New strategy to protect nature includes far-reaching habitat protections, and restrictions on pesticide use – but campaigners warn enforcement is keyThe European Commission has committed to protecting 30% of the EU’s land and oceans by 2030 as part of the European Green Deal, in a plan tentatively welcomed by environment groups who warned far-reaching ambitions must not only exist “on paper”.The 10-year plan, published on Wednesday, includes commitments to reduce the use of chemical pesticides by 50%, plant 3bn trees by 2030 and reverse the decline in pollinators. Within the 30% protected areas, a third of land and sea will be under “strict protection”, meaning there should be no human intervention besides minimal management to keep the area in good condition for wildlife. Continue reading...

Under the leadership of William Perry Pendley, the Bureau of Land Management is failing to fulfill its most basic duties of safeguarding America’s public lands, his critics sayIn July 2017, William Perry Pendley, a crusading conservative attorney, delivered a speech to a group of rightwing activists in North Carolina in which he was completely candid about his ideological commitments.He accused “the media” of selling “their soul to the greens”. And after criticizing the Endangered Species Act, he made light of killing endangered species. Continue reading...

US study identifies statistically significant trend in line with climate scientists’ predictionsTropical cyclones have become more intense around the globe in the past four decades, with more destructive storms forming more often, according to a study that further confirms the theory that warming oceans would drive more dangerous cyclones.Analysis of satellite records from 1979 to 2017 found a clear rise in the most destructive cyclones – also known as hurricanes or typhoons – that deliver sustained winds in excess of about 185km/h. Continue reading...

Call to avoid more inequality and climate breakdown when coronavirus crisis endsGlobal leaders must heed the lessons of the financial crisis of 2008 when they look to repair the damage from the coronavirus pandemic, leading experts have warned, to avoid entrenching disastrous social, health and environmental inequalities and hastening climate breakdown.The 2008 global financial crisis and recession marked the last time the world experienced a convulsion comparable in scale to the coronavirus crisis, though starkly different in its nature. Governments responded first with economic rescue and stimulus packages worth trillions in taxpayer cash, followed in many cases by austerity programmes to cut back public spending. Continue reading...

Pace will slow for first time in 20 years with fewer windfarms and solar plants being built but rebound possible in 2021The global growth of renewable energy will slow for the first time in 20 years due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which will “hurt but not halt” the rise of clean energy.The world’s energy watchdog has warned that developers will build fewer wind farms and solar energy projects this year compared with a record roll out of renewables in 2019. Continue reading...

Low-income households and people of color in cities are least likely to live near decent green spacesYears of patchy investment in public parks has left 100 million Americans, including 27 million children, without access to decent nearby green spaces during the coronavirus lockdown, a new report reveals.Local parks have been a godsend to many people during the pandemic as schools, gyms and walking trails have closed to minimize physical contact and curtail the spread of the virus. Continue reading...

Marsh talks the talk when it comes to climate risk, but by working with Adani it is walking us all into a dangerous future

Orca, cuckoo and peregrine falcon some of species enjoying breathing space of quieter worldFirst came the goats. During the first days of lockdown the bearded, ghostly white creatures wandered down from their north Wales clifftop home into the town of Llandudno and made headlines around the globe.Now the National Trust is reporting that emboldened wildlife, from raptors and warblers to badgers, otters and even orcas, appear to be enjoying the disappearance of humans from its gardens, castles and waterways across the UK. Continue reading...

With support of the Trump administration, Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks have partially reopened after Covid-19 closures

Environmentalists say the Morrison government is directing emissions reduction funding to polluting companiesFossil fuel industry groups and companies have applauded new climate change measures proposed by the Morrison government, including support for carbon capture and storage developments.The government has agreed to 21 of 26 recommendations made by an expert panel review headed by the former gas industry executive and business council president Grant King, who was asked to come up with new ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at low cost. Continue reading...

Government sets out plan to cut tariffs, with farming and car industry to be protectedBusiness has warned Boris Johnson that he must clinch a free trade deal with the EU after the government released details of the tariffs Britain will impose from the start of next year.With talks between London and Brussels stalled, employers organisations said they welcomed arrangements that will provide protection for farmers and carmakers but stressed the need for progress in talks with the UK’s biggest trading partner. Continue reading...

Unmanned submersible will descend nearly 2.5 miles to bottom of the ocean to get radio, believed to still be near grand staircaseA federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a salvage firm can retrieve the Marconi wireless telegraph machine that broadcast distress calls from the sinking Titanic.The order is a big win for RMS Titanic, the court-recognized salvor, or steward, of artifacts from the doomed ocean liner. Continue reading...

Brief hiatus will make little difference to catastrophic levels of global heating, experts say

Responses to coronavirus crisis cause sharpest drop in carbon output since records began

Gough Island in South Atlantic is home to mutant mice that feast on young seabirds

Concern that new strategy, which also includes protecting primeval forests, ‘lacks tools’The European commission will launch a sweeping effort to tackle the global biodiversity crisis on Wednesday, including a call for 3bn trees to be planted in the EU by 2030 and a plan to better protect the continent’s last primeval forests.The draft policy document, published online by an environmental NGO, admits that to date in the EU, “protection has been incomplete, restoration has been small-scale, and the implementation and enforcement of legislation has been insufficient”. Continue reading...

Key to ensuring policymakers see nature’s relevance is to show its physical and mental health benefits

Harnessing power from sun, wind and sea could spur UK’s post-pandemic economy while tackling climate crisis, say experts

Climate breakdown is causing the Gulf of Maine to heat up and that effect – in addition to the pandemic – is being felt across the lobster industryRocky shorelines and weathered saltbox homes dot the landscape of South Thomaston on the coast of Maine. Lobster traps take up frontyard real estate and lobster shacks, still shuttered for the season, are common sightings. Back from a day of scalloping, lobsterman Bob Baines has docked his boat, the FV Thrasher, at the Spruce Head Fishermans Co-op. His sternman, David McLellan, clad in waterproof overalls like Baines, shucks the last few hauls, tossing the meats into a bucket and the shells overboard.It’s the last week of scallop season, but there is a new venture on the horizon. Baines, 64, steers the Thrasher back out toward Hewett Island on Penobscot Bay to check on the underwater kelp farm that he “planted” in December. It’s a willowy structure made up of moorings, buoys and ropes that hovers 7ft underwater and spans 1,000ft wide, like a monster cat’s cradle. Continue reading...

Energy minister says Coalition’s approach is ‘not to have a target without a plan’ to achieve itAngus Taylor says it is not Australia’s policy to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, despite signing up to the Paris agreement, because the Morrison government will not adopt a mid-century target in advance of a plan to achieve it.The energy minister said on Tuesday that signatories to the Paris agreement, including Australia, had agreed to hit net zero “in the second half of the century”. But scientists say in order to meet the central Paris goal of keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5C – a commitment Australia adopted in 2015 – signatories need to hit net zero by 2050. Continue reading...

Decision to lift blocks on wind and solar projects has boosted ‘attractiveness’ ranking

Fall in air pollution and abundant sunshine resulting in bumper outputThe disappearance of aeroplane contrails and a reduction in air pollution has allowed much stronger sunlight to reach the ground and resulted in bumper production of solar power.Falling demand due to the Covid-19 lockdown and the increase in renewable energy means that EDF, the owner of the Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk, is being paid millions of pounds to run it at 50% capacity to avoid blackouts from oversupply. Continue reading...

Morrison government also plans to allow businesses to bid for carbon capture projects via the $2.55bn emissions reduction fundThe Morrison government has promised new measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including introducing an incentive scheme to allow big industrial polluters to earn revenue by emitting less than an agreed limit.It also plans to allow businesses to bid for funding from its main climate policy, the $2.55bn emissions reduction fund, for projects that capture emissions and either use them or store them underground. Continue reading...

Climate campaigners issued proceedings for review of rules supporting fossil fuel projectsThe government faces a legal challenge over a set of “outdated” energy policies which are being used to approve fossil fuel projects even after it vowed to end Britain’s contribution to the climate crisis.Climate campaigners issued proceedings for a judicial review of the energy planning policies on Monday after officials refused to overhaul the rules, which could be used to support major fossil fuel power plants, open cast mines or fracking. Continue reading...

One-off rise only ‘10% of what has been cut since 2009’, says Green partyThe government has allocated £15m in additional funding to Natural England for this financial year after a decade of cuts that have left England’s wildlife agency “in crisis”.Natural England’s chairman, Tony Juniper, said the funding marked a “significant change of trend” in the financing of the government body, which has seen its budget slashed by £180m since 2008. Continue reading...

Climate breakdown means conditions that wrought devastation across Great Plains could return to region

A radical 10-year plan should draw on community crisis responses to fix ‘faultlines in our food system’

Marsh, understood to be working on the Carmichael project, is being hit with online campaign amid coronavirus

Aviation is struggling and seeking support, but there are demands for it to give something in return

Exclusive: Ed Miliband calls for creation of ‘zero-carbon army’ for eco-friendly industries

Pandemic only adds to the challenge that already exists for oil, says Bernard LooneyBP’s new chief executive said the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has deepened his commitment to shrinking the oil giant’s carbon footprint to zero.Bernard Looney, who took the helm of the oil firm in February, said he was “more convinced than ever” that BP must embrace the energy transition following the collapse of global oil markets. Continue reading...

Crisis has proved renewable energy is now a safer investment, and accelerated the shiftThe global coal industry will “never recover” from the Covid-19 pandemic, industry observers predict, because the crisis has proved renewable energy is cheaper for consumers and a safer bet for investors.A long-term shift away from dirty fossil fuels has accelerated during the lockdown, bringing forward power plant closures in several countries and providing new evidence that humanity’s coal use may finally have peaked after more than 200 years. Continue reading...

Carlsberg and Coca-Cola back pioneering project to make ‘all-plant’ drinks bottlesBeer and soft drinks could soon be sipped from “all-plant” bottles under new plans to turn sustainably grown crops into plastic in partnership with major beverage makers.A biochemicals company in the Netherlands hopes to kickstart investment in a pioneering project that hopes to make plastics from plant sugars rather than fossil fuels. Continue reading...

Birds born in one of three nests at Knepp estate in West Sussex as part of breeding projectWhite stork chicks have hatched in the wild in the UK for the first time in centuries.Eggs in one of three nests at the Knepp estate in West Sussex have hatched, the White Stork Project announced. Continue reading...

Orphaned apes in the rainforest of Indonesian Borneo are taught all the skills they need in preparation for their eventual return to the wild

Horticulturists urge better sex mix of city trees to mitigate rising asthma and CO pollution levelsEight years ago Tom Ogren, a horticulturist, was in Sacramento, California, when he noticed that the ground around the State Capitol building was covered in thick yellow pollen.Scanning the trees along the street with his binoculars, he saw the trees were all deodar cedars (Cedrus deodara) and all cultivated males. Continue reading...

Police dealt with nearly 190 people at beauty spot, less than an hour’s drive from Glasgow, in one day

The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including a leaping peacock and deer on a platform of the West Highland Line Continue reading...

Mayor Sadiq Khan says city needs to be repurposed for people as it emerges from coronavirus restrictions

Agreement with British Columbia and Ottawa may help settle pipeline dispute but other Indigenous groups are unhappyA group of Indigenous leaders have struck an unprecedented deal with Canada’s government to resolve a dispute over territorial rights near the site of a controversial pipeline project which provoked fierce protests, police raids and a nationwide rail blockade.At a virtual signing ceremony on Thursday, hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en people agreed to a memorandum of understanding with the federal government and the province of British Columbia – a landmark agreement many hope will grant the Wet’suwet’en title rights to 22,000 sq km of territory. Continue reading...

Rural towns on the edge of parks split between fear of infection and imperative to revive tourism-dependent economiesOn Wednesday, Zion national park in Utah, one of the most popular natural attractions in the US, received its first visitors in more than a month as the Trump administration continued its push to reopen the nation’s outdoors as well as it cities and businesses.Related: 'Please don't come': calls to close US national parks over virus fears Continue reading...

Charity says lockdown has been seen as green light to target birds in belief there is less chance of getting caughtThe RSPB has been “overrun” with reports of birds of prey being illegally killed since lockdown began.Police have been called out to investigate multiple cases of raptors being shot, trapped or suspected of having been poisoned, with the charity saying most incidents were on or close to sporting estates managed for game bird shooting. Continue reading...

Australia’s 3.7m domestic cats wreak environmental havoc and should be contained, authors of new study sayDomestic cats are killing an estimated 230m native Australian birds, reptiles and mammals every year, according to new research that quantifies the pet’s national toll on native animals for the first time.Researchers said owners of Australia’s 3.7m domestic cats needed to make sure their pets were indoors or contained to reduce their impact on native species. Continue reading...

Endangered species have sought refuge in forest slated for housing development, says Manyana community groupA dispute over plans by a property developer to raze a local forest on the bushfire-ravaged south coast of New South Wales has been escalated to the federal environment minister amid concerns the project could threaten endangered species.Residents of Manyana have been protesting against plans by Ozy Homes to clear 20 hectares of unburnt mature-growth forest to make way for nearly 180 housing lots. Continue reading...

Thunberg isn’t a Covid-19 expert, but she’s world-renowned activist using her platform to inform people about the pandemic

This inconclusive documentary charts the scary history and, in the era of climate crisis, revised views about the prospects for nuclear powerVicki Lesley’s sprightly, inconclusive documentary tackles a perennially controversial subject: nuclear power and its contested ethical status. Like almost all documentaries these days, this begins with a clip of some sonorous 1950s propaganda film – shorthand for the hilariously naive, reactionary stance that we’ve supposedly overcome. It is an amusing gimmick, but in danger of being overused here.Nuclear power was idealistically embraced after the war as part of our white-hot technological future (a notable partisan was once Labour politician Tony Benn) but then rejected with the news of terrifying accidents, notably the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in the United States in 1979. (Lesley perhaps should have mentioned the very real importance of James Bridges’ movie The China Syndrome, a nuclear-disaster drama that came out just before Three Mile Island; praised as prophetic and genuinely instrumental in popularising anti-nuclear attitudes.) Continue reading...

Rural self-isolation has given one Guardian writer a chance to reappraise – and video – the natural world she grew up withI’ve moved back to my parents’ farm in Sevenoaks, Kent, after an absence of 10 years. Old school photos hang on my bedroom wall, my dad still has a fax machine, the radio in the kitchen is 1.5ft long and the freezer is full of meat. Veganism is off the menu.Like many children, boredom was a familiar foe growing up. Two of my brothers, now in their 30s, have moved back home too, and we have to look to each other for entertainment. We’ve dusted off board games – last week we played Catan every evening – and have familiar arguments about who helps out the least around the house. Continue reading...

As tensions rise over failure to repatriate workers, plight of crews highlighted by the apparent suicide of a Ukrainian woman in Rotterdam