The number of people employed by the government to work on the UK's response to the effects of climate change has been cut from 38 officials to just six, triggering accusations that David Cameron's promise to be the greenest government has been abandoned. The UK is facing a multi-billion pound bill over the next few years for the costs of adapting to the effects of climate change – including floo ... read more >>

One in four London properties, collectively worth around £250bn, are at risk of flooding, according to official assessments of the dangers now facing homes in England and Wales. Ten of the top 25 most at-risk local authority areas across England and Wales are now London boroughs. The environment agency's 2013 national flood risk assessment, unpublished but seen by the Guardian, shows that London ... read more >>

A melt of ice on Greenland and Antarctica is likely to be less severe than expected this century, limiting sea level rise to a maximum of 69 cm (27 inches), an international study said on Tuesday. Even so, such a rise could dramatically change coastal environments in the lifetimes of people born today with ever more severe storm surges and erosion, according to the ice2sea project by 24, mostly E ... read more >>

With a barrage of legal briefs, a coalition of business groups and Republican-leaning states are taking their fight against Obama administration climate change regulations to the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups, along with states such as Texas and Virginia, have filed nine petitions in recent weeks asking the justices to review four U.S. Environmental Pr ... read more >>

China's environment ministry has given the go-ahead for the construction of what will become the country's tallest hydroelectric dam despite acknowledging it will have an impact on plants and rare fish. The dam, with a height of 314 meters (1,030 feet), will serve the Shuangjiangkou hydropower project on the Dadu River in southwestern Sichuan province. To be built over 10 years by a subsidiary of ... read more >>

The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program is gaining traction in corporate and public buildings because it provides optimum performance and energy efficiency, Daniel Schneckenburger writes. While opponents from chemical and forestry groups criticize LEED, but the bipartisan Shaheen-Portman bill in the Senate promotes LEED for use by manufacturers, in building codes and in government building ... read more >>

Several tornadoes ripped through North Texas Wednesday, knocking out electrical power, ripping off roofs, flattening homes, overturning vehicles, and leaving six people dead and many others injured. Power could be out for up to three weeks. Meanwhile, a group of tornado experts met in Charlotte, N.C., to discuss ways to make communities more resistant to extreme weather ... read more >>

A Japanese nuclear reactor is said to stand on fault line, therefore authorities ordered the shutdown of the nuclear reactor. This is the first reactor to shutdown after the Fukushima crisis two years ago. ... read more >>

A pocket of water some 2.6 billion years old — the most ancient pocket of water known by far, older even than the dawn of multicellular life — has now been discovered in a mine 2 miles below the Earth's surface.

The finding, announced in the May 16 issue of the journal Nature, raises the tantalizing possibility that ancient life might be found deep underground not only within Earth, but in sim ... read more >>

Householders whose homes have previously been flooded are seeking advice in record numbers over fears they will not be able to buy insurance from July onwards. The National Flood Forum (NFF) charity said the number of calls to its helpline trebled in the past year, with some callers reporting huge rises in the cost of their cover, and others saying they were unable to sell their properties. ... read more >>