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Andrea Vidaurre helped persuade regulators to adopt rules that will improve air quality for millions in one of US’s smoggiest areasA grassroots organizer from one of the US’s smoggiest communities has been awarded the prestigious Goldman prize for environmental activists, after leading a successful campaign to clean-up California’s trucking and railway sectors.Andrea Vidaurre from Inland Empire, a sprawling metropolitan region in southern California, helped...

Government tells operators they must join cooperatives by Tuesday and gradually replace their vehicles with greener optionsA three-day strike by drivers of jeepneys in the Philippines began on Monday as transport groups warned that thousands could be pushed off the roads by government modernisation plans.The jeepney is the backbone of the Philippines’ transport system. The customised, privately-owned buses, which look like a cross between...

First warning of 2024 issued more than a month before start of official season, as parts of Europe engulfed in African dustLast week, the US National Hurricane Center issued its first advisory of the year, more than a month before the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from 1 June to 30 November. An area of low pressure was identified on...

Two-year-old calf one step closer to reuniting with family group after tragic accident that left her stranded in remote lagoonAn orca calf, trapped for weeks in a remote lagoon in western Canada, has freed herself and is travelling towards open waters, hailed as “incredible news” by a growing body of human supporters.The move puts her one step closer to reuniting with her family one...

Rain in Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi has damaged farmland and infrastructureEastern Africa has experienced heavy rain in recent weeks, with Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi experiencing flooding. About 100,000 people have been displaced or otherwise affected in each country, with reported deaths reaching 32 in Kenya and 58 in Tanzania, alongside damage to farmland and infrastructure.There are also fears that large areas of standing water...

Open letter calls for green policies that empower farmers, after months of protests jeopardise future of flagship biodiversity dealThe EU’s nature restoration law will only work if it is enacted in partnership with farmers, a group of leading scientists has said, after months of protests have pushed the proposals to the brink of collapse.In an open letter, leading biodiversity researchers from across the world...

World Weather Attribution group says intensified El Niño effects caused torrential rain, but rules out cloud seeding as causeFossil fuels and concrete combined to worsen the “death trap” conditions during recent record flooding in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, a study has found.Scientists from the World Weather Attribution team said downpours in El Niño years such as this one had become 10-40% heavier...

£2.2bn-worth of oil processed in China, India and Turkey – to whom Russia supplies crude – was imported in 2023, data showsThe UK has been accused of “helping Russia pay for its war on Ukraine” by continuing to import record amounts of refined oil from countries processing Kremlin fossil fuels.Government data analysed by the environmental news site Desmog shows that imports of refined oil...

American Lung Association’s State of the Air report states nearly 131 million people are exposed to ozone and particle pollutionNearly four in 10 people in the US are exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution, a new report has found. Four of the five most polluted cities are in California, where wildfires, drought and extreme heat are driving the rise in hazardous air quality.More...

Claire O’Neill, a former climate minister, says PM’s move was to ‘try and create political division and dividing lines’The UK government’s decision to weaken some of its climate commitments was a “retrograde step” that will set back vital cross-party action to cut carbon emissions, Claire O’Neill, a former Conservative climate minister has said.O’Neill, who was known as Claire Perry when she served as a...

Historic hearing will receive submissions from people whose human rights have been affected by climate changeJulian Medina comes from a long line of fishers in the north of Colombia’s Gulf of Morrosquillo who use small-scale and often traditional methods to catch species such as mackerel, tuna and cojinúa.Medina went into business as a young man but was drawn back to his roots, and ended...

Anticyclonic conditions have allowed temperatures to reach 35-45C across much of the countryMexico has been undergoing its first heatwave of the season. The heatwave started on Sunday 14 April, when Mexico City saw a new date record with a high of 32.9C, surpassing the previous record of 32C from 1998.Anticyclonic conditions over the region have been responsible for this heatwave by inhibiting cloud formation,...

Environmentalists fear focus on economy may undermine country’s climate transition – one of most radical in EuropePortugal has been among Europe’s more ambitious countries in terms of climate action, but the rise of the far right in recent elections could threaten the positive steps the country has taken.At the end of 2023, Portugal broke records as it went for six consecutive days relying solely...

Europeans are dying from hot weather 30% more than they did two decades ago, report findsScorching weather has baked Europe in more days of “extreme heat stress” than its scientists have ever seen.Heat-trapping pollutants that clog the atmosphere helped push temperatures in Europe last year to the highest or second-highest levels ever recorded, according to the EU’s Earth-watching service Copernicus and the World Meteorological...

Officials urge municipalities to begin emergency planning after major rivers and reservoirs threaten to overflowMajor rivers, waterways and reservoirs in China’s Guangdong province are threatening to unleash dangerous floods, forcing the government to enact emergency response plans to protect more than 127 million people.Calling the situation “grim”, local weather officials said sections of rivers and tributaries at the Xijiang and Beijiang river basins are...

Our climate is influenced not just by Pacific weather patterns but by the Indian and Southern oceans, as well as global heating trendsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe Bureau of Meteorology has declared the end of the 2023-24 El Niño event.Since 1910, there have been 29 El Niños, a...

Organisers say 50,000 turn out to call for limit on tourist numbers, saying model makes life unaffordable and puts strain on resourcesTens of thousands of people are protesting across the Canary Islands to call for an urgent rethink of the Spanish archipelago’s tourism strategy and a freeze on visitor numbers, arguing that the decades-old model has made life unaffordable and environmentally unsustainable for residents.The...

Exclusive: India seeking to use approach of UK election as bargaining chip and any exemption would be controversialIndia is demanding an exemption from the UK’s planned carbon tax as part of negotiations aiming to finalise a free trade deal before the UK election.India’s negotiating team have spent this week in London in a surprise set of talks to try to overcome the remaining hurdles...

Body of 16-year-old boy discovered with injuries ‘consistent with a crocodile attack’ as wildlife officers search for animalFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastA teenager has died after a suspected crocodile attack off an island in the Torres Strait, police have confirmed.Thursday Island water police launched a search and rescue...

Seven months after an El Niño associated with hotter and drier weather got under way, conditions have returned to neutralFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe Bureau of Meteorology has declared the El Niño weather event of 2023-24 to be over, with odds increasing that its cooler counterpart, the La...

Removal of nearly 500 barriers last year will help restore disturbed waterways to their natural state, says Dam Removal EuropeEurope removed a record number of dams and other barriers from its rivers in 2023, a report has found, helping to restore its disturbed waterways to their natural states.Nearly 500 barriers were taken out of European rivers last year, according to figures compiled by Dam...

Heavy rain forecast in Saudi Arabia and UAE as France and Spain cool down after weekend of high temperaturesIntense thunderstorms are forecast across parts of the Gulf on Monday and Tuesday, bringing very high rainfall to the region and a significant flooding risk in parts.Low pressure over the Arabian peninsula will deepen on Monday while a flow of moist tropical air moves into the...

Hairy-nosed otters and cats that catch fish are among the startling diversity of creatures making their home in threatened habitatsOne of the most comprehensive biodiversity surveys ever carried out in a mangrove forest has revealed that an astonishing array of wildlife makes its home in these key, threatened habitats.Hundreds of species – from bats to birds and fish to insects – were identified during...

The tree all but vanished in the 1970s. Now, thanks to two amateur nature lovers, it may soon grace our landscapes againConstable painted them. Shakespeare wrote of them. And Francis Drake sailed the world in a ship made from them. English elms were a mainstay of England’s landscape and culture – until they all but disappeared to Dutch elm disease in the 1970s.Since that...