Almost every shallow-water coral reef on the planet, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, faces a high risk of ecosystem collapse before 2075 because of global heating, according to an assessment by United Nations nature advisers. About 24% of the planet’s reefs across more than 80 countries are already critically endangered, the assessment said, but when the expected impacts of global heating were added this rose to 96%. Coral reefs are known as the rainforests of the sea. A quarter of all known marine species are found in and around them and they support hundreds of millions of people with food, as well as protecting shorelines and supporting tourism. Overfishing, pollution, coastal development and global heating have already caused declines in the ecosystems over the past 50 years, measured by the loss of live coral as well as changes in fish populations, the assessment said. But the scientists said while the prognosis was dire, the findings should serve as a “wake-up call” because reefs could survive with rapid cuts to fossil fuel use and strong conservation action at local levels. Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter “The risk is real...

A guide to understanding the Living Planet Index and what it does and doesn’t mean.

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The UK's intelligence community has warned of catastrophic national security risks stemming from the collapse of vital ecosystems worldwide, driven by the climate crisis and overexploitation of natural resources. This report, commissioned under the previous Conservative government but suppressed under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, was due to be published ahead of the Cop30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil. Instead, Downing Street officials blocked its release, with only a partial summary eventually made available through the Freedom of Information Act to the Green Alliance thinktank. The report details how ecosystem collapse could lead to food shortages, mass migration, border disputes, increased geopolitical tensions, and even the risk of nuclear conflict, with impacts such as food supply disruptions potentially occurring as early as 2030. The UK imports approximately 40% of its food, making it particularly vulnerable to global supply chain disruptions. The report also highlights the potential for new pandemics emerging from deforested areas and the increased influence of Russia and China over critical mineral supply chains. Despite the suppression, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has recently briefed foreign ministers from the EU, Kenya, and Australia on the findings at a private meeting during the UN General Assembly in New York. Miliband announced £330 million for the Global Environment Fund (GEF) and £400 million for Brazil's Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), signaling a shift in UK climate policy. However, the government has simultaneously slashed overseas development aid, reducing international climate finance from £11.6 billion over five years (2021-2026) to approximately £2 billion annually for the next two years, while removing specific funding earmarks for nature and forests. Conservation International UK has criticized this reduction, emphasizing that nature protection funding is both scientifically essential and popular with the UK public. The report's suppression has drawn criticism from Green Party MP Adrian Ramsay, who has called for its full publication and led parliamentary debates on the issue. The government's current approach appears to be a strategic shift towards international collaboration on climate security, with Miliband positioning climate action as central to foreign policy ahead of the upcoming Cop31 summit in November.

Green leader says ministers must stop ‘hiding the truth’ about threat to UK security from climate and nature crisis

Zack Polanski will challenge Andy Burnham’s government to publish an unredacted version of an explosive report by the UK’s spy chiefs that found the collapse of overseas ecosystems would have catastrophic consequences for the UK’s national security. The Green party leader in England will demand that the prime minister come clean about the scale and impact of the climate and nature crisis and call on the government to publish in full the report that warns the UK faces devastating security consequences. Speaking at the Wild Summit event in Bristol on Wednesday, Polanski will ask the prime minister: “Will you tell the truth – and release the full unredacted report from the joint intelligence chiefs? Or will you keep hiding the truth from the public?” The Guardian revealed last year that the report paints a devastating picture of severe food shortages, price rises, migration, political destabilisation and possible war, resulting from the collapse of ecosystems, fuelled by the human-induced climate crisis and over-exploitation. A redacted 14-page version, including some of the report’s findings, was published in January but the government has repeatedly refused to publish the full version, despite repeated freedom of information requests from journalists and calls from MPs. Polanski,...

Full index of Climate Files posts, sorted by date spanning from 1956 to 2015; more than 200 posts, 260 documents and 4,500 pages.

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The Australian government has been urged to come clean on security threats posed by climate change following the release of a troubling UK assessment.

The discovery was made by studying seven years of data.