Between 2003 and 2021, Earth saw a net boost in photosynthesis, mainly thanks to land plants thriving in warming, wetter conditions—especially in temperate and high-latitude regions. Meanwhile, ocean algae struggled in increasingly stratified and nutrient-poor tropical waters. Scientists tracked this global energy shift using satellite data, revealing that land ecosystems not only added more biomass but also helped stabilize climate by capturing more carbon.
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/02/2025 - 04:00
Scientists record longest streak of temperatures higher than 30C in region in records going back to 1961
Cold Nordic countries are being seared by “truly unprecedented” heat, as hot weather strengthened and lengthened by carbon pollution continues to roast northern Europe.
A weather station in the Norwegian part of the Arctic Circle recorded temperatures above 30C (86F) on 13 days in July, while Finland has had three straight weeks with 30C heat.
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08/02/2025 - 00:00
Warm sea surface temperatures, exacerbated by global heating, have created favourable conditions for jellyfish
Coming to a beach near you: a guide to the jellyfish you’ll find off the UK coast
An unusually high number of jellyfish have arrived in the UK’s seas this summer, experts have said.
Jellyfish blooms arrive for their yearly reproduction cycle by following the current of warm water to the coast. Warm sea surface temperatures, which are exacerbated by global heating, create favourable conditions for jellyfish.
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08/01/2025 - 12:06
To counter attacks on net zero, challenges including the need for grid upgrades will have to be grasped
With net zero policies under attack from elected far-right populists as well as autocratic petrostates, and another summer of record-breaking temperatures in Europe, the failure to decarbonise the world’s power supply is as gravely concerning as ever. But the UN secretary general, António Guterres, struck an optimistic note in a recent speech in New York. The world, he said, “is on the cusp of a new era … The sun is rising on a clean energy age.” Pointing to falls in the cost of onshore wind and solar, and the risk of further gas-price shocks in future, he called on big technology companies – whose datacentres are one reason for soaring energy use – to adopt a target of 100% low-carbon electricity by 2030.
Given US president Donald Trump’s personal hostility to renewable energy, Mr Guterres may be right that it makes more sense to demand action from US businesses at this point. In Scotland earlier this week, Mr Trump launched his latest misleading tirade, urging European leaders to “stop the windmills”.
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08/01/2025 - 11:47
Containment slips for megafire in Grand Canyon and large blaze in Utah as hot and dry weather fans flames
Two wildfires burning in the western United States – including one that has become a “mega-fire” on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon – are so hot that they are spurring the formation of “fire clouds” that can create their own erratic weather systems.
In Arizona, the wind-whipped wildfire that destroyed the Grand Canyon Lodge is 9% contained and has charred more than 164 sq miles (424 sq km) to become the largest fire now burning in the continental US and one of the top 10 largest in recorded Arizona history. Getting around it would be roughly like driving from New York City to Washington DC.
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08/01/2025 - 11:01
Experts say the report being used to justify the mass rollback of climate regulations has many claims based on long-debunked research
A new Trump administration report which attempts to justify a mass rollback of environmental regulations is chock-full of climate misinformation, experts say.
On Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal to undo the 2009 “endangerment finding”, which allows the agency to limit planet-heating pollution from cars and trucks, power plants and other industrial sources. Hours later, the Department of Energy (DOE) published a 150-page report defending the proposal, claiming scientific concern about the climate crisis is overblown.
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08/01/2025 - 10:30
US banks have already pulled out of NZBA, the UN environment programme’s finance initiative
Barclays has become the second UK bank to withdraw from a UN-backed net zero target-setting group, claiming that a wave of defections by international lenders meant it was no longer fit for purpose.
It marks a fresh blow for the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), after HSBC left in early July. It came months after a wave of exits by US banks, which departed in the run-up to Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
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08/01/2025 - 10:00
Coalition opponents of net zero spruik coal, nuclear and gas as emissions policy divides opposition
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Barnaby Joyce and other leading opponents of net zero by 2050 want Australia to build new coal-fired power plants, focus on gas and nuclear energy and abandon all efforts to cut carbon emissions.
As the former Nationals leader pushes a private member’s bill to block net zero – sparking new divisions within the Liberals and Nationals this week – he said any long-term emissions reduction from renewables would not make a meaningful difference to the climate and would cost households too much.
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08/01/2025 - 06:00
New peer-reviewed research found an average of seven pesticides in each of 10 butterflies tested
A 2024 mass monarch butterfly die-off in California was probably caused by pesticide exposure, new peer-reviewed research finds, adding difficult-to-obtain evidence to the theory that pesticides are partly behind dramatic declines in monarchs’ numbers in recent decades.
Researchers discovered hundreds of butterflies that had died or were dying in January 2024 near an overwintering site, where insects spend winter months. The butterflies were found twitching or dead in piles, which are common signs of neurotoxic pesticide poisoning, researchers wrote.
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08/01/2025 - 04:32
The US president promotes classical architecture and loathes ‘ugly’ wind turbines. Keir Starmer would dismiss him as a nimby, but on this Trump has a point
Trigger warning. Some readers may find this disturbing. Not everything Donald Trump says is mad and a lie. Not all of it is about money. Some of it is even worth saying. When he came to office, one of Trump’s first actions was extraordinary. He directed his fire at what he saw as the ugliness of American architecture. He demanded that at least federal buildings should be “visually identifiable as civic buildings, and respect regional, traditional, and classical architectural heritage in order to uplift and beautify public spaces and ennoble the United States”. All plans had to be submitted to Washington for his approval.
There was more than an element of psychological obsession in such bureaucracy. American classicism – born of an admiration for France’s republicans – was a cult throughout the 19th century. The White House was based on a Dublin mansion. This week it was announced that it is to get what it has always lacked, a sumptuous new ballroom in which to receive and entertain foreign dignitaries. It is to be classical, with no nonsense about trying to make it look modern. That a president should seek to revive both regional and European style in the face of America’s relentless modernism is a breath of fresh air.
Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist
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