🚨 EXCLUSIVE 🚨 My new investigation reveals plastic manufacturer in the north of England is facing potential legal action over emissions of benzene, a carcinogenic chemical with no safe level. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

UK plastic manufacturer could face legal action over toxic emissions

Exclusive: Environment Agency is considering whether to prosecute Huntsman Polyurethanes over emissions of carcinogenic benzene

theguardian.com

🚨 EXCLUSIVE 🚨 My new investigation reveals plastic manufacturer in the north of England is facing potential legal action over emissions of benzene, a carcinogenic chemical with no safe level. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

UK plastic manufacturer could face legal action over toxic emissions

Exclusive: Environment Agency is considering whether to prosecute Huntsman Polyurethanes over emissions of carcinogenic benzene

theguardian.com

EXCLUSIVE: A plastic manufacturer in the north of England is facing potential legal action over emissions of benzene, a carcinogenic chemical with no safe level. Campaigners say this shines a light on the toxic nature of the global plastics industry. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

UK plastic manufacturer could face legal action over toxic emissions

Exclusive: Environment Agency is considering whether to prosecute Huntsman Polyurethanes over emissions of carcinogenic benzene

theguardian.com

NEW: July 2026 was the driest month in southern England since records began nearly 200 years ago, the Met Office has said. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

July was driest month in southern England since records began

England and Wales provisionally record driest July in nearly 200 years, Met Office says

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‘There’s no nurdle fairy’: thousands mobilise to clean up plastic spillage in north-east England www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

‘There’s no nurdle fairy’: thousands mobilise to clean up plastic spillage in north-east England

Volunteers painstakingly gather plastic pellets washing up on beaches after ship collision on 19 July

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Last week I visited Tim Young at his farm in Norfolk. He and his family have been tracking the rainfall on their Norfolk farm since 1976, and the data shows the last six years have seen two-thirds the amount of rain compared with previous years. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘It’s too fast, too big’: speed of climate crisis is devastating crops, say farmers

Drought and extreme heat are killing plants, driving up prices while also making some farms economically unviable

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Hundreds evacuated after ‘apocalyptic’ wildfire near Suffolk nuclear power station Incredible photos of the wildfire by Joshua Bright www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Hundreds evacuated after ‘apocalyptic’ wildfire near Suffolk nuclear power station

Major incident declared, with Sizewell B power station monitoring blaze and RSPB nature reserve badly hit

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++BREAKING++ The UK and Spanish governments have issued a joint statement overnight: "[We] agreed that this summer’s wildfires demonstrated that climate change was now a national security emergency facing Europe and threatening our way of life." www.gov.uk/government/n...

My first front page story! Half of England is officially in drought, with July set to be the driest on record after winter floods, the Environment Agency has said. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Forest fire burning by Sizewell B nuclear power station. The RSPB reports seeing nightjars fleeing a 20 feet fireball.

Half of England now officially in ‘exceptionally serious’ drought - “flash drought” developed quickly because of unusually low recent rainfall and very high temperatures (and despite wet winter) #climatecrisis Story by @pippaneill.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Half of England officially in ‘exceptionally serious’ drought

Environment Agency names seven regions affected by unusually hot and dry weather and shortage of water

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BREAKING: Half of England is officially in drought. The Environment Agency said current water reserves "should be enough for the coming months" until the next period of rain. However the Met Office says there is little sign of rain. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Half of England officially in ‘exceptionally serious’ drought

Environment Agency names seven regions affected by unusually hot and dry weather and shortage of water

theguardian.com

A former water company senior leader and water industry consultant has been made a parliamentary private secretary at DEFRA under prime minister Andy Burnham’s new government. Story by @shoshaadie.bsky.social www.endsreport.com/article/1965...

Water company senior leader turned MP appointed as DEFRA aide

A former water company senior leader and water industry consultant has been made a parliamentary private secretary at DEFRA under prime minister Andy Burnham’s new government.

endsreport.com

Environmental groups are demanding the Environmental Protection Agency reject a new Pfas that chemical giant Chemours is attempting to fast track for approval for use in cooling datacenters, and would almost certainly pollute regions around the facilities www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

US environmental groups urge EPA to reject new Pfas to cool datacenters

Coalition says Chemours downplayed health and climate risks in bid to fast-track the compound’s use

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Norway kills more whales through commercial whaling each year than Japan and Iceland combined, according to a new report from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation. 429 whales were killed in Norway in 2025 uk.whales.org/wp-content/u...

As heatwaves make the capital increasingly dangerous, outreach workers warn that vulnerable people face barriers to finding water and cool spaces www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

The Trump administration has killed the regulatory review of sewage sludge contaminated with Pfas and spread on farmland as fertilizer, a practice that has sickened farmers, killed livestock, polluted water, and poisoned food. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Trump officials kill proposed rules for Pfas-contaminated sewage fertilizer

EPA tosses out scientific research carried out under Biden and says toxic sludge not a significant threat to public

theguardian.com

Extreme heat supercharged by the climate crisis is sucking Europe dry in summer and intensifying the drought hitting the continent, a scientific analysis has found. @dpcarrington.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Industrial poultry farming is killing our rivers, writes @georgemonbiot.bsky.social The former env secretary recently claimed that "boosting the poultry sector would enhance our food security ... isn’t it bleeding obvious that it has the opposite effect?" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Besieged by lobbyists, will UK ministers protect our ecosystems? No, they’ll chicken out | George Monbiot

Industrial poultry farming is killing our rivers. But rather than stop it, the government has been facilitating it. Will Andy Burnham end this ecocide, asks Guardian columnist George Monbiot

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Approximately a billion tiny plastic nurdles have entered the River Tyne after a “devastating spill”, with the pellets thought to have spread much further than first thought. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Billion plastic pellets spilled into UK river after two ships collide

Up to 25 tonnes of nurdles, the raw material for plastic manufacturing, have spread further than initially feared

theguardian.com

As hosepipe bans are issued across the country, my reporting today reveals that data centres are estimated to be using 6.6 million litres of drinking water every single day! Water UK said this is a “genuine failing of government”. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Not enough water for UK’s datacentre plans, trade body says

Industry says government’s failure to address cooling demands means AI growth plans are ‘fatally flawed’

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Miliband - they attack him because they know what he’s done has worked, and attack net zero as it’s against their vested interests. Physics and chemistry remain true whoever is in charge. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Miliband has been relentlessly attacked for net zero; what will happen now?

Tories, Reform, fossil fuel industry and some in his party lined up against decarbonisation target as energy secretary

theguardian.com

More people can fit on to the top deck of a London bus than will be directly employed on the new #Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea, industry documents show #climatecrisis www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Jackdaw gasfield would create only 27 direct full-time jobs, documents show

Campaigners say field will bring minimal benefit for UK economy, as industry lobbies Burnham for go-ahead

theguardian.com

NEW: The UK will not have enough water for future datacentres, the water industry has said in stark criticism of the government’s AI growth plans. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Not enough water for UK’s datacentre plans, trade body says

Industry says government’s failure to address cooling demands means AI growth plans are ‘fatally flawed’

theguardian.com

The government’s planned poultry sector growth plan is a risk to national security, campaigners have warned. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Poultry sector growth plan risks UK national security, campaigners warn

Government’s food security push is said to rely on animal feed imports with vulnerability to supply chain shocks

theguardian.com

In The Guardian's recent Down to Earth newsletter I reported on the national cancer scandal brewing in a Lancashire town www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Forever chemicals’ – the national cancer scandal brewing in a Lancashire town

In this week’s newsletter: residents living near a chemical factory are the latest community concerned about the health and environmental impact of Pfas contamination

theguardian.com

High-level documents show how Copa Cogeca worked to weaken legislation to protect climate and wildlife Incredible investigation by @zdboren.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Revealed: how Europe’s most powerful farming lobby killed EU’s pesticide law

Exclusive: High-level documents show how Copa Cogeca worked to weaken legislation to protect climate and wildlife

theguardian.com

England’s new 30x30 plan was published yesterday on how we get to 30% of land being protected for nature by 2030. But almost immediately, one of the country’s biggest institutional landowners, the Church of England, rejects a measurable 30% restoration target for its own estate. 🧵

NEW: The UK government has been accused of “rushing through” planning changes that could give developers permission to “trash” nature for as little as £1. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Burnham urged to drop ‘flawed’ plans that may let developers bypass environment laws for £1

Exclusive: allowing firms to dodge biodiversity protections by paying into levy will harm nature and economy, say 100 experts in letter

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