The Independent announces the return of its acclaimed Climate 100 List
Increasingly frequently, the world is suffering from more wild fires, flash floods, droughts, and hurricanes, caused by the human-induced climate crisis.
Recent data from Nasa revealed a dramatic rise in the intensity of extreme weather events which are happening more regularly, are lasting for a longer period of time and are more severe, such as the LA fires in January that devastated tens of thousands of homes, recent deadly flooding in Beijing, and long heatwaves in the Nordic countries that even reach the Arctic Circle.
Across the US, ‘heat streaks‘ are on the rise, a phenomenon that’s seeing an increase in the number of consecutive hot days across its cities, with life-threatening temperatures. It’s becoming a pattern as for the second year running, the planet has reached record temperatures, following 2024 becoming the warmest year on record.
Alongside the physical extremes on the environment, the effects of the USA’s climate-sceptic administration’s rollbacks are already being felt. Cuts to overseas aid, which many conservation areas like Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park rely on, as do vulnerable nations like Malawi who are now struggling to prepare for climate disasters, will have long-lasting and devastating effects.
Despite more awareness than ever, the climate crisis is only worsening and it’s never felt more urgent to react. The Independent has long been at the forefront of calling for action and change when it comes to the climate, as well as reliably reporting on the severity of the global climate crisis.
It’s this understanding and commitment to resolving the issues that sees the important return of The Independent’s Climate 100 List. Back for its second year, it will be published again next month, aptly during the United Nations’ Summit of the Future in New York, part of the 16th annual Climate Week NYC.
The list brings together 100 changemaking and inspiring people to celebrate their contributions in finding positive climate solutions. From around the globe, it includes those who have dedicated their lives to the cause, as well as lesser known newcomers to the movement who need their voices heard and actions seen, across industries as broad as science to activism, food to politics, and business to entertainment, to name a few.
We want to continue to celebrate their courage, innovation and much-needed efforts in paving the way for a cleaner and greener future for the next generation.
The unveiling of the list will also align with the Climate 100 event held in New York, hosted by The Independent’s Editor-in-Chief, Geordie Greig, bringing together global changemakers, business leaders, scientists, policymakers, and activists.
Geordie Grieg, Editor-in-Chief of The Independent, says: “Now in the second year of Climate 100, we are excited to continue honoring leaders who are not just raising the alarm, but driving the solutions our planet urgently needs.”
The list is compiled by a team at The Independent, but as we know three out of four of our readers consider themselves to be environmentally friendly, a key part of the list is the Reader’s Choice category, which is returning after last year’s success.
We’re once again asking you, the readers, to get involved and submit your unsung climate hero – someone who has made a significant contribution to protecting the environment through their work and deserves to be properly recognised for it. Perhaps it’s a colleague, a classmate, a mentor, a peer or even a friend or family member.
Submit your nominations for The Independent’s Climate 100 List using the form below – and stay tuned: the full list lands in mid-September.
‘Banksying’ is the cruel new dating trend you need to know about
Recently, I watched a few episodes of Sex and the City with teenagers. There were obvious revelations in the room: the girls were baffled as to why someone would choose to walk around a city in vertiginous heels, for example; as generations before them have been, they were of course stumped by Carrie Bradshaw’s confounding finances. But the biggest eye-opener – at least for me – was the stark (and, sometimes, downright cruel) differences in dating.
Because, while dating – and, along with it, investment and effort made in the pursuit of love – used to be necessary, for Gen Z and, soon, Gen A, dating has become more or less obsolete.
You don’t need to go on a date to discover someone’s likes or dislikes – you can chat on Snap. You don’t need to get excited about how cute they might look in a new dress or pair of jeans, because they’re all over Insta, and even sex in an age of sexting, porn, and hook-up app culture seems to have lost some of its exciting appeal for the younger generations. And this, in turn, has given way to a heartless dating game with its own language, rules and rituals.
Some of it is now well-established – we’ve all heard of (and maybe experienced) ghosting, when the person you’ve been dating (or just chatting to, which in modern terms is often a substitute for dating in old terms) completely vanishes, cutting off all contact.
Breadcrumbing – where the object of your affections doesn’t quite ghost you but pops up occasionally with a morsel of contact, therefore maintaining a sliver of connection and hope – is similar. Less well known is throning, a bizarrely modern concept that sees someone date another purely for social or financial clout.
Then I spoke to Rhiannon. She’s a 22-year-old who had been dating her partner Amir for almost a year – they’d met each other’s families, lived together at university and had been planning on going travelling. Until, completely out of the blue, Amir ended their relationship. “I was beyond upset,” she tells me, “but what really tipped me over was when my friends saw Amir on TikTok (he blocked me) explaining to his followers how he’d done it.
“He’d basically been withdrawing from the relationship for over six months using advice from ChatGPT and his online ‘bro’ workout communities, so he was prepared for the emotional fallout. I wasn’t, and all the commenters online were laughing at me and congratulating him on his ‘strategy’. I threw up when I saw it.”
Rhiannon had been the victim of “Banksying”, a cruel dating phenomenon named after the British street artist, whereby one of the partners in a relationship is blindsided by a sudden and unexpected dumping that’s been planned by the other partner for weeks or even months, often using AI and online communities for advice on how to execute this.
The level of glee and cruelty I see on the video Rhiannon speaks about is pretty shocking, but typical: the consensus often seems to be the victim “deserved” the treatment, but in Rhiannon’s case (and many of the others), her transgression seems to be nothing more than being a good, loving girlfriend who was into Amir and their relationship.
And this is the crux of the problem. In an era of hostile algorithms, the manosphere, the femosphere and influencers who paint an extremely toxic view of the opposite sex, young people are coming of dating age in an atmosphere that’s less Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, and more akin to a gender civil war, where the opposing side must not only be heartbroken, but punished and vanquished.
Girls are being told at an impressionable age that “all men are trash” and boys are being told that girls are “scheming b*****s” by people they follow and admire and so it’s unsurprising that they view dating less as a pleasurable pursuit and more as a game of tactics where the goal is not to fall in love, but to win. Even Love Island, the wildly popular dating show, has seemed less about silly games and hookups this year, and more about oppositional solidarity between the young men and women. This year seems to firmly suggest, young dating is not just in a problematic state, but a downright hostile, nasty one that will view Banksying, ghosting, breadcrumbing and throning as fair game.
But dating isn’t a game and shouldn’t be viewed as one – despite what over a decade of influencers have been telling younger generations. At its best, dating is a nerve-wracking, butterfly-inducing, risk-taking appetiser to most great relationships. The time and effort signified not just to the other person but to yourself that this might be something worthwhile, and it also built the foundation of good connections.
It’s a time and space, where you were both at your best and could figure out compatibility and chemistry in all kinds of areas without the need for an algorithm or matchup – something essential for any couple who were going to go the distance.
It is no coincidence that as younger generations become more estranged from the old rituals of dating and courtship, there are serious long-term consequences. Younger people are putting off (or being put off) coupling up and having children. By 2084, the UN predicts, “The global population will officially begin its decline. Rich countries will all have become like Japan, stagnant and ageing. And the rest of the world will have become old before it ever got the chance to become rich.”
Of course, there are other important factors at play in the stagnating populations – economics, access to contraception, changing attitudes to having children. But we shouldn’t underestimate how much of an important building block the attitude to dating and relationships is in our stability as a society, both now and in the future.
If Gen Z and Gen A believe they don’t like or respect each other enough to safely date each other, let alone form serious, trusting, long-lasting relationships, the long-term consequences are potentially catastrophic.
I ask Rhiannon (who’s highly dateable – she’s bright, beautiful and kind) if she’s planning on re-entering the dating scene and her response is depressing. “No, I don’t think so. I feel like dating is over. Everybody finds it sad, depressing and at worst, humiliating. It’s like we’ve all become strangers who don’t trust each other and don’t like each other much, but are vaguely aware we’re still required to have sex with each other and live with each other at some point in the future. I can’t see that happening.”
I wonder if the real Banksy could paint that sentiment in a mural?
Thousands of passengers disrupted at Birmingham Airport after emergency landing chaos
Thousands of passengers are still facing disruption after all flights were suspended at Birmingham Airport on Wednesday due to an “aircraft incident”.
A light aircraft was forced to do an emergency landing at the airport while en route to Belfast International Airport when developed landing gear problems.
Although the airport has reopened its runway and resumed operations, weary passengers are struggling to reach their holiday destinations or to return home as further flights on Thursday are grounded or heavily delayed.
Woodgate Aviation, the owner of the plane, said “The aircraft returned to Birmingham and made an emergency landing and the main under-carriage collapsed on touch down.”
The airport has asked that all passengers check flight details with their airlines and follow advice issued by them.
Police have confirmed one person was left with minor injuries following the incident.
Pictures on social media appear to show a small propeller plane on the runway, with emergency services in attendance.
How the Championship’s compelling and cruel nature delivers every time
After an indictment of the Championship, its advertisement came shortly after. Its last three escapees procured just 59 Premier League points between them and were swiftly cast back to the Football League. Yet Tommy Watson’s injury-time play-off winner for Sunderland showed the Championship in its full glory: the drama and the dream, the £200m reward for promotion, but also the emotion.
And, crucially, the unpredictability. Sunderland’s promotion without the benefit of parachute payments offered hope for the Championship’s upwardly mobile middle class; it was less good news for Chris Wilder, sacked by Sheffield United. Luton’s relegation back to League One, with parachute payments, showed the Championship can be both compelling and cruel.
Last year’s division was both tight, with only 20 points separating demoted Luton from fifth-place Coventry, and subject to a rare level of domination, with Leeds and Burnley twinned on 100 points at the top.
So to the 2025-26 Championship, to the familiar assortment of the ambitious and the expensive, the impatient and the impoverished.
The division starts with the familiar expectation that, in footballing gravity, what has come down must go back up, but also the potential that those who have come up, in Birmingham City and Wrexham, may be expected to do the same. It also begins with 11 managerial changes.
Two of them are among the outcasts from the Premier League. Marti Cifuentes has been tasked with emulating Enzo Maresca at Leicester, but becomes the club’s sixth manager in under three years and starts with the handicap of a potential points deduction, after Leicester were charged with a PSR breach in 2023-24.
While there have been a few arrivals and, aside from Jamie Vardy, few notable departures, the squad still boasts plenty of quality.
Southampton hired the managerial wunderkind Will Still, in charge of a fifth club at just 32. It could be seen as a dramatic response to a calamitous season or the best appointment they could make in the circumstances. After getting just 12 points, it is a peculiarity that their last two managers, Russell Martin and Ivan Juric, could both manage in the Champions League this season.
In the Championship, Saints will be without Aaron Ramsdale, Kyle Walker-Peters, Jan Bednarek, Adam Lallana, Kamaldeen Sulemana and Paul Onuachu, presumably with a couple more departures to follow. But some players who seemed to inhabit the no-man’s land of being too good for the Championship and not good enough for the Premier League. Certainly, an attacking contingent of Adam Armstrong, Ben Brereton Diaz, Cameron Archer and Ross Stewart belong in that category; the young American Damion Downs, a £7m buy, could be another source of goals.
Then there is Ipswich, with continuity in the dugout under Kieran McKenna, and much on the pitch. Liam Delap has left, and Omari Hutchinson may follow, but part of their recruitment last year was to sign the Championship all-stars, which should stand them in good stead. They look set to be joined by the 2022-23 Championship player of the year, Chuba Akpom, while Ashley Young won promotion from the division in 2006 and is older than his manager.
Ipswich may look the likeliest bet for promotion. Their journey from League One to the Premier League in successive seasons in 2022-23 and 2023-24 may offer encouragement to Birmingham and Wrexham.
The Blues come fresh from earning 111 points last season and a manager in Chris Davies, who has a similar career path to McKenna, as a highly-rated coach at a top club. Birmingham have bought the former Celtic forward Kyogo Furuhashi, and alongside Jay Stansfield, gives them considerable firepower. While bringing back Demarai Gray, at 29, shows an immediate determination to get promotion.
Wrexham, meanwhile, have the Hollywood owners and the least Hollywood of managers, in Phil Parkinson. Their income is boosted by their commercial appeal, and some of it is being spent on a series of signings. Conor Coady may be both the most high-profile and the loudest but it is worth remembering this is just the second spell in the second tier in their history and that, three years ago, they were in non-league. In clashes of clubs who have travelled in opposite directions, it scarcely feels a coincidence that the first games of the season are Birmingham against Ipswich and Wrexham’s trip to Southampton.
Yet the 18 clubs that went neither up nor down may look at Sunderland, and their influence might be seen across the division. Some of the managerial newcomers look like attempts to find their own Regis Le Bris. QPR went for Julien Stephan, another Rennes alumnus, to take over from Cifuentes. Sergey Jakirovic has become the latest in an eclectic line of Hull appointments. Paulo Pezzolano, deemed a promotion specialist, was hired by Watford, which tends to be a precursor to being fired by Watford.
Sheffield United replaced Wilder with Ruben Selles, looking for more AI-led recruitment; artificial intelligence led them to the Bulgarian market. The Spaniard may have traded up in the division, but there was intrigue in Liam Manning leaving play-off finishers Bristol City, for Norwich, who came in the bottom half despite having two of the four top scorers. It spoke to the untapped potential at Carrow Road. It is a boost, though perhaps only a temporary one, that Josh Sargent has stayed while the Canaries are looking for new signing Mathias Kvistgarden to replace Borja Sainz.
Among last season’s other underachievers, Ryan Mason gets his first managerial job at West Bromwich Albion. Middlesbrough have brought in Rob Edwards, who played a part in Luton’s exit from the division in each direction, for Michael Carrick.
Carrick may have underperformed last season, but not as much as an old teammate. Thus far, however, no one has made the mistake of appointing Wayne Rooney. Frank Lampard has been lazily lumped in with some of England’s golden generation as they stumbled in various dugouts, but he had a transformative impact at Coventry last season.
In a division where the majority of teams are evenly matched, the right choice, coupled with momentum, can make a difference. Lampard’s predecessor, Mark Robins, might end Stoke’s status as the division’s annual disappointments. Millwall’s club-record buy of Josh Coburn shows their goals too.
There were, though, too few goals last season, with just 2.45 per game, down from 2.68 per game in 2023-24. And it was not just because of Burnley’s astonishing total of 30 clean sheets. Parsimony paid off for them. Others are forced into frugality.
Hull have a transfer embargo, meaning they cannot buy. Sheffield Wednesday are in more desperate straits as owner Dejphon Chansiri’s reign unravels. Their transfer embargo is compounded by the exits of unpaid players and the manager, Danny Rohl, leaving his replacement Henrik Pedersen with a horribly thin squad, despite the admirable loyalty of Barry Bannan. The enforced closure of the North Stand at Hillsborough on safety grounds has not helped matters. A club is in crisis. While others imagine going up, the season begins with the probability that an increasingly beleaguered Wednesday will go down.
Shroud of Turin imprint might not be from human body, study finds
The imprint of a human-like figure on the Shroud of Turin may have come from a shallow sculpture and not an actual person, according to a new study that sheds more light on the world’s most studied archaeological artefact.
The shroud measuring 14ft by 3.6ft first emerged in the 1350s, bearing the faint image of a man that many believe to be the imprint of Jesus Christ.
It displays the frontal and dorsal figures of an adult man with signs of physical violence.
Researchers have long debated the origin of the linen cloth, with some dating it to around the time of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and others deeming it a medieval forgery.
Now, a study by a Brazilian designer claims the shroud is most likely “a medieval work of art”.
Cicero Morares is known for using 3D digital modelling to analyse how different types of cloth drape over various shapes or figures and to map their respective contact areas.
The study, published in the journal Archaeometry, employs an open-source software to assess how fabric forms impressions from a full three-dimensional human body as compared to a low-relief sculpture formed by raising a figure slightly from a flat background.
“Two scenarios were compared,” the study says, “the projection of a three-dimensional human model and that of a low-relief model.”
The low-relief figure produced an imprint on the fabric similar to that on the Turin shroud. “The results demonstrate that the contact pattern generated by the low-relief model is more compatible with the Shroud’s image,” it concludes.
Morares says the scenario of fabric contouring a low-relief sculpture shows greater similarity to the observed contours on the shroud while the projection of a 3D human body results in a “significantly distorted image”.
The designer suspects such a sculpture may have been made of wood, stone or metal and likely pigmented only in the areas of contact to produce the kind of pattern seen on the shroud.
“The accessible and replicable methodology suggests that the shroud’s image is more consistent with an artistic low-relief representation than with the direct imprint of a real human body,” the study says.
The findings, according to the Brazilian researcher, supports a hypothesis of the shroud’s origin “as a medieval work of art”.
Trump’s new tariffs now in force against scores of countries
Sweeping new global tariffs imposed by Donald Trump have come into force today as the US president escalates his trade war against scores of countries.
US Customs and Border Protection agency began collecting the higher tariffs from 12.01am on Thursday after weeks of suspense and frantic negotiations with major trading partners.
Imports from many countries had previously been subject to a baseline 10 per cent import duty after Trump paused higher rates announced in early April. But since then, Trump has frequently modified his tariff plan, slapping some countries with much higher rates.
This includes a 50 per cent tariff for goods from Brazil, 39 per cent from Switzerland, 35 per cent from Canada and 25 per cent from India.
He announced a separate 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods on Wednesday to be imposed in 21 days over the country’s purchases of Russian oil.
Other potential tariffs of up to 200 per cent on pharmaceutical imports and a 100 per cent import tax on computer chips have been imposed. Most US imports of copper, steel, and aluminium are now also subject to a 50 per cent duty.
Ahead of the deadline, Trump heralded the “billions of dollars” that would flow into the US, largely from countries that he claims had taken advantage of the United States.
“THE ONLY THING THAT CAN STOP AMERICA’S GREATNESS WOULD BE A RADICAL LEFT COURT THAT WANTS TO SEE OUR COUNTRY FAIL!” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social.
Despite the economic pressures, global financial markets took Thursday’s tariff adjustments in stride, with Asian shares and US futures mostly higher.
The tariffs announced on August 1 apply to 66 countries, Taiwan and the Falkland Islands. They are a revised version of what Trump called “reciprocal tariffs,” announced on April 2: import taxes of up to 50% on goods from countries that have a trade surplus with the United States, along with 10% “baseline’’ taxes on almost everyone else. That move triggered sell-offs in financial markets and Trump backtracked to allow time for trade talks.
The president has bypassed Congress, which has authority over taxes, by invoking a 1977 law to declare the trade deficit a national emergency. That’s being challenged in court, but the revised tariffs still took effect.
To keep their access to the huge American market, major trading partners have struck deals with Trump. The United Kingdom agreed to 10% tariffs and the European Union, South Korea and Japan accepted U.S. tariffs of 15%. Those are much higher than the low single-digit rates they paid last year, but down from the 30% Trump had ordered for the EU and the 25% he ordered for Japan.
Countries in Africa and Asia are mostly facing lower rates than the ones Trump decreed in April. Thailand, Pakistan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines cut deals with Trump, settling for rates of around 20%.
Indonesia views its 19% tariff deal as a leg up against exporters in other countries that will have to pay slightly more, said Fithra Faisal Hastiadi, a spokesperson in the Indonesian president’s office.
“We were competing against Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and China … and they are all subject to higher reciprocal tariffs,” Hastiadi said. “We believe we will stay competitive.”
Trump has yet to announce whether he will extend an August 12 deadline for reaching a trade agreement with China that would forestall earlier threats of tariffs of up to 245%.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the president is deciding about another 90-day delay to allow time to work out details of an agreement setting tariffs on most products at 50%, including extra import duties related to illicit trade in fentanyl.
Higher import taxes on small parcels from China have hurt smaller factories and layoffs have accelerated, leaving some 200 million workers reliant on “flexible work” — the gig economy — for their livelihoods, the government estimates.
India also has no broad trade agreement with Trump. On Wednesday, Trump he signed an executive order placing an extra 25% tariff for its purchases of Russian oil, bringing combined U.S. tariffs to 50%.
India’s Foreign Ministry has stood firm, saying it began importing oil from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict, a “necessity compelled by the global market situation.”
Struggling, impoverished Laos and war-torn Myanmar and Syria face 40-41% rates.
Trump whacked Brazil with a 50% import tax largely because he is unhappy with its treatment of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
South Africa said the steep 30% rate Trump has ordered on the exporter of precious gems and metals has put 30,000 jobs at risk and left the country scrambling to find new markets outside the United States.
Even wealthy Switzerland is under the gun. Swiss officials were visiting Washington this week to try to stave off a whopping 39% tariff on U.S. imports of its chocolate, watches and other products. The rate is over 2 1/2 times the 15% rate on European Union goods exported to the United States.
Goods that comply with the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that Trump negotiated during his first term are excluded from the tariffs.
Even though U.S. neighbor and ally Canada was hit by a 35% tariff after it defied Trump, a staunch supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, by saying it would recognize a Palestinian state, nearly all of its exports to the U.S. remain duty free.
Canada’s central bank says 100% of energy exports and 95% of other exports are compliant with the agreement since regional rules mean Canadian and Mexico companies can claim preferential treatment.
The slice of Mexican exports not covered by the USMCA is subject to a 25% tariff, down from an earlier rate of 30%, during a 90-day negotiating period that began last week.
Surveys of factory managers offer monthly insights into export orders, hiring and other indicators of how businesses are faring. The latest figures in the United States and globally mostly showed conditions deteriorating.
In Japan, factory output contracted in July, purchasing activity fell and hiring slowed, according to the S&P Global Manufacturing PMI. But the data were collected before Trump announced a trade deal that cut tariffs on Japanese exports to 15% from 25%.
Similar surveys show a deterioration in manufacturing conditions worldwide, as a boost from “front loading” export orders to beat higher tariffs faded, S&P Global said. Similar measures for service industries have remained stronger, reflecting more domestic business activity. In Asia, that includes a rebound in tourism across the region.
Corporate bottom lines are also taking a hit. Honda Motor said Wednesday that it estimates the cost from higher tariffs at about $3 billion.
On top that, the U.S. economy — Trump’s trump card as the world’s biggest market — is starting to show pain from months of tariff threats.
Ballon d’Or nominee announcement underway
The nominees for the 2025 Ballon d’Or are set to be revealed today, with football’s best players contending for a number of top prizes.
Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue have led Paris Saint-Germain’s charge, and both French superstars will be expected to contend for the top men’s prize, succeeding Rodri after his stunning win over Vinicius Jr last year.
Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Mohamed Salah, who inspired Liverpool to Premier League glory, could contend. While Scott McTominay guided Napoli to the Scudetto and Kylian Mbappe, despite a tough start, shone for Real Madrid in his debut season at the Bernabeu.
Aitana Bonmati is still the favourite to win the women’s award for the third straight year, despite losing out with Barcelona in the Women’s Champions League final to Arsenal and then with Spain in the Women’s Euro 2025 final to England. Chloe Kelly, Hannah Hampton and Spain teammate Mariona Caldentey could also contend for the top prize.
Follow all the latest updates and nominees for the best individual prizes in the sport below: