Online retailer disputes study saying it produced 270,000 tonnes of packaging last year, with 10,000 tonnes likely to end up in seasAmazon’s plastic packaging waste soared by almost a third, to 270,000 tonnes, during the pandemic last year, according to a report from marine conservation group Oceana.Oceana estimates up to 10,700 tonnes of this plastic, including air pillows, bubble wrap and plastic-lined paper envelopes, equivalent to a delivery van’s worth every 67 minutes, is likely to end up in the sea. Continue reading...

New regulations likely to include tougher safeguards but a NSW upper house committee report finds more environmental protections are needed

As rising tensions with Russia over Ukraine drive prices to record highs, experts warn of lack of strategy for gas supplyMinisters are relying on an outdated energy security policy, leading academics have warned, as escalating tensions between Russia and western leaders propelled the gas market to record price highs.UK gas reached a record closing price of 322.5 pence per therm on Tuesday, according to data from market price experts at ICIS, vaulting ahead of the previous high of just over 298p/therm set in early October this year. Continue reading...

Aerial shot shows devastating effect of drought that has left people and animals without waterSix dead giraffes lie in a spiral on the dry earth, their bodies emaciated and interwoven. The aerial shot, taken by the photojournalist Ed Ram, shows the devastation of Kenya’s drought, which has left people and animals struggling for food and water.Already weak, the animals had died after they got stuck in the mud, according to Getty Images. They were trying to reach a nearby reservoir, although it had almost dried up, the agency reported. Continue reading...

Launch of deposit return scheme, which would have been a UK first, pushed back until summer 2023The launch of the UK’s first bottle and can deposit return scheme has been delayed until the summer of 2023 after Scottish ministers bowed to intense lobbying from major retailers and drinks companies.Scotland’s deposit return scheme was due to start in July next year, in an effort to cut plastic waste, boost recycling and reduce littering by introducing a mandatory but refundable 20p deposit on all bottles and cans sold in shops. Continue reading...

Surprising discovery shows scale of plastic pollution and reveals enzymes that could boost recyclingMicrobes in oceans and soils across the globe are evolving to eat plastic, according to a study.The research scanned more than 200m genes found in DNA samples taken from the environment and found 30,000 different enzymes that could degrade 10 different types of plastic. Continue reading...

Prickly tree beat hundreds of nominations in Woodland Trust contestA lone, weathered hawthorn, which has stood for at least half a century on the rugged Scottish coast, has been named tree of the year for 2021.Sticking out at an angle over the cockle shell beach at Kippford, with a tangle of broken and twisted branches, the prickly tree beat hundreds of nominations to become the UK’s favourite in the contest run by the Woodland Trust. Continue reading...

London mayor releases £600,000 funding to help create green rooftops and reintroduce lost speciesHyde Park could be redesigned and lost species including beavers reintroduced to London under ambitious rewilding plans.The city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, is working with Ben Goldsmith – a member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the brother of Khan’s former rival for the mayoral election Zac Goldsmith – to boost nature in the capital, including making the royal parks wilder and encouraging people to plant green rooftops. Continue reading...

Call comes after ambitious early draft of EU energy performance in buildings directive ran into oppositionThe EU executive is under pressure to ratchet up green energy standards for buildings, as it prepares a further batch of legislation to tackle the climate emergency.The European Commission is expected to propose mandatory energy efficiency upgrades for buildings in the EU in legislative proposals published on Wednesday, but MEPs and Green NGOs fear they will not be strict enough. Continue reading...

The Caribbean’s newest republic must avoid the corruption that has hampered Trinidad and Tobago and use its presidency to ensure good governanceThe charismatic prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, elevated her country’s status in the world with her stinging speech at Cop26 in Glasgow last month. This speech resonated throughout the West Indies, a region that has largely been devoid of a strong leader to give these vulnerable small island developing states (SIDS) a voice in the climate crisis debate. The survival of SIDS such as Barbados depends on the finance to invest in measures to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5C, which was the Paris agreement’s main objective.Mottley called on all leaders of developed countries to step up their efforts as she outlined a solution embodied in flexible development finance. First, create a loss and damage fund made up of 1% of revenues from fossil fuels (which she estimated would amount to about $70bn, or £50bn, a year), accessible only to countries that have suffered a climate disaster and loss of 5% of their economy. Continue reading...

Ryad Alsous, whose story helped inspire the bestselling book, says life is sweet caring for his hives in HuddersfieldIn 2013, Syrian beekeeper Ryad Alsous drank his last cup of mint tea on the balcony of his flat in Damascus. He was about to leave the city where he had spent his whole life and move to Britain. Eight years later, he is again drinking mint tea made in the same flask but this time in Huddersfield. The flask is the only item he still has from his home in Syria. He is talking about the moment he left. “It was very difficult. And also full of hope,” he says.His block of flats had been bombed twice, and explosions in the eastern part of the city were happening daily. On the day he left, a loud bang nearby caused the doves perched on his balcony to briefly flutter into the air. He had been feeding the birds for years and realised they would have no one to look after them once he left. Continue reading...

Major labels Sony, Universal and Warner join independents signing up to climate schemes that guide companies toward cleaner futuresA number of the world’s biggest record labels have united to commit to action on their environmental impact.The three major labels – Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group – plus independents such as the Beggars and Secretly groups of labels, Warp, Ninja Tune and more, have signed the Music Climate Pact which will see them pledge “actionable climate targets”. Continue reading...

Report concludes particles are health hazard as London councils set to vote on Edmonton incineratorMPs are calling for a moratorium on the expansion of new waste incineration plants just days before councils in London vote on awarding a contract to build a huge new plant in Edmonton.A report by the all-party parliamentary group on air pollution says expansions should be halted immediately to protect human health and cut carbon emissions. Continue reading...

The resolution proposed that the climate crisis could potentially threaten ‘global peace, security and stability’Russia has vetoed a first-of-its-kind UN security council resolution casting the climate crisis as a threat to international peace and security – a vote that sank a years-long effort to make global heating more central to decision-making in the UN’s most powerful body.Spearheaded by Ireland and Niger, the proposal called for “incorporating information on the security implications of climate change” into the council’s strategies for managing conflicts and into peacekeeping operations and political missions, at least sometimes. Continue reading...

Members of irrigation review committee say NSW could end up licensing an unsustainable amount of water

Australian Conservation Foundation report found that climate change was not mentioned for 178 out of 334 critically endangered species and habitatsConservation documents for more than half of Australia’s critically endangered species and habitats fail to mention climate change according to new analysis that argues there is a significant “climate gap” in the management of Australia’s threatened wildlife.The report was commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and prepared by the Australian National University’s GreenLaw project, which is led by students in the ANU’s law faculty. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns expected to increase losses and make it more difficult to identify net carbon emissions

Analysis: delving into news stories linking congestion with cycle lanes shows how troubling myths can escape into the wildFairly early on Monday morning last week I got a call from a radio station: could I come on to discuss a study showing London is the world’s most congested city, and this is because of cycle lanes. Hang on, I replied – say all that again?As it turned out, I never appeared (someone else got the part). But, intrigued, I looked into the research which supposedly showed all this. And that was when things started to get strange. Continue reading...

Justice department admits a previous ruling did not force the detonation of what environmentalists call ‘huge carbon bomb’The Biden administration admitted that a court decision did not compel it to lease vast tracts of the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling, shortly before claiming it was legally obliged to do so when announcing the sell-off, the Guardian can reveal.Last month, the US government held the largest-ever auction of oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico’s history, offering up more than 80m acres of the gulf’s seabed for fossil fuel extraction. Continue reading...

Lancaster University researchers say sowing wildflowers alongside panels would have benefits for farmers who rely on pollinatorsSolar parks could provide habitats for wildlife – and particularly bumblebees – to flourish, if managed in the right way, benefiting farmers and nature, new research suggests.There are already 14,000 hectares (35,000 acres) of solar parks in the UK, in which arrays of solar panels are installed over a large area, and an estimated 90,000 hectares will be needed. Yet the parks have attracted controversy over claims they are ugly, blight productive land and harm nature. Continue reading...

Technique has ‘huge potential’ for monitoring decline in biodiversity, say scientistsInsect DNA has been gathered from the air and for the first time used to detect 85 insect species, according to scientists from Lund University in Sweden.Bees, moths, flies, beetles, wasps and ants have been identified in a study which raises hopes that airborne environmental DNA (eDNA) could become a useful tool in monitoring insect abundance and declines in biodiversity. Continue reading...

Minister says $2m app will reduce plastic going to landfill but experts warn the recycling industry remains under-resourced

Boggabilla farmer Pete Mailler says there is not enough capacity in causeways and culverts after raising of the Newell Highway

Record-breaking number of vessels being built or on order worldwide, despite environmental concerns

Anger after investigation finds Imperial College London, Cambridge and Oxford among institutions to have accepted fundingSome of Britain’s most prestigious universities are among those to have shared in funds totalling at least £89m from major oil companies in the last four years, an investigation has found.Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London are among the universities to have been given funding from some of the world’s biggest companies, according to new research by openDemocracy. Continue reading...

Oilwells set alight by Iraqi forces in 1991 were put out within months, but insidious pollution still mars the desertFor 10 months in Kuwait, everything was upside down. Daytime was full of darkness from the thick smoke, and nights were bright from the distant glow of burning oilwells.When Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, ordered the occupation of Kuwait in August 1990 in an attempt to gain control of the lucrative oil supply of the Middle East and pay off a huge debt accrued from Kuwait, he was fairly quickly forced into retreat by a US coalition which began an intensive bombing campaign. Continue reading...

Local council has declared climate emergency but house is in a conservation areaA south London man has described his incredulity after Merton council ordered him to remove his solar panels – flying in the face of attempts to tackle the climate crisis and in spite of the fact his neighbour has had some on their roof for more than 10 years.In 2019, Merton council declared a climate emergency and said the borough would become net zero by 2050. But that hasn’t stopped council officials ordering Syd Reid, who lives in Wimbledon, remove his panels because his property is in a conservation area. Continue reading...

Group of six argued obstruction in London’s financial district was lawful protest against government inactionSix climate crisis activists whose protest halted transport links serving London’s financial district have been acquitted by a jury.The group of Extinction Rebellion protesters targeted the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), which runs commuters around the City, Canary Wharf and other parts of east and south-east London, saying they wanted to draw attention to the financial industry’s contribution to the climate emergency. Continue reading...

A sycamore saved by activists who slept beneath it and a cypress on a beach are among the contendersA sycamore tree saved from felling by Nottinghamshire rebels who slept beneath it, and a Monterey cypress growing on a Welsh beach that was also protected by people’s passion for trees, are among 10 contenders for Britain’s Tree of the Year 2021.Public voting is open for the Woodland Trust’s annual contest which the charity hopes will highlight the lack of legal protection for ancient and much-loved trees in Britain. Continue reading...

Move to stop and ‘evaluate next steps’ throws future of project and of oil exploration in area into doubtWork on the Cambo oilfield off Shetland is being paused, its developers have said, plunging the future of oil exploration in the area into doubt.Shell, which had been planning to develop the field with the private equity-backed fossil fuel explorer Siccar Point Energy, pulled out of the project last week after fierce opposition to it from environmental activists. Continue reading...

Experts were amazed to find population of the most endangered feline in the Americas living on the edge of Santiago, Chile, a city with a population of 8 million

Open letter calls on IEA to help researchers by removing paywalls from global energy datasetsThe International Energy Agency is facing calls to make the national energy data it collects from governments publicly available.This would aid independent research, which in turn could help to accelerate the global transition to low-carbon energy. Continue reading...

Four charities selected this year all help protect the rights of marginalised people most affected by the climate crisis

Record numbers of endangered manatees are dying as polluted waters kill off their food sourcesFlorida wildlife officials will undertake a manatee feeding and rescue operation involving hand-feeding the mammals romaine lettuce, amid unprecedented mortality among the gentle aquatic creatures affectionately known as “sea cows”.Typically, manatees return to warm water winter feeding grounds, where they feast on plentiful seagrass. Continue reading...

Elusive Andean cat, thought to exist only in extremely remote rocky outcrops, caught on camera close to Santiago cityTeetering over an arid cliff face above the sprawling Chilean capital, Bernardo Segura reviews the footage from the camera trap and lets out a yell of excitement as the images reveal a flickering striped tail.On the screen displaying the conservationist’s latest video capture is an Andean cat – the most endangered feline in the Americas. Looking a little like a miniature snow leopard, the 4kg (9lb) male enters the frame and begins spray-marking the shrubs at the base of the cliff, before stealing away through sharp rocks with his banded brown and grey tail aloft. Continue reading...

Tie-up with Canada Pension Plan is power supplier’s second big investment since start of energy crisisOctopus Energy has raised $300m of investment to value the power supplier at $5bn – despite soaring energy prices that have triggered a wave of collapses among its rivals.The long-term tie-up with Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board is the second big investment in Octopus Energy since the start of the energy crisis during which dozens of smaller supply rivals have folded. Continue reading...

Law will cover near-threatened, threatened and endangered species, from lions to rhinos and polar bearsBritons who kill endangered animals abroad for fun will not be able to bring their hunting trophies home, the government has announced.The proposed law will prevent big game hunters from bringing home body parts of 7,000 species including lions, rhinos, elephants and polar bears. It comes two years after the government pledged to introduce a ban. Continue reading...

Move follows two external investigations commissioned after Guardian Australia uncovered failures in offset programs

Recorded over four decades, the calls of 53 native birds were gathered on an album raising funds and awareness for species facing extinction

Termed “neopelagic communities”, these colonies are thriving in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and going where the current flowsMasses of ocean plastic are providing artificial habitat for otherwise coastal species, according to a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal, Nature Communications.The study’s authors observed floating water bottles, old toothbrushes and matted fishing nets. The possibility exists that species may be evolving to better adapt to life on plastic. Continue reading...

Frieda River mine proposed by Chinese-owned PanAust sparks appeal to government in Australia where company is registeredMore than 2,000 people in 60 villages in Papua New Guinea’s north – where the country’s largest gold, copper and silver mine is slated to be built – have filed a human rights complaint with the Australian government against developer PanAust.The landowners of the proposed Frieda River mine, on a tributary to the Sepik in the north of New Guinea island, allege that PanAust failed to obtain their consent. Continue reading...

Former politician says ‘I want my life to change’ and will pursue a private-sector career, despite Scott Morrison urging her to contest seat

Residents will be required to use green waste bins to dispose of food which municipalities will turn into compost or biogasCalifornia will soon enact the largest mandatory residential food waste recycling program in the US in January, an effort designed to dramatically cut down on organic waste in landfills and reduce the state’s methane emissions.When food scraps such as banana peels and leftover veggies and other organic materials break down they emit methane, a greenhouse gas more potent and damaging in the short-term than carbon emissions from fossil fuels. Organic material such as food and yard waste makes up a fifth of the state’s methane emissions and half of everything in California landfills, according to CalRecycle. Continue reading...

Study finds natural regrowth yields better results than human plantings and offers hope for climate recoveryTropical forests can bounce back with surprising rapidity, a new study published today suggests.An international group of researchers has found that tropical forests have the potential to almost fully regrow if they are left untouched by humans for about 20 years. This is due to a multidimensional mechanism whereby old forest flora and fauna help a new generation of forest grow – a natural process known as “secondary succession”. Continue reading...

Latest blueprint by Aemo says grid has already ‘outpaced all expectations’ and anticipates ninefold increase in wind and solar by 2050

Nicola Sturgeon pushes button on controlled explosion at what was Scotland’s largest freestanding structureScotland has marked the end of its coal-powered history by demolishing the huge chimney at its last remaining coal plant at Longannet in Fife.The chimney, which was Scotland’s largest freestanding structure, dominated the skyline for more than half a century before it was destroyed on Thursday morning with 700kg of explosives. Continue reading...

New research sees two-thirds of mollusc types only found living by hydrothermal vents added to IUCN’s red list of endangered speciesAlmost two-thirds of the hundreds of mollusc species that live in the deep sea are at risk of extinction, according to a new study that rings another alarm bell over the impact on biodiversity of mining the seabed.The research, led from Queen’s University in Belfast, has led to 184 mollusc species living around hydrothermal vents being added to the global red list of threatened species, compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). While researchers only studied molluscs that were endemic to the vents (hot springs on the ocean floor), they said they would expect similar extinction risks for crustaceans or any other species reliant on the vents. Continue reading...

Project backed by Boris Johnson likely to get go-ahead but is on site that rare birds travel though, campaigners sayA major new windfarm project that will power millions of homes is likely to be approved on Friday, but conservationists fear for the safety of endangered birds in the area.The Norfolk Boreas offshore windfarm is due to get the green light from the government, the Guardian can reveal. Continue reading...

Scientists working on the Search For The Lost Fishes project have spotted the freshwater Batman River loach, which has not been seen since 1974A freshwater fish that scientists thought was extinct has been found in south-east Turkey, after an absence of nearly 50 years.“I’ve been researching this area for 12 years and this fish was always on my wishlist,” said Dr Cüneyt Kaya, associate professor at Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University. “It’s taken a long time. When I saw the distinctive bands on the fish, I felt so happy. It was a perfect moment.” Continue reading...

George Eustice says restrictions in place since start of November require all birds to be kept indoorsThe UK has been hit by a record outbreak of avian flu that has led to 500,000 captive birds being culled in recent months.The environment secretary, George Eustice, told the House of Commons: “This year we are now seeing the largest ever outbreak in the UK of avian influenza, with 36 confirmed cases.” Continue reading...