Climate Change Committee says government cannot expand airport without requiring aviation industry to clean up its emissions
Heathrow airport should be allowed to expand only if airlines pay for the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the government’s climate advisers have said.
Building a third runway and new terminals, as some in government want to do, would breach the UK’s carbon budgets and make reaching net zero by 2050 impossible, on current policies, according to the Climate Change Committee.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
09/15/2026 - 23:00
09/15/2026 - 16:30
Analysis of 29 studies highlights potentially heightened danger from small particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide
Air pollution is associated with an increased risk of suicide and suicidal thoughts, according to research.
Environmental pollution is known to be associated with poorer mental health but its role in suicide risk is less well understood. Scientists at Queen’s University Belfast examined whether air, noise, light, and water pollution could influence the risk of death by suicide and suicidal behaviours.
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09/15/2026 - 16:06
Connecticut plaintiffs say ‘forever chemicals’ in turnout gear increase risk of cancer by absorption and inhalation
A federal judge on Tuesday said more than 20 defendants including 3M, DuPont and Honeywell must face claims by Connecticut firefighters who said their protective gear was contaminated by toxic “forever chemicals” that increased their risk of cancer.
Lawyers for 13 firefighter union organizations and 12 individual firefighters said “turnout gear” that shields against extreme heat and flames leached the chemicals through absorption into skin, ingestion and inhalation. They have called the proposed class action the first to exclusively target firefighter gear containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or Pfas.
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09/15/2026 - 10:57
Critically endangered Bornean orangutans flee forests as staff at Cabang Panti work round the clock to stave off blaze
Wildfires in Indonesia are sweeping through a critical research site for Bornean orangutans and are now threatening a celebrated research camp, home to one of the world’s longest-running studies of wild apes.
In the past few days, the fires have burned within 200 metres of Rangkong research station, a satellite of Cabang Panti research station, which lies about four miles north in Gunung Palung national park.
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09/15/2026 - 10:39
More than 330,000 sea turtles arrived in southern Mexico in a mass nesting phenomenon known as an ‘arribada’.
The sixth arribada of the season, which began in March, brought thousands of turtles to the beach in less than 48 hours to lay their eggs, according to officials at La Escobilla beach sanctuary in Oaxaca, Mexico.
The olive ridley turtle plays a fundamental role in marine and coastal ecosystems by contributing nutrients to beach-dune systems and regulating populations of jellyfish and sponges, according to Mexico's federal attorney for environmental protection, but the climate crisis is now threatening their survival
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09/15/2026 - 10:00
Vibrant fields light up the landscape as an ideal growing season means crops are flowering earlier than usual in the south-west slopes and Riverina regions of New South Wales
Blankets of colour: Western Australia’s wildflower season bursts into life – in pictures
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09/15/2026 - 07:42
Firms manage $7.3tn in assets and could afford to transition away from fossil fuels yet invest in natural gas and coal-fired plants to power datacenters
The energy portfolios of 20 private equity firms produce 1.5bn tons of greenhouse gases a year, more than the annual emissions of any country except China, the US, India and Russia, according to a new report.
Together, these firms manage $7.3tn in assets of all kinds, affording them the ability to shape the pace of the transition away from fossil fuels. However their energy investments include significant fossil fuel assets including natural gas and coal-fired power plants to provide electricity to datacenters.
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09/15/2026 - 03:00
Labour should replace levy in 2027 rather than 2030 as energy bills are poised to surge over the winter, says lobby group
The North Sea oil and gas industry has called on Labour to scrap the windfall tax on fossil fuel firms three years early, as Britain heads into a winter with energy bills expected to reach their highest level since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), the industry’s trade body, wants the tax replaced in 2027, rather than in 2030, with a narrower levy that only applies during price spikes.
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09/15/2026 - 02:00
Grant applications in England surge as interest grows in habitat that captures carbon and helps reduce flood risk
The ancient craft of hedge laying is experiencing a strong revival as farmers use techniques that peaked in the 18th and 19th centuries to boost wildlife, capture carbon and help tackle flooding.
Hedge laying, which restores and revives mature hedges to keep them fresh, was among the four most popular categories of capital grants selected by farmers out of a total pot of £225m provided by the government this year to support practical environmental improvements on farms and across the countryside.
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09/15/2026 - 00:00
One of the biggest upheavals in a millennium is on its way, strengthened by the climate crisis. We need leaders who make things better not worse
If you think you have heard enough about the growing “super” El Niño, trust me, you are going to hear a lot more. What is happening in the equatorial Pacific is jaw-dropping and could well mark one of the biggest global weather upheavals in a millennium. It will spawn a string of weather catastrophes around our world in what remains of this year and in 2027, and there is no reason to think the UK will be immune.
To recap briefly, El Niño involves a heating of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific ocean. It happens every few years and is part of a natural cycle termed the El Niño southern oscillation, which switches between warm (El Niño) and cool (La Niña) phases. El Niños that see heating reach or exceed 2C are defined as “super” but this one, which is forecast to top-out at an astonishing 4C later this year, is so much bigger, the term “hyper” might be more appropriate.
Bill McGuire is professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL. His latest book is The Fate of the World: A History and Future of the Climate Crisis (HarperCollins Publishers, £20). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
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