Floods, elections and frocks: here is Guardian Australia’s pick of the month’s most striking images
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
05/30/2025 - 10:00
Greens leader accuses Albanese government of failing two climate tests: pollution on the rise and approving extension for North West Shelf
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Australia’s climate-heating emissions increased fractionally last year as pollution from fossil fuel power plants rose for the first time in a decade, and domestic air travel and use of diesel-powered cars and trucks hit record highs.
The jump in emissions was small – just 0.05% – due to falls in pollution from other sectors. But the direction was at odds with the Albanese government’s pledge to cut pollution to reach targets for 2030 and 2050.
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05/30/2025 - 10:00
High-profile Nationals and powerful forces in business and media are pushing back against climate action, posing a test of credibility for the new Liberal leader
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After another scrappy week for the faltering Coalition, Bridget McKenzie on Thursday called for the National party to stop talking about itself.
No sane observer of politics since the 3 May election could disagree, but the party’s Senate leader made the observation in an awkward setting: a Sky News interview.
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05/30/2025 - 08:04
Industry figures say allowing poultry imports that do not align with British production standards would be ‘betrayal’
UK politics live – latest updates
An imminent trade deal with Gulf states including Saudi Arabia could have a destructive impact for UK farmers, industry figures have warned, suggesting that any deal to import chicken would involve far lower welfare standards in the Gulf than British farmers must adhere to.
The £1.6bn deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – is expected to be signed soon, though the conclusion may be delayed until after Eid al-Adha in early June.
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05/30/2025 - 07:00
After historic seasons in last two years, blazes continue trend of warm, dry conditions intensified by climate crisis
Enormous early-season wildfires have erupted across the prairie provinces of Canada this week, taxing local emergency response and threatening a long stretch of dangerous air quality across eastern North America.
The country’s largest fires – the Bird River fire and the Border fire – remain completely uncontained in northern Manitoba. In Manitoba alone, wildfires have burned about 200,000 hectares already this year – already about three times the recent full-year average for the province.
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05/30/2025 - 06:50
Even in the foothills of the Italian Alps, cycling can be a practical alternative to driving, and more enjoyable, too
Living car-free in a big city is fairly common these days. Yes, it can mean some adaptation, but when so many things are on your doorstep it’s not such a big challenge. So how about car-free life in a remote Italian mountain village, with barely any public transport?
We have been living in rural Italy without a car for more than five years now. Even though we have always loved bicycles, the decision to sell our car wasn’t a particularly considered one.
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05/30/2025 - 06:00
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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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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