Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Emissions understated by factor of five in Essex plans for tech giant, while Greystoke’s Lincolnshire plans show similar error Developers working for Google have significantly misstated how much carbon two proposed AI datacentres will contribute to the UK’s total emissions in planning documents reviewed by the Guardian. The tech company wants to build two huge datacentres – one 52-hectare (130 acre) project in Thurrock and another at an airfield in North Weald, both in Essex. To do so, developers are required to submit planning documents calculating how much carbon these projects will emit as a proportion of the UK’s total carbon footprint. Continue reading...

npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 09 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00206-0 A persistent gap remains in climate governance: ocean dynamics, despite shaping the pace and expression of climate risk, are still weakly integrated into its core mechanisms. COP30 brought this limitation into focus. Its final decision text omitted the ocean entirely, even as record ocean heat content, intensifying marine heatwaves and accelerating sea-level rise defined the physical reality of 2024–2025. This omission is striking given that COP30 simultaneously delivered the strongest ocean-related initiatives ever presented at a UN climate conference. This reflects not a lack of ambition, but a structural weakness: the UNFCCC system lacks the mechanisms needed to integrate ocean science into core decision-making, including standardized indicators, systematic reporting and institutional continuity. Addressing this requires embedding ocean indicators into reporting and Global Stocktake processes, strengthening coordination across climate and ocean policy, and anchoring emerging initiatives within the UNFCCC framework.

After January order from US department of the interior, managers across 55 sites have lifted prohibitions Donald Trump’s administration is quietly pushing national park, refuge and wilderness area managers to dramatically scale back hunting restrictions, raising questions about visitor safety and the impact on wildlife. Doug Burgum, the US Department of the Interior secretary, issued an order in January directing multiple agencies to remove what he termed “unnecessary regulatory or administrative barriers” to hunting and fishing, to and justify regulations they want to keep in place. Continue reading...

Claims of nimbyism are a misunderstanding: the movement is about whether regular people have a say in fundamental decisions Since the surreal scene at the 2024 presidential inauguration, when a row of big tech titans took their VIP seats and signaled their new alliance with Maga, the Trump administration has rolled out the red carpet for Silicon Valley’s AI ambitions and shareholder priorities. Washington has doled out billions in lucrative federal subsidies and contracts to the cash-rich sector, bloating an AI bubble that experts warn may imperil the entire economy while prohibiting any guardrails on the fast-moving technology. Continue reading...