Breaking Waves: Ocean News

‘Atypical expenditure’ document suggests utility’s costs over 12 months outstripped the £130m it paid in fines Thames Water spent at least £136m on the effort to secure emergency funding over 12 months, according to a leaked document that suggests costs outstripped the £130m the struggling utility paid in fines. The law firms Linklaters and Akin Gump received £45m and £26m respectively during the financial year to March 2025, and another 10 firms were paid more than £1m, according to a document listing “atypical expenditure” for the year, seen by the Guardian. It is the first time the fees paid by Thames Water have been detailed publicly. Continue reading...

Levels even lower than in severe drought year of 2022, data shows, with water firms urged to ‘be proactive’ England’s reservoirs are at their lowest levels for a decade, new data reveals, as experts urge water companies to immediately put hosepipe bans in place. In June, reservoirs across the country were 76% full, which is below their level in the severe drought year of 2022 when they were at 77% capacity at this time in the summer. Continue reading...

Campaigners condemn ‘troubling’ move that follows departure of six of largest US banks after Trump’s election HSBC has become the first UK bank to leave the global banking industry’s net zero target-setting group, as campaigners warned it was a “troubling” sign over the lender’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis. The move risks triggering further departures from the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) by UK banks, in a fresh blow to international climate coordination efforts. Continue reading...

Scientists say Perito Moreno, which for decades defied trend of glacial retreat, now rapidly losing mass One of the few stable glaciers in a warming world, Perito Moreno, in Santa Cruz province, Argentina, is now undergoing a possibly irreversible retreat, scientists say. Over the past seven years, it has lost 1.92 sq km (0.74 sq miles) of ice cover and its thickness is decreasing by up to 8 metres (26 ft) a year. Continue reading...