Environment | The Guardian

Bank says climate change is a financial risk and addressing use of fossil fuels will create opportunities

Investment mandate of the Clean Energy Financing Corporation will be changed, but no guarantee hydrogen will be produced from renewablesThe Morrison government will change the investment mandate of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, directing it to make up to $300m available for a new Advancing Hydrogen Fund as part of the national hydrogen strategy.The Coalition’s move to create a dedicated hydrogen financing fund will be confirmed on Monday, and comes ahead of other changes the government intends to make to the CEFC’s investment program, including requiring it to support new investments in grid reliability. Continue reading...

Coalmining and coal-fired power use about 383bn litres a year, roughly equivalent to needs of 5.2 million peopleThe coal industry in New South Wales and Queensland is using as much water as all of Sydney’s households, according to new research.A new report by University of Adelaide water resources academic Ian Overton, commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation, used public data to examine the impact of coalmining and coal-fired power on water resources. Continue reading...

Images captured on cameras being used for film shoot in thinly populated area of GaliciaA brown bear has been spotted traversing a rugged and sparsely populated area of north-west Spain for the first time in 150 years thanks to a set of camera traps and a bit of luck.Images of the animal were captured on cameras set up by a crew shooting the film Montaña ou Morte (Mountain or Death) in the Invernadeiro national park in Galicia’s Ourense province. Continue reading...

Asian giant hornet, which became more active in the state in April, is the world’s largest and can kill humans with multiple stings

Planet of the Humans film has had 5m views on YouTube and has enraged renewable energy experts who are demanding an apologyPlanet of the Humans is an environmental documentary that has enraged renewable energy experts and environmentalists, with some calling for its high-profile executive producer, Michael Moore, to apologise.It was released for free less than two weeks ago, and at the time of writing had had close to 5m views on YouTube. Continue reading...

Cities are home to a huge array of birdlife, but do you know your curlew from your godwit?

Lockdown has allowed us a glimpse of how different our cities could be in a carbon-neutral world

Workers interviewed by the Guardian describe pattern of alleged negligence at plants run by some of America’s largest food manufacturers

There are all sorts of ways the home cook can help conserve precious energy, this recipe for vegan coconutty ‘cheesecake’ being a case in pointReducing waste in the kitchen isn’t just about saving food: the time and energy it takes to cook food are also important resources that are easily squandered.The best way to save energy, besides loving your leftovers, is by cooking less: swap out a cooked element of your meal for a nutritious vegetable salad or raw dish (such as today’s coconut and lemon “cheesecake”); or make one-pot wonders that don’t use multiple cooker rings. And when you do need to cook more, make extra portions for the freezer. Continue reading...

Angus Taylor’s office and the false City of Sydney document, Obama White House v Tony Abbott, Eden-Monaro byelectionAs Australia’s coronavirus outbreak continues, a lot of important news has slipped under the radar.From Angus Taylor v Clover Moore, to a looming byelection, and back to the Taylor family’s Grasslands saga, here are the stories you may have missed over the past week. Continue reading...

Economic reconstruction is a chance to speed up decarbonisation, and the pandemic has shown a different kind of politics is possibleWe’re already being swamped with ideas about “reforms” needed to recover from the pandemic crisis. But the word reform is like gift wrap – a handy cover for any offering, thought-through or otherwise.Perhaps we should ditch the word entirely, and with it the forest of feelpinions about what governments “must” do to advance an author’s previously-held ideological positioning in the post-corona world. Continue reading...

Cross-party group of MPs ask for funds to encourage better agriculture, halt deforestation and avoid another pandemic

A few hundred seasonal pickers fly in on Friday, a far cry from the 49,000 passengers a day before pandemic

Third of workers at factory in Tipperary test positive, while McDonald’s supplier forced to temporarily halt productionAn outbreak of Covid-19 among workers in a meat factory in Tipperary has raised fears that the virus is spreading through abattoirs and meat-processing plants in Ireland.Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on agriculture, Brian Stanley, told the Irish parliament last night that 120 workers at the Rosderra Meats plant in Roscrea had tested positive for the virus. He also said that of 350 workers at the plant, up to 140 were off sick last week. Rosderra is the largest pork-processing company in Ireland. Continue reading...

The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including an African penguin and a dolphin in the Bosphorus Continue reading...

Pavement chalking to draw attention to wild flowers and plants in urban areas has gone viral across Europe – but UK chalkers could face legal action

Mayors coordinating efforts to support a low-carbon, sustainable path out of lockdownsCities around the world are already planning for life after Covid-19, with a series of environmental initiatives being rolled out from Bogotá to Barcelona to ensure public safety and bolster the fight against climate breakdown.Mayors from cities in Europe, the US and Africa held talks this week to coordinate their efforts to support a low-carbon, sustainable recovery from the crisis as national governments begin to implement huge economic stimulus packages. Continue reading...

Revealed: Oil and mining firms – some with ties to Trump officials – taking advantage of funding, review showsUS fossil fuel companies have taken at least $50m in taxpayer money they probably won’t have to pay back, according to a review of coronavirus aid meant for struggling small businesses by the investigative research group Documented and the Guardian.A total of $28m is going to three coal mining companies, all with ties to Trump officials, bolstering a dying American industry and a fuel that scientists insist world leaders must shift away from to avoid the worst of the climate crisis. Continue reading...

If you’re gardening more than usual, try not to disturb the legless lizard, which can mate for up to 10 hours at a time in May

Researchers study whether new strain of chronic bee paralysis virus is responsibleA viral disease that causes honey bees to suffer severe trembling, flightlessness and death within a week is spreading exponentially in Britain.Chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV) was only recorded in Lincolnshire in 2007. A decade later, it was found in 39 of 47 English counties and six of eight Welsh counties, according to data collected from visits to more than 24,000 beekeepers. Continue reading...

As the pandemic leaves millions without work, taps are turned off even as the CDC calls for frequent hand-washingJoshua Haynes was raised to work hard and take care of his family without asking for outside help. But when the utility bills arrived last month, he knew there would be trouble.Haynes, 34, a construction worker from Newbern, Tennessee, was left without income after the governor issued a stay-at-home order in early April. As a cash-in-hand builder, he is not eligible to claim unemployment insurance, and the stimulus cheque still had not arrived. Continue reading...

Green groups fear coronavirus lockdown has weakened environmental protectionsAn “armada” of more than 100 fishing vessels are illegally plundering south Atlantic waters close to Argentina, environmental groups say, raising concerns that the coronavirus lockdown has weakened already fragile marine protections.The incursion of the ships, mostly from east Asia, appears to have been carried out by stealth. The vessels waited until nightfall, shut down satellite tracking systems in coordination and then moved into the squid-rich waters of Argentina’s exclusive economic zone, Greenpeace said. Continue reading...

Study argued such schemes are like ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul, while half of irrigators said program was ‘wasteful’A new study has found that the government’s $4bn Murray-Darling irrigation efficiency program, designed to make farms more efficient while returning some of the saved water to the environment has actually led to irrigators who received subsidies extracting more water than those who did not.The study by academics from University of Adelaide, University of NSW, the Australian National University and the Environmental Defenders office found up to 28% more water was extracted by those who received subsidies. Continue reading...

Currents act as conveyor belts that concentrate microplastics in hotspots, study suggestsScientists have discovered microplastics in greater quantities than ever before on the seabed, and gathered clues as to how ocean currents and deep-sea circulation have carried them there.Microplastics – tiny pieces of plastic less than 5mm in size – are likely to accumulate most densely on the ocean floor in areas that are also biodiversity hotspots, intensifying the damage they may do to marine ecosystems, according to the research. Continue reading...

More than half of Woodside’s investors support shareholder motion to set targets in line with Paris climate agreementActivists have heralded a “breakthrough moment” in the push for the Australian gas industry to do more on the climate crisis after more than 50% of shareholders called on Woodside Petroleum to set science-based greenhouse gas targets.Slightly more than half of the company’s investors who gave a view supported a motion that it set targets in line with the goals of the Paris climate agreement to cut both its own emissions and the “scope 3” emissions released by consumers of its products, many of them in Asia. Continue reading...

Plants, birds, moths and bugs are all waiting to be noticed and appreciated – and photographed

From frogs to baboons, Guardian readers from around the world have sent us their best shots of urban wildlife taken from their homes

Planned sale of land to fossil fuel, mining and and timber concerns mirrors rollback of Obama-era pollution regulationsThe Trump administration has ratcheted up its efforts amid the coronavirus pandemic to overhaul and overturn Obama-era environmental regulations and increase industry access to public lands.The secretary of the interior, David Bernhardt, has sped efforts to drill, mine and cut timber on fragile western landscapes. Meanwhile, the EPA, headed by the former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, has weakened critical environmental laws and announced in March that it would cease oversight of the nation’s polluters during the Covid-19 crisis. Continue reading...

Airline given £600m coronavirus bailout with no strings attached

Environment department’s three-year inquiry found Jam Land illegally used herbicide on critically endangered grasslands in 2016

Study into effects of coronavirus curbs also finds less asthma and preterm births

Renewable electricity may be only source to withstand biggest shock in 70 years

Keith Pitt says review of environmental laws must look at how to ‘streamline’ assessment processes for major projectsThe federal minister for resources, water and northern Australia, Keith Pitt, says “cashed-up activists” should not be able to hold up developments that have been approved by a government agency “simply because they can afford to”.In an interview with Guardian Australia, Pitt said Australia had “some of the strongest environmental protections in the world” and the government had “no intention to change how strongly we protect the environment”. But he said a review of Australia’s environmental laws needed to consider how assessment processes could be “streamlined” for companies developing major projects. Continue reading...

Getting the regulations right will allow the secure expansion of wind and solar power, study findsAustralia already has the technical capacity to safely run a power grid in which 75% of the electricity comes from wind and solar and, if it gets regulations right, should occasionally reach this level within five years.A study by the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) looking at how to incorporate more renewable energy into the system while maintaining grid security found wind and solar capacity was increasing rapidly, but the operation of the electricity market could hold it back unless settings were changed. Continue reading...

Former Obama adviser says Australian PM was ‘very sure of himself without knowing what he was talking about’

A suburb of the country’s capital is showing how urban planning can be harnessed to benefit both humans and wildlife

As the coronavirus lockdown makes wildlife more visible in our cities, biodiversity reporter Patrick Greenfield speaks to ecologist Dr Rana El-Sabaawi and evolutionary biologist Prof Menno Schilthuizen about what this means for the future of cities and how urban dwellers can become more involved with nature Continue reading...

Exclusive: Queensland government blocked report’s public release after granting gas companies new exploration rightsAn independent scientific panel commissioned by the Queensland government recommended a ban on fracking in the environmentally sensitive Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre basin, but the experts’ findings were made secret by the state and ultimately ignored.Guardian Australia has obtained a leaked copy of the panel’s report, which was blocked from public release and ruled subject to cabinet confidentiality by the Palaszczuk government last year. Continue reading...

Lockdown and oil price slump leave future of vast Argentinian shale project hanging in balanceWhether the post-pandemic world moves back to fossil fuels or forward to a clean economy will become clearer in the coming weeks as the International Monetary Fund and Argentina decide whether to continue support for the vast Vaca Muerta oil and gas fields in Patagonia.The development aims to tap the second biggest shale deposits on the planet (after the Permian basin in Texas), but its future has been thrown in doubt by the coronavirus lockdown, which has induced the steepest fall of the oil price in 30 years. Continue reading...

Analysis suggests current federal policies will lead to a price rise after 2030 but a more ambitious target would keep bills lowerAustralia could get 90% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2040 without an increase in power prices, according to an analysis by the energy and carbon consultancy RepuTex.Under current government policies, the country is on track to have 75% of its electricity generated by renewables within 20 years, but the analysis suggests a weak federal policy framework would lead to wholesale prices rising for a period after 2030. Continue reading...

Event’s 50th anniversary sees digital activism replace demos, due to coronavirus

While some species have declined by more than a third overall, where conservation measures are in place they have increased by 46%Populations of some Australian mammals declined by more than a third over two decades, but sites with clear conservation management saw improvements in their populations of 46%, according to new research.The figures are the first tranche of data in Australia’s Threatened Species Index for mammals, which combines data from monitoring programs across the country to track trends in threatened species populations. Continue reading...

Instead of bailing out big oil, let’s bail out ordinary people insteadOn the inaugural Earth Day, Americans flooded streets and college campuses to channel their fears, desire, hopes and longings into their vision for a better future. All these years later, we have failed to heed their call.This Monday, two days before Earth Day’s 50th anniversary, oil futures went negative for the first time in history. Buyers were so eager to offload oil commitments that they were willing to give their crude away at cost. This crash only emphasizes the inherent instability of the carbon economy and the need to create a more stable future. We need to disentangle our society from fossil fuels and let the industry die. Continue reading...

Research on events in Hawaii suggests climate crisis could increase eruptions around worldThe spectacular eruptions of the KÄ«lauea volcano in Hawaii in 2018 were triggered by extreme rainfall in the preceding months, research suggests.Scientists say the finding raises the possibility that climate breakdown, which is causing more extreme weather, could lead to an increase in eruptions around the world. Continue reading...

European carriers including Easy Jet and TUI secure loans free of binding environmental conditions, analysis reveals

We’ve learned that there is a bigger power than humanity. Now coronavirus has shown that to communities across the world

I worked for the EPA for 33 years. We can’t let this administration obliterate half a century of environmental progressOn the first Earth Day in 1970, millions of Americans took to the streets to demand clean air, water and land, and advocate for a healthier and more sustainable environment. By the end of the year, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was founded.Related: EPA faces court over backing of Monsanto's controversial crop system Continue reading...

Taking down the fossil fuel industry requires taking on the institutions that finance it. Even during a pandemic, this movement is gaining steam1970 was a simpler time. (February was a simpler time too, but for a moment let’s think outside the pandemic bubble.)Simpler because our environmental troubles could be easily seen. The air above our cities was filthy, and the water in our lakes and streams was gross. There was nothing subtle about it. In New York City, the environmental lawyer Albert Butzel described a permanently yellow horizon: “I not only saw the pollution, I wiped it off my windowsills.” Or consider the testimony of a city medical examiner: “The person who spent his life in the Adirondacks has nice pink lungs. The city dweller’s are black as coal.” You’ve probably heard of Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River catching fire, but here’s how the former New York governor Nelson Rockefeller described the Hudson south of Albany: “One great septic tank that has been rendered nearly useless for water supply, for swimming, or to support the rich fish life that once abounded there.” Everything that people say about the air and water in China and India right now was said of America’s cities then. Continue reading...

More than 11,000 cases of dead and sick birds reported in past fortnightThousands of blue tits have been found sick or dead in Germany, prompting an investigation by conservation groups and scientists.