62 m. ago Trump issues executive order to block state climate crisis policies – US politics live

Move directs US attorney general to block laws addressing carbon emissions and comes hours after president issued orders to increase coal productionChina will impose 84% tariffs on US goods from Thursday, up from the 34% previously announced, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.In early March, the Trump administration sent warning letters to 60 US universities it said were facing “potential enforcement actions” for what it described as “failure to protect Jewish students on campus” in the wake of widespread pro-Palestinian protests on campuses last year. Continue reading...

Politics

7 h. ago 'Wasted opportunity': Figures confirm Scotland failed to use pandemic as climate turning point

New statistics have confirmed Scotland failed to use the pandemic lockdown as a turning point to tackle climate change.

Events

32 h. ago Is legal action our best hope for holding back the climate crisis?

Monica Feria-Tinta is one of a growing number of lawyers using the courts to make governments around the world take actionIn November 2024, Monica Feria-Tinta, a veteran of UN tribunals and the international criminal court, strode through a heavy black door into a Georgian building in London’s august legal district for a meeting about a tree in Southend. Affectionately known as Chester, the 150-year-old plane tree towers over a bus shelter in the centre of the Essex seaside town. The council wanted to cut it down and residents were fighting back – but they were running out of options. Katy Treverton, a local campaigner, had travelled from Southend to ask Feria-Tinta’s legal advice. “Chester is one of the last trees left in this part of Southend,” said Treverton, sitting at a large table in an airy meeting room. “Losing him would be losing part of the city’s identity.”Feria-Tinta nodded, deep-red fingernails clattering on her laptop as she typed. She paused and looked up. “Are we ent...

Events

32 h. ago ‘All other avenues have been exhausted’: Is legal action the only way to save the planet?

Monica Feria-Tinta is one of a growing number of lawyers using the courts to make governments around the world take actionIn November 2024, Monica Feria-Tinta, a veteran of UN tribunals and the international criminal court, strode through a heavy black door into a Georgian building in London’s august legal district for a meeting about a tree in Southend. Affectionately known as Chester, the 150-year-old plane tree towers over a bus shelter in the centre of the Essex seaside town. The council wanted to cut it down and residents were fighting back – but they were running out of options. Katy Treverton, a local campaigner, had travelled from Southend to ask Feria-Tinta’s legal advice. “Chester is one of the last trees left in this part of Southend,” said Treverton, sitting at a large table in an airy meeting room. “Losing him would be losing part of the city’s identity.”Feria-Tinta nodded, deep-red fingernails clattering on her laptop as she typed. She paused and looked up. “Are we ent...

Politics

32 h. ago Steppes and the city: how smog has become part of Mongolians’ way of life – in pictures

Harsh weather is normal in Mongolia but the climate crisis has made conditions even more extreme. As millions of animals die and age-old traditions become harder to maintain, nomadic herders are forced into towns, where coal-fired heating has led to a health crisis‘Everyone is breathing this’: how just trying to stay warm is killing thousands a year in the world’s coldest capital Continue reading...

Politics

51 h. ago Climate crisis made ‘bonkers’ central Asia heatwave up to 10C hotter

Springtime heat in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan likely to become more common as planet warms, accelerating glacier loss and threatening water supplies

Society

3 d. ago Millions of Americans believe they’re safe from wildfires in their cities. New research shows they’re not

Many of the suburbs and cities hit hardest in recent years were caught off-guard, and key stakeholders are racing to understand the dynamics that drive these firesCommunities across the US that were once considered beyond the reach of wildfires are now vulnerable to disaster. As fires increasingly spread deep into neighborhoods, researchers estimate roughly 115 million people – more than a third of the US population – live in areas that could host the next fire catastrophe.The understanding that many more Americans are at risk of losing their homes to wildfires comes as the climate crisis turns up the dial on extreme weather, drought and heat. But it’s also the result of new research that has exposed deep and dangerous gaps in our understanding of the threat. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Youth Demand protest LIVE: Activists threaten to ‘shut down London’ with park protest over Gaza and climate crisis

Protesters are gathering from 11am at Lincoln’s Inn Fields

Events

5 d. ago Nepal is betting its future on hydropower – but the climate crisis is washing those hopes away

Nepal’s clean energy transition, almost entirely dependent on hydropower, is dangerously exposed to the very climate risks it hopes to solve. Mukesh Pokhrel reports from Kathmandu, Nepal

Events

5 d. ago Africa’s last glaciers: an expedition to map ice loss in the Rwenzori mountains – in pictures

The project in Uganda has captured the disastrous effects of the climate crisis on a vital source of water that is central to the lives and sacred beliefs of the local Bakonzo community• Photographs by Project Pressure Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Top genome scientists to map DNA sequence of invertebrate winner 2025

Sanger Institute’s Tree of Life team say genomes offer invaluable insight into how species will fare under climate crisisVoting is now open! Vote for your favourite here“We are following the ‘invertebrate of the year’ series with bated breath,” began the email that arrived in the Guardian’s inbox last week.Mark Blaxter leads the Sanger Institute’s Tree of Life programme, a project that sequences species’ DNA to understand the diversity and origins of life on Earth. But far more importantly, Blaxter and his team are superfans of our invertebrate of the year competition and have offered to map the genome sequence of whoever wins this year. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Climate crisis on track to destroy capitalism, warns top insurer

Action urgently needed to save the conditions under which markets – and civilisation itself – can operate, says senior Allianz figureThe climate crisis is on track to destroy capitalism, a top insurer has warned, with the vast cost of extreme weather impacts leaving the financial sector unable to operate.The world is fast approaching temperature levels where insurers will no longer be able to offer cover for many climate risks, said Günther Thallinger, on the board of Allianz SE, one of the world’s biggest insurance companies. He said that without insurance, which is already being pulled in some places, many other financial services become unviable, from mortgages to investments. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago From the archive: ‘The treeline is out of control’: how the climate crisis is turning the Arctic green – podcast

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.This week, from 2022: In northern Norway, trees are rapidly taking over the tundra and threatening an ancient way of life that depends on snow and iceBy Ben Rawlence. Read by Christien Anholt Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago The world is experiencing record heat – this is why it’s about to get worse

The climate crisis is already displacing millions of people from their homes as they seek to escape extreme weather events, desertification and drought, writes Alicja Hagopian. With Donald Trump ordering billions of dollars of cuts to climate aid projects, the poorest and most vulnerable countries face even greater risks

Politics

8 d. ago ‘The ice is not freezing as it should’: supply roads to Canada’s Indigenous communities under threat from climate crisis

Northern Ontario is seeing a ‘shorter window’ on only overland routes for vital deliveries to remote First NationsAt first there was no answer on the satellite phone. But on the third call, Donald Meeseetawageesic heard his sister’s voice. “We need somebody to come and tow us out,” he told her.It was a warmer-than-normal night in early March and Meeseetawageesic, the elected band councillor for Eabametoong First Nation, was stranded in a 4x4 truck on the dark winter road leading to his community. The tyres were stuck in the deep snow and the temperature outside was below freezing. Help was about 60km (37 miles) away. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago Work and money worry young people more than culture wars or climate, UK poll finds

Class, education and gender found to influence difference in views but anxiety about finances was a common themeYoung people are more worried about their finances, work pressures and job insecurity than social media, the climate crisis and culture war debates, research shows.The polling also challenges the simplistic characterisation of generational conflict, revealing that differences within gen Z, whether around class, education or gender, are often more pronounced than the differences between generations. Continue reading...

Economics

9 d. ago How hurricanes Otis and John exposed Acapulco’s big divide and left residents ‘scared for our lives’

The last two big storms to hit Mexico have left the city vulnerable to organised crime and in fear of the next climate shockFlora Montejo always dreamed of buying her own home. After almost three decades working as a nurse, the 68-year-old invested her retirement savings in a two-storey house in San Agustín, a working-class suburb of the Mexican resort town of Acapulco.Montejo’s retirement dream was shortlived. Not long after moving into her newly remodelled home, Hurricane John dumped record levels of rainfall on Acapulco, triggering landslides and flash floods after calm creeks turned into roaring rivers. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Mathematician Adam Kucharski: ‘Our concepts of what we can prove are shifting’

The epidemiologist who advised on Ebola and Covid discusses the value of evidence in light of AI and social media, and how the notion of fact has long been divisiveAdam Kucharski is a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. As a mathematician and epidemiologist, he has advised multiple governments on outbreaks such as Ebola and Covid. In his new book Proof: The Uncertain Science of Certainty, he examines how we can appraise evidence in our search for the truth.What inspired you to investigate the concept of proof?Alice Stewart, an influential epidemiologist, used this nice phrase that “truth is the daughter of time”. But in many situations, whether you’re accused of a crime or thinking about a climate crisis, you don’t want to wait; there’s an urgency to accumulate evidence and set a bar for action. We’re entering an era where questions around information – what we trust and how we act – are increasingly important, and our concepts of what we can prove are...

Politics

1 week ago Why Sunshine on Leith actor George MacKay is singing about climate crisis in his new film

An apocalyptic musical raises questions about survival for the shape-shifting actor

Events

1 week ago Dining across the divide: ‘I see the welfare state as bloated, corrupt’

One is a long-term Labour voter, the other has had his head turned by Reform. Will they agree on dogs, disability benefits and the climate crisis?Philip, 73, BristolOccupation Retired marketing director Continue reading...

Politics