Comparethemarket.com analysis shows electric car drivers were charged an average of £566The average cost of insuring an electric car in the UK is £45 less than the cost of covering a petrol or diesel car, according to research from the website Comparethemarket.com.Analysis of annual premiums in the first three months of the year showed electric car drivers were charged an average of £566, while petrol and diesel drivers paid £611. Continue reading...

Mark Dreyfus says corruption watchdog needed to investigate government buying $30m in offsets related to new airportLabor has strengthened its call for a national integrity commission, saying it is needed to investigate the Morrison government’s purchase of more than $30m in environmental offsets related to the development of the western Sydney airport.The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, made the call after the New South Wales transport department referred its purchases of $50.6m in offsets from the same western Sydney properties to the state’s Independent Commission Against Corruption for investigation. Continue reading...

State lawmakers agree on $400m measure to expand ‘wildlife corridors’ in effort to help panthers and other endangered speciesIn a political culture where bipartisan legislation is a rare species, lawmakers in one state have come together to agree major new conservation efforts that will help that other endangered animal – the Florida panther.The big cat, whose habitat has a history of being swallowed up and its numbers hunted by humans, is expected to benefit from a $400m cash boost. Continue reading...

Republican governor says measure sends message that Wyoming is ‘prepared to bring litigation to protect her interests’Wyoming is faced by a transition to renewable energy that’s gathering pace across America, but it has now come up with a novel and controversial plan to protect its mining industry – sue other states that refuse to take its coal.A new state law has created a $1.2m fund to be used by Wyoming’s governor to take legal action against other states that opt to power themselves with clean energy such as solar and wind, in order to meet targets to tackle the climate crisis, rather than burn Wyoming’s coal. Continue reading...

Oxburgh Hall project will replant native trees in Grade II-listed parkland with Edwardian survey mapThe National Trust is reconstructing a 19th-century landscape in Norfolk using an Edwardian survey map and aerial photographs taken by the Royal Air Force after the second world war.The £190,000 project at Oxburgh Hall, which will take a decade to complete, will replant native trees in the Grade II-listed landscape, making it one of the largest wood pastures the charity has ever created. Continue reading...

The 7ft-long female lake sturgeon was released by a Fish and Wildlife Service team after being weighed and measuredThe US Fish and Wildlife Service received quite a big surprise last week, when they caught a giant fish, estimated to be more than 100 years old, in the Detroit River.The 240lb lake sturgeon was caught by a three-person crew on 22 April, just south of Detroit near Grosse Ile. The agency described the huge fish, which measured almost 7ft long, as “a real life river monster”. Continue reading...

More than 15 rare birds, whose population is at about 160 in the state, showed up at Cinda Mickol’s home – and they’ve made a messGiant California condors are rare – but not at Cinda Mickols’ home.More than 15 condors, an endangered bird whose population hovers at around 160 in the state and under 500 in the US, have recently taken a liking to Mickol’s house in Tehachapi – and they’ve made quite a mess. Continue reading...

After Guardian investigation, department launched internal inquiry. Now it has referred matter to watchdogThe NSW transport department has referred its purchases of tens of millions of dollars in environmental offsets in western Sydney to the Independent Commission Against Corruption for investigation.The referral to the state’s corruption watchdog follows a Guardian Australia investigation that revealed that a company known as Meridolum No 1 made more than $40m selling offsets for infrastructure projects that Eco Logical Australia, which employed two of Meridolum’s directors, provided offset advice on. Continue reading...

Energy minister Angus Taylor will confirm the new funding, including up to $32m to support the Golden Beach project in GippslandThe Morrison government will allocate another $58.6m to “gas-fired recovery” measures in Tuesday’s budget and is continuing to hold out the prospect of building a new power plant in the Hunter Valley despite experts questioning the need for it.The energy minister, Angus Taylor, will confirm on Friday new funding to support gas infrastructure projects, including a short-term loan of up to $32m to support early works for the Golden Beach gas production and storage project in Gippsland in Victoria. Continue reading...

Fossil fuels, cattle and rotting waste produce greenhouse gas responsible for 30% of global heatingSlashing methane emissions is vital to tackling the climate crisis and rapidly curbing the extreme weather already hitting people across the world today, according to a new UN report.In 2020 there was a record rise in the amount of the powerful greenhouse gas emitted by the fossil fuel industry, cattle and rotting waste. Cutting it is the strongest action available to slow global heating in the near term, Inger Andersen, the UN’s environment chief, said. Continue reading...

Sighting of two of UK’s resident orcas is ‘proof of the value of our coastal seas’, says expertTwo killer whales have been spotted off the Cornish coast.Experts believe this is the first sighting of the UK’s only resident population of killer whales travelling this far south. Continue reading...

Electrification of cars and home boilers best choice to fight the climate crisis, say scientistsUsing hydrogen-based fuels for cars and home heating risks locking in a dependency on fossil fuels and failing to tackle the climate crisis, according to a new analysis.Fuels produced from hydrogen can be used as straight replacements for oil and gas and can be low-carbon, if renewable electricity is used to produce these “e-fuels”. However, the research found that using the electricity directly to power cars and warm houses was far more efficient. Continue reading...

Toby Willison has taken leading role at water firm due in court for sentencing after sewage dumpingA former chief of the environment watchdog has defended his move to take up a senior position at a water company that is under investigation by the regulator.Toby Willison has taken a leading role at Southern Water, which this summer is due in court for sentencing after admitting dumping poisonous, noxious substances including raw sewage. The case followed a criminal investigation by Willison’s former employer, the Environment Agency. Continue reading...

Government proposes net zero deadline of 2045 instead of 2050, but critics demand actions not numbersGermany’s government is to revise its emission reduction targets after the country’s constitutional court declared the current climate protection measures insufficient, aiming to become greenhouse gas neutral by 2045 rather than 2050.The finance minister, Olaf Scholz, and the environment minister, Svenja Schulze, laid out a legislative proposal on Wednesday to cut emissions by 65% from 1990 levels by 2030. An 88% reduction of carbon emissions is to be reached by 2040. Continue reading...

The state’s upper house is set to hold an inquiry to ensure the rules are fair and deliver for downstream communities and the environmentAttempts by the New South Wales government to legitimise flood plain water harvesting by big irrigators through a licensing scheme have again been stymied amid fears it will lock in unsustainable water practices in the Murray-Darling basin.Labor and a majority of the crossbench joined forces in the NSW upper house on Thursday to disallow the framework legislation for the scheme. Continue reading...

Charred tree – which may be thousands of years old – looks like chimney spouting smoke in national forestScientists have discovered a giant sequoia still smoldering in California’s Sequoia national forest, months after wildfires tore through the region last August.The tree was found, charred but still standing, by researchers in the lower part of the national forest this week. While turning down a sharp switchback on the trail, a member of Sequoia’s fire ecology and research team spotted a plume of smoke in the ravine below. Using a long camera lens, the team tracked the smoke to a single giant sequoia, standing in the burn area from last year’s Castle fire. The enormous tree, which has probably stood for hundreds if not thousands of years, looked like a chimney spouting smoke in the middle of the blackened forest. Continue reading...

It rains nearly 40% of the time in the Swedish city – so why not try to make the most of it?When they wake up on a Saturday morning to find rain coursing down the windows of their Gothenburg apartment, four-year-old Enja Bäckström and her six-year-old brother Charlie often still want to go out to play.That’s because their local playground has been designed to be particularly fun when it’s wet. There are dips in the ground to make the puddles deeper and more satisfyingly splashy, and water gushes down channels from lilypad-shaped rain shelters into a sandpit where children can make pools, rivers and dams. “The kids love to go on their bicycles through the puddles, and my son likes to dig the sands, so some parts of the playground are really nice when it rains,” says their mother, Jessica Bäckström. Continue reading...

Keith Pitt says loan of up to $280m for a Kaban green energy hub near Cairns would be ‘inconsistent with the objectives and policies of the commonwealth’The Morrison government has vetoed public funding of a windfarm and battery project in northern Queensland, with a cabinet minister declaring it was inconsistent with its goals and policies.The Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (Naif), a government agency, in January approved up to $280m funding for the Kaban green energy hub 80km south-west of Cairns. The proponents, Neoen Australia, estimated the development could reduce electricity prices for Queensland consumers by $461m over the life of the project. Continue reading...

Environmental groups say Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein shot bear, named Arthur, in a protected areaEnvironmental groups have accused a prince from Liechtenstein’s royal family of shooting and killing the largest bear in Romania, in contravention of a ban on the trophy hunting of large carnivores.The Romanian NGO Agent Green and the Austrian NGO VGT alleged in a statement that the bear, who was called Arthur, was shot in March in a protected area of the Carpathian Mountains by Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein. Continue reading...

Campaigners warn offset system is flawed and can produce credits with no climate benefitAirlines should focus on reducing emissions from flights instead of using carbon offsets for climate commitments, experts and environmental campaigners have warned.British Airways and easyJet are among several leading carriers that use carbon offsets to back up claims of “carbon-neutral flying” and net zero pledges by buying credits on behalf of passengers or offering customers that opportunity to buy them when booking tickets. Continue reading...

World faces ‘abrupt jump’ in pace of ice loss around 2060 unless emissions reduced to meet Paris agreement goals, study warnsThe current pace of global heating risks unleashing “rapid and unstoppable” sea level rise from the melting of Antarctica’s vast ice sheet, a new research paper has warned.Unless planet-heating emissions are swiftly reduced to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement, the world faces a situation where there is an “abrupt jump” in the pace of Antarctic ice loss around 2060, the study states, fueling sea level rise and placing coastal cities in greater peril. Continue reading...

Within days to a couple weeks at most the cicadas of Brood X will emerge in mass numbers from Indiana to Georgia to New YorkSifting through a shovel load of dirt in a suburban backyard, Michael Raupp and Paula Shrewsbury find their quarry: a cicada nymph.And then another. And another. And four more. Continue reading...

Southern Water’s proposal to convert saltwater from Solent into tap water labelled ‘bizarre’ and ‘expensive’Plans to build an energy-hungry desalination plant in the New Forest national park to provide drinking water for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight have been condemned by campaigners including the broadcaster Chris Packham.Southern Water’s proposal for a £600m plant at Fawley to convert saltwater from the Solent into tap water during droughts has been formally opposed by the New Forest national park authority. A separate petition against the plan has attracted several thousand signatures. Continue reading...

Googly-eyed device to be tested in gillnet fisheries after study finds it deters long-tailed ducksScarecrows may be outstanding in their field, but now scientists have created an unusual floating version that could help reduce the number of vulnerable seabirds caught by fishing nets.The device, known as a looming-eyes buoy (LEB), and developed in collaboration with engineers from Fishtek Marine, was trialled in Küdema Bay, Saaremaa island, Estonia, on long-tailed ducks. It uses bright eyespots and looming movements to act as a natural deterrent, preventing seabirds from diving into gillnets – vertical nets used in small-scale fisheries in many countries. Continue reading...

Foundation was controversially awarded $443m grant by Turnbull government in 2018 on the basis it would be able to leverage money from private sector

In Richmond Park, decaying logs and mangled old branches are no longer cleared away but valued as habitats for birds and insects

Mammoth moth which can have 25cm wingspan found by builders working on Queensland primary schoolA giant moth with a wingspan measuring up to 25cm has been found at a Queensland school next to a rainforest.Builders found the giant wood moth, the heaviest moth in the world, while constructing new classrooms at Mount Cotton state school. Continue reading...

Group pledges to shift towards model where items for sale can be reused, recycled or rejiggedThe UK’s biggest furniture retailer, Ikea, will launch a scheme to buy back unwanted furniture from customers to resell as part of the Swedish group’s efforts to reduce its impact on the environment.The group has pledged to shift towards a circular model of consumption where items it sells can be reused, recycled or rejigged rather than dumped. Continue reading...

Campaigners say many investments still high carbon and call on firms to sign green pensions charter

Campaigners and Labour youth groups urge London mayor to shelve plan for £2bn Silvertown tunnelYoung people concerned about the climate crisis and air pollution are urging the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, to abandon his plans for a new four-lane road tunnel under the Thames or risk losing their support.Climate justice campaigners, anti-pollution activists and key youth groups inside the Labour party say Khan, who is standing for re-election on Thursday, is ignoring climate scientists, economists and health experts by pressing ahead with the £2bn Silvertown tunnel scheme in east London. Continue reading...

Country’s inland coastline along the Black Sea enjoys milder weather and its resorts are popular destinationsLike other countries in south-east Europe, Romania has a temperate continental climate, with very warm summers and cold, snowy winters.In the capital, Bucharest, summer temperatures regularly reach the mid-30s, while in winter they drop well below zero. Springs are short – the shift between winter and summer taking place rapidly between mid-April and mid-May. Continue reading...

A new film rejects the popular narrative and recasts the former president, 96, as hugely prescient thinker, particularly on climate changeWhen I reach Jimmy Carter’s grandson by Zoom, he answers wearing a Raphael Warnock campaign T-shirt. Jason Carter is a lawyer and politician himself, mid-40s, animated and well-read, with blue eyes reminiscent of his grandfather’s. He’s just got off the phone with his 93-year-old grandmother, Rosalynn. It’s a special day; Joe Biden is on his way to the Carter house in Plains, Georgia.“My grandfather has met nearly everyone in the world he might want to,” Jason Carter says. “Right now, he’s meeting with the president of the United States. But the person he’d say he learned the most from was Rachel Clark, an illiterate sharecropper who lived on his family’s farm. Continue reading...

Wind turbines generated 48.5% of electricity grid in England, Scotland and Wales on MondayGreat Britain’s windfarms set a new clean energy record on Monday after the blowy bank holiday weather helped onshore and offshore wind turbines make up almost half of the electricity system.The blustery bank holiday produced a new wind power record as turbines generated just over 17.6GW of electricity for the first time in the middle of Monday afternoon, enough to run more than 3.5m kettles. Continue reading...

Chain becomes first big retailer to completely switch to lab-grown stones, amid ethical concernsPandora has become the first big jeweller to turn its back on mined diamonds, with the switch to lab-grown stones billed as making diamond jewellery more affordable.On Tuesday the mass-market brand, best known for its charm bracelets, launched Pandora Brilliance, which it described as its “first lab-created diamond collection”. The range, which includes earrings, necklaces and rings, features lab-grown stones made in the UK, with prices starting at £250. Continue reading...

Guardian investigation finds carbon credits generated by forest protection schemes are based on flawed system

Expansion will stretch hundreds miles and is fiercely opposed by numerous groups – but despite repeated calls the Canadian government has not forced the pipeline reveal its insurersNestled in the harbors of Vancouver, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation has lived for thousands of years within an inlet set against the mountain views of the Pacific north-west.But across the water from Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s reserve, less than 2km away, or a little over a mile, is a jarring juxtaposition: an industrial terminal for the large Trans Mountain oil pipeline. Continue reading...

Rise is a 0.2C improvement on previous forecast but still substantially above goal of Paris climate agreementNew climate targets announced by the US and other rich nations in recent weeks have put the world on track for global heating of about 2.4C by – the end of the century, research has found.That is a 0.2C improvement on the previous forecast of 2.6C, but still substantially above the Paris goal of holding temperature rises to no more than 2C above pre-industrial levels, with an aspiration to limit heating to 1.5C. Continue reading...

Analysis: greater use of bikes can help tackle emissions in the capital, but can the would-be mayors deliver?After a year in which lives, homes and jobs were lost to a global pandemic, why does cycling matter? One of the London mayor’s major mandates is transport. Cycling and walking are a key part of that, not least while many people are avoiding public transport or working from home.If people switch from public transport to driving, Transport for London (TfL) forecasts a huge rise in motor traffic and a corresponding surge in pollution. With road transport accounting for 20% of London’s emissions, providing alternatives to private cars is key. Continue reading...

Accelerating retreat of glaciers in Lombardy and Trentino Alto-Aldige reveals preserved history of ‘White War’The soldiers dug the wooden barracks into a cave on the top of Mount Scorluzzo, a 3,095-metre (10154ft) peak overlooking the Stelvio pass. For the next three-and-a-half years, the cramped, humid space was home to about 20 men from the Austro-Hungarian army as they fought against Italian troops in what became known as the White War, a battle waged across treacherous and bitterly cold Alpine terrain during the first world war.Fought mainly in the Alps of the Lombardy region of Italy and the Dolomites in Trentino Alto-Adige, the White War was a period of history frozen in time until the 1990s, when global warming started to reveal an assortment of perfectly preserved relics – weapons, sledges, letters, diaries and, as the retreat of glaciers hastened, the bodies of soldiers. Continue reading...

Green Alliance says 16,000 jobs could be created in areas facing most severe employment challengesSome of the areas of Britain worst hit by the jobs crisis brought on by the pandemic are also those with the highest potential for green job creation, a report says.About 16,000 new jobs could be created in restoring nature and planting trees in areas where unemployment is set to soar when the government’s furlough schemes end, according to the report from the Green Alliance thinktank. These include urban areas where people have little access to green space, as well as coastal areas and “red wall” areas that were Labour strongholds in the north of England. Continue reading...

Charity urges mayor to back plans for signage and maps to guide walkers around lost waterways

The tiny creatures are the ‘unsung heroes’ that keep soils healthy and underpin all life on landPesticides are causing widespread damage to the tiny creatures that keep soils healthy and underpin all life on land, according to the first comprehensive review of the issue.The researchers found the measured impacts of farm chemicals on earthworms, beetles, springtails and other organisms were overwhelmingly negative. Other scientists said the findings were alarming, given the importance of these “unsung heroes”. Continue reading...

Confirmation comes as questions raised over controversial Snowy Hydro project in Hunter ValleyEnergy Australia has confirmed it will proceed with a new 300MW peaking power plant in the Illawarra in New South Wales capable of using a blend of green hydrogen and natural gas, as officials faced questions about a controversial Snowy Hydro project in the Hunter Valley.Confirmation that the Energy Australia project will proceed follows a threat from the Morrison government to intervene in the market to ensure there are not shortfalls once the ageing coal-fired power plant at Liddell in the Hunter Valley closes in 2023. Continue reading...

Lenders including Barclays and HSBC provided services and loans worth £21.9bn in 2019British banks’ financial support for companies involved in the coal industry has risen since the 2015 Paris agreement, despite their pledges to wind down financing for a sector seen as a significant obstacle to tackling global heating.UK lenders provided loans and underwriting services worth $30.3bn (£21.9bn) to companies that sold or burned coal, or provided coal industry services, during 2019, the latest year for which complete data is available, according to research by the campaign groups Reclaim Finance and Urgewald. That represented a significant increase compared with $21.5bn in financing provided in 2016. Continue reading...

Temperatures expected to be 15F above average on Monday and Tuesday in drought-desiccated Sacramento areaDry, hot weather and strong winds have triggered a “red flag” fire warning for parts of northern California, the first time the National Weather Service has issued such a warning for the region in the month of May since 2014.Temperatures in northern California and the Bay Area are expected to peak 15F above average on Monday and Tuesday, with 20- to 35mph wind gusts expected in some parts, prompting the NWS to warn of dangerous fire conditions in the Sacramento region. The red flag warning is expected to expire after 11am Tuesday. Continue reading...

Environmental Protection Agency proposes rule to cut production and import of HFCs in the US by 85% over the next 15 yearsThe US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has moved to restrict the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), extremely powerful planet-heating gases found in refrigerators and air conditioning units that are the target of an international push for phasing out.In the first move by Joe Biden’s administration to directly cut a greenhouse gas, the EPA has proposed a rule to drastically reduce the production and import of HFCs in the US by 85% over the next 15 years. The step is a significant one as Biden seeks to cut total US emissions in half by the end of the decade. Continue reading...

Community groups are revitalising retail units in often moribund high streets to help people and planetDozens of familiar high street retail units across England and Wales, including Homebase, River Island and William Hill have been converted into climate emergency centres – community hubs “for the benefit of people and planet” – after changes in shopping habits or the Covid pandemic left them sitting empty.As hundreds of councils declare a climate emergency, owners of vacant premises have the option to reduce their business rates payments by up to 100% through leasing the property for community benefit to a not-for-profit or charitable organisation, such as a climate emergency centre (CEC). Continue reading...

Six out of 10 polls published in past two weeks put Greens ahead of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic UnionA green wind of change is blowing through Germany’s political landscape as a poll-of-polls on Monday puts the Green party above Angela Merkel’s ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) only five months before national elections.The aggregate poll, published by Pollytix Strategic Research, puts the Greens in the lead for the first time since June 2019. Continue reading...

Global phenomenon known as river piracy demands urgent adaptation from ecosystems and people who rely on their flowAs glaciers around the world recede rapidly owing to global warming, some communities are facing a new problem: the sudden disappearance of their rivers.River piracy, or stream capture, is when water from one river is diverted into another because of erosion or, in this case, glacier melt. Continue reading...

Unique species in ‘the world’s most biodiverse desert’ are at risk from a warming planet and the lucrative plant poaching tradeIn May 2020, 10mm of rain fell at Sendelingsdrif Rest Camp in South Africa’s most north-westerly corner. After enduring nine years of almost zero rain, Pieter van Wyk, a 32-year-old self-taught botanist who heads up the Richtersveld national park’s nursery, was elated to see several species flower for the first time in almost a decade. The rain, including 200mm on the nearby mountains, was a welcome respite for the world heritage site’s flora and fauna.His joy, however, was short-lived. While the rain gave a temporary lease of life to some annuals and bulbs in the |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld transfrontier park, it did little to alter the fact that scores of species, especially large succulent plants such as aloes, are in peril. A study to be published by Van Wyk and others shows that 85% of the population of the distinctive Pearson’s aloe (Aloe pearsonii) – endemic to the Richtersveld – has been lost in the past five years, having been a stable presence for the previous four decades. Continue reading...