This year’s winners include a Japanese coal fighter, a Vietnamese protector of pangolins and a Peruvian forest defenderFor more than 20 years, Kimiko Hirata has fought a long and often lonely battle against coal in Japan, but for the first time the climate activist believes the dirtiest fossil fuel is on the run, not just in her country but across the world.Like several other winners of this year’s Goldman environmental prize, the frontline campaigner sees a shift in the political winds that has created a rare – and perhaps final – opportunity to reduce emissions and rebuild the planet’s natural life support systems. Continue reading...

Prime minister reassures industry the Coalition will back it during transition to ‘new energy economy’Scott Morrison says Australia’s oil and gas sector will “always” be a major contributor to Australia’s prosperity and the Coalition will back producers both as exporters and suppliers to the domestic market during the transition to the “new energy economy”.The prime minister, who is currently in London, used a video address to the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association’s conference in Perth to reassure producers the government had a plan for the transition to low emissions as efforts to decarbonise economies have gathered pace in developed economies since the US re-entered the Paris agreement. Continue reading...

Treasurer Cameron Dick says budget, which boasts $2bn fund to develop clean energy, vindicates state’s Covid lockdownsThe Queensland government anticipates its state-owned power generators – mostly coal-fired power stations – will be unable to pay dividends to taxpayers within two years, due to an influx of renewables and lower power prices.One of the most significant measures in the state’s budget, handed down on Tuesday, was a “watershed” $2bn fund that would build renewables and further develop industries linked to clean energy. Continue reading...

To eat an oyster raw is to eat it aliveOn the oyster’s edge, under the sea, on a rock, a tree root, a bamboo pole, a pebble, a tile or another shell, the bivalve’s cilia – from the Latin for eyelash – are waving. Together, they move water over the oyster’s gills – its shell is open, its muscles are relaxed. The oyster has lungs. It has a three-chambered heart. An hour passes; the oyster has filtered five litres of water. The oyster has listened to the breaking waves: it opens and closes according to the tides.One valve is the cupped half of the shell, the other is the flat half. A cargo ship sounds its horn. The oyster shuts in fright. Continue reading...

California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah face extreme heat, worsening drought and raising risk of wildfiresDangerously hot temperatures across the US south-west will continue to climb this week, reaching higher than 120F (49C) in some areas, exacerbating the region’s already-dire drought conditions and increasing the risk of new fire ignitions.Extreme heat will be felt across much of Utah, along with southern and central California, Nevada and Arizona. Continue reading...

While the G7 calls for a ‘green revolution’ to deal with an ‘existential crisis’, it is no clearer if Scott Morrison will formally embrace a net zero targetIn an Australian context, the climate message from the weekend G7 summit is clear: the world’s biggest and richest democracies are acknowledging what the science demands and pledging to act in a way they haven’t before. The contrast with the debate in Canberra is growing.The commitments from the G7 have come later than they should have. Activists are understandably sceptical about whether their actions will rise to meet the leaders’ words, and critical of the failure to announce long-promised climate funding to help developing countries. Caution ahead of the major UN summit in Glasgow in November, known as Cop26, is justified and necessary. Continue reading...

Laurence Tubiana, a key player in 2015 Paris summit, says UK and others must explain how they will achieve climate goalsRich countries must come forward with detailed plans on how they hope to meet their climate targets, and Boris Johnson must forge much closer relationships with developing countries to bring about the breakthrough needed on the climate crisis this year, one of the architects of the Paris agreement has said.The G7 summit, which ended on Sunday in Cornwall, achieved much less than campaigners had hoped, with no significant new cash forthcoming for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable, on the frontlines of climate breakdown. Continue reading...

Biodiversity pledge is part of formal response to landmark review of economic importance of natureThe UK government has committed to leaving the environment in “a better state than we found it” in response to a landmark review of the economic importance of nature.Major transport and energy infrastructure projects in England will need to provide a net-gain for biodiversity, and the government said it would ensure all new bilateral aid spending did not harm the natural world as part of an effort to ensure a “nature-positive” future. Continue reading...

EDF subsidiary reportedly warned of ‘imminent radiological threat’ at Taishan nuclear power plantA French nuclear company has said it is working to resolve a “performance issue” at a plant it part-owns in China’s southern Guangdong province after an earlier report of a potential leak there.Framatome, a subsidiary of the energy giant EDF, told Agence France-Presse news agency that it was “supporting resolution of a performance issue” at the plant. “According to the data available, the plant is operating within the safety parameters,” it said, adding that an extraordinary meeting of the power plant’s board had been called “to present all the data and the necessary decisions”. Continue reading...

As the world moves towards electric cars and renewable grids, demand for lithium is wreaking havoc in northern ChileThe Atacama salt flat is a majestic, high-altitude expanse of gradations of white and grey, peppered with red lagoons and ringed by towering volcanoes. It took me a moment to get my bearings on my first visit, standing on this windswept plateau of 3,000 sq km (1,200 sq miles). A vertiginous drive had taken me and two other researchers through a sandstorm, a rainstorm and the peaks and valleys of this mountainous region of northern Chile. The sun bore down on us intensely – the Atacama desert boasts the Earth’s highest levels of solar radiation, and only parts of Antarctica are drier.I had come to the salt flat to research an emerging environmental dilemma. In order to stave off the worst of the accelerating climate crisis, we need to rapidly reduce carbon emissions. To do so, energy systems around the world must transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Lithium batteries play a key role in this transition: they power electric vehicles and store energy on renewable grids, helping to cut emissions from transportation and energy sectors. Underneath the Atacama salt flat lies most of the world’s lithium reserves; Chile currently supplies almost a quarter of the global market. But extracting lithium from this unique landscape comes at a grave environmental and social cost. Continue reading...

Tony Danker says UK government must publish detailed and concrete guidance on home heating and transport to unlock private resourcesThe head of the UK’s biggest business lobby group has warned that the corporate world is “way off track” in tackling the climate crisis.Tony Danker, the director general of the CBI, called on the government to do more to unlock the resources of the private sector by publishing new guidance on heating and transport. Continue reading...

Underreporting by water companies and failure to hold them to account have resulted in ecological damage, analysis showsWater companies are being allowed to unlawfully discharge raw sewage into rivers at a scale at least 10 times greater than Environment Agency prosecutions indicate, according to analysis to be presented to the government.The number of prosecutions of English water companies for unlawful spills from sewage treatment plants in 10 years are just a tiny fraction of the scale of potentially illegal discharges, the research presented to the environment minister, Rebecca Pow, this week will suggest. Continue reading...

I was promised one would be installed by BP Pulse but can’t get it doneAt the beginning of April, I ordered a new £28,000 Renault Zoe electric car from my local dealer. As part of the deal, a company called BP Pulse was supposed to come and install a charger at my home.I have been trying ever since to get it installed. The dealer has put in the request twice, but nothing has happened. As I need to get this before the car arrives, I took up the battle but am no nearer to getting it done. Continue reading...

PM resists pressure to commit Australia to 2050 climate deadline as he talks up hydrogen, LNG and carbon capture and storageScott Morrison has inked deals with Japan and Germany to develop technology to help reach “a net zero emissions future” – but continues to resist international pressure to formally commit Australia to a firm 2050 deadline.With the climate crisis taking centre stage on the final day of the G7 summit in Cornwall, England, the prime minister stuck to his preferred approach of focusing on technologies such as hydrogen, rather than signing up to more ambitious medium- and long-term emission reduction commitments. Continue reading...

Speaking at G7, president addresses autocracy and democracy, climate crisis and Donald Trump’s legacyJoe Biden agreed on Sunday with Vladimir Putin’s latest assessment that US-Russia relations are at their lowest point in years but insisted that while the two countries may have fundamental disagreements, “we are not looking for conflict”.The US president also addressed the issues of autocracy versus democracy, the climate crisis, future pandemics and problems caused by his predecessor Donald Trump, while holding a press conference to mark the end of the G7 summit in the English county of Cornwall. Continue reading...

Climate finance for developing nations was supposed to reach $100bn a year by 2020, but has fallen far shortThe G7 summit ended with rich nations reaffirming their goal to limit global heating to 1.5C, and agreeing to protect and restore 30% of the natural world by the end of this decade, but failing to provide the funds experts say will be needed to reach such goals.Boris Johnson badly needed a successful G7 deal on climate finance to pave the way for vital UN climate talks, called Cop26, to be held in Glasgow this November. Climate finance is provided by rich countries to developing nations, to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impacts of climate breakdown, and was supposed to reach $100bn a year by 2020, but has fallen far short. Continue reading...

Boaters fear that the Canal and River Trust’s plans to trial ‘water safety zones’ will lead to a big reduction in mooring spaces

WA unveils plan to phase out items such as plastic bags, cutlery and polystyrene containers by the end of 2021 - several years ahead of NSWLightweight plastic bags, disposable plastic straws and cutlery, plastic cotton buds and microbeads will be banned in New South Wales from next year, as part of a state government push to reduce plastic litter by 30% by 2025.Reducing plastic waste is part of a wider $356m five-year plan from the NSW government that will also see a new “green” bin for food and organic waste rolled out to homes across the state by 2030 – something the state’s environment minister Matt Kean says will help reduce emissions in landfill and allow greater extraction of biogas from waste. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson announces £500m for ‘blue planet fund’, but pledge was contained in 2019 Conservative manifesto

Michael Packard, 56, was spat out after half a minute and expert says experience would have been ‘totally freaky’ for the whaleA New England lobsterman has described the moment he realised he was trapped in the mouth of a humpback whale off the coast of Cape Cod.“Oh my God, I’m in a whale’s mouth and he’s trying to swallow me. I thought to myself, ‘Hey, this is it. I’m finally going to die. There’s no getting out of here,’’’ Michael Packard told a local news station in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Continue reading...

World leaders called upon to put the ocean first and respond to the demands of climate change

‘Premature austerity will threaten growth’ as world recovers from Covid-19, says climate economistWealthy nations must ignore calls to rein in public spending as the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic gathers pace, or risk a fresh crisis, the climate economist Nicholas Stern has warned.Leaders of the G7 industrialised countries are meeting in Cornwall this weekend, to discuss vaccines, the recovery from the pandemic, and the climate crisis. Continue reading...

‘Queen of the Deep’ says it is not too late to reverse human-made damage to oceans and preserve biodiversityThe world has the opportunity in the next 10 years to restore our oceans to health after decades of steep decline – but to achieve that, people must wake up to the problem, join in efforts to protect marine areas and stop eating tuna, according to the oceanographer and deep sea explorer Sylvia Earle.“We are at the most exciting time maybe ever to be a human, because we’re armed with knowledge,” said Earle, also known as the Queen of the Deep and “her Deepness”. Earle has also set numerous records for deep sea diving, and was the first woman to serve as chief scientist of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Continue reading...

Undercover documentary investigates the trafficking of Latin America’s big cat to meet demand in China

Australia, one of four guest countries invited to the summit in Cornwall, is an outlier on climate with G7 nations agreeing to more ambitious targets

Australia’s largest telco will instead focus on pumping power back into the network from the new $120m Crookwell 3 windfarm in NSWThe Telstra CEO, Andy Penn, has said the company is too big to go “off-grid” in its pursuit of using 100% renewable energy, meaning it must invest in returning renewable energy to the grid to achieve its goal.Australia’s largest telecommunications company has towers, exchanges, data centres and a network of 50,000km of fibre running across the country. It accounts for around 1% of all of Australia’s energy production and is the 14th biggest electricity user in Australia. Continue reading...

Opec and allies will face pressure to pump more fossil fuels as economies recover, says IEAThe world’s demand for oil will rebound to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022, as recovering economies require oil-producing countries to pump more fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and their allies, including Russia, collectively known as Opec+, will need to “open the taps to keep the world oil markets adequately supplied”, the global energy watchdog said in its monthly oil report. Continue reading...

Poll on eve of conference shows support for party has fallen away after fuel price debateThe leaders of Germany’s Greens will resist a push by party activists this weekend to adopt more ambitious climate policies, balancing their ecologist message with care to ensure poorer voters are not left out of pocket after September’s election.The Greens, aiming to win the chancellery for the first time at the 26 September federal election, surged ahead of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) in polls in late April after picking Annalena Baerbock as their candidate to run for chancellor. Continue reading...

Ship cannot sail out of Egyptian waters as authorities detain crew and cargo until owners pay for blockagesLemons, bamboo shoots and tofu sit in the sweltering heat, alongside goods from Lenovo, Ikea, Dixons Carphone and dozens of other brands – including barbecues, sun loungers, swimwear, lawnmowers and camping equipment – that will arrive at their intended destinations long after summer ends.Since the successful operation in late March to dislodge the 220,000-ton Ever Given from the Suez canal, where it was stuck for six days, the cargo ship has been grounded again – this time by a fierce legal battle between the ship’s owners, insurance companies, and the Suez Canal Authority (SCA). Continue reading...

For two weeks in late spring, near dusk, the fireflies at the most-visited national park in the US flash in unison, a ‘one-of-a-kind natural phenomenon’As fireflies in the southern Appalachians search for their mates each year, a crowd of people awaits them, hoping to catch a glimpse of a rare light show known to some as a life-changing experience.For two weeks in late spring, near dusk, the synchronous fireflies at the Great Smoky Mountains national park put on a spectacular display across the landscape, flashing in unison for about five seconds and then stopping, together, like twinkling Christmas lights. Continue reading...

Low water levels and high temperatures mean juvenile Chinook salmon are being given a helping hand to reach the oceanBaby Chinook salmon from California’s Central Valley typically have a long swim downriver to the ocean to survive into the next stage of life. This year, they are getting a helping hand in the form of a fleet of tanker trucks set to carry almost 17 million of the fish to the sea.It’s all part of a flurry of steps across western US states to keep tens of millions of endangered salmon from suffering in a year of historic drought for the region. Continue reading...

Welcome to our monthly roundup of the biggest issues in farming and food production, with must-read reports from around the webMEPs have voted in favour of a resolution calling for a ban on the use of cages across the EU for farmed animals by 2027. They also called on the EU Commission to ban the force-feeding of ducks and geese for the production of foie gras. Campaigners estimate that more than 300 million animals in the EU spend all or part of their lives in cages, pens or stalls.

We must find a way to embrace shipping, the ocean and our place in the world without shackling ourselves to unpayable foreign debtGrowing up in Sri Lanka in the 1990s, it was drilled into me from an early age that my island was destined to be a maritime hub. At school, I was taught that Sri Lanka was once the heart of the maritime Silk Road, a network of trade routes that connected the east and west from 130BC to the mid-1400s.My textbooks were filled with tales about how Sri Lanka’s strategic positioning and rich natural resources were so prized that it was consecutively colonised by the Portuguese, Dutch and British empires for almost four centuries. Continue reading...

With Swytch, you can clamp a wheel, battery and sensor to any model and enjoy a power-assisted rideI’ve been something of a sceptic about technological bike gizmos over the years, add-ons that too often seem to represent a solution in search of a problem, an attempt to reinvent something – the bicycle – that was not far short of perfect anyway.I’m no luddite. New developments make cycling even more enjoyable and useful, not least near-puncture proof tyres and tiny, retina-searing lights. Plus, of course, there’s the amazing world of electric-assist bikes, or e-bikes. Continue reading...

Fast-fashion boom fuelling rise in use of synthetic fibres made from fossil fuels, study showsApproximately half of the clothes sold by large online fashion brands such as Boohoo and Asos are made entirely from virgin plastic materials such as polyester, despite a push to reduce the huge environmental impact of the fashion industry.An analysis of 10,000 items added to the Asos, Boohoo, Missguided and PrettyLittleThing websites over a fortnight in May found an average of 49% were made entirely of new plastics such as polyester, acrylic and nylon. In some stores just 1% contained recycled fabric, according to the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) study. Continue reading...

The major blood vessel of the penis splits into two main branches which each supply two of the four penile headsThe penis of an echidna has four heads but only two become erect at any one time. Now, Australian researchers have uncovered why.Scientists discovered the marsupial has unusual reproductive anatomy that causes male echidnas to ejaculate from only two of their four penile heads at one time. Continue reading...

The reservoir will be at its lowest since the 1930s when the Hoover dam was built, and officials expect levels to get worseLevels in Lake Mead – the largest US reservoir by volume – fell to historic lows on Thursday, as the region continues to face the effects of a devastating prolonged drought.Stationed on the main stem of the Colorado River in the Mojave along the Arizona-Nevada border, Lake Mead was formed with the construction of the Hoover dam, which generates electricity for areas in Arizona, California and Nevada. It provides water for urban, rural and tribal lands across the south-west. Continue reading...

Just 10 plastic products make up 75% of all items and scientists say the pollution must be stopped at sourcePlastic items from takeaway food and drink dominate the litter in the world’s oceans, according to the most comprehensive study to date.Single-use bags, plastic bottles, food containers and food wrappers are the four most widespread items polluting the seas, making up almost half of the human-made waste, the researchers found. Just 10 plastic products, also including plastic lids and fishing gear, accounted for three-quarters of the litter, due to their widespread use and extremely slow degradation. Continue reading...

Cornwall art installation created from 20,000 pieces of discarded tech highlights growing threat it poses to environmentThe seven giant faces loom above the dunes, gazing sombrely over swathes of bright sea thrift towards the ocean.Even before the G7 had sat down to begin their Cornish summit, Mount Recyclemore, a sculpture made of discarded electronic waste depicting the visages of the seven leaders, looked bound to be one of the stars of the show. Continue reading...

Prince says private-sector innovation and finance is vital, otherwise ‘we just don’t stand a chance’Prince Charles has said businesses must lead the way alongside governments in tackling the climate emergency.Before the start of the G7 summit in Cornwall on Friday, he told a gathering of political and business leaders that private-sector cash and knowhow was essential, and businesses needed strong policy signals from government. Continue reading...

Organization says the Southern Ocean consists of the waters surrounding Antarctica, out to 60-degrees south latitudeAnyone who thought the world had four oceans will now have to think again, after the National Geographic Society announced it would recognize a new Southern Ocean in Antarctica, bringing the global total to five.The National Geographic, a non-profit scientific and educational organization whose mapping standards are referenced by many atlases and cartographers, said the Southern Ocean consists of the waters surrounding Antarctica, out to 60-degrees south latitude. Continue reading...

Restoring nature boosts biodiversity and ecosystems that can rapidly and cheaply absorb carbon emissionsHumanity must solve the climate and nature crises together or solve neither, according to a report from 50 of the world’s leading scientists.Global heating and the destruction of wildlife is wreaking increasing damage on the natural world, which humanity depends on for food, water and clean air. Many of the human activities causing the crises are the same and the scientists said increased use of nature as a solution was vital. Continue reading...

New research shows American students are losing huge chunks of learning to heat. Here’s how your district faresHuman bodies react swiftly when they overheat.Blood rushes to the skin, trying to find cool air. Sweat seeps out of the skin and evaporates, dissipating body heat. But these processes have a cost: they reduce blood circulation, which means our most important organ, the brain, gets less blood. Continue reading...

Police arrested more than 100 people this week as activists try to block the expansion of the pipelineEnvironmental protesters and Native American tribes have joined together to try to block construction efforts that would expand and repair a controversial pipeline called Line 3, which would carry hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil through tribal lands and fragile watersheds in northern Minnesota.The protesters said they were there as water and land protectors, fighting Enbridge, a Canadian-owned company, and the $9bn upgrade of the pipeline. The action sparked a confrontation with law enforcement officers and raised the prospects of a high-profile fight set to highlight the use of fossil fuels at a time of growing climate crisis. Continue reading...

Five citizens accuse government of failing to protect them from impacts of global heatingFive Polish citizens are taking their government to court over its failure to protect them from the impacts of the climate crisis.They say the state has breached their rights to life, health and family life by delaying action to cut national carbon emissions and propping up the coal industry. Continue reading...

Scott Morrison and Lee Hsien Loong also expected to talk about South China Sea and how to handle Beijing’s actions in the regionScott Morrison will discuss a travel bubble between Australia and Singapore when he visits his counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, but the high-level talks are expected to produce a political commitment to the idea rather than a firm starting date.The Australian and Singaporean prime ministers will on Thursday also discuss how to handle China’s actions in the region, with Australia believed to have suggested including language in their joint statement on the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation in the contested South China Sea. Continue reading...

Group controlling $41tn in assets sign joint statement calling on world leaders to bolster net zero targetsInvestors controlling $41tn (£29tn) in assets have called for governments around the world to end support for fossil fuels and set targets for rapid reductions in carbon emissions to limit the damage from global heating.The 457 investors, who hold almost a third of world’s assets under management, signed a joint statement calling for governments to “significantly strengthen” their plans to cut carbon emissions in the next decade and to bring in detailed targets for net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. Continue reading...

Our solar rollout has been world-leading and can point the way to get us moving on EVsGovernments and car manufacturers are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in electric vehicles. But while the electric transport revolution is inevitable, the final destination remains unknown.The electric vehicle transition is about more than just doing away with vehicles powered by fossil fuels. We must also ensure quality technology and infrastructure, anticipate the future and avoid unwanted outcomes, such as entrenching disadvantage. Continue reading...

Exclusive: excessive feeding as visitors flocked to London’s green spaces has led to overcrowding, disease and pollutionLondon’s royal parks are urging visitors to stop feeding bread to ducks because it is causing overcrowding and bullying among birds, the Guardian can reveal.A campaign launching today highlights how excessive feeding upsets fragile ecosystems, leading to large groups of aggressive gulls and crows that steal the eggs and chicks of other birds. Leftover food also attracts rats, and soggy bread and waterfowl faeces contaminate the water. Continue reading...

TC Energy halts project that faced longstanding opposition from climate campaignersA $9bn oil pipeline that became a symbol of the rising political clout of climate advocates and a flashpoint in US-Canada relations was officially canceled on Wednesday.Keystone XL, which was proposed in 2008 to bring oil from Canada’s western tar sands to US refiners, was halted by owner TC Energy after Joe Biden this year revoked a key permit needed for a US stretch of the 1,200-mile project. Continue reading...