World's largest offshore wind farm and other environment stories to read this week

Norway's state-owned coal company has announced it will extend production at its last mine in the Arctic Svalbard archipelago until mid-2025 in order to ensure continued supplies to European steel makers during a time of war.

England had its joint hottest summer on record, the Met Office national forecaster said on 1 September, citing provisional data in a series that goes back to 1884.

Fires in Brazil's Amazon rainforest surged in August to the highest for the month since 2010, government data showed on 31 August.

The UK's climate envoy, Alok Sharma, has warned that some of the world's major economies are "backsliding" on emissions commitments.

Californian lawmakers have approved a series of climate-related measures, including allocating more than $50 billion to clean-energy investments, codifying a mandate to achieve economy-wide carbon neutrality by 2045, and setting a target of generating 90% of its electricity from clean sources by 2035.

Demand for solar panels has risen in the United Kingdom, with one supplier saying it had seen a tenfold increase in enquires. It's thought to be in response to rising energy costs.

Cyclists demonstrated in Germany on 28 August, calling for improved public transport and cycle lanes. Around 8,500 cyclist took over a stretch of the country's Autobahn.

The world's largest offshore wind farm is now fully operational off the coast of the United Kingdom.

A new study has warned that Switzerland's melting glaciers could threaten Europe's water supply.

Israel will ban Boeing 747 and similar aircraft with four engines as of March 31, 2023 to reduce noise and air pollution, its airports authority said on 4 September.

The La Niña weather pattern will last until at least the end of the year, becoming the first time this century it will have spanned three consecutive northern winters, the World Meteorological Organization predicted on 31 August.

La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific strengthened as trade winds intensified in mid-July to mid-August, affecting temperatures and precipitation patterns and exacerbating drought and flooding in different parts of the world.

The WMO's El Nino/La Nina Update foresaw the current La Niña - which started in September 2020 - continuing over the next six months, with a 70% chance in September-November 2022 and decreasing to 55% in December-February 2022-2023.

La Niña refers to the cooling of ocean surface temperatures coupled with winds and rainfall. It usually has the opposite impact on weather and climate as El Niño, which is the warm phase of the so-called El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). "It is exceptional to have three consecutive years with a La Niña event. Its cooling influence is temporarily slowing the rise in global temperatures – but it will not halt or reverse the long-term warming trend," WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement.

A new report has warned that insured losses from floods doubled to $80 billion globally during 2011-2020 compared to the previous decade, but insurance penetration lingered at just 18%.

The report, produced by the Swiss Re Institute, found that insurance coverage has remained dangerously low, despite climate change driving an increased likelihood of high-intensity heavy rains and short-duration flood events. As a result, there are higher associated flood-related losses.

This year heavy rains have triggered floods that inundated cities in China and South Korea and disrupted water and electricity supply in India, while drought has put farmers' harvests at risk across Europe.

"The recent events in Kentucky, Mississippi and Texas are a sad reminder of how devastating floods can be to our lives," Keith Wolfe, president U.S. P&C, Swiss Re, told Reuters.

"Despite the private flood insurance market gaining traction over the last few years, too many people are still not covered for flooding and the majority of those impacted by these events are uninsured, leaving them to pick up the pieces at their own expense."