Drax received £22bn in subsidies despite being UK’s largest emitter in 2023, though company rejects ‘flawed’ research

The Drax power station was responsible for four times more carbon emissions than the UK’s last remaining coal-fired plant last year, despite taking more than £0.5bn in clean-energy subsidies in 2023, according to a report.

The North Yorkshire power plant, which burns wood pellets imported from North America to generate electricity, was revealed as Britain’s single largest carbon emitter in 2023 by a report from the climate thinktank Ember.

Ardmalin, County Donegal: Around 15,000 years ago, Ireland was ‘islanded’ from Europe before Britain. That’s when this animal began to evolve its uniqueness

As the gradient climbs, I pause for breath. The hinterland has receded to a rumpled patchwork of small fields with the sea on either side. To the east, Scotland hunkers faintly on the skyline; to the west, north Donegal’s undulating forelands lope off into the far Atlantic. I walk on, following the road’s trace, through coarse meadows, cutover bogland and tracts of heather. Across the distance, at the bluff’s rim, Malin signal tower slides like a chess piece in and out of view.

High tide glazes Ineuran Bay, where the modest sea stacks dividing the coves are overshadowed by the crags of the former coastline . This land was uplifted at the end of the last ice age as the press of the glaciers eased. Now there are choughs foraging among the crags’ grassy interstices.

Another report found pesticide levels posing ‘significant risks’ in 20% of tested fruits and vegetables

A new scientific report lends weight to consumer concerns about pesticide residues on food , presenting fresh evidence that washing fruit before eating does not remove various toxic chemicals commonly used in agriculture.

The paper, published on Wednesday in the American Chemical Society’s journal Nano Letters, comes amid ongoing debate over the extent of pesticide contamination of food, and the potential health risks associated with a steady diet that includes pesticide residues.

Climate scientists say that the world is continuing to warm, despite brief respite in record breaking temperatures

Earth’s string of 13 straight months with a new average heat record came to an end this past July as the natural El Niño climate pattern ebbed, the European climate agency Copernicus announced on Wednesday.

But July 2024’s average heat just missed surpassing last year’s July, and scientists said the end of the record-breaking streak changes nothing about the threat posed by the climate crisis .

Nuclear site awaits sentencing over breaches that it admitted could have threatened national security

Sellafield has apologised after pleading guilty to criminal charges relating to a string of cybersecurity failings at Britain’s most hazardous nuclear site, which it admitted could have threatened national security.

Among the failings at the vast nuclear waste dump in Cumbria was the discovery that 75% of its computer servers were vulnerable to cyber-attacks, Westminster magistrates court in London heard.

The new government has made a fast start in mobilising Britain’s most obvious natural asset, but big challenges remain

In its pomp during the 1970s, Ardersier port near Inverness was a behemoth of Scottish industry. During the North Sea oil and gas boom, thousands worked on one of the largest rig construction sites in the world. Disused since 2001, the port is making a triumphant comeback , to be reconfigured as a giant hub for the turbines that will harness wind power off the Scottish coast. If Sir Keir Starmer’s government is to achieve its goal of fully decarbonising electricity by 2030, this huge investment project in the Highlands will need to be matched by similar ambition elsewhere.

Wind energy is fundamental to meeting Britain’s net zero commitments, generating growth and reducing energy costs. But under Rishi Sunak, the sector suffered a lost year in 2023, when the government failed to award a single offshore wind contract. In July, the Climate Change Committee estimated that by 2030, the number of annual offshore and onshore wind installations needed to at least triple and double, respectively.

Devastation in June was made at least four times more likely and 40% more intense by human activity, scientists have calculated

The devastating wildfires that tore through the world’s biggest tropical wetland , Brazil’s Pantanal, in June were made at least four times more likely and 40% more intense by human-caused climate disruption, a new study has found.

Charred corpses of monkeys, caimans and snakes have been left in the wake of the blaze, which burned 440,000 hectares in June – about 1.1m acres, or an area equivalent to more than 3,000 Hyde Parks – and is thought to have killed millions of animals and countless more plants, insects and fungi.

Volunteers are helping save baby sea turtles as the endangered species’ favourite nesting spots come under pressure from development, poaching and tourists

• Photographs by Thilina Kaluthotage

It’s a sweltering night on the western coast of Sri Lanka, and on Mount Lavinia beach there’s an unusual flurry of activity. Several young people in orange hi-vis vests are squatting in a circle, digging in the sand in the semi-darkness.

The team of volunteers is patrolling a popular tourist beach on the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, scouting for turtle nesting sites. Finding the nests can involve a bit of detective work.

Turtle volunteers at a nesting site on Colombo’s Mount Lavinia beach. ‘Sometimes we dig holes on the beach to look for the eggs’

The oil from a tin of fish is an umami bomb to be deployed in all sorts, from kedgeree and fry-ups to potato salad

Canned fish oil, which we pay for alongside the fish itself, is an absolute flavour bomb that’s not to be wasted. Use the leftover oil for frying a seafood dish such as a kedgeree or when sauteing the base of a fish stew, or turn it into a powerful and flavourful dressing, as in today’s potato salad recipe. I’d recommend using canned fish in extra-virgin olive oil, if you can, but in truth any oil will work. To save energy, boil your eggs on top of the potatoes for six minutes.

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