Flood water covering Worcester racecourse on Monday. Astwood Bank in Worcester has recorded rain every day of the year so far. Photograph: Jacob King/PA
It has rained in parts of the country every day of the year so far and downpours are expected to continue this week
In a “miserable and relentlessly wet” start to the year, rain has fallen somewhere in the UK every single day for weeks on end.
With more than 100 flood warnings in force across the country and further downpours forecast this week, scientists say the atmospheric forces behind Britain’s endless drizzle are the same ones driving devastating floods across Spain and Portugal.
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Is the climate crisis making rainfall worse?
Scientists think fossil fuel pollution is making the jet stream more erratic, allowing extreme weather systems – from heavy rain to heat domes – to become stuck over the same areas for prolonged periods, amplifying their impacts. These so-called blocking systems are expected to become more frequent under medium- and worst-case emissions scenarios.
At the same time, global heating is intensifying rainfall. Warmer air can hold about 7% more moisture for every 1C rise in temperature, a shift that has contributed to increasingly wet UK winters arriving roughly two decades earlier than regional climate models had predicted. In January, however, Arctic air led to slightly cooler temperatures than usual, with high monthly rainfall totals more a result of persistence and duration than intensity.
Scientists project climate breakdown will bring wetter winters and drier summers to the UK. Neumann said: “One positive to come from the recent rainfall is the move to recovery status for UK water resources.” She added that England is now free from drought for the first time since May, with reservoirs and aquifers slowly restocking and recharging to healthy levels.
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Fossil fuel advertising in public spaces will be banned in Amsterdam from May 1, 2026. Credit: World Without Fossil Ads
The world’s largest outdoor advertising company warned city councillors of “far-reaching consequences” hours before the landmark vote.
Amsterdam city council has passed a legally binding ban on advertising for fossil fuels and meat products across public spaces in the city, becoming the first capital in the world to prohibit such ads through local law.
The city council voted 27-17 on Thursday (January 22) to approve the measure, which from May 1 prohibits advertising for high-carbon products and services such as flights, petrol and diesel vehicles, gas heating contracts and meat products across all public spaces in the city, including on buses, trams, and in metro and train stations.
The day before the vote, JCDecaux — the world’s largest outdoor advertising operator, controlling ad space on bus shelters, billboards, and street furniture, all of which are covered by the ban — sent an email to all party groups in the Amsterdam city council, warning the ban would have “far-reaching financial and legal consequences”.
In the email, seen by DeSmog, JCDecaux said it was “deeply concerned” about the proposal and accused councillors of failing to exercise due diligence in preparing the advertising ban, claiming the city had not adequately consulted the industry and created unclear definitions of the restrictions based on “incorrect and incomplete information”.
JCDecaux — which reported global revenues of nearly €4 billion ($4.7 billion) in 2024 — stressed its 40-year partnership with the city and warned that advertising revenue pays for maintenance of public infrastructure. This is a common business model for outdoor advertising companies, which provide and maintain public amenities (such as bus shelters, public toilets, and street furniture) in exchange for the right to sell advertising on them.
In its letter, JCDecaux told city councillors that it manages and maintains 1,500 bus shelters in greater Amsterdam and warned that without advertising revenue these services could come under pressure.
Anke Bakker, Party for the Animals councillor and co-sponsor of the ban, disputed the implication that infrastructure funding was at risk. “I am confident that they will be able to continue filling the advertising space, but with vegetarian and emission-free products,” she said. JCDecaux’s email “illustrates how deeply fossil fuels and meat are rooted in the advertising industry,” Bakker said, adding that there was “widespread support in society” for pro-climate advertising bans.
JCDecaux had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
The ban covers product advertising –– ads for flights, petrol cars, and meat –– but not corporate branding by fossil fuel and aviation companies, which can continue until contracts expire. Fossil fuel companies and other high-carbon industries can still run campaigns in public spaces, as long as they don’t advertise specific products. That continues until Amsterdam’s contract with JCDecaux expires in 2028, after which all corporate advertising will be prohibited under the new terms.
The pushback followed The Hague’s successful defence of its similar legal fossil fuel advertising ban in April this year. Travel industry groups ANVR and TUI sued to overturn The Hague’s ordinance, which prohibits advertising for petrol, diesel, aviation and cruise ships. The court upheld the ban, ruling it complies with EU law and serves a clear public interest in addressing the climate crisis.
“The Hague paved the way for cities to legally install an ad ban for climate-damaging products,” said Rémi ter Haar of campaign group Reclame Fossielvrij, which has spent years pushing for a nationwide fossil fuel advertising ban in the Netherlands.
“That a big city like Amsterdam now follows suit is no small feat and sends the message worldwide that fossil fuel advertising is on its way out, just like tobacco.”
It is not the first time JCDecaux has resisted restrictions on fossil fuel advertising. When Amsterdam first moved to exclude ads on high-carbon products from metro stations in 2020, managing director Hannelore Majoor told Adformatie, a Dutch advertising trade publication, that the measure was “a form of censorship” and complained, “It’s not our role to decide on communication for products that aren’t prohibited.”
‘Drawing a Clear Line’
Advertising for fossil fuel-intensive products and by fossil fuel companies has come under growing scrutiny for normalising climate-damaging consumption and undermining government climate policies.
Multiple Dutch government advisory bodies haverecommended restricting both product advertising (such as for flights and petrol cars) and corporate brand advertising by oil and gas companies as essential climate measures.
The ban goes considerably further than Amsterdam’s landmark 2020 decision to voluntarily exclude fossil fuel ads from metro stations. Unlike voluntary agreements, the ban is written into Amsterdam’s APV – the local ordinance governing public order and safety in Dutch municipalities.
Violations will incur administrative fines, though the specific penalty has not yet been determined. The city expects enforcement to be largely complaint-based, with officials expecting advertising companies to comply without needing enforcement.
A narrow exemption allows businesses to advertise at their own physical premises, meaning a local butcher can display meat promotions in their shop window, but oil and gas companies, and other high-carbon industries cannot buy billboard space across the city –– even to advertise renewable energy initiatives or sustainability programmes.
Creatives for Climate, a global network that coordinated an open letter signed by almost 100 advertising professionals, backed the ban. Community Manager Andrea Mancuso said it represented the industry holding itself accountable: “Advertising doesn’t just sell products, it grants social licence. Our network backed this ban because they know that promoting fossil fuels undermines climate action and public trust.”
The letter noted that Amsterdam’s 2020 commitment to ban fossil fuel advertising in metro stations had “sent a powerful signal” globally but remained “unfinished”, with fossil fuel ads still promoting flights, cruises, high-emission vehicles, and gas contracts across the city. “As the first capital city in the world to legally ban fossil fuel and meat advertising, Amsterdam is drawing a clear line,” Mancuso said.
The city’s metro station ban sparked a global movement, with Sydney, Edinburgh, and Stockholm among the cities to introduce similar voluntary restrictions on municipal advertising spaces.
Several Dutch cities have adopted legally binding bans through local ordinances which prohibit fossil fuel ads, regardless of existing contracts. The Hague was the first to use this approach in 2024. Utrecht and Bloemendaal followed with legal bans in 2025, upgrading their earlier contract-based restrictions.
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As rivers swell and homes are cut off, scientists say UK winter rainfall is already 20 years ahead of predictions
When flooding hit the low-lying Somerset Levels in 2014, it took two months for the waters to rise. This week it took two days, said Rebecca Horsington, chair of the Flooding on the Levels Action Group and a born-and-bred resident. A fierce barrage of storms from the Atlantic has drenched south-west England in January, saturating soils and supercharging rivers.
“It’s déjà vu,” she said. “The stress and anxiety is palpable in the community. We’ve all been here before, we know what happens and it shouldn’t. But since 2014, the weather events are becoming more and more frequent and the rain just dumps now.”
The climate crisis is here and now and this is its face in Britain, scientists told the Guardian. But the devastating impacts are accelerating faster than the work to keep communities protected, they said: torrential winter rains are arriving 20 years earlier than climate models projected. While those forced from homes engulfed by filthy water are suffering today, a darker question is looming: will some settlements have to be abandoned?
Storm Chandra, which pummelled the south-west this week, followed hot on the heels of Storms Goretti and Ingrid. New 24-hour rainfall records were set in places in Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. Setting new records is the new normal in the climate crisis.
Somerset council declared a major incident on Tuesday and across the south-west homes and businesses were flooded, communities cut off, schools closed, trains cancelled and dozens of people were rescued from stranded vehicles.
“These events are getting more frequent and more serious,” said Bryony Sadler, a hairdresser from Moorland, a village on the Levels. She was planning an evacuation of her family and animals when the Guardian spoke to her this week as the waters rose. “The rain is heavier and more intense, the winds stronger.”
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Green party leader Zack Polanski (Green Party of England and Wales). Image: Bristol Green Party Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
The Green Party of England and Wales has announced it has surged past 80,000 members on the first day of the Labour Party conference – a record high for the party. The announcement was made by Green Party Leader, Zack Polanski, speaking at a campaign event in North London.
The new membership record marks a near 20% increase in membership since Polanski was elected leader less than a month ago. Green Party leader Zack Polanski said
“This is a huge milestone for the Green Party of England and Wales. The tired, old two-party system is over. More and more people are looking to a politics rooted in tackling the climate crisis and inequality. The Green Party is the party that wants to bring water into public hands, wants to lower bills, and wants to protect our National Health Service. Our party conference is just a week away. Our membership growth is a fantastic foundation from which to deepen our roots in local communities and build a bolder politics. This is just the beginning, and we have no time to waste.”
Zack Polanski said before the Labour Party conference opening, “When I said we intend to replace Labour, I meant it. As another Labour conference comes round, it’s another emergency government reset. It just confirms what we already know: Labour has failed. By his own standards, Starmer has broken the promises he was elected on, ditched the principles he claimed to stand for, and his government has made inequality worse, ignored the climate crisis and contributed to arming a genocidal Israeli government. And for all the talk, this conference isn’t a vision for the future. It’s a desperate attempt to rewrite the past.”
“People are crying out for bold leadership, not cautious tinkering. This will probably be Starmer’s last conference. Labour’s future candidates aren’t offering any of the solutions we need. The Green Party is offering these solutions. A wealth tax on the super-rich, investment in public services and action to protect our climate. We are ready to turn this country around by offering a bold, positive alternative to a crumbling Labour government.”
A Greenpeace sign projected on a building says, “Stop Drilling-Start Paying”—a message directed at the world’s fossil fuel companies. (Photo: Greenpeace)
“Pressure is mounting on today’s politicians to hold those most responsible for the climate crisis to account,” said one Greenpeace campaigner.
Thirty-eight former world leaders on Wednesday used the occasion of the United Nations General Assembly this week in New York—as well as other global summits on the horizon—to demand a new global framework for steeper taxes on the world’s wealthiest and most powerful fossil fuel giants to pay for an urgent transition away from dirty energy sources toward a healthier planet and more equitable economy.
Under the auspices of the nonpartisan Club de Madrid, the world’s largest forum of former democratically-elected presidents and prime ministers, an open letter—signed by Carlos Alvarado, former President of Costa Rica; Mari Kiviniemi, former Prime Minister of Finland; Chandrika Kumaratunga, former President of Sri Lanka; former UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon; and dozens of others—calls the climate crisis “a defining challenge of our time” and urges current leaders to “place the question of fair taxation of fossil fuel company profits firmly on national and international agendas” before it is too late.
“With wealthier countries leading by example,” say the leaders, increased taxation of the world’s coal, oil, and gas giants coupled with a redirection of taxpayer subsidies away from the fossil fuel sector and toward a just renewable energy transition “could be transformative, enabling a faster and fairer global transition and strengthening public trust that climate action can deliver tangible benefits for all.”
“Taxing fossil fuel profits is not only fair—it is also essential to ease the economic burden of the climate crisis, felt by ordinary people through higher food prices, lost working days, pressure on energy bills and higher home insurance premiums.”
Citing the need for global cooperation and ambition to address the warming planet and ongoing climate breakdown, the open letter states:
It is time to consider innovative solutions that can simultaneously establish a clear incentive for companies to shift investment to renewable energy as quickly as possible, while mobilising significant funds to address climate damages and advance both equality and equity. Today, we call on you to consider permanent polluter profit taxes applied to high-emitting industries, designed to ensure contributions come from those with the greatest capacity to pay rather than from ordinary consumers of fossil fuels. With wealthier countries leading by example, these taxes should place the primary responsibility on those with the greatest capacity, not on middle- and low-income communities.
The former world leaders acknowledge the strain governments feel about generating the necessary revenue, estimated at approximately $6.5 trillion per year by 2030, to fund the rapid transition scientists and experts say is necessary to avoid the worst future impacts of an increasingly hotter planet. However, they argue that the polluting companies that have profited most from the fossil fuel era are best positioned to foot the bill, and that the cost of action is far less than the cost of fixing the damage that future climate change will cause if left unaddressed.
“During the oil and gas price crisis in 2022, many governments implemented windfall taxes. We must consider making such approaches permanent,” the letter argues. “A polluter profits tax modestly applied to normal returns and significantly higher on windfall gains could, if applied just to oil, coal, and gas companies, generate up to $400 billion in its first year.”
Rebecca Newsom, Greenpeace International’s global political lead for its “Stop Drilling Start Paying” campaign, said the letter represents what real leadership looks like and that forcing fossil fuel giants to pay higher taxes to help solve the planetary crisis their insatiable greed has spurred has never been more popular with the people worldwide.
“This is a powerful call from former world leaders to make oil and gas corporations pay their fair share for the destruction they have caused,” said Newsom.
Noting recent survey data, Newsom said 8 out of 10 people around the world now “support taxing these polluters for climate damages—the backing of former political leaders adds more weight to this urgent demand.”
“Pressure is mounting on today’s politicians to hold those most responsible for the climate crisis to account,” she said. “Taxing fossil fuel profits is not only fair—it is also essential to ease the economic burden of the climate crisis, felt by ordinary people through higher food prices, lost working days, pressure on energy bills and higher home insurance premiums.”
With the upcoming G20 summit in South Africa and the UN Global Tax Convention in Kenya, both scheduled for November, the former world leaders say the moment is right for global leaders to finally show urgency on the issue.
“The world has the tools, the knowledge, and the resources to act,” their letter concludes. “What is needed now is the political courage to ensure that those with the greatest capacity contribute their fair share. This will not only advance climate justice but also strengthen the foundations of a more stable, resilient, and prosperous global economy.”
Greenpeace’s Newsom said the message is clear. “Governments must find the courage to decisively tax oil and gas corporations and redirect those funds towards a just transition away from fossil fuels and a safe future in the face of a climate crisis.”
