Environment | The Guardian

Cattle-feed crops, which end up as beef and dairy products, account for 23% of water consumption in the USAs a fifth-generation rancher in Colorado, Paul Bruchez knows the value of water. Not only does he raise cattle irrigated by the Colorado River and its nearby tributaries, Bruchez runs a fly-fishing business on those same streams.“My income, my life, requires a reliable water resource,” he said. But since moving to northern Colorado two decades ago, the Colorado River has shrunk by an average of 20% compared to last century. Climatic conditions are one culprit – the area is suffering the worst regional dry spell on record. But there’s another big problem. Continue reading...

CDC Group’s climate strategy will stop support for most polluting projects in developing countriesThe UK government’s overseas development bank has bowed to calls to end fossil fuel financing abroad by promising to invest only in companies that align with the Paris climate agreement.The CDC Group revealed its new climate strategy, which will end support for the most polluting fossil fuel projects, including the production of oil and coal, and channel almost a third of its spending towards climate finance. Continue reading...

The NSW independent water regulator has charged Whitehaven Coal over alleged breaches of the Water Management Act at its Maules Creek coalmineA mine operator in north-west New South Wales could be facing a multi-million dollar fine after allegedly taking water without a licence over three years.The state’s independent water regulator on Thursday said it commenced prosecution in the Land and Environment Court against Whitehaven Coal over two alleged breaches of the Water Management Act at its Maules Creek coalmine. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Fiona Kotvojs called on the Eurobodalla shire to approve strategy without further considerationThe Liberal candidate for Eden-Monaro, Fiona Kotvojs, urged her local council to push forward with a new rural land plan, despite numerous Rural Fire Service concerns that it did not “protect life, property and the environment”, documents seen by the Guardian show.Kotvojs, who has waged a war against so-called “green tape”, called for Eurobodalla shire council, where she is a resident, to pass the plan that would have allowed new development in bushfire-prone areas. Continue reading...

New South Wales government data shows 73% of clearing was unexplained, with sharp rises in the state’s north-west and central westLand-clearing in New South Wales has risen nearly 60% since the state relaxed its native vegetation laws in 2017, new government data shows.The report shows 60,800 hectares of woody vegetation was cleared in 2018, up from 58,000 hectares the previous year and an average of 38,800 hectares between 2009 and 2017. Continue reading...

Temperatures will be too hot for the seeds of one in five plants by the year 2070, Australian researcher saysGlobal heating will make it much harder for tropical plants around the world to germinate, with temperatures becoming too hot for the seeds of one in five plants by the year 2070, according to a new study.Global heating will impact the ability of more than half of all tropical plants to germinate if emissions of greenhouse gases remain high. Continue reading...

Critics say utilities borrowing to pay shareholders instead of improving infrastructure

Firms including Anglian Water respond to data on their practices and policiesThames Water: “We invested more than £1bn again in 2019-20, leading to a total of £15bn in the past 15 years, and we will continue to spend wisely on improving resilience, service and efficiency, as well as provide more support for customers in vulnerable circumstances.“Our shareholders are in it for the long term and have not taken a dividend for three years to prioritise investment in improving service for customers and to protect the environment.” Continue reading...

Untreated effluent flowed into waterways for more than 1.5m hours, data shows

Botswana’s government is yet to test the remains of the dead animals in what has been described as a ‘conservation disaster’More than 350 elephants have died in northern Botswana in a mysterious mass die-off described by scientists as a “conservation disaster”.A cluster of elephant deaths was first reported in the Okavango Delta in early May, with 169 individuals dead by the end of the month. By mid June, the number had more than doubled, with 70% of the deaths clustered around waterholes, according to local sources who wish to remain anonymous. Continue reading...

Testing has found positive cases at North Carolina facilities, but officials refuse to release the informationA chicken processing facility in western North Carolina reportedly underwent widespread testing for Covid-19 in early June.Workers at the plant were scared. Several employees had already tested positive and the company, Case Farms – which has been repeatedly condemned for animal treatment and workers’ rights violations – was not providing proper protective equipment. Continue reading...

Samples from illegal refineries in Niger delta found to be of a higher quality than imported petrol in new analysisBlack market fuel made from stolen oil in rudimentary “bush” refineries hidden deep in the creeks and swamps of the Niger delta is less polluting than the highly toxic diesel and petrol that Europe exports to Nigeria, new laboratory analysis has found.Shell, Exxon, Chevron and other major oil companies extract and export up to 2m barrels a day of high quality, low sulphur “Bonny Light” crude from the Niger delta. But very little of this oil is refined in the country because its four state-owned refineries are dysfunctional or have closed. Continue reading...

Chain invokes ‘zero-tolerance approach’ to illegally logged timber after ruling that VicForests was not exempt from national environment lawsBunnings will stop selling timber logged by VicForests after a court found the state government-owned forestry agency breached conservation laws.“Bunnings has a zero-tolerance approach to illegally logged timber that dates back two decades and our commitment is to only source timber products from legal and well managed forest operations,” Bunnings’ director of merchandise, Phil Bishop, said on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Coronavirus lockdown was final straw for fracking pioneer Chesapeake EnergyThe collapse of Chesapeake Energy, one of the pioneers of the US shale industry, took few people by surprise. The embattled fracker slumped into bankruptcy weeks after the darkest month in oil market history, in a financial mess of missed interest payments, looming bond deadlines and crippling debts.Its collapse is not the first bankruptcy to hit the oil industry in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, nor will it be the last. But the fall of a company once considered one of the shale revolution’s brightest stars may mark a crucial watershed for an industry in flux. Continue reading...

Fiona Kotvojs is ‘more conservative’ than Tony Abbott on climate change, one campaigner has warnedClimate and LGBT equality campaigners have rounded on the Liberal candidate for Eden-Monaro, Fiona Kotvojs, in the lead-up to Saturday’s byelection, with one warning she is “more conservative” on climate change than Tony Abbott.Matthew Nott, the founder and president of Clean Energy for Eternity, made the comparison in reference to comments Kotvojs made at a meeting with the local climate group ahead of the 2019 election that Australia’s contribution to global emissions is “minute”. Continue reading...

Land groups say plan could lift economic output by $5.7bn and focus on areas hit hardest by coronavirus shutdownAn alliance of more than 70 conservation, farming and land management organisations is lobbying the Morrison government to dedicate $4bn of stimulus spending to employ more than 50,000 people to help repair the environment.According to a report by professional services firm Ernst & Young commissioned by the groups, it could create 53,000 jobs over four years planting trees, removing weeds and restoring rivers, wetlands and coastal habitats. It is estimated it would reduce welfare costs by about $620m and increase economic output by about $5.7bn. Continue reading...

Green campaigners and housing experts warn Boris Johnson’s recovery plan could swiftly become a liabilityBoris Johnson’s plan to build tens of thousands of new homes risks locking in high carbon emissions for decades to come, if they are built to today’s poor efficiency standards instead of being designed for net zero carbon.The prime minister’s plans to “build, build, build” form the centrepiece of his “new deal” to lift Britain’s economy out of the coronavirus recession. About £12bn will go to building 180,000 new homes to relieve the housing crisis, while new hospitals and schools will be constructed to improve degraded public services. Continue reading...

Plan will be fodder for election-year attacks from Republicans who will frame it as economy-killing and a grab-bag of Democratic social policiesHouse Democrats on Tuesday released an ambitious and wide-ranging climate crisis plan on par with what scientists say the world will have to do to avert catastrophic warming.But the US government remains far from ready to seriously tackle the problem, and the action plan will be fodder for election-year attacks from Republicans who will frame it as economy-killing and a grab-bag of Democratic social policies. Continue reading...

Such deadly heat may become regular occurrence later this century, scientists findThe likelihood of the UK experiencing deadly 40C temperatures for the first time is “rapidly accelerating” due to the climate crisis, scientists have found.The research shows that such searing heat could become a regular occurrence by the end of the century unless carbon emissions are cut to zero. Global heating has already made UK heatwaves 30 times more likely and extreme temperatures led to 3,400 early deaths from 2016-19. Continue reading...

Firm follows BP in facing impact of oil price collapse in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak

Energy provider is first major Australian company to connect executive pay to net-zero goalAustralia’s largest domestic emitter of greenhouse gases, the energy provider AGL, is the first major company in the country to link managers’ bonuses to lowering emissions.AGL announced on Tuesday that metrics including the amount of power the company generated from renewable sources would be linked to the pay incentives of key managers from the next financial year, starting in July 2021. Continue reading...

$100m to be spent on conservation after critics expressed concerns for Kosciuszko national parkScott Morrison has announced federal approval for the Snowy 2.0 project in the closing days of the Eden-Monaro byelection campaign, declaring Snowy Hydro would spend $100m on measures aimed at allaying environmental concerns.The prime minister told reporters on Tuesday he was excited to announce “the thumbs-up, green light for the Snowy 2.0 project to now move to its full implementation phase” with construction to begin over the next two years. Continue reading...

Across the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, scientists are developing alternative sustainable solutions to the golden tide of SargassumThe Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, first detected by Nasa observation satellites in 2011 and now known to be the world’s largest bloom of seaweed, stretches for 5,500 miles (8,850km) from the Gulf of Mexico to the western coast of Africa.Millions of tonnes of floating Sargassum seaweed in coastal waters smother fragile seagrass habitats, suffocate coral reefs and harm fisheries. And once washed ashore on Mexican and Caribbean beaches, this foul-smelling, rotting seaweed goes on to devastate the tourist industry, prevent turtles from nesting and damage coastal ecosystems, while releasing hydrogen sulphide and other toxic gases as it decomposes. Continue reading...

Critics say PMs promise to ‘build back greener’ is not delivered by plans revealed so farBoris Johnson is to set out a “new deal” for jobs and infrastructure on Tuesday, painting himself as a “Rooseveltian” prime minister lifting Britain out of the biggest recession in centuries, and a pledge to use the coronavirus crisis to tackle unresolved challenges such as health, education and regional inequalities.“To that end, we will build build build,” he is expected to say. “Build back better, build back greener, build back faster, and to do that at the pace that this moment requires. Continue reading...

Nigel Wilson criticises ‘confusion’ created by prioritising HS2 and Heathrow expansionThe head of the UK’s largest fund manager has criticised the UK government for creating “confusion” around the country’s climate commitments by prioritising projects such as expanding Heathrow airport and pushing ahead with HS2.Nigel Wilson said government priorities were “not necessarily consistent” with climate crisis objectives and sending mixed messages to investors and the financial services industry. Continue reading...

Analysts predict more struggling shale energy firms could fold or be bought up by rivalsThe bankruptcy of Chesapeake, the pioneer of using fracking to mine shale gas and oil, could mark a new, straitened era for the oil industry, according to analysts.The Oklahoma City-based company said on Sunday that it had been forced to enter chapter 11 protection to reduce the size of its debt pile from $9bn (£7.3bn) to $2bn. A grace period for paying bondholders had been due to expire on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s firm will initially pay $400m deposit for plastics and chemicals unitsBP has sold its petrochemicals business for $5bn (£4.1bn) to Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos, in a deal that will boost the oil company’s under-pressure balance sheet.Ineos will pay BP a deposit of $400m, followed by $3.6bn when the deal completes and then another $1bn in three instalments by June 2021. Continue reading...

French president announces measures following ‘green wave’ in local electionsEmmanuel Macron has promised an extra €15bn (£13.7bn) for measures to combat the climate crisis over the next two years and a referendum on whether to introduce the crime of “ecocide” for harming the environment.The measures were announced just hours after environmental candidates sparked a green wave across France with major gains in local elections in which the president’s governing party failed to make its mark. Continue reading...

Unsafe boating activity, delays to environmental projects and changes in public policy are putting the gentle giants at riskThe apparent environmental upside of Covid-19, such as lower pollution and emissions, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Just ask manatee conservationists in Florida.Keeping this threatened species safe has increasingly been an uphill battle – especially since manatees were controversially downgraded from “endangered” in 2017. But conservationists are facing unexpected challenges in the face of coronavirus. So far, the pandemic has led to more unsafe boating activity, delays to environmental project launches and even changes in public policy – none of which favor these gentle giants. Continue reading...

Influential committees call for bold investments to recover and grow in ‘cleaner and greener way’MPs have joined growing calls from business leaders and environmentalists for the government to use its post-coronavirus economic recovery plan to accelerate investments aimed at tackling the climate crisis.The chairs of two influential cross-party select committees have warned the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, that time is running out to “avert an even greater future global crisis caused by climate change”. Continue reading...

Evidence from NGOs suggests fleet of up to 192 Iranian vessels could be one of the largest illegal fishing operations in the worldA large fleet of Iranian fishing vessels has been identified operating illegally in Somalian waters for over a year, depleting fish stocks in a country where one in three people face acute shortages of food.The Somali government, which is unable to police its vast coastline, has expressed concern over food and maritime security and has called on Iran to investigate. Continue reading...

Norilsk Nickel suspends workers at metals plant who dumped the water in ‘flagrant violation of operating rules’A Russian mining giant said on Sunday it had suspended workers at a metals plant who were responsible for pumping wastewater into nearby Arctic tundra.Independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta published videos from the scene showing large metal pipes carrying wastewater from the reservoir and dumping foaming liquid among nearby trees. Continue reading...

The Oklahoma City-based company helped turn the US into a global energy powerhouse but ran up huge debts in the processChesapeake Energy, the shale gas drilling pioneer that helped to turn the United States into a global energy powerhouse, has filed for bankruptcy protection.The Oklahoma City-based company said on Sunday that it had been forced to enter chapter 11 protection because its debts of $9bn were unmanageable. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Poll comes as 350 union, business and religious leaders issue call for fair and green recovery

Decarbonising the economy by investing in renewable energy, clean buildings, clean transport and manufacturing could help fight the recessionHundreds of thousands of jobs could be created in Australia by hurrying the shift to zero greenhouse gas emissions, a study backed by business and investment leaders has found.The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates 835,000 jobs have been lost since the coronavirus pandemic shutdown began in March. A report by Beyond Zero Emissions, an energy and climate change thinktank, says practical projects to decarbonise the economy could create 1.78m “job years” over the next five years – on average, 355,000 people in work each year – while modernising Australian industry. Continue reading...

Forums speak of hundreds of tonnes of plastic and other waste discarded by public

Governments and carmakers press on with hydrogen fuel cells to power cars, buses, trains and even aircraftMore than 50 years ago hydrogen fuel cells helped put Neil Armstrong on the moon, but mainstream usage of the technology has remained elusive since.Now there are signs that may be changing, with a spate of new investments even amid the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading...

Environmentalists have welcomed news that the 43-year-old Fessenheim reactor will close, nine years after it was first plannedFrance’s oldest nuclear power plant will shut down on Tuesday after four decades in operation, to the delight of environmental activists who have long warned of contamination risks, but stoking worry for the local economy.The Fessenheim plant, opened in 1977 and already three years over its projected 40-year life span, became a target for anti-nuclear campaigners after the catastrophic meltdown at Fukushima in Japan in 2011. Continue reading...

Climate change campaigner said after UN summit, Angela Merkel queued up for a selfie

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil will now have a working majority in Irish parliamentIreland’s next government will be formed on Saturday after the Green party voted resoundingly to enter a coalition with two larger rivals.Members of the environmental party decided by a 76% majority to form an administration with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, a party statement on Friday evening said. Continue reading...

If the ALP loses Eden-Monaro next Saturday, it will be a significant blow to morale and a green light for internal mischiefWe are going to track back to the week’s developments on energy policy, but I want to open this weekend in Eden-Monaro, with voters in the seat heading to the polls next Saturday.The truisms of federal byelections are well known. Governments don’t normally win. Usually, voters use these contests as an opportunity to “send a message to Canberra” – often the message is “up yours”. Continue reading...

Audit of offsets to approve developments suggests usage is worsening impact of endangered species, not reducing itThe Morrison government is being urged to fix the use of environmental offsets to approve developments after an audit found major flaws in a system supposed to help protect threatened species from extinction.Scientists said the scathing audit of how the federal environment department administered national conservation laws suggested the use of offsets was worsening the impact on endangered species, not reducing it. Continue reading...

The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including a perky grasshopper and a sleepy turtle Continue reading...

For many Americans across the US, water bills are becoming unaffordable. That poses a threat to health, housing and familiesWater is essential to life. Yet running water is becoming unaffordable across the US, in cities large and small. Water bills weigh heavily on many Americans as utilities hike up prices to pay for environmental clean-ups, infrastructure upgrades and climate emergency defenses to deal with floods and droughts. Federal funding for America’s ageing water system has plummeted, and as a result a growing number of households are unable to afford to pay their bills; millions of homes are being disconnected or put into foreclosure every year.As we’ve seen during the coronavirus pandemic, unaffordable water poses a threat to individual and public health, housing and families. It also poses a threat to water quality: if people can’t afford to pay their bills, utility companies can’t raise the money needed for clean-ups. Continue reading...

Wildlife Services kills thousands of animals at ranchers and farmers’ behest. But it operates with little oversight – and critics describe it as out of controlThe call came over Tony Manu’s police radio one March day in 2017: some sort of pipe had exploded in the hills outside Pocatello, Idaho and the son of a well-known local doctor was hurt, or worse.Related: Protests target Spanish colonial statues that 'celebrate genocide' in US west Continue reading...

When Onon the common cuckoo took off from Mongolia last June no one expected him to make a 26,000km round trip to southern AfricaWhen Onon took off above the rolling hills of the Khurkh valley in Mongolia last June, researchers had no idea if they would see him alive again. Along with one oriental cuckoo and three other common cuckoos, each fitted with a tiny tracking device, he was about to embark on an epic journey to southern Africa.Last month, he was the only bird to return safely with his tracker intact. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Guy Abrahams wrote to CBA for clarity on how four recent investment decisions stack up against its own climate policiesActivist shareholders claim the Commonwealth Bank has breached its own climate policies by making a series of recent loans to projects that expand the global gas sector.The bank says its financing of new gas projects – including the massive Permian Highway gas pipeline in the United States – is consistent with its “unequivocal” support for the Paris climate agreement, on the basis that gas is a “transition” fuel that can supplant coal-fired power generation. Continue reading...

Anne Rolfes and Kate McIntosh face up to 15 years in prison after delivering box of plastic pellets found as pollutionEnvironmental activists opposing a plastics manufacturing facility in Louisiana have been booked with a felony for “terrorizing” an oil and gas lobbyist by delivering a box of plastic pellets found as pollution in bays on the Texas coast.Anne Rolfes and Kate McIntosh, with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, turned themselves into the Baton Rouge police department on Thursday, as first reported by the Times-Picayune. Continue reading...