Mercedes, Ford, Renault, Nissan and Peugeot/Citroën face group action in which damages could exceed £6bn
Car manufacturers decided they would rather cheat to prioritise “customer convenience” and sell cars than comply with the law on deadly pollutants, the first day of the largest group action trial in English legal history has been told.
More than a decade after the original “dieselgate” scandal broke, lawyers representing 1.6 million diesel car owners in the UK argue that manufacturers deliberately installed software to rig emissions tests.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
Carmakers chose to cheat to sell cars rather than comply with emissions law, ‘dieselgate’ trial told
10/13/2025 - 09:48
10/13/2025 - 09:18
Humanity has reached the first Earth system tipping point, the widespread death of warm-water coral reefs, marking the beginning of irreversible planetary shifts. As global temperatures move beyond 1.5°C, the world risks cascading crises such as ice sheet melt, Amazon rainforest dieback, and ocean current collapse. Scientists from the University of Exeter warn that these interconnected tipping points could transform the planet unless urgent, systemic action triggers “positive tipping points,” like rapid renewable energy adoption.
10/13/2025 - 08:24
Environmental group accuses king’s property management company of ‘milking for profit’ its monopoly ownership of seabed
Greenpeace is threatening to sue King Charles’s property management company, accusing it of exploiting its monopoly ownership of the seabed.
The environmental lobby group alleges the crown estate has driven up costs for wind power developers and boosted its own profits, as well as the royal household’s income, due to the “aggressive” way it auctions seabed rights.
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10/13/2025 - 07:00
Research comparing Adirondack mountain lakes in New York suggests foot traffic is significant source of pollution
Hiking shoes and outdoor gear are likely a significant source of microplastic pollution in the wilderness, new research that checked for the pernicious material in several Adirondack mountain lakes in upstate New York suggests.
Researchers measured microplastic levels in two lakes that are the among highest sources of water for the Hudson River – one that sees heavy foot traffic from hikers, and another lake that is far away from a path and rarely touched by human activity.
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10/13/2025 - 05:17
Lord Stern says fossil-fuelled growth is futile as the damage it causes ends in economic self-destruction
Investment in climate action is the economic growth story of the 21st century, while growth fuelled by fossil fuels is futile because the damage it causes ends in self-destruction, the economist Nicholas Stern has said.
The plummeting costs of clean technologies, from renewable energy to electric cars, plus the healthier and more productive societies they enable, meant investments could simultaneously tackle the climate crisis and faltering economic growth, and bring millions of people out of poverty, he said.
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10/13/2025 - 04:00
Scientists have examined the $16.5bn project’s climate impact and found it could expose more than half a million people to unprecedented heat
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Greenhouse emissions linked to a gas field being developed by Australian fossil fuel company Woodside could lead to the death of at least 480 people and expose more than half a million to unprecedented heat, new research suggests.
Scientists from six universities have examined the climate impact of the $16.5bn Scarborough project, which is expected to start production off the northern Western Australian coast next year and could result in 876m tonnes of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere over three decades.
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10/13/2025 - 00:02
Birdwatching: everyone's doing it (we think)! But how exactly do you start? Is it really the cure-all to gen Z and millennial woes? BirdLife's Sean Dooley and comedian Geraldine Hickey show Guardian Australia's Matilda Boseley the ins and outs of birdwatching - just in time for the 2025 bird of the year
Which Australian birds are the peoples' choice? Matilda Boseley finds out - video
Going extinct ‘right under our noses’: the quiet plight of Australia’s rarest bird of prey
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10/12/2025 - 23:04
Farmers praised the move, but scientists and opposition parties criticised it as ‘weak’ and ‘unambitious’
Environmental campaigners have accused New Zealand’s government of “full-blown climate denial” after it slashed targets for reducing emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.
New Zealand’s right-leaning coalition government outlined plans on Sunday to reduce methane emissions by between 14 and 24% by 2050, compared to 2017 levels.
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10/12/2025 - 23:00
The volcanic island of Surtsey emerged in the 1960s, and scientists say studying its development offers hope for damaged ecosystems worldwide
The crew of the Ísleifur II had just finished casting their nets off the coast of southern Iceland when they realised something was wrong. In the early morning gloom in November 1963, a dark mass filled the sky over the Atlantic Ocean. They rushed to the radio, thinking that another fishing vessel was burning at sea, but no boats in the area were in distress.
Then, their trawler began to drift unexpectedly, unnerving the crew further. The cook scrambled to wake the captain, thinking they were being pulled into a whirlpool. Finally, through binoculars, they spotted columns of ash bursting from the water and realised what was going on: a volcano was erupting in the ocean below.
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10/12/2025 - 23:00
Europe and Brazil have a rare opportunity, unimpeded by the US, to make a success of Cop30 – and reshape the world order
The climate crisis, Donald Trump told the UN last month, is “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”. With these words the US president rejected the international scientific consensus and evidence that we can all check daily with a basic thermometer. He has also announced he is withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement, signed in 2015 by 195 UN countries. The US joins an axis of deniers including Yemen, Iran and Libya, countries that signed the agreement but never ratified it.
Paradoxically, Trump’s reversal provides an opportunity for others to advance the climate agenda: to sketch out the blueprint of a possible new world order without the US, even if Washington was the architect of the old one.
Francesco Grillo is a visiting fellow at the European University Institute, Florence, and director of the thinktank Vision
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