Academic Neta Crawford warns that if Donald Trump follows through on his threats of war, emissions will soar and the planet will pay the price
Carbon footprint of Israel’s war on Gaza exceeds that of many entire countries
Revealed: Nato rearmament could increase emissions by 200m tonnes a year
The climate impact of Donald Trump’s geopolitical ambitions could deepen planetary catastrophe, triggering a global military buildup that accelerates greenhouse gas emissions, a leading expert has warned.
The Pentagon – the US armed forces and Department of Defense (DoD) agencies – is the world’s largest institutional greenhouse gas emitter, accounting for at least 1% of total US emissions annually, according to analysis by Neta Crawford, co-founder of the Costs of War project at Brown University.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
05/30/2025 - 06:00
05/30/2025 - 06:00
Researchers point to contaminated water after ‘forever chemicals’ found in all but one of 23 sampled beers
What are Pfas? Everything you need to know
All but one of 23 beers sampled for toxic Pfas “forever chemicals” contained the compounds, new research finds, raising safety questions about one of the world’s most popular beverages.
The researchers checked craft beer from multiple states, major domestic brands, and several international labels.
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05/30/2025 - 01:00
The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
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05/30/2025 - 00:00
Exclusive: Climate cost of war is more than than the combined 2023 emissions of Costa Rica and Estonia, study finds
How the US became the biggest military emitter and stopped everyone finding out
Revealed: Nato rearmament could increase emissions by 200m tonnes a year
The carbon footprint of the first 15 months of Israel’s war on Gaza will be greater than the annual planet-warming emissions of a hundred individual countries, exacerbating the global climate emergency on top of the huge civilian death toll, new research reveals.
A study shared exclusively with the Guardian found the long-term climate cost of destroying, clearing and rebuilding Gaza could top 31m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). This is more than the combined 2023 annual greenhouse gases emitted by Costa Rica and Estonia, yet there is no obligation for states to report military emissions to the UN climate body.
Over 99% of the almost 1.89m tCO2e estimated to have been generated between the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack and the temporary ceasefire in January 2025 is attributed to Israel’s aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza.
Almost 30% of greenhouse gases generated in that period came from the US sending 50,000 tonnes of weapons and other military supplies to Israel, mostly on cargo planes and ships from stockpiles in Europe. Another 20% is attributed to Israeli aircraft reconnaissance and bombing missions, tanks and fuel from other military vehicles, as well as CO2 generated by manufacturing and exploding the bombs and artillery.
Solar had generated as much as a quarter of Gaza’s electricity, representing one of the world’s highest shares, but most panels, and the territory’s only power plant, have been damaged or destroyed. Gaza’s limited access to electricity now mostly relies on diesel-guzzling generators that emitted just over 130,000 tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, or 7% of the total conflict emissions.
More than 40% of the total emissions were generated by the estimated 70,000 aid trucks Israel allowed into the Gaza Strip – which the UN has condemned as grossly insufficient to meet the basic humanitarian needs of 2.2m displaced and starving Palestinians.
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05/30/2025 - 00:00
Lauren Mason decided to take action after witnessing huge amounts of camping gear abandoned at festivals
When Lauren Mason volunteered to help with the cleanup at a festival two years ago, she had no idea it would change the course of her life. She’d heard about the tents being dumped and left behind. Her mother, she says, is “an amazing seamstress”, so Mason thought she might be able to use some of the material to make clothes.
“I originally went to clean up with the idea to make my own jacket. But that’s when I realised the problem was bigger than we thought.”
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05/29/2025 - 22:27
Industrial pollution has degraded the rock art and will continue to do so until emissions at Murujuga are reduced to zero, experts argue
Australia news live: latest politics updates
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On Thursday, the new environment minister, Murray Watt, approved an extension for the North West Shelf liquefied natural gas project. The gas plant at Karratha, Western Australia, will run until 2070.
This expansion – and the pollution it will release – has led to a recommendation by the International Council on Monuments and Sites to defer Unesco’s decision on the world heritage listing of the nearby Murujuga rock art.
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05/29/2025 - 15:18
Exclusive: Trade unions and human rights organisations fear environment and human rights being pushed aside
The UK is on the brink of signing a £1.6bn trade agreement with Gulf states, amid warnings from rights groups that the deal makes no concrete provisions on human rights, modern slavery or the environment.
The deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council – which includes the countries Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – is within touching distance, making it a fourth trading agreement by Keir Starmer after pacts were struck with the US, India and the EU.
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05/29/2025 - 14:20
Misti Leon argues fossil fuel companies’ climate negligence caused her mother’s death during a heatwave
A woman has brought the first-ever wrongful death lawsuit against big oil, claiming fossil fuel companies’ climate negligence caused her mother’s death during a major heatwave.
Juliana Leon died of hyperthermia in Seattle at age 65 during the 2021 Pacific north-west heat dome – an event that killed nearly 200 people, and which meteorologists say would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused global warming.
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05/29/2025 - 13:57
Forest-based agroforestry can restore forests, promote livelihoods, and combat climate change, but emerging agroforestry initiatives focusing only on tree planting is leading to missed opportunities to support beneficial outcomes of forest management, scientists found.
05/29/2025 - 12:25
Two weeks before the spending review, the housing ombudsman has issued an important warning about a deepening crisis and growing human misery
The most obvious social housing problem in Britain is the lack of it. The failure to build enough homes to keep up with need, and replace those sold off under the right-to-buy scheme, has adversely affected millions of lives. In parts of England, the wait for family-size homes has reached 100 years, with long waiting lists also in Scotland and Wales. Charities rightly call this a national scandal.
While the slowdown dates back decades, the 60% cut in the affordable housing budget in 2010 made the situation far worse. The resulting shortages mean millions of people are stuck in privately rented accommodation with no prospect of buying their own. Hundreds of thousands of others are officially homeless, and trapped in overcrowded temporary flats and rooms.
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