Environment | The Guardian

More than 3,000 animals die on the country’s BR-262 road each year, but legal action by activists is forcing authorities to take noticeThe last time Schwartz’s tracking monitor registered his location, he was standing at the edge of the “highway of death”. A massive male giant anteater, he was roaming his habitat in the Brazilian Cerrado – a vast tropical savanna that neighbours the world’s largest tropical wetland, the Pantanal – when he disappeared next to the federal highway officially known as the BR-262. No more GPS datapoints, collected every 20 minutes, were recorded.But biologists and veterinarians from the Institute for the Conservation of Wild Animals’ (ICAS) Anteaters and Highways Project, who had placed the collar on him, were sure of what happened. Continue reading...

MP leads call for amendment to environment bill to root out illegal deforestation from supply chainsBritish banks provided at least £900m in finance last year to companies involved in deforestation overseas, research has shown, putting pressure on the government to include financial institutions in plans to force companies to root out illegal deforestation from their supply chains.The environment bill will be debated in parliament on Wednesday and will include requirements for consumer goods companies to carry out due diligence on their suppliers, to ensure they are not selling goods linked to deforestation overseas. Continue reading...

Move follows report saying online retailer generated 210,000 tonnes of packaging that ended up in oceansAmazon is under pressure to reduce its plastic footprint, as shareholders prepare to vote on Wednesday on a resolution calling for it to disclose how much of its plastic packaging ends up in the environment.The resolution, co-proposed by the activist shareholder group As You Sow, calls on the world’s largest online retailer to provide a report by December 2021 showing how much plastic packaging is attributable to its activities, and what actions it has taken to tackle the issue. Amazon’s board of directors have recommended that shareholders vote against the proposal. Continue reading...

Managing verges for nature would create combined area the size of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh for wildflowersRoad verges covering 1.2% of Great Britain, an area the size of Dorset, could be used to grow wildflower meadows and create habitat for wildlife, a study says.In a report outlining the scale of road verges in England, Scotland and Wales, researchers from the University of Exeter used Google Earth and Google Street View to estimate that verges account for about 1,000 sq miles (2,579 sq km) of the UK’s land. Continue reading...

Vicious circle of climate impacts, trauma and depression must be broken, say scientistsThe climate crisis is damaging the mental health of hundreds of millions of people around the world but the huge costs are hidden, scientists have warned.Heatwaves are increasing rates of suicide, extreme weather such as floods and wildfires are leaving victims traumatised, and loss of food security, homes and livelihoods is resulting in stress and depression. Anxiety about the future is also harming people’s mental health, especially the young, the scientists said in a report. Continue reading...

The Lowy Institute’s annual survey of sentiment on climate action found strong support for net zero emissions by 2050 and a ban on new coalminesThe Morrison government is under increasing pressure to act on the climate crisis, with a new poll showing seven in 10 Australians want the Coalition to lock in stronger commitments in the lead-up to this year’s Glasgow summit.The Lowy Institute’s annual survey of sentiment on climate action finds strong domestic support for Australia committing to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and majority support for a ban on new coalmines. Continue reading...

Renewables are getting cheaper, but fossil fuels are still more lucrative. To reach net zero, we’ll need radical interventionLast week, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the world’s leading energy authority, laid bare the scale of the challenge in keeping the world on track to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050: a massive acceleration in renewable energy development and, starkly, no new oil, gas or coal development. None.For as long as coal remained cheapest, the IEA consistently predicted that it would continue to be the dominant energy source in electricity generation. Now that renewables, and solar in particular, generate electricity as cheaply – and often cheaper – than hydrocarbons, the IEA considers a rapid energy transition more achievable. It finds encouragement in the cost of the respective energy types: in economic terms, the IEA’s is a “cost-centric” worldview. Continue reading...

Shutting Turów lignite mine would cause thousands of job losses, says development ministerPoland’s government has defied an injunction by the top European Union court that ordered the immediate closure of a major brown coalmine, with officials saying it would shake the nation’s energy system and lead to the loss of thousands of jobs.The country’s development minister, Jarosław Gowin, said Poland would not shut the lignite mine in Turów, on the border with Germany and the Czech Republic, but instead was engaged in “very intensive diplomatic and law-related efforts” to secure undisturbed operation of the mine and connected power plant that generates 7% of Poland‘s energy. Continue reading...

Renowned urban farmer Karen Washington coined the phrase ‘food apartheid’. Now the Bronx-based activist says a shift of power is urgentKaren Washington is a New York-based community activist and urban farmer who coined the term “food apartheid” to describe the structural inequalities in America’s food system. It’s by design not accident, she argues, that people of color are denied access to nutritious affordable food, farmland and business opportunities in the food industry.For more than 35 years, Washington has pushed the predominantly white food justice movement to tackle the root causes of these inequities through transformative grassroots action and political pressure. She is the co-founder of the La Familia Verde Garden Coalition, the Black Urban Growers and most recently the Black Farmer Fund, a community wealth building organization investing in Black food entrepreneurs. Continue reading...

Increasing blanket of mucus-like substance in water threatens coral and fishing industryWhen seen from above, it looks like a brush of beige swirled across the dark blue waters of the Sea of Marmara. Up close, it resembles a creamy, gelatinous blanket of quicksand. Now scientists are warning that the substance, known as sea snot, is on the rise as a result of global heating.The gloopy, mucus-like substance had not been recorded in Turkish waters before 2007. It is created as a result of prolonged warm temperatures and calm weather and in areas with abundant nutrients in the water. Continue reading...

New bill will enforce fines on UK-based companies that fail to cut links to illegally deforested landTrade associations representing leading food suppliers have questioned the need for new regulations to protect forests overseas, which will come before parliament in the environment bill on Wednesday.The much-delayed bill will contain provisions to force UK-based companies to examine their supply chains in depth and ensure that they are free of links to land illegally deforested overseas. Continue reading...

Emissions from projects and companies backed by the City are nearly double those of the UKThe amount of CO2 production financed by Britain’s banks and asset managers is nearly double the UK’s annual carbon emissions, according to a new report.The study, published by environmental campaign groups Greenpeace and WWF, shows the City provided loans and investments for projects and companies that emitted 805m tonnes of CO2 in 2019. That is 1.8 times the UK’s own annual net emissions for the same year, which totalled 455m tonnes when discounting aviation and shipping, sectors that the UK government also does not include in its emissions calculations. Continue reading...

Bolsonaro’s ‘destruction package’ is seen as the greatest threat to the rainforest since he took powerBritish supermarkets will look at alternatives to Brazilian soy if president Jair Bolsonaro and congress passes new legislation this week to weaken protections for the Amazon rainforest.Retailers and industry groups told the Guardian they will seek different suppliers and accelerate efforts to find soy substitutes if Brazilian politicians pass bills to legitimise land-grabbing and loosen controls on new projects. Continue reading...

Study of Henderson Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands finds plastic acts as an insulator, making sand hotter and leading to more female turtle offspringAccumulated plastic debris on the beaches of two remote island groups increased local maximum temperatures by nearly 2.5C, new research has found.A study of Henderson Island in the South Pacific and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, a remote territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean, found that plastic pollution acts as an insulator, increasing the temperature of the underlying sand. Continue reading...

Conservationists thrilled at the sighting of the wild predator, last seen in the country in the 1980s“It was a huge surprise,” said Sebastián Di Martino, director of conservation at Fundación Rewilding Argentina. “I was incredulous. An incredible feeling of so much happiness. I didn’t know if I should try to follow it or rush back to our station to tell the others.”The cause of the excitement was the sighting, last week, of a wild giant river otter – an animal feared extinct in the country due to habitat loss and hunting – on the Bermejo River in Impenetrable national park, in north-east Argentina’s Chaco province. The last sighting of a giant otter in the wild in Argentina was in the 1980s. On the Bermejo, none have been seen for more than a century. Continue reading...

Court hears Coalition made a ‘legal error’ in how it approved plans for miner to pump 12.5bn litres a year from a Queensland riverA key approval for Adani’s Carmichael coal project has been overturned by the federal court, which ruled the federal government made a “legal error” in the way it assessed and approved plans for the miner to pump 12.5bn litres of water a year from a Queensland river.The court case – brought by the Australian Conservation Foundation – challenged the government’s decision not to apply the “water trigger” to its assessment of Adani’s North Galilee Water Scheme. Continue reading...

More than half of offshore energy jobs could be in low carbon sectors, including wind and renewablesThe UK’s half-century legacy as a leading offshore oil and gas hub will be eclipsed by the North Sea’s fast-growing green energy industry within the next decade, according to new research.An academic study by the Robert Gordon University, based in the oil industry capital of Aberdeen in Scotland, has found that by 2030 most of the UK’s offshore energy jobs will be in the low carbon energy industry. Continue reading...

North Yorkshire power plant’s carbon-reduction plan could cost £31.7bn over 25 years, claims climate thinktankThe plan put forward by Drax to fit its wood-burning power plant with carbon-capture technology could cost British energy bill payers £31.7bn over 25 years, or £500 a household, according to research.The climate thinktank Ember said that Drax was already on track to earn £10bn in subsidies through energy bills by burning wood chips, and warned that the cost of supporting its future bioenergy plans could climb to more than the cost of subsidising Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant. Continue reading...

Complex slated for South Side’s Jackson Park prompts fears that low-income Black residents will be displacedConstruction of the Obama Presidential Center is expected to begin this fall in Chicago after years of debate over whether the complex will benefit low-income residents of the surrounding neighborhoods.It will be located in Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago – one of the most historically significant parks in the city, and originally designed for the 27 million visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair. The roughly $500m Obama Presidential Center (OPC) will feature a museum, playground, public library and an open plaza. Continue reading...

Two big hurricanes, a paralyzing deep freeze, and now flooding rainfall – is Lake Charles’ year an omen of a deepening crisis?As biblical rains pounded Lake Charles in Louisiana last week, beleaguered residents could be forgiven for thinking they have lived in the most unfortunate city in the United States over the past 14 months.Related: Can recycled glass help restore Louisiana’s eroding coastline? Continue reading...

A major £30m project will test trees, peat, rock chips, and charcoal as ways of removing climate-heating emissionsClimate-heating carbon dioxide will be sucked from the air using trees, peat, rock chips, and charcoal in major new trials across the UK.Scientists said the past failure to rapidly cut emissions means some CO will need to be removed from the atmosphere to reach net zero by 2050 and halt the climate crisis. The £30m project funded by UK Research and Innovation will test ways to do this effectively and affordably on over 100 hectares (247 acres) of land, making it one of the biggest trials in the world. Continue reading...

Call for environment bill returning to parliament to be strengthened to tackle global plastic waste crisisCampaigners are urging the UK government to ban the export of plastic waste to all countries, invest in a domestic recycling industry, and set a binding target for plastic reduction.Activists are pushing for the environment bill – which is returning to parliament on Wednesday – to be strengthened to tackle more effectively the global plastic waste crisis. Continue reading...

Legal & General Investment Management, Britain’s biggest fund manager, piles pressure on oil firmBritain’s biggest fund manager has piled pressure on Shell after joining a shareholder rebellion over the oil company’s carbon-cutting plans, saying that they lack credibility and the ambition required to combat global heating.It has emerged that Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), one of the oldest fund managers in the City of London, was among investors behind a significant shareholder vote against Shell’s climate transition targets at the company’s annual meeting on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Lobby group publishes ‘vision’ for decarbonising economy and creating 240,000 jobs

Fossil fuel and other emissions not linked to the land and agriculture increased by 7% over the past 15 years, analysis finds

Turkey is the latest country to reject the role of world’s dustbin. With their environment bill, ministers have a chance to end this vandalismThe international plastics recycling market is broken. It is doubtful whether it ever worked. For most of the last decade, China was the world’s largest importer of recyclable materials, some of which were used in manufacturing. But it banned these imports as part of a “beautiful China” policy aimed at improving the environment.Malaysia was the next country to fight back against being treated as the “dumping ground of the world” – as its environment minister, Yeo Bee Yin, put it in 2019. More than 200 facilities were closed, and thousands of tonnes of waste returned, amid growing evidence of the involvement of organised crime in the global waste business. Now Turkey has rejected the role of international rubbish bin: after a Greenpeace investigation found plastics dumped in rivers, on beaches and in illegal waste mountains, it announced that most plastic waste imports (which included 209,642 tonnes from the UK in 2020) will be banned in six weeks’ time. Continue reading...

Rob Higgs alleges plainclothes officers turned up unannounced at his premises

More than 283,000 back call to rid Spain’s coastline of smoke and discarded cigarette buttsA petition signed by more than 283,000 people calling on Spain to ban smoking at all its beaches has been delivered to the country’s environment minister.For more than two years the organisation No Fumadores (No Smokers) has been gathering signatures aimed at transforming Spain’s 3,084 miles (4,964km) of coastline into areas free of cigarette smoke and discarded cigarette butts. Continue reading...

Scottish National party says tariff-free imports of hormone-treated beef ‘would represent a bitter betrayal of rural communities’The UK government was facing a backlash on Saturday over its plans for a trade deal with Australia, which have led to anger from farmers and environmentalists and calls for the Scottish secretary to resign.Farming unions said that proposals for a zero-tariff and zero-quota trade deal would drive farmers out of business, while green groups said allowing Australian hormone-treated beef would breach the Conservatives’ manifesto commitments. Continue reading...

Ford unveiled its new F-150 Lightning pickup this week – but the success of EVs in this car-loving nation is far from certainIn Detroit, auto plants have for decades churned out trucks built with Motor City steel and fueled by gasoline. But this week’s rollout of the Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck offered a vision of the future in America’s automotive heartland: aluminum-clad pickups running off of electric powertrains with lithium batteries.Related: Ford launching electric F-150 truck in ‘huge’ shift for low-emission vehicles Continue reading...

Skinks and geckos saved from disaster on Mauritian islets have successfully bred in zooEndangered reptiles rescued from Mauritian islands that were contaminated by a devastating oil spill have bred successfully in captivity for the first time, raising hopes that populations can be restored to the wild.Bojer’s skink – a small, shiny reptile only found on tiny islets off Mauritius – has been bred by Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust scientists at Jersey zoo. Two other imperilled species, the lesser night gecko and Bouton’s skink, have also been brought to the zoo, with the geckos breeding successfully as well. Continue reading...

Nationals candidate Dave Layzell is ahead with 31.22% of first-preference votes

A demonstration also took place at the Science Museum in London where Shell is a sponsorDozens of protesters, dressed in orange and green flowing costumes to represent the burning environment, gathered at the British Museum on Saturday while youth activists staged a separate demonstration at the Science Museum. Both events aimed to pressure the institutions to sever ties with oil corporations.The theatrical activist group BP or not BP staged a protest at the British Museum in response to the oil company’s sponsorship of Nero: The Man Behind the Myth, the museum’s next big exhibition, due to open on 27 May. Continue reading...

In the Tradition: Memento Exstingui, a project by the photographer Michele Turriani, draws attention to the plight of endangered animals that appear on the IUCN red list. It is inspired by the ‘memento mori’ and ‘vanitas’ art genres, which remind us of the transience of life and the inevitability of death. The skulls come from the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent

Activists plan 24-hour protest in attempt to get company to turn fully plant-based by 2025Animal rights protesters have set up blockades at four McDonald’s distribution centres across Britain, which they say will affect about 1,300 restaurants.Activists from Animal Rebellion used trucks and bamboo structures to blockade distribution sites at Hemel Hempstead, Basingstoke, Coventry and Heywood in Greater Manchester from about 4.30am on Saturday, the group said. Continue reading...

The Morrison government seized on a recent electricity shortage as a ‘dress rehearsal’ for life without Liddell, but market experts insist there’s more than enough powerEnergy experts have rejected Morrison government claims an electricity shortage forced a major aluminium smelter to shut down three times in a week and that building a publicly-owned gas-fired power plant will fix the problem.The energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, this week confirmed taxpayers would pay up to $600m for Snowy Hydro Ltd to build a new 660MW fossil fuel plant at Kurri Kurri, in the Hunter Valley, saying it was needed to help replace the Liddell coal plant when it shuts in 2023. Continue reading...

G7 countries reaffirm commitment to limit global heating to 1.5C after nearly two days of wranglingThe world’s richest nations have agreed to end their financial support for coal development overseas, in a major step towards phasing out the dirtiest fossil fuel.After nearly two days of wrangling at a meeting of the G7 environment and energy ministers, hosted virtually by the UK on Thursday and Friday, all reaffirmed their commitment to limiting global heating to 1.5C, and committed to phasing out coal and fully decarbonising their energy sectors in the 2030s. Continue reading...

In early hours of Friday, windfarm turbines provided nearly two-thirds of Britain’s electricityPowerful gusts of wind sweeping across Britain have helped the country reach a new all-time high for electricity generated from wind turbines.A new record was set in the early hours of Friday for the share of wind power in the generation mix, with wind providing nearly two-thirds of Britain’s electricity, according to provisional data from National Grid. Continue reading...

Gradual tariff-free deal will be victory for free-trade Brexiters but is likely to alarm UK farmersUK ministers are expected to offer Australia a trade deal that will gradually eliminate all tariffs and quotas, one seen as a victory for free-trade Brexiters in the cabinet but is likely to prompt alarm among UK farmers.Downing Street did not deny reports on Friday that the likely offer to Australia would be a transition to zero quotas and tariffs over 15 years, although it insisted discussions were still taking place. Continue reading...

Developing foetuses ‘exquisitely sensitive’ to harm from tiny particles, scientists sayInfants whose mothers were exposed to higher levels of tiny air pollution particles during pregnancy are much more likely to develop asthma, according to research.The study analysed the impact of ultra-fine particles (UFPs), which are not regulated by governments. These are thought to be even more toxic than the larger particles that are routinely monitored and have also been linked to asthma. Continue reading...

Students marched at 47 sites around the nation to call for action to halt global heatingThousands of students across Australia walked out of classrooms to take part in the School Strike 4 Climate on Friday, calling for greater action on global heating.Defying pouring rain in Sydney, strikers chanted for climate justice, condemning the gas, coal and fossil fuel industries, and the Morrison government’s recent decision to fund a $600m gas-fired power plant. Continue reading...

Animal park that featured in 2020 Netflix series investigated in possible violation of Endangered Species Act

A ‘just add water’ approach is unlikely to be successful, with better monitoring of species needed to target environmental wateringTrillions of litres of water released into the Murray-Darling Basin to benefit the environment have had “no overall beneficial effect” on the populations of threatened species, according to new research.In a damning assessment of the monitoring of eight threatened species, the research from Australian National University scientists says the public reporting of the benefits of environmental watering was fragmentary and not backed by evidence. Continue reading...

Ofgem data points to consumer shift as ban on sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles approachesOne in four UK households intend to buy an electric car in the next five years, as a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles in 2030 approaches, according to research.More than 6.5m households plan to buy an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid, research by the energy watchdog Ofgem has found. This equates to 24%, or nearly one in four, of all energy households. Continue reading...

Conservation watchdog given boost after decade of funding cuts that left it at ‘crisis point’Natural England, the government’s conservation watchdog, is to receive a 47% increase in government funding this year as its role expands to support a “green recovery” and provide environmental scrutiny of the government’s controversial “Project Speed”.The dramatic funding increase is a boost for wildlife protection and monitoring after a decade of deep cuts which left the agency at “crisis point” and its chairman, Tony Juniper, admitting that it would struggle to reverse declines in biodiversity. Continue reading...

Scientists predict migration of the megabats, mostly found in eastern and northern Australia, could have significant effects on Tasmania’s ecosystemsFruit bats may migrate as far south as Tasmania in the future as a result of extreme weather events linked to the climate crisis, new modelling suggests.University of Tasmania scientists predicted the grey-headed flying fox could take “climate refuge” in the southernmost state in coming decades if greenhouse gas emissions continued on their current trajectory. Continue reading...

Major banks say Australia’s international trading partners require the sector to identify and disclose climate risk on their balance sheetsAustralia’s big banks have declared they need to actively manage climate risk because governments and regulators require it, and because the investor community is “increasingly transitioning its focus towards a net-zero emissions economy”.The banks and their lobbying arm, the Australian Banking Association (ABA), have used new submissions to a parliamentary inquiry to implicitly rebut claims from senior Nationals that their actions amount to moral posturing or virtue signalling. Continue reading...

Head of Australian agricultural firm predicts sales surge as UK farmers warn they will struggle to competeAustralia’s biggest cattle farmer has predicted that the nation’s beef exports to the UK could rise as much as tenfold if the two countries strike a free-trade deal.Boris Johnson is determined to push through a free-trade deal with Australia, despite warnings from the National Farmers’ Union over the “irreversible damage” such a deal would do to UK agriculture. It was discussed by ministers at a cabinet meeting on Thursday. Continue reading...

Initiative just one of several after Overton parish council declared a climate emergency in 2019

Native shorebirds and caribou among species at risk as survival strategies are upendedA drastic drop in caribou and shorebird populations is a reflection of the dire changes unfolding on the Arctic tundra, according to a new report from the Arctic Council.The terrestrial Arctic spans approximately 2.7m sq miles (7m sq km), marked by extreme cold, drought, strong winds and seasonal darkness. Species living in this environment have adapted to thrive in the harsh conditions. But the climate crisis has upended such survival strategies, according to the State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity report, published by the council’s Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (Caff) working group. Continue reading...