Project allows students, scientists and even fashion designers to create giant models of pollen grains from around the world

Clean energy firm Gridserve has plans for more than 100 such sites over next five yearsBritain’s first all-electric car charging forecourt is set to open for business in Braintree, Essex, to charge electric vehicles with 100% renewable energy.From Monday, the super-fast electric forecourt will deliver 350kW of charging power – enough to add 200 miles of driving range in 20 minutes – to up to 36 cars at a time. Continue reading...

A new report says 143 million mammals were affected in the 2019-20 blazes, one of the ‘worst wildlife disasters in modern history’More than 61,000 koalas and almost 143 million other native mammals were likely in the path of the Australian bushfires of late 2019 and early 2020, according to a major assessment of the ecological toll of the “black summer” blazes.The estimate from 10 researchers and scientists, contained in a report commissioned by environmental group WWF-Australia, recounts the devastating losses in habitats across the country. Continue reading...

Film-maker who spent three decades documenting the lives of miners for the National Coal BoardPeter Pickering, who has died aged 96, was once one of Britain’s busiest film-makers. Directing hundreds of shorts between 1942 and 1983, he made more films than perhaps any other director for the National Coal Board (NCB), which was central to the postwar industrial documentary boom. Most of his output epitomises the tradition: humane contributions, unobtrusively finely crafted, to public service and postwar consensus. Hovering elsewhere in his filmography, however, are quirkier films connecting his career to his personal perspectives. His masterpiece, the deceptively simple Miners (1976), a quietly elegiac statement of respect for the working world and social culture of the coalfields in which he and his peers had by then been filming for three decades, happily aligns his corporate commitments to his own.From 1947 onwards, Peter was a member of Data Film Productions, Britain’s first film co-operative, made up of leftwing idealists whose bread and butter was producing Mining Review, a cine-magazine for the NCB (a cornerstone of Labour’s postwar nationalisation programme). Released monthly into cinemas, Mining Review would become the world’s longest-running industrial newsreel. Peter directed innumerable items for it, many technical and filmed underground, others covering community and cultural stories. Memorable examples include his spellbinding record of Paul Robeson’s 1949 visit to a Midlothian colliery, and his 1959 piece on the Ashington Group of miner-artists, a film later praised by Lee Hall, author of The Pitmen Painters. Continue reading...

Britain’s credibility as climate champion rests on bold and urgent action, say campaignersBritain must end all oil and gas extraction in the North Sea as a matter of urgency if it is to maintain its position as a credible climate champion. That was the stark warning issued by green campaigners yesterday in the wake of last week’s decision by Denmark to halt its exploration for new North Sea reserves as part of its commitment to cut carbon emissions and tackle climate change.The Danish decision is an embarrassment for Boris Johnson who announced last week that Britain would take a lead in the battle against global heating by cutting national carbon emissions by 68% by 2030, a rate faster than any other major economy. Continue reading...

Dan Jørgensen has agreed the world’s most ambitious climate goal with a promise to cut 70% of emissions by 2030

Labor leader says Australia needs to pledge to deliver net-zero emissions by 2050Labor and green groups are calling for an overhaul of Australia’s climate policies after reports Scott Morrison is planning for Australia to abandon the use of Kyoto carryover credits to achieve its emissions reduction targets.Nine newspapers reported on Saturday the Australian prime minister will tell world leaders next week that Australia will not use the controversial accounting method to satisfy its 2030 target under the Paris agreement. Continue reading...

In 2015, the ageing Vales Point station seemed destined for the scrapheap – now, it’s making more than $100m a yearIf you are hoping to make your way in the energy business, you could do worse than to find someone who looks at you the way Coalition governments look at businessman Trevor St Baker.In September 2015, the then NSW treasurer, Gladys Berejiklian, sold the Vales Point coal power plant to St Baker’s Sunset Power International for just $1m. Continue reading...

The pick of this week’s best flora and fauna images, including a festive robin and a moth trap

Witness describes damage to mile-long stretch of Lugg as egregious act of ‘ecological vandalism’Police and environment agency staff have moved in to stop further damage being done to a protected river, after what one witness described as one of the most egregious acts of ecological vandalism in 25 years.A mile-long stretch of the River Lugg outside Kingsland, near Leominster in Herefordshire, has been flattened by a bulldozer. Trees have been felled, the river straightened and the river bed damaged. Continue reading...

Conservation charity videos prompt speculation the brothers are engaged in publicity tug of war

Advocates and Native tribes, who have fought the proposal for years, have renewed complaints amid a coronavirus surgeAs Covid-19 cases surge in Minnesota, an oil company is bringing in thousands of out-of-state workers to finish building a pipeline from Canada that will stretch hundreds of miles across the state.Environmental advocates and Native American tribes have fought Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 proposal for years, and now medical professionals are joining in to plead with the governor to halt construction amid the pandemic. Continue reading...

Decision as part of plan to phase out fossil fuel extraction by 2050 will put pressure on UKDenmark has brought an immediate end to new oil and gas exploration in the Danish North Sea as part of a plan to phase out fossil fuel extraction by 2050.On Thursday night the Danish government voted in favour of the plans to cancel the country’s next North Sea oil and gas licensing round, 80 years after it first began exploring its hydrocarbon reserves. Continue reading...

It takes thousands of years for soils to form, meaning protection is needed urgently, say scientistsGlobal soils are the source of all life on land but their future looks “bleak” without action to halt degradation, according to the authors of a UN report.A quarter of all the animal species on Earth live beneath our feet and provide the nutrients for all food. Soils also store as much carbon as all plants above ground and are therefore critical in tackling the climate emergency. But there also are major gaps in knowledge, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) report, which is the first on the global state of biodiversity in soils. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson promises to go further and faster by setting target of 68% reduction in annual carbon emissionsThe UK will cut greenhouse gas emissions further and faster than any other major economy in the next decade, according to a new carbon target set out by the prime minister.There will be a reduction of 68% in annual carbon emissions by 2030, compared with 1990 levels, a significant increase on the current target of about 57% reductions. The raising of ambition on tackling climate breakdown is intended to galvanise other countries to follow suit, as Boris Johnson prepares to co-host a virtual summit of world leaders on the climate next week. Continue reading...

Proposals cite climate change as most severe threat to US reefs, which may be in danger of disappearing in some placesIn a long-awaited move from the Trump administration, the US has proposed critical habitat protections for twelve coral species in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean. The rules would protect over 6,000 sq miles (nearly 16,000 sq km) of critical coral habitat.The rules cite climate change as the most severe threat to all 12 coral species across their range. Impacts of the climate crisis include ocean acidification, which hinders the ability of corals to grow, and ocean warming, which causes corals to expel the algae living in their tissues in a phenomenon known as coral bleaching. Fishing and land-based pollution have also contributed to the species’ decline. Continue reading...

Could replacing empty shops with wetlands, woodlands and meadows offer a new model for cities?An empty 1970s shopping centre in Nottingham could be transformed into wetlands, pocket woodlands and a wildflower meadow as part of a post-pandemic urban rewilding project.The debate about Broadmarsh shopping centre, considered an eyesore by many, has rumbled on for years. This year it was undergoing a £86m revamp by real estate investment trust Intu when the firm went into administration. Continue reading...

Watchdog finds UK is projected to fail to meet targets aimed at achieving climate goal

Fossil fuel extraction sell-off in pristine Alaskan wilderness set for 6 January, predating Biden inauguration by daysThe Trump administration has formally announced the go-ahead for the fiercely opposed sale of controversial gas and oil drilling licences in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.The refuge is a pristine wilderness and home to polar bears, caribou and many other wildlife species. Continue reading...

Mass die-offs of coho salmon just before they are about to spawn have been traced to tire fragments washed into streams by rainPollution from car tires that washes into waterways is helping cause a mass die-off of salmon on the US west coast, researchers have found. Continue reading...

Ambition to cover area more than one and a half times size of India likely to concern country’s neighboursChina is planning a rapid expansion of its weather modification programme to cover an area more than one and a half times the size of India, in a move likely to raise concerns among the country’s neighbours.The decision, announced by the cabinet on Wednesday night, would increase fivefold the world’s biggest cloud-seeding operation, which already employs an estimated 35,000 people. Continue reading...

Report disputing green benefits of EVs attributed to company registered to wife of carmaker’s directorThe boss of Aston Martin has called for an internal investigation after the British carmaker was accused of using a “sockpuppet PR firm” to legitimise a report which used data criticised as misleading to discredit electric vehicles.The new chief executive, Tobias Moers, said Aston Martin’s involvement in the widely discredited report began before he joined the company last August, and that he was not aware of its contents before it was published. Continue reading...

Emails on flood plain harvesting reveal the environment department singled out sympathetic groups and discussed how to sideline criticsJust a week after the New South Wales corruption watchdog concluded that the state’s water bureaucrats had an “entrenched irrigator focus” that made “policy making vulnerable to improper favouritism”, the same division has been caught singling out sympathetic irrigator groups and discussing how to sideline critics.The deliberate strategies were contained in an internal email chain that was inadvertently sent out to a number of stakeholders this week. Continue reading...

Data from 120,000 birdwatchers in 48 countries shows forest birds have expanded their range while area occupied by farmland birds has shrunkEurope’s breeding bird populations have shifted on average one kilometre north every year for the past three decades, likely driven by the climate crisis, according to one of the world’s largest citizen science projects on biodiversity.The European Breeding Bird Atlas (Ebba2) provides the most detailed picture yet of the distribution of the continent’s birds after 120,000 volunteers and fieldworkers surveyed 11m square kilometres, from the Azores in the west to the Russian Urals in the east. Continue reading...

Milestone comes as sales of all plug-in cars, including hybrids, pass 1m in 18 European marketsCarmakers have sold more than 500,000 battery electric cars in Europe during 2020, a milestone in the automotive industry’s move away from fossil fuels.Sales of all plug-in cars, including hybrids, have surpassed 1m during the year in the UK and the largest 17 European markets, according to data collated by Schmidt Automotive Research. Continue reading...

Environment groups say as Cop26 hosts UK should show leadership and set tougher goal of 75% reduction in emissionsGreen campaigners and climate experts are set for disappointment as the UK government prepares to publish its carbon target for 2030.Environmental and development groups have been pushing the prime minister to opt for a stretching target of cutting emissions by 75% by 2030, compared with 1990 levels, which would have put the UK at the forefront of developed countries in fighting the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Letter urges president-elect Joe Biden to offer students in public schools routine lessons on the threats posed by global heatingJoe Biden’s efforts to tackle the climate crisis need to extend to American classrooms with routine lessons on the threats posed by global heating, two former US education secretaries have urged.In a letter to the Democratic president-elect, the former top education officials – John King and Arne Duncan – said the education of more than 50 million children in US public schools provides a “critical opportunity” to prepare them for a world transformed by climate change, as well as the opportunities afforded by renewable energy and other potential solutions to the crisis. Continue reading...

Guardian Australia revealed Josh Frydenberg raised changing the boundaries of significant wetlands after being lobbied by a Liberal donorLabor says revelations that the former environment minister Josh Frydenberg proposed amending the boundaries to an area of internationally significant wetlands after he was lobbied by a developer and major party donor demonstrate why Australia needs an independent environmental regulator.Federal Labor’s environment spokeswoman, Terri Butler, compared the now-treasurer’s past proposal in relation to Toondah Harbour to the Jam Land case, in which Frydenberg’s office sought advice about changing protections to grasslands at the centre of an investigation into illegal clearing on a property part-owned by the energy minister, Angus Taylor, and his relatives. Continue reading...

Huge drop in number of visits during Covid crisis raises concerns polluters are breaking laws with impunityThe Environment Agency has dramatically reduced the frequency that it attends water pollution incidents amid the Covid-19 pandemic, raising concerns the crisis is allowing companies to break environmental regulations with impunity.Between the start of April and the end of August the Environment Agency attended just 292 water pollution incidents, down from 1,726 during the same period in 2019, according to data obtained by the Guardian using freedom of information legislation. Continue reading...

Leaders attending forum are required to make concrete commitments to cut emissionsScott Morrison has confirmed Australia will attend the virtual “climate ambition summit” on 12 December to “correct mistruths” about the government’s heavily criticised record on emissions reduction.Guardian Australia reported last month that Britain and France were leading a group of countries calling on the Australian government to make ambitious new commitments at the December gathering to combat the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Activists have joined Aboriginal traditional owners in voicing opposition to the controversial development that received federal approval last monthHundreds of people in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane have rallied in support of Aboriginal traditional owners to voice their strong opposition to Santos’s $3.6bn gas project in western New South Wales, which they say will devastate Gamilaraay Gomeroi cultural ties to sacred and significant heritage sites.Last month, the federal environment minister, Sussan Ley, approved the controversial development that could see up to 850 gas wells being drilled in grazing land and the Pilliga forest, which holds great significance for Gamilaraay Gomeroi people. Continue reading...

Environmental groups call for salmon farming to be moved onshore after 130,000 fish escape through tear in netHuon Aquaculture has been savaged after another mass salmon outbreak in Tasmania that could threaten native marine life, with conservationists labelling escape management practices in the state “a circus”.About 130,000 farmed salmon swam to freedom after a tear was found in the netting of a fish pen in Storm Bay on Wednesday. Huon’s chief executive, Peter Bender, said there was a “significant loss of fish”. Continue reading...

The installer told me they couldn’t do the work before the scheme expires and everyone else is fully bookedWe applied for a grant under the government’s Green Homes Grant scheme, 12 days after it started, to replace our gas boiler with an air source heat pump. We’d already signed a contract with a registered installer, CB Heating. That was five weeks ago.When I chased the scheme, I was told that high demand was causing delays. I was then contacted by the installer who told me the scheme had led to a surge in demand and they had no further capacity before it expires at the end of March. Other installers we have contacted are also fully booked. Even if we eventually receive a grant, the scheme only allows us three months to make use of it. Continue reading...

Stations switch to humble earthen kulhads in move to cut down on toxic waste and boost incomes of village pottersA small and humble relic from India’s past is about to stage a major comeback. At all 7,000 railway stations in the country, tea will be served in earthen cups known as kulhads.The kulhads, redolent of a bygone pastoral era, are unpainted, unglazed and have no handles, but are perfectly biodegradable and environment-friendly, which is why the country’s railways minister, Piyush Goyal, has said they will replace plastic cups as part of the government’s goal of making India free of single-use plastic. Continue reading...

With Santos and its gas project on our doorstep, we need to protect an entire forest and the vast amounts of water beneath

When the McCormicks came home on Wednesday, the Christmas tree in their Adelaide house had acquired a new ornamentThe McCormicks went for a silver, pink and blue theme on their Christmas tree. The old plastic leaves were worn but looked beautiful with baubles on each branch and twinkling lights.But this year the family tree included one very unexpected ornament: a wild – and somewhat confused – juvenile koala. Continue reading...

Increase in conflict between species and drought prompt sale of animals that are at risk of extinction due to poachingNamibia has put 170 “high value” wild elephants up for sale due to drought and an increase in elephant numbers, the southern African country’s environmental ministry has saidAn advertisement carried by the state-owned daily New Era said an increase in incidents of human-elephant conflict motivated the sale of the large mammal that is at risk of extinction due to poaching and ecological factors. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Letter obtained under FoI shows Frydenberg wanted to change Ramsar protections but maintain ‘ecological character’The former federal environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, proposed removing protections from an area of internationally significant wetlands after he was lobbied by a developer wanting to build 3,000 apartments at Moreton Bay in Queensland.A letter, obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws, shows Frydenberg wrote to the Queensland government in 2017 about Walker Corporation’s proposed Toondah Harbour apartment and retail complex to suggest the two governments jointly create a proposal to delist part of the Moreton Bay Ramsar wetland. Continue reading...

Report calls on oil and gas extraction to be phased out and jobs switched to clean energyThe UK’s North Sea oil and gas industry should agree to phase out production through a series of five-year targets to help its 260,00 strong workforce migrate to clean energy sectors, according to a report.The plan would require the UK and Scottish governments to scrap a controversial policy that calls on North Sea companies to extract as much oil and gas as they can from the ageing basin. Continue reading...

Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change calls for green recovery from pandemic

Firm withdraws from Architects Declare after criticism of work on series of airports

Campaign demonstrates butchery skills amid fears glut will go to waste due to smaller gatheringsConsumers are being urged to buy large turkeys – which are suffering a slump in demand due to smaller festive gatherings – in order to avoid a glut of Christmas birds going to waste.Research from the Too Good to Go national food waste app reveals 30% of Britons are planning to buy a smaller turkey than normal, with two-thirds opting for compact and easy-to-carve turkey crowns for their Christmas table. Only 17% of shoppers are planning to buy larger birds, the research found, raising fears that many fresh birds could remain unsold. Continue reading...

Joining China and other big polluters, Biden’s pledge of ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050 brings the Paris agreement goals ‘within reach’This article originally appeared in the Nation and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global consortium of news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. The Guardian is the lead partner in CCN.“The way we are moving is a suicide,” United Nations secretary general António Guterres said in an interview on Monday, and humanity’s survival will be “impossible” without the United States rejoining the Paris agreement and achieving “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050, as the incoming Biden administration has pledged. Continue reading...

António Guterres lists human-inflicted wounds on natural world in stark message

Production must fall by 6% a year to avoid ‘severe climate disruption’ but Covid-19 funding is supporting increasesThe world’s governments are “doubling down” on fossil fuels despite the urgent need for cuts in carbon emissions to tackle the climate crisis, a report by the UN and partners has found.The researchers say production of coal, oil and gas must fall by 6% a year until 2030 to keep global heating under the 1.5C target agreed in the Paris accord and avoid “severe climate disruption”. But nations are planning production increases of 2% a year and G20 countries are giving 50% more coronavirus recovery funding to fossil fuels than to clean energy. Continue reading...

The outlook for Australian sites including the Blue Mountains and the Gondwana rainforests has deteriorated, report saysThe outlook for five Australian world heritage sites including the Great Barrier Reef, the Blue Mountains and the Gondwana rainforests, has deteriorated, according to a global report that finds climate change is now the number one threat to the planet’s natural world heritage.The International Union for Conservation of Nature, the official advisory body on nature to the Unesco world heritage committee, has found in its world heritage outlook that climate change threatens a third of the world’s natural heritage sites. The outlook has been published every three years since 2014. Continue reading...

Report disputing green benefits of EVs attributed to company registered to wife of carmaker’s directorAston Martin is at the centre of a climate lobbying controversy after a study co-commissioned by the company that cast doubt on the green credentials of electric vehicles was found to have been attributed to a PR company registered to the wife of a director at the luxury carmaker.The study, which has since been widely debunked by experts, was presented as “groundbreaking” third-party research and appeared to show that electric cars would have to travel as far as 50,000 miles before matching the carbon footprint of a petrol model. Continue reading...

Competition regulator says it wants using charge points to be as easy as filling up with fuelThe UK’s competition regulator is investigating electric vehicle charging to work out how to tackle “range anxiety”, one of the key factors holding back the move away from fossil fuel cars by 2030.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it wanted to build consumer trust in the availability of electric car charging as well as address any competition issues. Continue reading...