The Guardian Climate Change

Council of Europe says Swiss government failing to respect human rights court’s ruling on emissions

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The Swiss government has been told it must do more to show that its national climate plans are ambitious enough to comply with a landmark legal ruling.

The Council of Europe’s committee of ministers, in a meeting this week, decided that Switzerland was not doing enough to respect a decision last year by the European court of human rights that it must do more to cut its greenhouse gas emissions and rejected the government’s plea to close the case.

Experts warn that cooling breaks and later kickoff times may be needed to cope with scorching temperatures when North America hosts the tournament

Over the course of a playing career that wound through Spain, Mexico and the sunbaked fields of Major League Soccer’s summers, American midfielder Tab Ramos was never hotter than at the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

The day before the United States men’s national team opened its tournament against Switzerland in the Pontiac Silverdome, it had been 99F (37C) in Michigan. By the 11.30am kickoff on matchday, the temperature reached 90F (32C) again. Worse still, the Silverdome was an NFL stadium designed for winter – to keep heat in, rather than out. The first World Cup match played indoors was conducted in a dome without air conditioning. On the field, the temperature reached 106F (41C). The grass laid over the artificial turf had been watered so eagerly that, with the sun beating down on the stadium’s fabric roof, the air turned soupy with humidity.

As an oceanographer, I’m excited about the prospect of getting ocean, ice and climate data from a region where few observations have been collected

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As I write, Australia’s national icebreaker, RSV Nuyina, is steaming south-west from Hobart, heading to Antarctica on its first dedicated marine science voyage.

Onboard are more than 60 scientists and technicians, many on their first research cruise, gingerly gaining their sea legs as the ship navigates multimetre swells and swirling Southern Ocean lows.

Drop in line with rate of overall insect loss as scientists point to habitat loss, pesticide use and the climate crisis

Butterflies may be among the most beloved of all creatures, routinely deified in art and verse, but they are in alarming decline in the United States with populations plummeting by a fifth in just the past two decades, according to the most comprehensive study yet of their fortunes.

The abundance of butterflies in the US slumped 22% between 2000 and 2020, the new analysis of more than 76,000 mostly regional surveys, published in Science, found. For every five butterflies fluttering daintily around at the start of the century, just four remain today.

Caroline Cotto’s research group taste-tests meat alternatives so plant-based companies can attract new customers – and help the climate

I am sitting in a Manhattan restaurant on a frigid Thursday in January, eating six mini servings of steak and mashed potatoes, one after another. The first steak I am served has a nice texture but is sort of unnaturally reddish. The second has a great crispy sear on the outside, but leaves behind a lingering chemical aftertaste. The next is fine on its own, but I imagine would be quite delicious shredded, drenched in barbecue sauce and served on a bun with vinegary pickles and a side of slaw.

If you peeked into this restaurant, you’d see nothing out of the ordinary – just a diverse range of New Yorkers huddled over plates of food. But everyone present is here for more than just a hot meal. We’re participating in a blind taste test of plant- (or sometimes mushroom-) based steaks, organized by a group of people who hope that better-tasting meat alternatives just might be a key to fighting the climate crisis.

Murray Auchincloss paid £5.4m in 2024 as oil company ditched green investment strategy

BP cut the pay of its chief executive after a chastening year in which the British oil company missed profit targets and ditched its green investment strategy as it came under pressure from a US-based activist investor.

Murray Auchincloss’s pay decreased by 30% to £5.4m for 2024, according to the company’s annual report, published on Thursday.

The term ‘polycrisis’ has gained traction as we face one disaster after another. It’s overwhelming – but diagnosing the catastrophe is the first step to addressing it

Two months into 2025, the sense of dread is palpable. In the US, the year began with a terrorist attack; then came the fires that ravaged a city, destroying lives, homes and livelihoods. An extremist billionaire came to power and began proudly dismantling the government with a chainsaw. Once-in-a-century disasters are happening more like once a month, all amid devastating wars and on the heels of a pandemic.

The word “unprecedented” has become ironically routine. It feels like we’re stuck in a relentless cycle of calamity, with no time to recover from one before the next begins.

Scientists called the news ‘particularly worrying’ because ice reflects sunlight and cools the planet

Global sea ice fell to a record low in February, scientists have said, a symptom of an atmosphere fouled by planet-heating pollutants.

The combined area of ice around the north and south poles hit a new daily minimum in early February and stayed below the previous record for the rest of the month, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Thursday.

Conservationists say the rodents will fix ecosystems and bring wildlife back to wetlands

• ‘I feel real hope’: historic beaver release marks conservation milestone in England

Beavers have been legally released for the first time into England’s rivers. Conservationists are celebrating, as they say the large rodents will help heal broken ecosystems and bring wildlife back to wetland habitats.

Cyclone Alfred formed in the Coral Sea towards the end of February when sea surface temperatures were almost 1C hotter than usual

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Tropical Cyclone Alfred is due to hit south-east Queensland about 1am on Friday morning, bringing the risk of destructive winds, extreme flooding and storm surges to millions of people around Brisbane, the Gold Coast and northern New South Wales.

After last year was recorded as the hottest on record around the world, and the hottest for Australia’s oceans, what role could the climate crisis be playing in Tropical Cyclone Alfred and its impacts?

When and where is Cyclone Alfred likely to hit?

How to prepare for a cyclone

He is surrounded by people who have grandiose plans and dreams beyond our planet. Vengeful nihilism is a big part of the Maga project

In thinking about the war being waged against life on Earth by Donald Trump, Elon Musk and their minions, I keep bumping into a horrible suspicion. Could it be that this is not just about delivering the world to oligarchs and corporations – not just about wringing as much profit from living systems as they can? Could it be that they want to see the destruction of the habitable planet?

We know that Trump’s overriding purpose is power. We have seen that no amount of power appears to satisfy his craving. So let’s consider power’s ultimate destination. It is to become not only an emperor, but the last of the emperors: to close the chapter on civilisation. It is to scratch your name indelibly upon a geological epoch. Look on my works, ye vermin, and despair.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

Scientists are studying whether the grounded A23a iceberg might help stir nutrients and make food more available for penguins and seals

The world’s biggest iceberg appears to have run aground roughly 70km (43 miles) from a remote Antarctic island, potentially sparing the crucial wildlife haven from being hit, a research organisation said Tuesday.

The colossal iceberg A23a – which measures roughly 3,300 sq km and weighs nearly 1tn tonnes – has been drifting north from Antarctica towards South Georgia island since 2020.

Powerful thunderstorms likely to sweep through Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama

Severe thunderstorms are forecast to batter the southern and central United States on Tuesday, with a threat of tornadoes, damaging winds, blizzards, flash flooding and dust storms possible from the southern Plains into the lower Mississippi Valley and south-east.

Meteorologists warn that a line of powerful thunderstorms will probably sweep through Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and could include destructive tornadoes. The main threats are strong destructive gales, tornadoes and at least some areas of large hail.

How do you stop people worrying about the climate emergency? By sacking anyone whose job it is to keep an eye on it. Chalk up another win for Project 2025

Some politicians go whichever way the wind blows. Not, however, the US’s esteemed leader, Donald Trump. He is such a force of nature that he can dictate the direction of the wind. During his first term, he suggested “nuking hurricanes” to stop them from hitting the country. A few weeks after that, Trump seemed to think he could alter the course of Hurricane Dorian with a black marker, scribbling over an official map to change its anticipated trajectory in an incident now known as Sharpiegate. Weirdly, Dorian did not end up following Trump’s orders. Hurricanes can be uncooperative like that.

Six weeks into Trump’s second term, the president hasn’t bombed any hurricanes, but he has nuked the US’s weather-forecasting capabilities. Last week, hundreds of workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the US’s pre-eminent climate research agency, were abruptly fired.

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While millions live with regular blackouts and limited energy, plants are being built to satisfy the global demand for digital storage and processing – piling pressure on an already fragile system

Thirty-six hours by boat from Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state, Deodato Alves da Silva longs for enough electricity to keep his tucumã and cupuaçu fruits fresh. These highly nutritious Amazonian superfoods are rich in antioxidants and vitamins, and serve as a main source of income for farmers in Silva’s area. However, the lack of electricity to refrigerate the fruit makes it hard to sell their produce.

Silva’s fruit-growing operation is located in the village of Boa Frente, in Novo Aripuanã municipality, one of Brazil’s most energy-poor regions, where there is only one diesel-powered electricity generator working for a few hours a day.

A backlash against climate initiatives appears to have resonated in conservative strongholds – and could influence future policy

• A country divided: five key takeaways from the German election

The empty factories in Plattling and Straßkirchen sit just 6 miles (10km) apart but they tell two very different tales about the state of Germany’s economy.

In Plattling, an ailing paper factory closed two years ago and put 500 people out of work – a casualty of high gas prices and a symbol of the nationwide “deindustrialisation” that conservatives have blamed squarely on the Greens.

Uncertainty over climate and economy means ‘investment portfolio’ approach needed, researchers say

An “investment portfolio approach” needs to be applied to large-scale tree planting across the world to reduce the risks of the wrong species being planted in the wrong place, economists have said.

Countries have made ambitious pledges to plant billions of trees to remove greenhouse gases and tackle global heating. The UK has committed to plant 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of trees each year by 2025 and maintain the rate until 2050, the European Commission has pledged to plant 3bn trees across member states by 2030, and the US under the previous administration committed to planting 1bn trees by the same date.

Companies will never solve the climate emergency alone. The impetus for change needs to come from government

It would be very easy to be sharply critical of BP, given its sudden volte-face on its environmental commitments. Under pressure from a shareholder, Elliott Management, it has abandoned the green ambitions it announced in 2020 and pivoted squarely back to an overwhelming focus on oil and gas.

While easy, it would arguably be unhelpful, and perhaps even misguided. Because viewed in the round, this isn’t really about BP: it’s about capitalism at large, and its inability to respond to the climate crisis in the manner we need.

Brett Christophers is a professor in the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Sweden’s Uppsala University and author of The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet

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Scientist sounds alarm over ‘canary in the coalmine’ species including beetles and spiders

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Donald Trump’s blitz on federal science agencies has increased the risk of endangered species going extinct, fired government experts have warned.

The new administration, and its so-called “department of government efficiency”, led by the billionaire Elon Musk, has fired thousands of employees at science agencies, with funding halted at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

Bold pledges to fund climate projects now appear under threat, exposing deeper fiscal constraints and policy dilemmas within the government

In October, the prime minister, chancellor and energy secretary pledged billions to kickstart the UK’s first carbon capture projects – one of the biggest green spending promises of the parliament. By December, Ed Miliband was signing contracts, Sir Keir Starmer vowed to “reignite our industrial heartlands” and Rachel Reeves warned that without bold action, Britain would be stuck with low growth and falling living standards. More importantly, net zero targets wouldn’t be met without removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Fast forward and the Treasury is, reportedly, preparing to scrap the £22bn plan, after economic growth failed to materialise. What a difference a few weeks make.