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Blackened trees, dead animals and scorched earth – early wildfires have already devastated Brazil’s Pantanal and local people worry they may lose the battle to save them

Warning after intensification of storm aided by unusually hot ocean waters in much of Beryl’s path. Hurricane Beryl, which slammed into Texas on Monday after wreaking havoc in the Caribbean, was supercharged by “absolutely crazy” ocean temperatures that are likely to fuel further violent storms in the coming months, scientists have warned.

Economic growth allows the few to grow ever-wealthier. Ending poverty and environmental catastrophe demands fresh thinking

We must tackle the environmental nightmare of 4x4s by taxing them off the road, says George Monbiot.

This year elections are taking place across the globe, covering almost half of the world’s population. It is also likely to be, yet again, the hottest year recorded as the climate crisis intensifies. The Guardian asked young climate activists around the world what they want from the elections and whether politics is working in the fight to halt global heating.

Human-caused climate crisis brought soaring temperatures across Asia, from Gaza to Delhi to Manila

Winter downpours also made 20% wetter and will occur every three years without urgent carbon cuts, experts warn

‘Catastrophic’ global decline due to dams, mining, diverting water and pollution threatens humans and ecosystems, study warns

Outgoing special rapporteur David Boyd says ‘there’s something wrong with our brains that we can’t understand how grave this is’

Climate scientists have told the Guardian they expect catastrophic levels of global heating. Here’s what that would mean for the planet

Exclusive: Planet is headed for at least 2.5C of heating with disastrous results for humanity, poll of hundreds of scientists finds

Exclusive: Survey of hundreds of experts reveals harrowing picture of future, but they warn climate fight must not be abandoned

Editorial: Top experts believe global temperatures will rise by at least 2.5C above pre-industrial levels by 2100. That frightening prediction must spur us to action

Unesco joint research dating back 15 years found violence and intimidation against about 750 reporters and 44 murders

Oil and gas equipment intended to cut methane emissions is preventing scientists from accurately detecting greenhouse gases and pollutants, a satellite image investigation has revealed. Energy companies operating in countries such as the US, UK, Germany and Norway appear to have installed technology that could stop researchers from identifying methane, carbon dioxide emissions and pollutants at industrial facilities involved in the disposal of unprofitable natural gas, known in the industry as flaring.

Cost of environmental damage will be six times higher than price of limiting global heating to 2C, study finds

Marcus Decker dared to protest the climate crisis and was punished. Now he could be deported, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

The law will come into force in national parks within two years and in all of the country’s marine protected areas by 2030

Weak government climate policies violate fundamental human rights, the European court of human rights has ruled

If the anomaly does not stabilise by August, ‘the world will be in uncharted territory’, says climate expert

Environmental pledges are being shredded to please agribusiness and appease extremists. It’s a terrible mistake, says environmental writer Arthur Neslen

World’s fossil-fuel producers on track to nearly quadruple output from newly approved projects by decade’s end, report finds

Dr Sarah Benn has long been concerned about the climate crisis, diligently recycling until she was “blue in the face”. But the rise of the climate activist group Extinction Rebellion in 2019 inspired her and her husband to go further. “We thought: well, if we don’t do it then who else is going to?”

Dangers of wildfires, extreme weather and other factors outgrowing preparedness, European Environment Agency says

Activist accuses Sweden of being ‘very good at greenwashing’ as group sits outside building’s main entrance. Greta Thunberg has accused Sweden of being “very good at greenwashing” as she staged a protest along with about 50 other activists outside her home country’s parliament.

Scientists express concern over health impacts, with another study finding particles in arteries

In Munich I heard both Ukrainians and Alexei Navalny’s widow tell us why Putin must be defeated, says Guardian columnist Timothy Garton Ash

Collapse in system of currents that helps regulate global climate would be at such speed that adaptation would be impossible

In the UK and around the world, those who challenge rich corporations are being hounded and crushed with ever-more inventive penalties, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Rapid ocean warming and unusually hot winter days recorded as human-made global heating combines with El Niño

Companies knew for decades recycling was not viable but promoted it regardless, Center for Climate Integrity study finds

Exclusive: Meeting took place days after BP reported record profits while households were squeezed by high energy bills

Existing production destroys more value than it creates due to medical and environmental costs, researchers say

Total is 20% higher than thought and may have implications for collapse of globally important north Atlantic ocean currents The Greenland ice cap is losing an average of 30m tonnes of ice an hour due to the climate crisis, a study has revealed, which is 20% more than was previously thought. Some scientists are concerned that this additional source of freshwater pouring into the north Atlantic might mean a collapse of the ocean currents called the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) is closer to being triggered, with severe consequences for humanity.

New paper claims unless demand for resources is reduced, many other innovations are just a sticking plaster Record heat, record emissions, record fossil fuel consumption. One month out from Cop28, the world is further than ever from reaching its collective climate goals. At the root of all these problems, according to recent research, is the human “behavioural crisis”, a term coined by an interdisciplinary team of scientists.

Exclusive: First months of conflict produced more planet-warming gases than 20 climate-vulnerable nations do in a year, study shows

James Hansen says limit will be passed ‘for all practical purposes’ by May though other experts predict that will happen in 2030s

Population likely to peak sooner and lower than expected with beneficial results – but environment is priority

Oil cartel warns ‘pressure may reach a tipping point’ and that ‘politically motivated campaigns put our prosperity’ at risk

Humanity faces ‘devastating domino effects’ including mass displacement and financial ruin as planet warms

‘We need you,’ says Scientist Rebellion, which includes authors of IPCC reports on climate breakdown, as diplomats meet for Cop28

Exclusive: UAE’s Sultan Al Jaber says phase-out of coal, oil and gas would take world ‘back into caves’

World Meteorological Organization says 2023 will be hottest year on record, leaving ‘trail of devastation and despair’

It’s obscene that the super-rich can criminalise protest, while they burn the world’s resources and remain untouched by the law, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Saudi Arabia is driving a huge global investment plan to create demand for its oil and gas in developing countries, an undercover investigation has revealed. Critics said the plan was designed to get countries “hooked on its harmful products”. Little was known about the oil demand sustainability programme (ODSP) but the investigation obtained detailed information on plans to drive up the use of fossil fuel-powered cars, buses and planes in Africa and elsewhere, as rich countries increasingly switch to clean energy.

Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more than double last decade’s annual average

Link to climate activism is seven times stronger for anger than it is for hope, say Norwegian researchers

Global fall averaged 4.2% between 2010 and 2022 but would have been far more if vehicle sizes stayed same

World Meteorological Organization sees ‘no end in sight to the rising trend’, largely driven by fossil fuel burning

Exclusive: UK climate campaign group Possible calls for ‘polluter pays’ tax based on vehicle size

When Rishi Sunak granted 27 new North Sea licences this week, he wasn’t thinking about the survival of the living world, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

UK has led the way, with countries across the continent making mass arrests, passing draconian new laws and labelling activists as eco-terrorists

The renowned US scientist’s new book examines 4bn years of climate history to conclude we are in a ‘fragile moment’ but there is still time to act

Guardian investigation finds 98% of Europeans breathing highly damaging polluted air linked to 400,000 deaths a year

Human activity has caused species groups to go extinct 35 times faster than they have over the past 500 years

Extreme weather is ‘smacking us in the face’ with worse to come, but a ‘tiny window’ of hope remains, say leading climate scientists

First complete ‘scientific health check’ shows most global systems beyond stable range in which modern civilisation emerged

Techniques such as solar radiation management may have unintended consequences, scientists say

Ice-free summers inevitable even with sharp emissions cuts and likely to result in more extreme heatwaves and floods

State Farm will almost entirely stop issuing new policies in California – with climate-exacerbated wildfires and bad public policy a large reason why

Colombia was the deadliest country and a fifth of the 177 recorded killings took place in the Amazon rainforest, says Global Witness

Study highlights conflict between Washington’s claims of climate leadership and its fossil fuel growth plans

Forecast downturn still ‘nowhere near steep enough’ to limit temperature rise to 1.5C, says watchdog

The celebrated science broadcaster and environmental activist says we have to stop elevating the economy and politics over the state of our world

Heatwaves, wildfires and floods are just the ‘tip of the iceberg’, leading climate scientists say

Cooperation is not only in the best interests of all countries, but is absolutely necessary for the survival of the planet

Human-caused climate disruption and El Niño push temperature in mountains to 37C

Antarctica’s sea ice levels are plummeting as extreme weather events happen faster than scientists predicted

Exclusive: Long list of ‘sensitive’ topics for petrostate include oil and gas production, emissions and Yemen war crimes

A collapse would bring catastrophic climate impacts but scientists disagree over the new analysis

As the northern hemisphere burns, experts feel deep sadness – and resentment – while dreading what lies ahead this Australian summer

After hottest day ever, researchers say global heating may mean future of crop failures on land and ‘silent dying’ in the oceans

James Hansen, who testified to Congress on global heating in 1988, says world is approaching a ‘new climate frontier’

Three brush fires burning in rural areas across Riverside county, where 1,000 homes are under evacuation orders

Energy firms have made record profits by increasing production of oil and gas, far from their promises of rolling back emissions

Climate breakdown and crop losses threaten our survival, but the ultra-rich find ever more creative ways to maintain the status quo, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Plutonium spike in Canadian lake sediments marks dawn of new epoch in which humanity dominates planet

Groundbreaking assessment of all life on Earth reveals humanity’s surprisingly tiny part in it as well as our disproportionate impact

Letter: Scientists and academics including Prof Gesa Weyhenmeyer and Prof Will Steffen argue that we must discuss the threat of societal disruption in order to prepare for it

Applications to mine the seabed in our ocean commons can be made from 9 July, says Guy Standing, author of The Blue Commons

Many of those who drowned near Greece last month were escaping environmental crises in Pakistan, says author Fatima Bhutto

World Bank says subsidies costing as much as $23m a minute must be repurposed to fight climate crisis...

Popularity of sport utility vehicles driving higher oil demand and climate crisis, say experts

Countries in debt distress thrown financial lifeline but critics say measures fall short of what is needed

Emmanuel Macron’s government is at least doing the bare minimum to avert the planetary crisis – and putting the UK to shame, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Research allays fears that rapid scaling back of production would hit people’s savings and pensions hard

Amazon rainforest and other ecosystems could collapse ‘very soon’, researchers warn

Taxing world’s wealthiest people could help poorer countries shift economies to low-carbon and recover from climate damage

As climate policy is weakened, extreme weather intensifies and more refugees are driven from their homes – and the cycle of hatred continues, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Hundreds of students and graduates vow not to work for ‘climate wreckers that insure those responsible for the climate crisis’

Examination of trees alive at the time shows three years of severe drought that may have caused crop failures and famine

Recycled and reused food contact plastics are “vectors for spreading chemicals of concern” because they accumulate and release hundreds of dangerous toxins like styrene, benzene, bisphenol, heavy metals, formaldehyde and phthalates, new research finds.

Going beyond climate disruption, the report by the Earth Commission group of scientists presents disturbing evidence that our planet faces growing crises of water availability, nutrient loading, ecosystem maintenance and aerosol pollution. These pose threats to the stability of life-support systems and worsen social equality.

World is on track for 2.7C and ‘phenomenal’ human suffering, scientists warn. Up to 1 billion people could choose to migrate to cooler places, the scientists said, although those areas remaining within the climate niche would still experience more frequent heatwaves and droughts. However, urgent action to lower carbon emissions and keep global temperature rise to 1.5C would cut the number of people pushed outside the climate niche by 80%, to 400 million.

Record sea surface temperatures suggest the Earth is headed for ‘uncharted territory’ in terms of sea level rise, coastal flooding and extreme weather

Higher rates slow the renewable energy transition and shield oil and gas producers from competition by low-carbon producers

Chemicals yield profit of about $4bn a year for the world’s biggest PFAS manufacturers, Sweden-based NGO found

Abusive, often violent tweets denying the climate emergency have become a barrage since Elon Musk acquired the platform, say UK experts

Fourth year in a row in which number of people facing food crises increased substantially

The 21-year-old Iraqi, who lived by a smoke-choked oilfield, died of cancer. His message must be heard, says journalist Jess Kelly

Recent leaks from oil sands tailings ponds have contaminated water, sowing mistrust among local First Nations people

Andreas Malm says he has no hope in ‘dominant classes’, and urges more radical approach to climate activism.

How to Blow Up a Pipeline makes a case for sabotage, but hope remains that we can build rather than destroy, says campaigner Natasha Walter

The politics of this new, extreme individualism will make collective responses to social crises impossible, writes Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

Those with higher levels of PFAS in their blood had 40% lower chance of conceiving within a year of trying

Pools and well-watered gardens at least as damaging as climate emergency or population growth

Since 1992, the IPCC has highlighted rising greenhouse gases, marking their ‘widespread and unprecedented’ impacts by 2014

UK tops all league tables for highly polluting form of travel, with a flight taking off every six minutes last year

An unprecedented rise in plastic pollution has been uncovered by scientists, who have calculated that more than 170tn plastic particles are afloat in the oceans. They have called for a reduction in the production of plastics, warning that “cleanup is futile” if they continue to be pumped into the environment at the current rate.

Campaigners say Rosebank, with a potential yield of 500m barrels, would seriously undermine legal commitment to net zero

An investigation by conservationists has found evidence that deep-seabed mining of rare minerals could cause “extensive and irreversible” damage to the planet.The report, to be published on Monday by the international wildlife charity Fauna & Flora, adds to the growing controversy that surrounds proposals to sweep the ocean floor of rare minerals that include cobalt, manganese and nickel. Mining companies want to exploit these deposits – which are crucial to the alternative energy sector – because land supplies are running low, they say.

Six KCs among more than 120 mostly English lawyers to sign pledge not to act for fossil fuel interests

Avian flu has decimated the marine creatures on the country’s Pacific coastline and scientists fear it could be jumping from mammal to mammal

Pie-in-the-sky fantasies of carbon capture and geoengineering are a way for decision-makers to delay taking real action

I cannot support laws that defend those who destroy the planet, and criminalise those who try to protect it, says Jolyon Maugham KC

Misguided policies are hurting the poorest in society; our focus should be on reducing inequality not increasing GDP

IPCC report says only swift and drastic action can avert irrevocable damage to world

Vast releases of gas, along with future ‘methane bombs’, represent huge threat – but curbing emissions would rapidly reduce global heating

With the continent holding enough ice to raise sea levels by many metres if it was to melt, polar scientists are scrambling for answers

Research finds waste flushed down toilets and sent to sewage plants probably responsible for significant source of water pollution

The excessive use of phosphorus is depleting reserves vital to global food production, while also adding to the climate crisis

Former UN secretary general calls for rich countries to honour promises made to the developing world after years of failure

Guardian analysis of data in light of Ohio train derailment shows accidental releases are happening consistently

Last year, 3 million were displaced in the US. Millions more will follow – and neither they, the government or the housing market are ready

It’s not ‘the whole truth and nothing but the truth’ if campaigners cannot explain their motivations to a jury, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

The steady destruction of wildlife can suddenly tip over into total ecosystem collapse, scientists studying the greatest mass extinction in Earth’s history have found. Many scientists think the huge current losses of biodiversity are the start of a new mass extinction. But the new research shows total ecosystem collapse is “inevitable”, if the losses are not reversed, the scientists said.

Major mapping project reveals PFAS have been found at high levels at thousands of sites

We are a species that is superb at killing, says veteran oceanographer, who calls for us to stop treating fish like crops and give them the respect they deserve

The world’s reliance on hi-tech capitalist solutions to the climate and ecological crises is perpetuating racism, the outgoing UN racism rapporteur has warned. Green solutions including electric cars, renewable energy and the rewilding of vast tracts of land are being implemented at the expense of racially and ethnically marginalised groups and Indigenous peoples, Tendayi Achiume told the Guardian in an interview.

People in developing countries are feeling increasingly angry and “victimised” by the climate crisis, the US climate envoy John Kerry has warned, and rich countries must respond urgently. “I’ve been chronicling the increased frustration and anger of island states and vulnerable countries and small African nations and others around the world that feel victimised by the fact that they are a minuscule component of emissions,” he said. “And yet [they are] paying a very high price. Seventeen of the 20 most affected countries in the world, by the climate crisis, are in Africa, and yet 48 sub-Saharan countries total 0.55% of all emissions.”

Past governments blamed the growing of coca – the base component of cocaine – for clearcutting, but a recent study shows otherwise

A train derailed and flooded a town with cancer-causing chemicals. But something larger, and more troubling, is at work.

The world is at risk of descending into a climate “doom loop”, a thinktank report has warned. It said simply coping with the escalating impacts of the climate crisis could draw resources and focus away from the efforts to slash carbon emissions, making the situation even worse.

Wind, water and solar energy is cheap, effective and green. We don’t need experimental or risky energy sources to save our planet

Researchers found that exceeding the 2C increase has a 50% chance of happening by mid-century

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund threatens to vote against boards on firms it holds investments with over lax climate and social targets

Dozens of people have been imprisoned, as changes in the law are used to curb protest. Is it part of a turn towards a more authoritarian state?

Letters: I risked prison to stand up against an system that will lead to ecological and societal collapse – we must look for alternative economic models, writes Zoe Cohen

Claimants ClientEarth say the oil company’s plan puts the company at financial risk as the world transitions to clean energy, The directors of oil major Shell are being personally sued over their climate strategy, which the claimants say is inadequate to meet climate targets and puts the company at risk as the world switches to clean energy.

Black Mountains College in Wales aims to prepare students for life during a planetary emergency. The college is this year offering a radical new degree course designed to prepare students for a career in times of climate breakdown, and build a generation with the innovative skills and ideas required to tackle the crisis.

Canadian author and professor of climate justice cautiously hails loss and damage agreements at Cop27. " I think the most important thing is to just find other people. Trying to think through this by yourself is a recipe for feeling like a failure and getting dispirited very, very quickly. The benefit of being part of a broader movement is knowing that some people are doing some things, and other people are doing other things, and nobody has to do everything."

The fallout when the industry fails to act is still smaller than the rewards for pumping out more pollution

An increase in the pace at which sea levels are rising threatens “a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale”, the UN secretary general has warned. The climate crisis is causing sea levels to rise faster than for 3,000 years, bringing a “torrent of trouble” to almost a billion people, from London to Los Angeles and Bangkok to Buenos Aires, António Guterres said on Tuesday. Some nations could cease to exist, drowned under the waves, he said.

It beggars belief that the UN thought it a good idea to allow an authoritarian petro-state to host the already compromised summit, says Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of climate hazards

Carbon credits and offsets do not have a great record but the funds they raise are a vital part in fight against deforestation

Carbon offsets can help achieve emissions goals, some experts argue, while others say they are actively dangerous

Investigation into Verra carbon standard finds most are ‘phantom credits’ and may worsen global heating

Atlanta wants to build a police training facility in a forested area amid community opposition

More than 40% of land vertebrates will be threatened by extreme heat by the end of the century under a high emissions scenario, with freak temperatures once regarded as rare likely to become the norm, new research warns. Reptiles, birds, amphibians and mammals are being exposed to extreme heat events of increasing frequency, duration and intensity, as a result of human-driven global heating. This poses a substantial threat to the planet’s biodiversity, a new study warns. Under a high emissions scenario of 4.4C warming, 41% of land vertebrates will experience extreme thermal events by 2099, according to the paper, published in Nature.

Several US states say news that Exxon scientists predicted global heating accurately strengthens their lawsuits against company

Three “super-tipping points” for climate action could trigger a cascade of decarbonisation across the global economy, according to a report. Relatively small policy interventions on electric cars, plant-based alternatives to meat and green fertilisers would lead to unstoppable growth in those sectors, the experts said. But the boost this would give to battery and hydrogen production would mean crucial knock-on benefits for other sectors including energy storage and aviation.

Industry funds ‘grassroots’ resistance to tougher rules while touting green credentials, study shows

Group says forcing polluters to store carbon dioxide underground is needed to help world reach net zero

The oil giant Exxon privately “predicted global warming correctly and skilfully” only to then spend decades publicly rubbishing such science in order to protect its core business, new research has found.

Over the past 12 months, courts from Indonesia to Australia have made groundbreaking rulings that blocked polluting power plants and denounced the human rights violations of the climate crisis. But 2023 could be even more important, with hearings and judgments across the world poised to throw light on the worst perpetrators, give victims a voice and force recalcitrant governments and companies into

Humanity is now a ‘geological superpower’ and declaring a new epoch is critical to tackling its impact, scientists say

The number of insects splattered on vehicle number plates in Britain fell by 64% between 2004 and 2022, according to a survey. Each summer citizen scientists record the number of insect splats on their number plates on an app after a journey. The latest Bugs Matter report, produced by Kent Wildlife Trust and Buglife, found another drop in 2022 compared with 2021, with the long-term decrease jumping by five percentage points.

Overall, however, the climate crisis is bleaker than it has ever been. In October, a slew of reports laid bare how close the planet had neared to irreversible climate breakdown, with one UN study stating there was “no credible pathway in place to 1.5C”, the internationally agreed limit for global heating, and that progress on cutting carbon emissions was “woefully inadequate”.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has earned Norway billions – and caused controversy. Thanks to oil and gas reserves in the waters off its coast, Norway is not only extremely rich but getting richer still. Already the World Bank’s seventh wealthiest country by GDP per capita at the start of this year, the resource-rich Scandinavian country’s profits have ballooned to record levels over the last 12 months, as prices on the energy markets tripled due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Norway replaced bellicose Moscow as Europe’s largest supplier of gas.

Scientists are to pick a location that sums up the current Anthropocene epoch when Homo sapiens made its mark