TEN ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTS

June  2025

1. UK bank funding of fossil fuel, carbon bomb, projects

UK Overseas Carbon Bombs: Carbon Bombs are fossil fuel projects that could emit more than a gigaton of CO2 over their lifetime. LINGO: Leave It in the Ground Organization.  www.leave-it-in-the-ground.org/resources/uk-involvement-in-overseas-carbon-bombs/

See also, Matthew Taylor, “UK banks put £75bn into firms building climate-wrecking ‘carbon bombs’, study finds,” The Guardian (1 May 2025).  bit.ly/3ENKzsi via @guardian

“Banks in the City of London have poured more than $100bn (£75bn) into companies developing “carbon bombs” – huge oil, gas and coal projects that would drive the climate past internationally agreed temperature limits with catastrophic global consequences – according to a study.

Nine London-based banks, including HSBC, NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds are involved in financing companies responsible for at least 117 carbon bomb projects in 28 countries between 2016 – the year after the landmark Paris agreement was signed – and 2023, according to the study.”

If the projects go ahead, the study says they will have the potential to produce 420bn tonnes of carbon emissions, equivalent to more than 10 years of current global carbon dioxide emissions.

2. Biodegradable starch-based plastics may not be as safe and health-promoting as originally assumed

“Starch-based microplastics could cause health risks in mice, study finds,” American Chemical Society (9 April 2025).  bit.ly/434MSAr

Microplastics (plastic pieces less than 5 millimeters wide) are entering human bodies through contaminated water supplies, foods and drinks — and even IV infusions. Scientists have linked plastic particles in the bloodstream and tissues to various health risks. For example, a study found that people with inflammatory bowel disease have more microplastics in their feces. Biodegradable plastics have been presented as a safer, more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastics. One of the most common types comes from starch, a carbohydrate found in potatoes, rice and wheat. However, there is a lack of information on how starch-based biodegradable plastics affect the body. A team of researchers led by Deng tackled this issue by exploring these effects in animal trials.

3.  Low emission zones cut air pollution

Luk Bruyneel et al., “Positive impact of the introduction of low-emission zones in Antwerp and Brussels on air quality, socio-economic disparities and health: a quasi-experimental study,” Environment International (May 2025).  bit.ly/43iZYsD

See also, Gary Fuller, “Low emission zones are successful in cutting air pollution, study finds,” The Guardian (15 May 2025) bit.ly/4dIODXX

Focusing on the air pollution exposure of 420,000 of Mutualités Libres’s members, Horemans’s team evaluated the effects of low emission zones in Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent and found that the zones worked. Air pollution decreased faster inside the zones compared with other cities in Belgium. This included particle pollution and nitrogen dioxide. Furthermore, they found that air pollution gains were not just confined to the zones, they also spilled out for at least 3 miles (5km).

4.  The detrimental effects of plastic pollution on marine species.

Alix M. DeJersey, et al., “Seabirds in crisis: Plastic ingestion induces proteomic signatures of multiorgan failure and neurodegeneration,” Science Advances (12 march 2025).  bit.ly/4jgQVO

5.  Penguin Poop May Help Preserve Antarctic Climate

Bob Berwyn, “Penguin Poop May Help Preserve Antarctic Climate” Inside Climate News (22 May 2025).

New study finds that ammonia aerosols from penguin guano likely play an important part in the formation of heat-shielding clouds around the frozen continent.

6.  More precisely determining a ‘safe limit’ for ice sheets

Chris R. stokes, et al., “Warming of +1.5 °C is too high for polar ice sheets,” communications earth & environment (20 May 2025).  go.nature.com/4kHUzm5

Abstract:

“Mass loss from ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica has quadrupled since the 1990s and now represents the dominant source of global mean sea-level rise from the cryosphere. This has raised concerns about their future stability and focussed attention on the global mean temperature thresholds that might trigger more rapid retreat or even collapse, with renewed calls to meet the more ambitious target of the Paris Climate Agreement and limit warming to +1.5 °C above pre-industrial. Here we synthesise multiple lines of evidence to show that +1.5 °C is too high and that even current climate forcing (+1.2 °C), if sustained, is likely to generate several metres of sea-level rise over the coming centuries, causing extensive loss and damage to coastal populations and challenging the implementation of adaptation measures. To avoid this requires a global mean temperature that is cooler than present and which we hypothesise to be closer to +1 °C above pre-industrial, possibly even lower, but further work is urgently required to more precisely determine a ‘safe limit’ for ice sheets.”

7.  Paris Agreement Target for Warming Won’t Protect Polar Ice Sheets

Bob Berwyn, “Paris Agreement Target for Warming Won’t Protect Polar Ice Sheets, Scientists Warn,” Inside Climate Change (21 May 2025)

New research suggests the Earth will pass multiple dangerous tipping points at 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, the U.N. limit exceeded for much of the last two years.

8.  Flooding Caused by Atmospheric River and impact on inland areas

Aman Azhar, “Flooding Caused by Atmospheric River Over Maryland Shows How Climate Change Is Stressing Inland Communities,” Inside Climate News (21 May 2025). bit.ly/3FoeNlW

A flash flood in Allegany and Garrett counties has stretched local emergency systems and emphasizes the need to turn climate resilience planning into tangible action.

9.  Acts of violence against nature

Damien Gayle, “What is ecocide and could it become a crime under international law?” The Guardian (28 May 2025).  bit.ly/3Hgn4ZF

From the legend of the Romans’ salting of the fields of Carthage, to Iraq’s burning of Kuwait’s oilfields, to Israel’s bulldozing of Palestinian olive groves, wanton acts of environmental destruction have long been a military tactic.

But while armies and their leaders have been held to account for the human victims of their violence, the natural world has been a silent victim, often overlooked and disregarded, even when its destruction has had a material impact on the lives of the people it supports.

In recent years, however, a global campaign has been running to recognise “ecocide” – an act of violence which is to nature as genocide is to people – as a crime under international law.

10.  Excess pollution emitted as a result of the Dieselgate scandal

Damian Carrington, “Dieselgate pollution killed 16,000 people in UK, study estimates,” The Guardian (28 May 2025).  bit.ly/43zxGdH

“The excess pollution emitted as a result of the Dieselgate scandal has killed about 16,000 people in the UK and caused 30,000 cases of asthma in children, according to a new analysis. A further 6,000 premature deaths will occur in coming years without action, the researchers said.

The Dieselgate scandal erupted in 2015 when diesel cars were found to be emitting far more toxic air pollution on the roads than when they passed regulatory tests, due to the use of illegal “defeat devices”.

Large fines and compulsory recalls of vehicles to remove or disable the defeat devices took place in the US. But experts say the UK and most EU countries have lagged far behind, leading to devastating impacts on health, and urge immediate action. Many millions of highly polluting diesel vehicles remain on the roads in the UK and EU.”