Debate in Labour and union movement over climate commitments as many call for Burnham not to allow drilling in North Sea
Analysis: ‘Act on the evidence outside the window’: Andy Burnham urged to stick to net zero targets if he becomes PM
Backsliding on climate action would drive the Labour party into political obscurity, Zack Polanski has warned, as trade union leaders said more drilling in the North Sea would not help UK workers.
The Green party leader, speaking to the Guardian as searing heat swept the country for the second time this year, urged Andy Burnham – widely expected to be the UK’s next prime minister – to be bold on climate justice. He said any move to water down the party’s commitments would have dire consequences at the ballot box.
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06/25/2026 - 07:44
06/25/2026 - 07:26
Burnham is coming under pressure from some to ditch net zero targets but this could be highly damaging on many levels
UK politics live – latest updates
Britain’s net zero economy is booming. The sector is worth £100bn a year to the UK, has outpaced other sectors, and supports higher-paying jobs than the average.
For a union leader to suggest that the man who has overseen this impressive record – the energy secretary, Ed Miliband – would be a “noose around the neck” of job creation, as Unite’s Sharon Graham has done, might seem extraordinary.
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06/25/2026 - 06:31
Thermometer shows 23.5C overnight in Welsh capital as climate crisis makes such extreme temperatures more severe and more likely
Europe live – latest updates
A sweltering night in Cardiff has broken another new UK heat record as brutally hot conditions continue across England and Wales. Temperatures only fell to 23.5C overnight in the Welsh capital, the Met Office said, making it the highest minimum temperature ever recorded in June.
The UK’s high temperature record for June is also likely to be broken on Thursday, just a day after the previous record. The heatwave, supercharged by the climate crisis, drove the temperature to 36.1C at Gosport in Hampshire on Wednesday, beating the previous record of 35.6C set in Southampton in 1976.
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06/25/2026 - 06:15
Extreme weather breaks MRI scanners and cooling units, as workload rises for sleep-deprived staff on sweltering wards
Doctors have sounded the alarm over the disastrous impact of extreme heat on the NHS in England, with radiotherapy machines and MRI scanners failing, critical IT systems stalling and cooling units that serve entire hospitals breaking down.
The hot weather has also prompted a surge in admissions and people arriving at A&E, causing severe overcrowding in some places and exacerbating heat-related pressures on infrastructure.
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06/25/2026 - 05:03
LSE analysis highlights litigation linked to energy sources, water consumption and air pollution
The proliferation of datacentres and AI is increasingly at the forefront of environmental litigation around the world from Chile to Ireland, a report has found.
In an analysis of about 3,600 climate-related lawsuits filed since 2015, the latest annual review of climate litigation by the London School of Economics (LSE) found a growing number of cases challenging the energy sources, water consumption and air pollution of datacentres, all of which have related climate implications.
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06/25/2026 - 04:17
Cornwall's housing crisis is forcing young people to live in vans. As second homes and short-term holiday lets drive up house prices, a growing number are turning to van life to stay in the place they love. The Guardian meets young people who say their van brings them freedom but also uncertainty, as they struggle to find water, safe places to park and secure a future
’It can flip quickly from being idyllic’: the reality of life in Cornwall for young van dwellers priced out of the housing market
Some details in this film have been changed for safety reasons
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06/25/2026 - 03:38
Heatwave-related deaths climb in Spain, Italy and France as continent battles another day of extreme temperatures
Farryn Stock
Over in the UK, South East Water has announced a temporary hosepipe ban in Kent amid growing strain from the ongoing heatwave (31C today, 33C tomorrow).
“To safeguard that shared supply and prevent any homes from facing a sudden loss of water, we sadly need to ask our communities to not use their hosepipes immediately. We are deeply sorry for the disruption this causes, and we are incredibly grateful to everyone helping us protect Kent’s water.”
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06/25/2026 - 03:02
A blooming new wave of musical theatre is exploring the plight of the planet with a playful and hopeful approach
Earth is a single woman with a lot to give; Humanity is a charismatic bad boy who turns out to be an inveterate taker. Their toxic relationship is told in Hot Mess, a musical created by Jack Godfrey and Ellie Coote, which works both as an eccentric romcom with broad commercial appeal and a serious analogy for our abuse of the once fecund, now depleted planet. A hot ticket at the Edinburgh fringe last summer and now on in London, it is at the vanguard of a newly blooming genre of musicals about the environmental crisis.
The RSC’s The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind uses exuberant song and dance for the true story of a teenager who builds a wind turbine from an old bicycle in drought-ridden Malawi. Bryony Kimmings’ Bog Witch is a one-woman show with music and standup about the plight of the planet, while in New York the folk-pop musical Dear Everything was a response to climate emergency co-written by V (formerly Eve Ensler) and narrated by Jane Fonda. Meanwhile, in the West End hit Hadestown, hell is strewn with empty oil drums.
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06/25/2026 - 00:00
With tourists buying up property and landlords opting for lucrative Airbnb rentals, young Cornish people are turning to old campervans to provide a roof over their heads
Skye has a thick duvet in the van she calls home in Cornwall. In winter, the 25-year-old goes to bed in several layers of clothes and is grateful for the extra warmth of her cat. She parks up late, often in car parks well away from beaches, and never stays more than one night in case local people get angry and bang on her windows. This is van life. It can be a very different world from the tourist dream.
“Some winters I’ve had ice on the inside of my van windows, and the door handles frozen shut with me inside,” says Skye, a special educational needs teaching assistant. One year her diesel air heater packed up, and she spent the whole winter feeling cold. “That was genuinely awful.” Even with the heater on in the evening, those nights and early mornings when the temperature drops below zero are tough. “I often get dressed in bed,” she says. “You just have to adjust.”
Skye, 25 arriving back at her van after a day of walking
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06/24/2026 - 22:54
Oxfam predicts PNG will be worst-hit country in Pacific from the weather pattern, with up to 3 million people affected nationwide
Families across Papua New Guinea’s Highlands are facing depleted harvests and the threat of hunger after the El Niño weather pattern brought frost and prolonged dry conditions that have destroyed food gardens providing sustenance and income for thousands of households.
The effects of El Niño emerged in recent weeks, bringing drought conditions, falling water levels and frost that are threatening food security in some of the country’s most agriculturally productive regions.
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