Environment | The Guardian

Appeal court judges rule in favour of campaigners against ‘draconian’ Ineos injunctionCampaigners have hailed a legal victory against a multinational company that took out a “draconian and anti-democratic” injunction against protesters.On Wednesday, three court of appeal judges ruled in favour of activists who wanted to overturn the wide-ranging injunction that had been granted to the petrochemicals business Ineos, which is owned by Britain’s richest man, Jim Ratcliffe, and aspires to become a leading fracking company. Continue reading...

New material could replace plastic or glass in construction of energy-efficient homesIn an era of glass and steel construction, wood may seem old-school. But now researchers say they have given timber a makeover to produce a material that is not only sturdy, but also transparent and able to store and release heat.The researchers say the material could be used in the construction of energy-efficient homes, and that they hope to develop a biodegradable version to increase its eco-friendly credentials as an alternative to plastic, glass or even cement. Continue reading...

Restoration of forests and coasts can tackle ‘existential crises’ but is being overlooked• Read the letter from campaigners

‘We owe it to our kids’: parents from 16 countries demand urgent climate actionParents and grandparents around the world are mobilising in support of the youth strikes for climate movement that has swept the globe.Under the banner Parents for the Future, 34 groups from 16 countries on four continents have issued an open letter. It demands urgent action to fight climate change and prevent temperatures rising by more than 1.5C, beyond which scientists say droughts, floods and heatwaves will get significantly worse. Continue reading...

A recent study found many drivers see people who use bikes as less than human. Part of the problem is the language we useAs the repair man rummaged around in my gas oven, I tried to explain something to him about cyclists.“We ‘cyclists’ are no more a homogenous group than you ‘vannists,’” I said. Continue reading...

In part three of our series, the Siona people stress opposition to any operations on their territory

Trudeau cited international commitments to fight global warning as premiers say they would challenge the measure

Australia’s global leadership on whale conservation will be tested as Japanese hunters move to a different hemisphereJapan’s whaling fleet arrived back at the port of Shimonoseki on the weekend with a barbaric tally of 333 dead whales that are no longer swimming freely in the Southern Ocean.If the work of the Japanese whalers is anything like last year, more than 100 pregnant females and 50 or so juveniles will have been killed. But from now on, things are different. Continue reading...

Legal expert tried to use freedom of information to shed light on Australia’s efforts to prevent reef being listed as ‘in danger’A legal expert has criticised Australia’s freedom of information regime after spending two years and more than $1,000 trying to shed light on Australia’s enormous lobbying effort to prevent the Great Barrier Reef from being listed as “in danger”.In 2014-15, Australian government officials spent more than $100,000 visiting and lobbying members of Unesco’s world heritage committee to keep the Great Barrier Reef off the “in danger” list. Continue reading...

Irish firm joins nine coal plants on list, with carbon emissions up nearly 50% in last five yearsRyanair has become the first non-coal company to join Europe’s top 10 carbon emitters, according to EU figures.The Irish airline, which transports 130 million people a year, declared 9.9 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, up 6.9% on last year and 49% over the last five years, according to data in the EU’s latest emissions trading system registry. Continue reading...

Analysis of 50 years of UK data shows woodlands are not havens, while changing emergence times damage nature and farmingInsects have “no place to hide” from climate change, scientists have said after analysing 50 years’ worth of UK data.The study found that woodlands, whose shade was expected to protect species from warming temperatures, are just as affected by climate change as open grasslands. Continue reading...

No breach of annual limits so far in 2019, after 2017’s first breach within five daysTwo million people in London are living with illegal air pollution, according to the most recent data. However, nitrogen dioxide levels are falling and could reach legal levels within six years.In 2017, London saw its first breach of annual pollution limits just five days into the new year and in 2018 it occurred within a month. However, three months into 2019, no such breaches have taken place. In 2016, the last year in which Boris Johnson was mayor of London, there had been 43 breaches by this time. Continue reading...

European insect populations shrink as farming leaves ‘hardly any room for nature’Butterflies have declined by at least 84% in the Netherlands over the last 130 years, according to a study, confirming the crisis affecting insect populations in western Europe.Researchers analysed 120,000 butterflies caught by collectors between 1890 and 1980 as well as more recent scientific data from more than 2 million sightings to identify dramatic declines in the country’s 71 native butterfly species, 15 of which have become extinct over the last century. Continue reading...

Party says allowing heavy polluters to use international permits to meet emissions reduction targets allows companies to ‘keep polluting at home’The Greens are positioning to torpedo a key element of Labor’s new climate policy in the event Bill Shorten wins the federal election in May, telegraphing strong opposition to heavy polluters using international permits to meet their emissions reduction targets.The thumbs-down from the Greens, who will likely be the critical Senate bloc post-election in the event of a Labor victory, comes as the politically influential motoring lobby has also signalled it will push back on Labor’s proposal to introduce vehicle efficiency standards for light vehicles that would bring Australia broadly into line with carbon pollutions standards for cars in the US. Continue reading...

Biologists fear they will now start to see coral mortality in world’s southern-most reefResearchers have documented what they are describing as the most severe coral bleaching to hit the world’s southern-most reef at Lord Howe Island.Scientists from Newcastle University, James Cook University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have spent the past two weeks surveying corals around the island in the far south Pacific Ocean after they were alerted to bleaching in isolated areas. Continue reading...

Bill Shorten to flag a new pollution regulation on car retailers and a reboot of the heavily criticised safeguard mechanismLabor will set a national electric vehicles target of 50% new car sales by 2030, and 50% for the government fleet by 2025, as well as allowing business to deduct a 20% depreciation for private fleet EVs valued at more than $20,000, as part of its climate change policy to be unveiled on Monday.Bill Shorten will also flag a new pollution regulation on car retailers “in line with” 105g CO2/km for light vehicles, which is consistent with American emissions standards, but will consult on coverage and the timeline to phase in the change rather than impose it immediately. Continue reading...

Activists say 1,100 dolphins found since January - but real figure may be 10 times higherA record number of dolphins have washed up on France’s Atlantic coast in the last three months, many with devastating injures.Environmental campaigners say 1,100 mutilated dolphins have been found since January, but the real figure could be 10 times higher as many bodies sink without trace. Activists warn the marine slaughter could threaten the extinction of the European dolphin population in the region. Continue reading...

Australia’s top export market for thermal coal gives further signs of dramatic energy pivot to renewablesJapan’s environment minister has announced he will “in principle” oppose any new plans to build or expand coal-fired power stations, as further signs emerge of a dramatic energy pivot by Australia’s top export market for thermal coal.Guardian Australia reported in March that Japan had cancelled a large percentage of planned investments in coal-fired power, while Japanese investment vehicles were ditching coal projects and instead seeking to back large-scale renewable projects across Asia. Continue reading...

Cities worldwide take part in WWF event to call for global action on climate changeCities around the world were marking Earth Hour on Saturday by turning off lights at 8:30pm local time in a call for global action on climate change. Continue reading...

Australia has not set efficiency standards, despite years of talking, in contrast to China, India, Japan, US and EUCuts to carbon emissions from vehicle efficiency standards have been left out of government projections for meeting Australia’s Paris climate commitments, indicating the policy has been shelved.The office of the transport minister, Michael McCormack, said the government had not made a decision on “how or when” standards to cut carbon pollution from vehicles might be implemented. Continue reading...

Congresswoman hit back at Republicans who claim her resolution would cause ‘genocide’ and the end of hamburgersAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez has rounded on her Republican opponents, accusing them of making “total fools of themselves” in criticising her Green New Deal proposals.The Democratic congresswoman from New York has come under increasing attack from conservatives over her resolution that calls for a 10-year “national mobilization” to eliminate greenhouse gases and avert the worst impacts of climate change. Continue reading...

Campaign group to take direct action outside bank’s branches in protest at fossil fuel fundingJohn McDonnell has called on Labour members to join Momentum on its first direct action campaign, as a senior organiser for the group called it a move from party politics to movement politics.Forty local Momentum groups across England and Wales, from Exeter to Redcar, will take action outside branches of Barclays on Saturday to raise awareness of the bank’s financing of fossil fuel companies. Continue reading...

The bank is a huge backer of the fossil fuel industry and attendant climate catastrophe. Direct action is vitalFrom Cyclone Idai, which has killed hundreds in south-east Africa, to flooding in Bangladesh – where my family is from – for decades climate change has been devastating communities in the global south. More recently these effects have begun to be felt by people in the UK too: just last month, wildfires raged on Saddleworth Moor, while where I live in Brixton, the air is so polluted I suffer from breathing problems.We all know that the impact of climate change is felt unequally, depending on where you live, how wealthy you are and how easily you can shield yourself from its effects. Less widely known, however, is that responsibility for the crisis is unequal too. In recent years we have been sold a lie: that ordinary people are to blame for the climate crisis. It’s our spending and our consumption habits that have created the mess we’re in, we are told, not the bankers, oil companies and a rich elite. Continue reading...

Land-clearing and vehicle pollution measures also expected in opposition’s final election offering on climateLabor is set to unveil a climate policy that will beef up the Morrison government’s heavily criticised safeguard mechanism, creating new pollution reduction requirements for the aviation sector, cement, steel and aluminum, mining and gas, direct combustion and the non-electricity energy sectors.Currently the safeguard mechanism applies to businesses with direct emissions of more than 100 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent pollution each year, and Labor’s policy is expected to lower that threshold to 25 kilotonnes, which means more sectors and businesses will be covered. Continue reading...

A plan to generate enough wind power for 200,000 homes hints at a coal valley’s clean energy futureAt exactly 5pm on 29 March 2017, Unit 1 of the Hazelwood station reported the last energy generation after 53 years of faithful operation. Hazelwood isn’t the first coal power station to close in recent years — in fact it is one of 13 that closed over a five year period — but, as one of the largest and dirtiest power stations in the country it has become totemic, for both the environment movement and Australia’s coal fetishists.Now, two years on, fears of mass workforce dislocation — such as the Latrobe Valley suffered when the region’s power stations were privatised in the 1990s — have largely failed to materialise. More than 1,000 jobs have been created in the region and unemployment has dropped from 8% to 5.7%, in no small part due to the efforts of the Latrobe Valley Authority, set up by the state government to help ensure a “just transition” for the workers and local community. Continue reading...

A frog hopping onto a duck, bats hibernating in a fridge and a bee collecting nectar from a cherry blossom tree Continue reading...

Report finds rise in solar and wind generation almost eclipsed capacity lost when Hazelwood power station closedGrowth in wind and solar energy over the past two years has almost entirely replaced the lost output from the Hazelwood power station during summer, a new report says.The latest Green Energy Markets report says renewable energy produced 128% more megawatt hours of electricity than gas and 23% more than brown coal over the 2018-19 summer in the national electricity market states. Continue reading...

Study finds that places where people have never had the diseases could see bad outbreaks if they aren’t preparedHalf a billion more people could be at risk from mosquito-transmitted diseases within 30 years as a result of the warming climate, according to a new study.Canada and parts of northern Europe could be newly exposed to the threat. People there could come into contact with yellow fever, Zika, dengue and chikungunya, as well as other emerging diseases. Continue reading...

Pollution from energy sector continues to drop, while low-carbon generation rose to 53%The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell 3% in 2018 as pollution from the energy sector continued to decrease, provisional government figures show.Emissions of the gases that drive climate change have fallen for six years in a row, and are 44% below the 1990 baseline for the UK. Emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, are at the lowest level since before the start of the 20th century, when Queen Victoria was still on the throne, government officials said. Continue reading...

Around 220 million people descended on sleepy Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) for the 50-day Hindu festival. The cleanup could take monthsAs the sun sets over the Ganges, Vikas Kumar drives his garbage truck through the streets of Prayagraj, a historic Indian city of 1.1 million that was until last year known as Allahabad. “All this stuff people have been eating, drinking and throwing away,” he says, gesturing at piles of food waste, discarded water bottles and mud-spattered flowers. “It will take three or four months to clear.”Over a 50-day period this normally sleepy city has been visited by around 220 million people for the Kumbh Mela – a Hindu pilgrimage dubbed the world’s largest human gathering. Continue reading...

Mass of congealed oils, grease, wet wipes and other nasties the size of six double decker buses finally clearedThe Sidmouth fatberg, a monstrous mass of congealed oils, grease, wet wipes and other nasties discovered lurking under the seafront of the Devon resort, has finally been vanquished.It has taken a dedicated team of workers seven weeks to remove the 64-metre object found by a shocked worker, Charlie Ewart, during a routine check just before Christmas. Continue reading...

Exclusive: carcinogenic chemicals and other pollutants found near tower after deadly fireCancer-causing chemicals and other potentially harmful toxins have been found close to Grenfell Tower in fire debris and soil samples that could pose serious health risks to the surrounding community and survivors of the blaze, a study warns.The research has uncovered “significant environmental contamination” from a range of toxins, including in oily deposits collected 17 months after the tragedy from a flat 160 metres from the site. Continue reading...

The 2020 presidential challenger has praised the Green New Deal but his relationship with the fossil fuel industry has come under scrutinyIt was not hard for Beto O’Rourke to seem like a champion of green issues during his eye-catching Senate campaign in America’s 2018 midterm elections – after all, he was up against Ted Cruz, a climate change denier.Now, as the former US congressman vies to be the Democratic candidate to run against Donald Trump in the 2020 race for the White House, he faces much closer scrutiny on the subject. Continue reading...

The presence of large sturgeon is just one indicator that the waterway is recovering from serious industrial pollutionNew York’s Hudson river, once known as America’s Rhine in a nod to the famous European waterway, played a pivotal role in bolstering American power at the cost of decades of foul pollution.Related: Oysters are making a comeback in the polluted waters around New York City Continue reading...

Not long before coal use is over, say analysts, while warning of possible resurgence in ChinaThe number of coal-fired power plants being developed around the world has collapsed in the last three years, according to a report.The number of plants on which construction has begun each year has fallen by 84% since 2015, and 39% in 2018 alone, while the number of completed plants has dropped by more than half since 2015. Continue reading...

Park officials say many wildflower tourists have been well-behaved, but some have ignored pleas to stay on trailsIn one of the most famous literary descriptions of wildflowers, the English poet William Wordsworth wrote in the early 19th century of happily gazing upon a host of daffodils “fluttering and dancing in the breeze”. In 21st-century California, wildflowers dancing in the breeze are being trampled by helicopter.As thousands of sightseers descend on southern California parks for a springtime “super bloom”, officials reported on Wednesday that a couple in a helicopter landed in the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, crushing the delicate plants. They proceeded to walk around, further inflicting harm. As soon as they were approached by law enforcement officers, they scurried back into their aircraft and zoomed away. Continue reading...

By working in partnership with organisations like the Environment Agency, we are prioritising our work to ensure that it delivers best value and multiple benefits to the country, write Rob Ward and Jon Ford of the British Geological SurveyDavid Nowell (Letters, 23 March) suggests that the Environment Agency should put pressure on the British Geological Survey (BGS) to improve the quality of geological mapping. Mr Nowell will be pleased to hear that there is no need for them to do this as the BGS is already working with the Environment Agency to update our geological maps in areas where groundwater resources are vulnerable to over-abstraction and/or pollution.As new data and new requirements arise, we recognise that in some areas the existing geological interpretations become out of date. A case in point is the area to the north of Holderness (referred to in Mr Nowell’s letter), where modern imagery highlights geological structures that would not have been apparent during the original 1800s survey. This is an area important for groundwater and we are currently working with the Environment Agency to improve the geological understanding of the area to help the better management and protection of water resources. In fact, our geologists are currently “in the field” re-mapping this area. Continue reading...

Study suggests Brazil likely to rush to fill China’s sudden soy shortfall by boosting farmingThe Amazon rainforest could be the greatest casualty of the trade war between the United States and China, warns a new study showing how deforestation pressures have surged as a result of the geopolitical jolt in global soy markets.Up to 13m hectares of forest and savannah – an area the size of Greece – would have to be cleared if Brazil and other exporters were to fill the huge shortfall in soy supply to China that has suddenly appeared since Donald Trump imposed hefty tariffs, according to the paper published in Nature.

Morrison government to announce $50.4m fund to support exploratory work for up to 50 projectsThe Morrison government will use next week’s budget to roll out funding for micro-grids in regional and remote communities, including in the hotly contested electoral battleground of north Queensland.The budget is expected to include a new $50.4m fund to support exploratory work for up to 50 projects in regional and remote communities, with feasibility studies investigating whether building a micro-grid is cost-effective and whether existing off-grid capabilities can be upgraded with more up-to-date technology. Continue reading...

Party’s climate policy also proposes a new public authority, Renew Australia, and a government-owned energy retailerThe Greens will propose 2030 as the cut-off point for thermal coal exports, and the shutdown date for Australia’s fleet of coal-fired power stations, in the party’s new climate and energy policy heading into the federal election.With Labor expected to unveil the remaining elements of its climate policy before next week’s budget, the Greens will on Thursday open the bidding on ambition, laying down markers for the policy bartering that could play out after the federal election in the event Labor wins power and the Greens remain significant crossbench players. Continue reading...

Teens living in dirty air 70% more likely to have symptoms such as paranoia, study findsYoung people living with higher levels of air pollution are significantly more likely to have psychotic experiences, according to the first study of the issue.Researchers analysed the experiences of more than 2,000 17-year-olds across England and Wales and found that those in places with higher levels of nitrogen oxides had a 70% higher chance of symptoms such as hearing voices or intense paranoia. Continue reading...

Business as usual is causing environmental destruction and spiralling inequality. Our bill is a radical plan to address bothFaced with unprecedented challenges, politicians appear more divided than ever – that’s why Labour’s Clive Lewis and I are doing something bold. We are jointly tabling a bill in parliament designed to address two of the greatest threats we face – climate breakdown and spiralling inequality. Our bill would introduce a “green new deal” – an unprecedented mobilisation of resources invested to prevent climate breakdown, reverse inequality, and heal our communities. It demands major structural changes in our approach to the ecosystem, coupled with a radical transformation of the finance sector and the economy, to deliver both social justice and a livable planet.It’s an idea congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has recently reinvigorated in the US. And it could scarcely be more urgent. The UN’s top scientists have warned we have just 11 years to halve global emissions and avoid climate catastrophe. Global wildlife populations have collapsed by nearly 60% in our lifetimes. This has led 1.4 million young people to join the inspiring global school strikes movement to demand change. The response from ministers? To continue to force fracking on local communities, and to hand millions in tax breaks to the fossil fuel industry. Last week, unbelievably, a new coal mine was given a green-light on their watch. Continue reading...

Eric Donaldson reached settlement with government over toxic contamination on his Queensland propertyA retired air force doctor from rural Queensland is the first Australian to receive a compensation payment from the federal government as a result of legacy contamination from toxic firefighting foams used by the defence department.Eric Donaldson, 83, from the town of Oakey, about 150km west of Brisbane, reached a settlement with the government after groundwater at his property was affected by per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, a group of chemicals found to share a probable link to cancer. Continue reading...

Non-binding proposal spearheaded by progressives aims to reduce greenhouse gases and lessen social inequityThe US Senate defeated a motion to take up the Green New Deal, the non-binding proposal spearheaded by progressive Democratic lawmakers to radically reduce greenhouse gases and try to lessen social inequity.Republican leaders in the Senate had scheduled Tuesday’s vote in an effort to turn the proposal into a wedge issue in the 2020 elections, hoping to force Democrats on the record about their support – or opposition – for a proposal that is popular among the Democratic base but has been criticized by many conservatives. Continue reading...

State of emergency declared in South Island after severe downpour that washed away bridgeA woman has been found dead in New Zealand following a severe downpour that washed away a bridge and prompted a state of emergency in the South Island.Police on Wednesday said the elderly woman’s body had washed up on a riverbank north of the town of Hokitika, in the West Coast region. Continue reading...

Oil companies must respect human lives and clean up the damage their industry does wherever they operate, say Dr John Sentamu, Baroness Amos, Prof Michael Watts, Njeri Kabeberi and James ThorntonThe devastating impact of oil spills is widely recognised. The past decade has witnessed the destruction caused to human life and the environment from spills including the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and the Montara spill in Australia in 2009.On each occasion the global community has reacted with horror, demanding the oil industry clean up local ecosystems and communities. Yet in Nigeria, and particularly in Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta, these calls are ignored. Continue reading...

King Island brown thornbill was ranked the Australian bird most likely to go extinct within 20 yearsResearchers say they have discovered one of Australia’s most endangered birds in forest in Tasmania, outside its previously known habitat.Scientists from the Australian National University say the find is a rare piece of positive news for the King Island brown thornbill, which was last year ranked as the Australian bird most likely to go extinct within 20 years if nothing was done to secure its survival. Continue reading...

Wild bees and hoverflies lost from a quarter of the places they were found in 1980, study showsA widespread loss of pollinating insects in recent decades has been revealed by the first national survey in Britain, which scientists say “highlights a fundamental deterioration” in nature.The analysis of 353 wild bee and hoverfly species found the insects have been lost from a quarter of the places they were found in 1980. A third of the species now occupy smaller ranges, with just one in 10 expanding their extent, and the average number of species found in a square kilometre fell by 11. Continue reading...