Guardian analysis finds fossil-fuel and mining firms have won $92bn of public money from states, with a growing number of cases backed by financial speculators
Read more: Fearing toxic waste, Greenland ended uranium mining. Now, they could be forced to restart - or pay $11bn
Financial speculators are investing in a growing number of lawsuits against governments over environmental laws and other regulations that affect profits, often generating lucrative awards, the Guardian has found.
For a long time, litigation finance thrived primarily in the realm of car crashes and employment claims. “Had an accident that wasn’t your fault?” was the industry’s billboard catchphrase, offering to finance lawsuits in exchange for a cut of any payout.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
03/05/2025 - 05:00
03/05/2025 - 01:00
The plant multiplies quickly, is rich in vitamins, and eaten across Asia. Why isn’t it on supermarket shelves?
In the summer sun, duckweed (Wolffia globosa) can be a menace. It grows so fast it covers a pond in a few days, blocking out the light for the life below. But it is this ability to multiply and its high nutritional value that has made it a potentially valuable food.
Although commonly eaten in Asia, where varieties of duckweed are also known as water lentils or watermeal, it has taken nearly 10 years for scientists to convince the European Food Safety Authority that it is a vegetable that is safe to eat.
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03/05/2025 - 01:00
Curator of Design Museum show says ‘human-centric’ approach to design needs overhaul amid climate crisis
Designers need to “fundamentally rethink our relationship with the natural world”, according to the curator of a new exhibition which argues the needs of nature and animals should be considered when creating homes, buildings and products.
Justin McGuirk, the curator of the upcoming More Than Human exhibition at the Design Museum in London, said our current “human-centric” approach to design needs to be radically overhauled as the world adapts to the climate crisis.
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03/05/2025 - 00:01
Researchers say data strengthens case for holding firms to account for their contribution to climate crisis
Half of the world’s climate-heating carbon emissions come from the fossil fuels produced by just 36 companies, analysis has revealed.
The researchers said the 2023 data strengthened the case for holding fossil fuel companies to account for their contribution to global heating. Previous versions of the annual report have been used in legal cases against companies and investors.
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03/05/2025 - 00:00
The island is being sued by a mining company over its decision, and faces paying nine times its annual budget in damages if it loses
Revealed: how Wall Street is making millions betting against green laws
From the iceberg-filled bay, the mountains above the town of Narsaq, in south-west Greenland, appear unremarkable. In the September warmth, clumps of grass cling to the smooth, grey peaks shaped over centuries by an enormous ice cap that lurks behind the fjords on the horizon.
Brightly coloured homes are scattered around the shoreline below, home to a community of just over 1,300 people. Were it not for a mining outhouse on the edge of town, there would be little indication of the potential riches in the rock.
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03/05/2025 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 05 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00110-z
As climate change and biodiversity loss intensify, the deep seabed beckons as a source of metals for batteries. Initiating this new exploitation conflicts with international agreements to decelerate biodiversity loss through wider protections of ecosystem integrity. The poor record of terrestrial mining must not be an excuse to mine the ocean floor. Improved oversight and biodiversity protection as miners increase production on land will produce a better global biodiversity outcome.
03/04/2025 - 23:16
Scientists are studying whether the grounded A23a iceberg might help stir nutrients and make food more available for penguins and seals
The world’s biggest iceberg appears to have run aground roughly 70km (43 miles) from a remote Antarctic island, potentially sparing the crucial wildlife haven from being hit, a research organisation said Tuesday.
The colossal iceberg A23a – which measures roughly 3,300 sq km and weighs nearly 1tn tonnes – has been drifting north from Antarctica towards South Georgia island since 2020.
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03/04/2025 - 20:38
Researchers have uncovered a critical link between rising temperatures and declines in a species' population, shedding new light on how global warming threatens natural ecosystems. The study revealed that rising temperatures exacerbate competition within populations, ultimately leading to population crashes at higher temperatures. It offers one of the first clear experimental confirmations that rising temperatures alter the forces that control population dynamics in nature.
03/04/2025 - 19:55
More than 100 schools closed and thousands without power as Tropical Cyclone Alfred generates high winds – even before it makes landfall
When and where is Cyclone Alfred likely to hit?
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The New South Wales premier has warned that the number of homes that could be affected by Tropical Cyclone Alfred might be “akin to the 2022 natural disaster in Lismore” – but he hopes it is less.
Chris Minns on Wednesday said the State Emergency Service was speaking to vulnerable communities in the northern rivers region about whether they need to be evacuated before Alfred makes landfall – likely to be early on Friday morning.
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03/04/2025 - 17:30
Up to 20,000 homes could be flooded, with beachside and low-lying suburbs most at risk, city council flood map shows
Tropical Cyclone Alfred LIVE updates and latest news
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Queensland authorities are advising some residents to leave coastal properties in the path of Tropical Cyclone Alfred, amid warnings that a storm surge of up to 1 metre higher than typical tides could inundate communities.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said Australian Defence Force assets have been placed on standby to respond to the looming storm, which was tracking towards the heavily populated coastline between the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast.
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