Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Amazon, Google and Microsoft are building datacentres in water-scarce parts of five continents Amazon, Microsoft and Google are operating datacentres that use vast amounts of water in some of the world’s driest areas and are building many more, an investigation by SourceMaterial and the Guardian has found. With Donald Trump pledging to support them, the three technology giants are planning hundreds of datacentres in the US and across the globe, with a potentially huge impact on populations already living with water scarcity. Continue reading...

Heads of 32 charities warn proposals could push species towards extinction and lead to irreversible habitat loss The heads of 32 UK nature organisations have written to the government warning that the planning bill “throws environmental protection to the wind”. The planning and infrastructure bill, which is at committee stage in parliament, aims to streamline regulations for developers so they can speed up their projects. Continue reading...

Surangel Whipps Jr also strongly backs Australia’s bid to host a UN climate conference Election 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaign Get our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcast The president of Palau has delivered a pointed barb at Peter Dutton while strongly backing an Australian bid to host a UN climate conference on behalf of the Pacific, arguing that it would boost regional solidarity and he would be “deeply disappointed” if the attempt was abandoned under the Coalition. Speaking at a renewable energy conference in Sydney on Wednesday, Surangel Whipps Jr described seeing two-thirds of an island in his archipelago country disappear under water in his lifetime. “For those of us in the Pacific who have lived through storm surges, rising ocean levels and increasingly high tides, the phrase ‘water lapping at our door’ is not a metaphor or a punchline. It’s our fear and reality,” he said. Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter Continue reading...

Outcry as CNN reports president to stop funds for program that would have created jobs in Middletown, Ohio Despite promises to bolster the US manufacturing industry, the Trump administration is reportedly planning to cut a key program that invests in some of the biggest manufacturing industries in the US, including in JD Vance’s home town of Middletown, Ohio. Donald Trump is looking to slash a $500m grant from the Biden administration that was slated for Cleveland-Cliffs, a steel manufacturing giant in America’s rust belt, according to reporting from CNN. The grant was intended to help the company upgrade its ageing blast furnaces, so they would be powered by hydrogen, natural gas and electricity instead of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. Continue reading...