Report says steel made with renewable hydrogen could become a multibillion-dollar export industryA new Australian green steel industry could create tens of thousands of jobs in regional areas reliant on coalmining, particularly in central Queensland and the Hunter Valley, giving them a future as demand for carbon-intensive goods falls.That is the conclusion of a report by the Grattan Institute, a thinktank linked to the University of Melbourne, which examined claims Australia has the potential to become a green energy “superpower”. Continue reading...

Signatories including Dr Wolfgang Knorr say it is game over for preventing dangerous climate change, Colin Hines says a green infrastructure should be prioritised in a post-Covid-19 world, and Andy Radford on why we should consider permanent changes to the way we liveLast month, the Guardian quoted Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, saying if we put post-pandemic bailout money in the wrong place “we will lock ourselves in a dirtier energy system, making it much more difficult to reach our climate targets” (‘Coronavirus profiteers’ condemned as polluters gain bailout billions, 17 April).We beg to differ. It is game over for preventing dangerous climate change now that governments are planning the cheapest and quickest return to consumption. Riding on the wave of cheap oil and fossil-fuel bailouts is incompatible with keeping the average global temperature rise below 2C, let alone 1.5C. Continue reading...

Supply chain problems and workplace infection risks mean experts are urging US producers to focus on sustainabilityAmericans are nearing a future where the nation’s beloved steak dinners, cheeseburgers and barbecue are under threat, if the world’s second largest meat processor is to be believed.Related: Millions of farm animals culled as US food supply chain chokes up Continue reading...

Campaigners call for redesign of transport system to help prevent bounce-back in air pollution

Welsh plan to reopen stores offers hope for UK-wide industry closed in prime sales seasonGarden centres are preparing for a surge in plant and flower sales that could help salvage a catastrophic year for the horticulture industry.The UK’s 2,000 garden centres and nurseries were forced to close in March because, unlike DIY chains such as B&Q and Homebase, they were not granted “essential” retailer status. The shutdown came at a critical time of year, with 70% of sales rung up in spring, forcing devastated growers to throw away millions of plants. Continue reading...

Scientists identify thousands of extreme events, suggesting stark warnings about global heating are already coming to passIntolerable bouts of extreme humidity and heat which could threaten human survival are on the rise across the world, suggesting that worst-case scenario warnings about the consequences of global heating are already occurring, a new study has revealed.Related: One billion people will live in insufferable heat within 50 years – study Continue reading...

Seed firms report huge rise in sales with people worldwide turning to gardening as hobby

The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including a sunbathing squirrel and cuddling owls Continue reading...

Oceans rising faster than previously thought, according to survey of 100 specialistsSea-level rise is faster than previously believed and could exceed 1 metre by the end of the century unless global emissions are reduced, according to a survey of more than 100 specialists.Based on new knowledge of climate sensitivity and polar ice melt, the experts say coastal cities should prepare for an impact that will hit sooner than predicted by the United Nations and could reach as high as 5 metres by 2300. Continue reading...

Shareholder vote in favour of global mining giant adopting binding targets grew sixfold since last yearShareholders in global miner Rio Tinto have rebuked the company over its climate stance, with 37% voting at a meeting in Australia for a resolution that would require it to set binding emissions targets.While the resolution did not pass, its sponsor, environmental group Market Forces, said it attracted six times as much support as an identical one put up at the same meeting last year. Continue reading...

As lockdown eases, travelling by bike will be a safe, healthy and potentially addictive optionThere are many reasons you might want to think about cycling for commuting or other transport when the coronavirus lockdown starts to ease, particularly if you live in a city.With physical distancing remaining in place for some time to come, capacity on public transport will be limited. If more people drive it will create gridlock. Continue reading...

Parks Victoria wins legal challenge to continue removing feral horses, but conservationists blame NSW for failing to control brumbies across the borderThe removal of feral horses from the Australian Alps can resume after Parks Victoria won a legal challenge to its plans to manage the invasive species.The Australian Brumby Alliance had challenged plans to remove feral horses that have overrun the Bogong high plains and eastern Victorian Alps within the Australian Alps national parks. Continue reading...

Everyone within 5km of the plant in Andhra Pradesh told to leave over fear of repeat of accident that has left at least 11 deadIndian officials have evacuated more people from the area around a chemical plant in the south of the country that leaked toxic gas, killing at least 11 people and sickening hundreds more. There was confusion about whether the wider evacuation orders were sparked by a renewed leak at the LG Chem factory in Andhra Pradesh, or by the fear that rising temperatures at the plant could lead to another leak. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Documents show department has stopped recommending assessment of ‘key threatening processes’ affecting native wildlifeThe federal government has stopped listing major threats to species under national environment laws, and plans to address listed threats are often years out of date or have not been done at all.Environment department documents released under freedom of information laws show the government has stopped assessing what are known as “key threatening processes”, which are major threats to the survival of native wildlife. Continue reading...

Adam Bandt says Labor and the crossbench should oppose the change and instead pursue renewables for the power gridThe Greens say a move by the Morrison government to overhaul the legislation underpinning the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to allow new investments in power grid reliability must be opposed, because it is a “Trojan horse for coal and gas”.Federal parliament is set to resume next week. The government proposes to amend the Clean Energy Finance Corporation Act to enable the CEFC to establish and administer a $1bn grid reliability fund, and to create a special account for the initiative. The current legislation rules out investments by the CEFC in coal and gas. Continue reading...

Nuclear Regulatory Commission keen to allow material to be disposed of by ‘land burial’ – with potentially damaging effectsThe federal agency providing oversight of the commercial nuclear sector is attempting to push through a rule change critics say could allow dangerous amounts of radioactive material to be disposed of in places like municipal landfills, with potentially serious consequences to human health and the environment.Related: Coca-Cola and Pepsi falling short on pledges over plastic – report Continue reading...

The filmmaker’s latest venture is an excruciating mishmash of environment falsehoods and plays into the hands of those he once opposedDenial never dies; it just goes quiet and waits. Today, after years of irrelevance, the climate science deniers are triumphant. Long after their last, desperate claims had collapsed, when they had traction only on “alt-right” conspiracy sites, a hero of the left turns up and gives them more than they could have dreamed of.Planet of the Humans, whose executive producer and chief promoter is Michael Moore, now has more than 6 million views on YouTube. The film does not deny climate science. But it promotes the discredited myths that deniers have used for years to justify their position. It claims that environmentalism is a self-seeking scam, doing immense harm to the living world while enriching a group of con artists. This has long been the most effective means by which denial – most of which has been funded by the fossil fuel industry – has been spread. Everyone hates a scammer. Continue reading...

City leaders publish ‘statement of principles’ putting climate action at centre of recovery plans

Habitat destruction forces wildlife into human environments, where new diseases flourish

Mayor and agency planning fast-track new cycle routes and wider pavements

Fears Jair Bolsonaro’s ‘land grabbers decree’ may be pushed forwards after new rule allows land-grabbing on indigenous reservesAs the coronavirus pandemic eats its way into the Amazon, raising fears of a genocide of its vulnerable indigenous tribes, the government of the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, and its supporters are dismantling rules shielding protected reserves. Key environment officials have been sacked, and environmentalists and indigenous leaders fear the pandemic is being used as a smokescreen for a new assault on the rainforest.They say a presidential decree awaiting congressional approval and new rules at the indigenous agency Funai effectively legalise land grabbing in protected forests and indigenous reserves. Continue reading...

Climate advisers call for work and training in low-carbon heating, water efficiency and flood-protection

Crowds are coming to see the light show as beaches begin to reopen after an almost month-long closure due to coronavirusMother nature has provided a radical gift to nighttime beach-goers in southern California, in the form of bioluminescent waves that crash and froth with an otherworldly light.Related: California surf shimmers with bioluminescence – in pictures Continue reading...

Brazil, France and Germany say UN can’t hear complaint against five countries of flouting child rights to clean airGreta Thunberg and a group of other children have pushed forward their legal complaint at the UN against countries they accuse of endangering children’s wellbeing through the climate crisis, despite attempts to have it thrown out.The 16 children, including the Swedish environmental activist, lodged a legal case with the UN committee on the rights of the child against Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey last September. Continue reading...

As logging of fire-affected areas is set to resume, Australian scientists say a clearer conversation is needed about fire risk

The pandemic reminds me of a different invisible enemy. Once again, coordinated action is the only effective response

Gas cookers making people sick and exposing tens of millions to air pollution levels that would be illegal if they were outsideGas stoves are making people sick, contributing pollution that makes indoor air up to two to five times dirtier than outdoor air, according to a new report.Related: Microplastics found in greater quantities than ever before on seabed Continue reading...

Human cost of climate crisis will hit harder and sooner than previously believed, research revealsThe human cost of the climate crisis will hit harder, wider and sooner than previously believed, according to a study that shows a billion people will either be displaced or forced to endure insufferable heat for every additional 1C rise in the global temperature.In a worst-case scenario of accelerating emissions, areas currently home to a third of the world’s population will be as hot as the hottest parts of the Sahara within 50 years, the paper warns. Even in the most optimistic outlook, 1.2 billion people will fall outside the comfortable “climate niche” in which humans have thrived for at least 6,000 years. Continue reading...

Once a step away from extinction, their survival was a rare success story. But groundbreaking gorilla conservation is now in peril

From Kenya to the Seychelles, coronavirus has dealt a devastating blow to efforts to protect endangered wildlife

Projects will deliver higher returns amid Covid-19 crisis than conventional spending, researchers claimGreen economy recovery packages for the coronavirus crisis will repair the global economy and put the world on track to tackle climate breakdown, but time is running out to implement the changes needed, new analysis has shown.Projects which cut greenhouse gas emissions as well as stimulating economic growth deliver higher returns on government spending, in the short term and in the longer term, than conventional stimulus spending, the study from Oxford University found. Continue reading...

Residents of the Shoalhaven are fighting to stop a housing development on one of the few unburnt areas in the districtResidents of a tiny community on the New South Wales south coast gathered at dawn on Tuesday as part of a last-ditch effort to prevent a small pocket of bushland that escaped the summer bushfires being bulldozed for a 20-hectare housing development.Between 70% and 80% of bushland in the Shoalhaven council area was affected during the January fires. Now the local community at Manyana wants the state government to intervene to at least postpone the destruction of one of the few unburnt areas, with the chainsaws expected to start as early as Thursday. Continue reading...

Innes Willox, chief executive of the Australia Industry Group, says Covid-19 and climate are ‘urgent’ challenges that overlapA leading Australian business group is calling for the two biggest economic challenges in memory – recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and cutting greenhouse gas emissions – to be addressed together, saying it would boost growth and put the country on a firm long-term footing.Innes Willox, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, representing more than 60,000 businesses, says economic recovery from the virus and the transition required to meet net-zero emissions by 2050 are overlapping issues that should be taken on together. Continue reading...

El confinamiento y la caída del precio del petróleo ponen en juego el futuro de un enorme yacimiento petrolífero argentino

Workers at ‘most toxic place in America’ are terrified to return to a site where there has been very little protection from the outbreak

Measures taken in response to court ruling have yet to face much dissent, partly owing to coronavirusLast month the Dutch government announced a bold set of climate policies designed to reduce annual carbon emissions by nearly 10 megatons, comparable to the yearly output of Latvia.Several new coal power plants are to be closed or run at minimum capacity, a €3bn spending package will subsidise renewable energy projects and home refits, and there are a slew of smaller policy tweaks, for example on livestock numbers, reforestation and lowering the national speed limit. Continue reading...

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