics had a soggy start but conditions improved over the weekend. Meteorologists now expect temperatures to soar early this week, prompting several warnings.

The weather in the French capital has been forecast to climb to 35C (95F) on Tuesday, about 8C above average for the time of year, making some competitions more challenging for the athletes. Southern parts of France are likely to experience the hottest weather, reaching the high 30s celsius, nearly 10C above average.

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