Environment | The Guardian

Kepco had appealed against decision to refuse development proposal to extract 120m tonnes of coal over 25 years

Researchers fear iceberg may disrupt underwater ecosystems and block penguins looking for foodStrong currents have taken hold of a massive Antarctic iceberg that is on a collision course with South Georgia island, causing it to shift direction and lose a major chunk of mass, a scientist tracking its journey said on Friday.As the iceberg, dubbed A68A, approached the western shelf edge of the south Atlantic island this week, it encountered strong currents, causing it to pivot nearly 180 degrees, according to Geraint Tarling, a biological oceanographer with the British Antarctic Survey. Continue reading...

The best of the week’s wildlife pictures from around the world, including devil-eyed frogs, bats and pangolins Continue reading...

Coalition funding for gas exploration in Northern Territory labelled a costly plan ‘for a climate catastrophe’The Morrison government has been accused of embarking on an “expensive plan for a climate catastrophe” after it announced it would pay the gas industry up to $50m to speed up exploration in the Northern Territory.The commitment, revealed on Thursday, also prompted warnings that taxpayers’ money could flow offshore to companies linked to tax havens and a Russian oligarch. Continue reading...

Friends of the Earth calls for end to such excavation in England after unanimous decision on Dewley Hill site

Exclusive: Burners should be sold with health warnings, say scientists who found tiny particles flooding into roomsWood burners triple the level of harmful pollution particles inside homes and should be sold with a health warning, says scientists, who also advise that they should not be used around elderly people or children.The tiny particles flood into the room when the burner doors are opened for refuelling, a study found. Furthermore, people who load in wood twice or more in an evening are exposed to pollution spikes two to four times higher than those who refuel once or not at all. Continue reading...

Pandemic cuts funding and volunteer numbers but rising awareness means more people are rescuing injured animalsWildlife hospitals across the UK are reporting their busiest year ever, with hedgehogs, pigeons, bats and birds of prey among a growing number of animals brought into centres for treatment.The rise in admissions is part of a wider trend of increasing awareness of habitat loss and the threats to the natural world, but experts also point to the Covid-19 lockdown as a significant factor in this year’s increase. The number of people venturing out to nature spots has surged during the pandemic, with almost half of the population spending more time outside than before coronavirus. A third of people reported noticing nature and wildlife more. Continue reading...

After protests last year over the festival’s principal sponsor, fossil fuel giant Woodside, it has introduced new rules for performers and producersAustralia’s first fringe festival for 2021 has become mired in controversy over a clause in performer and promoter contracts to deter criticism of the event’s sponsors.Perth’s Fringe World, which opens on 15 January, attracted criticism and protests earlier this year over its longstanding sponsorship by fossil fuel giant Woodside. Continue reading...

Wildlife photographer Lee-Anne Carver is trying to share Carrot’s plight in hopes of saving injured deerThe Canadian winter can be tough for deer, as temperatures plummet and food becomes scarce. But Carrot, a whitetail buck living in northern Ontario, faces an additional challenge: he has an arrow sticking out of his head.“It’s been really tough to see,” said Lee-Anne Carver, a wildlife photographer in the city of Kenora, who named the young animal. “I’ve been photographing animals for years and there’s something special about Carrot. He’s unlike any deer I’ve ever met.” Continue reading...

President-elect will also nominate regulator Michael Regan to head Environmental Protection AgencyJoe Biden has chosen the US lawmaker Deb Haaland as interior secretary and will nominate the North Carolina official Michael Regan to head the Environmental Protection Agency, in two diverse and influential picks to handle crucial issues such as public lands, pollution and the climate crisis.Haaland, a progressive Democratic congresswoman from New Mexico since 2019, would be the first Native American cabinet secretary and one of the first Native Americans ever to serve in a US cabinet. The department’s jurisdiction covers tribal lands and vast tracts of protected American wilderness, including jewels such as Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks. Continue reading...

Danish company plans to fit ships with small nuclear reactors to send energy to developing countriesFloating barges fitted with advanced nuclear reactors could begin powering developing nations by the mid-2020s, according to a Danish startup company.Seaborg Technologies believes it can make cheap nuclear electricity a viable alternative to fossil fuels across the developing world as soon as 2025. Continue reading...

Tesla, Origin Energy and Atlassian among hundreds that have made parliamentary submissions backing proposalA major business lobby group and corporations including Tesla, Atlassian and Origin Energy have used parliamentary submissions to back Zali Steggall’s climate change legislation that includes a target of net zero by 2050 that can be ratcheted up in line with changing scientific evidence.Steggall’s private members proposal is now before federal parliament’s multi-partisan environment committee for an inquiry. Hundreds of groups have made submissions endorsing the proposal either in full or with qualifications. Continue reading...

Campaigners urge action after a coroner rules air pollution contributed to her daughter’s deathThe mother of Ella Kissi-Debrah called for her legacy to be the passing of a new clean air act to force the government in the UK to clean up the environment for future generations of children.Rosamund Kissi-Debrah spoke after a coroner ruled that illegal levels of air pollution, predominantly from traffic, had caused the death of her nine year old daughter in south London in February 2013. Continue reading...

In this second episode of our Age of Extinction takeover, Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield explore how human noise is affecting birds, and what listening to birdsong can tell us about biodiversity Continue reading...

Poisoning birds among allegations after discovery during search of property at Violet TownA Victorian woman is facing almost 300 animal cruelty charges after wildlife officers allegedly found the carcasses of 140 protected native birds, including 128 wedge-tailed eagles, at her property.The office of the conservation regulator said police, wildlife officers, and officials from the agriculture department searched the woman’s property in Violet Town in August after a number of dead wedge-tailed eagles were found in the area. Continue reading...

World’s biggest insurance market to end new investments in coal, oil sands and Arctic energy by 2022Lloyd’s, the world’s biggest insurance market, has bowed to pressure from environmental campaigners and set a market-wide policy to stop new insurance cover for coal, oil sands and Arctic energy projects by January 2022, and to pull out of the business altogether by 2030.In its first environmental, social and governance report, Lloyd’s, which has been criticised for being slow to exit fossil fuel underwriting and investment, said the 90 insurance syndicates that make up the market would phase out all existing insurance policies for fossil fuel projects in 10 years’ time. Less than 5% of the market’s £35bn annual premiums comes from insurance policies in this area. Continue reading...

Walk at dusk reveals murmurations bouncing networks’ electricity cables and switching off the lightsThe mystery surrounding a string of unexplained power cuts across a small town in Scotland has been solved after video footage revealed the culprits – starlings dancing on power lines.The birds’ murmurations are thought to be behind the baffling spate of evening blackouts in Airth, their combined mass bouncing the overhead electricity lines and causing the power to trip. Continue reading...

More flood warnings issued for NSW north coast but some evacuation orders have been lifted

Legal hurdle has gone, but from emissions targets to passenger projections, list of problems is longCleared for takeoff? Of course not. The supreme court has ruled that Heathrow’s third runway can proceed, but the chances of the thing being built still look remote. The obstacle of legality – admittedly, a large obstruction – has been removed, but the list of problems remains long.One is whether demand still exists for an extra 700 flights a day. Even when the pandemic passes, who can really estimate the long-term impact of Zoom on the critical business traveller market? Heathrow handled 80 million passengers in 2018 and has seen only 20 million so far this year. Achieving 130 million in 2030, which is what the airport needs to support its enormous scheme, looks a stretch. Continue reading...

Analysis: death of Ella Kissi-Debrah means MPs can no longer ignore dangers of dirty air

Earlier ruling said expansion plan was illegal as government had not considered its climate commitmentsThe supreme court has overturned a February judgment that a third runway at Heathrow airport was illegal. It means the project can now seek planning permission, but the ultimate completion of the runway remains uncertain.The supreme court ruling marks the latest twist in years of legal and political wrangling over the climate impact and economic benefits of expanding the airport. The decision in February was seen as historic by environmental campaigners, as it was the first significant ruling in the world to be based on the Paris climate agreement, and related cases were subsequently brought against plans to build more roads and gas-fired power plants in the UK. Continue reading...

Tim Crosland faces investigation after breaking embargo on airport expansion judgmentThe UK’s supreme court will refer a lawyer who broke the embargo on its ruling on Heathrow airport to the attorney general and the Bar Standards Board for investigation.Tim Crosland, the director of environmental charity Plan B Earth, received the ruling in advance as one of the parties involved in the case, and published his reaction on Tuesday, the day before the judgment was delivered. Continue reading...

Investigation launched into alleged donation to close ally of Japanese PM after resistance to ending use of cramped cages for egg-laying hensJapan’s decision to resist international pressure to improve conditions for egg-laying chickens is under scrutiny after allegations of bribery involving a former agriculture minister.Takamori Yoshikawa, a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP) who served as agriculture minister from October 2018 to September 2019, is alleged to have accepted ¥5m (£36,000) in undeclared donations from a former representative of a leading egg producer in Hiroshima prefecture, western Japan. Continue reading...

Coroner says failure to reduce pollution levels to legal limits was factor in death of Ella Kissi-Debrah, who had severe asthmaA coroner has made legal history by ruling that air pollution was a cause of the death of a nine-year-old girl.Philip Barlow, the inner south London coroner, said Ella Kissi-Debrah’s death in February 2013 was caused by acute respiratory failure, severe asthma and air pollution exposure. Continue reading...

Alaska SeaLife Center is the only facility in the state that rehabilitates aquatic animals – but the future of the 22-year-old center appeared uncertain this yearWhen Pushki was brought to his new home on 12 November, he was scared, dangerously skinny and severely dehydrated. The two-week-old sea otter pup had been found crying on the beach in Homer, Alaska, seemingly having been separated from his mother. He needed help, fast. Continue reading...

Conservationists allege company has breached its environmental licence 52 times at its NSW Bayswater power station site in the past five yearsAustralia’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, AGL, will pay a $1m penalty for a coal ash spill at a creek in the Hunter region of New South Wales, but environmentalists say the company should have faced criminal prosecution.The incident occurred at the Bayswater power station near Muswellbrook in September 2019 when a pipeline transporting fly ash – a waste product from burning coal – burst, causing 1,440 cubic metres of hazardous slurry to leak into the dry bed of Bayswater Creek. Continue reading...

Severe thunderstorm warning for almost entire state except far west as Lismore cops 200mm of rain

Environmentalists question why waste washing up on Maine coast was being imported from Northern Ireland for energy productionBrightly coloured plastic debris from the UK has been washing up along the coast of Maine in the US after a shipment bound for incineration fell into the sea.The plastic debris, part of a 10,000-tonne consignment from Re-Gen Waste, a company based in Newry, Northern Ireland, has infuriated environmentalists and locals surprised to learn that the north-eastern state of Maine is importing plastic from almost 3,000 miles away. Continue reading...

Andrew Bragg and Tim Wilson say inquiry is unnecessary because it’s a legitimate ‘matter for those institutions’The moderate Liberals Andrew Bragg and Tim Wilson have brushed off calls from within the government for a fresh inquiry into banks’ decisions to stop lending to coal companies.On Wednesday the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, signed up to a plan put forward by the Liberal National MP George Christensen to launch an inquiry through the trade and investment growth committee to query how climate change is impacting banks’ lending decisions. Continue reading...

Critics say ‘incredibly disappointing’ discussion paper contains no proposals to make EVs cheaper and reduces choices for Australian consumersThe Australian government has been accused of working for 18 months on a “nothing” electric vehicle strategy after a leaked draft policy paper included no policies that would make it more affordable to buy clean cars.A discussion paper, first reported by the ABC and seen by Guardian Australia, does not propose direct financial help to encourage people to buy electric vehicles (EVs) or a phase-out date for the sale of new fossil fuel cars, as is planned in some countries including Britain, Japan and Norway. Continue reading...

Insect-destroying fungi ‘may represent the next frontier for drug discovery’Two new fungi species that infect flies and eject spores out of a large hole in the insect’s abdomen “like small rockets” have been discovered in Denmark.The new species, Strongwellsea tigrinae and Strongwellsea acerosa, are host-specific and rely on two species of Danish fly – Coenosia tigrina and Coenosia testacea, according to researchers at the University of Copenhagen. Continue reading...

Environment Agency urges people in flood zones to plan ahead as Met Office forecasts wet January and FebruaryThe next couple of months are likely to be wetter than normal in the UK, experts have warned, raising the prospect of flooding.The Environment Agency’s executive director of operations, John Curtin, said teams around the country were prepared for dealing with floods this winter in a Covid-safe way. Continue reading...

Coronavirus closures will put millions of pounds worth of festive food at risk, firms warn

Musician Cosmo Sheldrake is on a mission to highlight the loss of UK birdlife with an album of avian chatter

At least six new or expanded mines could be built as a new conservative provincial government aims to increase coal production for exportWith the price of Western Canadian oil languishing around $35 a barrel and Canadian oil sands companies hemorrhaging both workers and money, the province of Alberta sees its future in another fossil fuel: coal. Continue reading...

Michel and Annie Pécheras told to drain pond after nine-year legal battle with neighbourThe French courts have had their final word: Grignols’ grenouilles (frogs) must go.The frogs of a Dordogne village have been served notice after a judge decided they make so much noise during the mating season that they are a nuisance to the neighbours. Continue reading...

Ten thousand years of undisturbed nature will soon be open to the highest bidder, starting at $25 an acreLanguage is everything.Those who argue for oil drilling in the Arctic national wildlife refuge, a place of stunning wild beauty in far north-east Alaska, seldom call it what it is – a refuge. Continue reading...

Rewilding Britain charity says natural dispersal of seeds is cost-effective and boosts biodiversityAllowing trees and woodland to regenerate through the natural dispersal of seeds should become the default way to restore Britain’s forest cover, according to a new report.Natural regeneration brings the most benefits for biodiversity, is cost-effective and may sequester more carbon than previously thought, argues Rewilding Britain. Continue reading...

Rare discovery of reef cooled by channels formed during creation of Kilimanjaro is ‘something to hope for’, say scientists

Warning of future dogged by crises if recovery entrenches environmental problems and inequalities

Our colleagues from the Age of Extinction project, Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield, are back with two new episodes asking whether birdsong might be beneficial to both our mental and physical health – and if nature is so good for us, why aren’t we taking better care of it? Continue reading...

Dashing ahead with a nuclear power station that’s modelled on Hinkley Point C would be rashThis is the government’s problem as it reopens talks on a proposed nuclear power station at Sizewell C in Suffolk: it is contemplating ordering a replica of Hinkley Point C before the Somerset original has produced a single megawatt of electricity.That is not a small point. Developer EDF’s pre-Hinkley version of its European pressurised reactor at Flamanville in Normandy is about a decade behind schedule. What’s more, EDF wants UK taxpayers or bill payers to bear more of the construction risks at Sizewell, a less-than-compelling offer when you remember that Flamanville is also €9bn (£8.2bn) over budget. Continue reading...

Talks with EDF could lead to energy customers being charged for construction costs

Review finds water use will need to be adapted further and managing basin will require responsiveness to ‘climate extremes in the future’The impact of climate change on the Murray-Darling Basin will require a major adaption of the plan in 2026 to allow for more frequent dry periods, which will likely occur on average every five years instead of every 10.The assessment of the climate risk facing the Murray-Darling Basin plan is included as part of the 2020 review of the progress on the plan, released on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Report says Coalition should lift ambition with existing target likely to be met due to renewables in NSW, Victoria and QueenslandClimate action by Australia’s states will put the country on track for a deeper cut in greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade than proposed by the Morrison government, according to a new report that calls for a review of how much more the country can do.A bulletin from Frontier Economics, a firm that has provided modelling on energy and climate policy for the government, found if the states delivered on their expected commitments, the country would make at least a 33% cut in emissions by 2030 compared with 2005 levels. Continue reading...

$28m grant was intended to help rural communities recover from oil drilling not help industry expand deeper into the state, suit claimsIn July 2019, a proposed railway intended to shuttle fossil fuels across a mountainous corner of eastern Utah received a $28m grant from a local, state-run community fund. The financing allowed the group behind the railway – the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition – to kick off a federally mandated environmental impact survey, that would need to be completed before construction could begin.There was just one problem: the grant came from a pot of money set aside to help Utahns recover from the state’s legacy of oil drilling, not help the industry expand deeper into the state. Continue reading...

Nationals MP Adam Marshall says it was ‘irresponsible’ to oppose investment in regional areasThe New South Wales agriculture minister Adam Marshall has described comments by fellow National Barnaby Joyce opposing the state government’s plan to build a renewable energy zone in the New England region as “prehistoric”.Joyce said last month he would lobby against the New England renewable energy zone – one of five included in landmark legislation that passed state parliament last month – claiming it would turn the electorate “into a sea of wind farms”. Continue reading...

Greg Hunt expects to have early assessment of two leading vaccines by end of January; New Zealand cabinet agrees to trans-Tasman travel bubble proposal; storms forecast to intensify in parts of Queensland and NSW. This blog is now closed

Action points for first 100 days of Joe Biden presidency seen as boost to international action currently falling behindThe US will hold a climate summit of the world’s major economies early next year, within 100 days of Joe Biden taking office, and seek to rejoin the Paris agreement on the first day of his presidency, in a boost to international climate action.Leaders from 75 countries met without the US in a virtual Climate Ambition Summit co-hosted by the UN, the UK and France at the weekend, marking the fifth anniversary of the Paris accord. The absence of the US underlined the need for more countries, including other major economies such as Brazil, Russia and Indonesia, to make fresh commitments on tackling the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Order made by Defra for the first time in four years, as thousands of birds have been culled in Great BritainMillions of free-range hens and other birds must be kept indoors from Monday under a national government crackdown to try to curtail the spread of a virulent strain of avian flu sweeping across Great Britain.Keepers have had 11 days to prepare for the strict new lockdown-style measures, including taking steps to safeguard animal welfare, consult their vet and where necessary erect additional housing or self-contained netted areas. Continue reading...