13 h. ago Labour has succeeded only in strengthening Farage. The way is now open for Zack Polanski’s Greens | George Monbiot

By caving to the hard right and corporate greed, Labour has left a gaping hole the new Green party leader is best placed to fillThere’s an obvious way to destroy Nigel Farage’s political momentum. A poll by the research group Persuasion UK, testing various messages, found that by far the most effective line of attack is highlighting his complicity with corporate interests. The message that hit hardest was that Farage’s real loyalties lie with “the rich, the powerful, his mates in big business”, and his “party” (actually a business called Reform 2025 Ltd) “has taken over £2m from fossil fuel lobbyists, polluters, and climate change deniers He’s not smashing the system. He and his rich friends basically are the system.”But this is a string Labour cannot yank, as it would pull its own roof down. If there is a defining mark of Keir Starmer’s administration, it is immediate capitulation to powerful lobby groups, especially corporations and billionaires. This is what explains the otherwis...

Politics

31 h. ago ‘Every company wants to produce the last barrel sold’: the plan to create a fossil fuel non

Tzeporah Berman’s campaign group believe Cop30 will help their initiative to phase out oil, coal and gas take shapeThe fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty initiative aims to sidestep slow-moving UN climate talks by gathering together nations, cities and companies that want to rapidly phase out oil, coal and gas. At the coming Cop30 summit in Belém, it hopes to gather support so it can launch negotiations for a new treaty next year. The group’s founder, Tzeporah Berman, explains why the Amazon rainforest and the global south are an ideal springboard for the movement.Why will you be campaigning for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty? Continue reading...

Politics

31 h. ago ‘Every company wants to produce the last barrel sold’: the treaty to stop fossil fuel production

Tzeporah Berman’s campaign group believes Cop30 will help its initiative to phase out oil, coal and gas take shapeThe fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty initiative aims to sidestep slow-moving UN climate talks by gathering together nations, cities and companies that want to rapidly phase out oil, coal and gas. At the coming Cop30 summit in Belém, it hopes to gather support so it can launch negotiations for a new treaty next year. The group’s founder, Tzeporah Berman, explains why the Amazon rainforest and the global south are an ideal springboard for the movement.Why will you be campaigning for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty? Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Tories pledge to extract all remaining North Sea oil and gas reserves

Kemi Badenoch says UK move away from fossil fuel extraction is an ‘act of economic disarmament’

Politics

3 d. ago Kemi Badenoch calls for North Sea oil boom: Tory leader vows to end 'impossible' Net Zero drive and focus on maximum extraction of Britain's fossil fuels

The Conservative Party will make 'maximising extraction' the goal, in a move away from Net Zero pledges to end new fossil fuel extraction.

Politics

4 d. ago Guyana’s Irfaan Ali looks to ride oil boom to second presidential term

Fossil fuel wealth has helped transform the South American country into one of the world’s fastest-growing economies – which could be good news for the incumbent in the electionJubilation was in the air as thousands of horn-tooting, flag-waving, red-shirt-clad supporters of Guyana’s president, Irfaan Ali, made their way to a recent rally.Their party is predicted to easily win Monday’s general election on the back of an oil boom, which has helped transform the country into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Heatwaves, wildfires and the hot summers that could change how we holiday

With rising temperatures causing chaos worldwide, what does it mean to be a tourist in a world on fire?• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to get the newsletter in full“Where shall we go on holiday?” would not, ideally, be a stressful question.But the world in 2025 is far from ideal, and summer breaks in Europe and North America are no exception. Holiday hotspots are being ravaged by heat, fire, floods and drought as fossil fuel pollution warps the climate – and travelling to reach them in planes or on cruise ships spews far more planet-heating gas than anything else you and I are likely to do. (Rocket enthusiasts such as Katy Perry and Jeff Bezos, I assume, have not yet subscribed to Down to Earth.)‘We cannot do it the way our fathers did’: farmers across Europe struggle to adapt to the climate crisis‘Unlike any other kind of fear’: wildfires leave their mark across SpainEurope scorched by wildfires – pictures from space Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Collapse of critical Atlantic current is no longer low likelihood, study finds

Scientists say ‘shocking’ discovery shows rapid cuts in carbon emissions are needed to avoid catastrophic falloutThe collapse of a critical Atlantic current can no longer be considered a low-likelihood event, a study has concluded, making deep cuts to fossil fuel emissions even more urgent to avoid the catastrophic impact.The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) is a major part of the global climate system. It brings sun-warmed tropical water to Europe and the Arctic, where it cools and sinks to form a deep return current. The Amoc was already known to be at its weakest in 1,600 years as a result of the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago Fossil fuel extractors bend the world to their will – help fund the journalism that exposes them

Across the globe, oil, gas and coal companies use an ever-widening set of tactics to crush competition and opposition. With the world’s most powerful man helping them at every turn, it’s critical we reveal their full impactToday the Guardian launches its annual environment support campaign. To back our vital climate journalism, please click hereWhy does capital love fossil fuels? It’s not hard to explain. They exist in a small number of discrete locations, where the right to exploit them can be owned and monopolised. Most can be extracted commercially only at scale, excluding small competitors. They can be stored and traded all over the world, allowing prices to be optimised across time and space. Renewable energy, by contrast, can be generated almost anywhere, by almost anyone with a small amount of money to invest.Renewables might now be cheaper than fossil fuel in the vast majority of cases, but this makes them less attractive to capital, not more. Fossil fuels are uncompetitive ...

Politics

1 week ago Don’t let Donald Trump undermine your faith in the climate fight | Gina McCarthy

The president’s fossil-fuel obsession can’t stop global progress, writes the former Environmental Protection Agency headOver the past decade, the United States has turned technologies into tools that strengthened our economy, delivered good-paying union jobs, cleaned up our air and water, conserved our precious natural resources, and saved families money all across our country. Yet now the country is choosing to cede that leadership, letting China dominate and control the clean-energy market across the world. It’s no surprise that people are scratching their heads, wondering what happened.Our president is obsessed with fossil fuels. He wants to resuscitate what everyone knows is a dying coal sector while turning a blind eye to the health, environmental, and economic downsides of the climate crisis. Coupled with inconsistent threats of increased tariffs against virtually all our allies, he has isolated the US and amplified threats to global security.Gina McCarthy is the managing co-c...

Politics

2 w. ago Dramatic slowdown in melting of Arctic sea ice surprises scientists

Natural climate variation is most likely reason as global heating due to fossil fuel burning has continuedThe melting of sea ice in the Arctic has slowed dramatically in the past 20 years, scientists have reported, with no statistically significant decline in its extent since 2005.The finding is surprising, the researchers say, given that carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning have continued to rise and trap ever more heat over that time. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago How to earn money from solar panels: why you could be making £624 a year

The price of solar panels has been dropping, providing an opportunity for homeowners to generate their own power and cut fossil fuel use

Economics

2 w. ago US pipeline protester’s obstruction conviction overturned by appeals court

New trial for Mylene Vialard after Minnesota judges find ‘pervasive’ prosecutorial misconduct in Line 3 protest caseThe controversial felony conviction of a peaceful climate activist has been overturned by an appeals court due to “pervasive” prosecutorial misconduct.Mylene Vialard, 56, was found guilty of felony obstruction in 2023 for her role in trying to halt construction of a fossil-fuel pipeline through Indigenous territory in Minnesota, in a trial beset by irregularities. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Climate activists spill 1,000 litres of fake blood over North Sea oil rig

Greenpeace activists scaled a Shell fossil fuel rig and unfurled a massive 96 square metre canvas across its side, drenching it in a crimson liquid on Wednesday, August 13.

Events

2 w. ago British Gas owner buys £1.5bn gas terminal in big bet on fossil fuel reliance

Deal for Europe’s biggest facility for LNG imports comes as overall UK gas demand fell sharply last yearThe owner of British Gas has placed a £1.5bn bet on the UK’s future reliance on fossil fuel imports after striking a deal to buy Europe’s biggest gas import terminal.Centrica plans to partner with a US private equity firm to acquire the Isle of Grain terminal in Kent, which can import 15m tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year, even after Britain’s gas demand fell last year to its lowest level since the early 1990s. Continue reading...

Economics

3 w. ago Plastic treaty talks overrun by fossil fuel lobbyists, campaigners say

Campaigners warn of ‘crisis of credibility’ as number of lobbyists attending plastics treaty negotiations rises

Politics

3 w. ago Oil exploration in the Congo basin rainforest could be a disaster for nature and the climate

The Democratic Republic of Congo is putting one of the best-preserved tropical ecosystems left on Earth up for auction, and the impact could be felt worldwide• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to get the newsletter in fullThe “worst place in the world” to explore for oil is open for business. Again. Swathes of the Congo basin rainforest, home to okapis, lowland gorillas, bonobos and other rare wildlife, are being auctioned off by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for the second time in three years.This round of licensing includes 52 blocks across 124m hectares (306m acres) of swamps and rainforest in some of the best-preserved tropical ecosystems left on Earth. Opening it up for fossil fuel extraction could be a disaster for nature and the climate.DRC to auction oil and gas permits in endangered gorilla habitatThe rangers turning the DRC’s ‘triangle of death’ back into a thriving wildlife reserveThe secret life of the Congo rainforest – in pictu...

Events

3 w. ago Scientists decry Trump energy chief’s plan to ‘update’ climate reports: ‘Exactly what Stalin did’

Ex-fossil fuel executive Chris Wright said administration is reviewing national assessments made by past governmentsThe US energy secretary, Chris Wright, is facing growing criticism from scientists who say their “worst fears” were realized when Wright revealed that the Trump administration would “update” the US’s premier climate crisis reports.Wright, a former oil and gas executive, told CNN’s Kaitlin Collins earlier this week that the administration was reviewing national climate assessment reports published by past governments. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Microplastics are everywhere, even in human testicles. So will the patriarchy finally step in? | Van Badham

It’s not the sisterhood busting your balls, fellas – it’s the fossil fuel interests making money from the tonnes of synthetic garbage spewed on to the planet every dayThere is plastic in your balls!Surely this should be headline news every day until the news breaks that “there is no longer plastic in your balls”, accompanied by photographs of celebration parades and ecstatic couples kissing in the streets. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago The Guardian view on plastic pollution: global action is desperately needed to deal with this scourge | Editorial

Delegates at UN treaty talks must not allow negotiations to be derailed again by fossil fuel interestsPlastic pollution has reached the most remote and inaccessible parts of our beleaguered planet. It has been found in Greenland’s ice cap, near the summit of Mount Everest, and in the deepest depths of the western Pacific Ocean. Nature programmes have sounded the alarm over a human-made crisis that has become an environmental scourge and a serious threat to our health. Yet global production of plastics is on course to triple to more than a billion tonnes a year by 2060, after increasing by more than 200 times over the past 75 years.This gloomy backdrop should inject a sense of urgency into UN-convened talks in Switzerland this week, aimed at agreeing a binding global plastics treaty. In 2022, when 173 countries committed to work towards such an accord, there was widespread relief that at last a multilateral route was to be taken towards solving a quintessentially global problem. Sadl...

Economics