Environmental Justice Australia report says Australian coal-fired power plants regularly exceed lax limits imposed on themAustralian coal-fired power stations produce levels of toxic air pollution that would be illegal in the US, Europe and China, and regularly exceed even the lax limits imposed on them with few or no consequences, according to an investigation by Environmental Justice Australia.The report reveals evidence that operators of coal power plants in Australia have been gaming the systems that monitor the deadly pollution, while others have reported figures the federal government says are not reliable. Continue reading...

Dutch advertising watchdog’s ruling prompts company to change line to ‘least polluting fossil fuel’ as campaigners welcome action over ‘misleading’ adThe Dutch advertising watchdog will on Tuesday censure Shell and Exxon for claiming that natural gas was “the cleanest of all fossil fuels” in an advert earlier this year.It will be the second time this summer that the Netherlands advertising standards board has ruled against the fossil fuels industry, after it slapped down Statoil in June for calling gas a “clean energy” and “low emissions fuel”. Continue reading...

Neonicotinoid drastically cuts egg-laying by queens, affecting their ability to start new colonies and increasing chances of local extinction, say scientistsA controversial pesticide can potentially wipe out common bumblebee populations by preventing the formation of new colonies, research has shown.The neonicotinoid chemical thiamethoxam dramatically reduces egg-laying by queen bumblebees, say scientists. Continue reading...

Climate change, dams and diversion bring Iberian peninsula’s longest river, on which millions depend, to brink of collapseThe Tagus river, the longest in the Iberian peninsula, is in danger of drying up completely as Spain once again finds itself in the grip of drought.Miguel Ángel Sánchez, spokesman of the Platform in Defence of the Tagus, says “the river has collapsed through a combination of climate change, water transfer and the waste Madrid produces.” Continue reading...

Stellar work by group led by Anthony Leiserowitz on putting climate change research into public domain is empowering citizens and institutions

Over the past four decades, a huge amount of effort has gone into cleaning America’s heavily polluted waters. Is all of that progress about to be undone?

Jay Weatherill’s government says 150 megawatt plant will be biggest of its kind in the world and create about 700 jobsA proposed solar thermal power plant in South Australia’s mid-north has been contracted to supply all the state government’s power needs.Work on the $650m SolarReserve facility will start in 2018, creating 650 construction jobs and 50 ongoing positions. Continue reading...

Rye Harbour, East Sussex The omens are bad for the whimbrel, a summer visitor that has all but disappeared from the estuaryOnly a few years ago, they used to stage whimbrel walks at Rye Harbour nature reserve. In late summer, these birds, which look like small dark curlew, would stream from estuary to estuary in their thousands, on their way from breeding grounds on Orkney and Shetland to winter on the west African coast.Now, you’re lucky to see a single one out on the salt marshes amid the wheeling terns and plover, and Rye Harbour has re-branded its walks. Continue reading...

Market Forces says it will lodge shareholder resolution to force bank to implement stated commitment to Paris agreementThe Commonwealth Bank’s first climate policy statement has been criticised by environmental groups and sparked one group to lodge a shareholder resolution to force the company to implement its stated commitment to the Paris agreement.The bank released the statement, saying it was “reaffirming our support for a responsible global transition to a net zero emissions economy by 2050”. Continue reading...

Growth of intensive units has potential to increase antibiotic resistance and could result in spread of bird flu beyond regionThe use of antibiotics in factory farms in Asia is set to more than double in just over a decade, with potentially damaging effects on antibiotic resistance around the world.Factory farming of poultry in Asia is also increasing the threat of bird flu spreading beyond the region, with more deadly strains taking hold, according to a new report from a network of financial investors. Continue reading...

If we really want to tackle particle pollution we need carbon-free electricity and, even better, walk or cycle over short distancesWill our streets be pollution free when the last petrol and diesel cars are sold in the UK in just over two decades time? Sadly not. This is for two main reasons. First, we will still have diesel lorries and buses. Second, electric cars still release particle pollution into the air from wearing tyres, brakes and road surfaces. Already more particle pollution comes from wear than from the exhausts of modern vehicles.Related: The polluting effect of wear and tear in brakes and tyres Continue reading...

Social Democrat chief Martin Schulz says embattled sector’s failure to innovate and lead projects such as electric cars risks the future of country key exporterMartin Schulz, the main challenger to Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany’s September election, has accused the country’s car industry executives of putting the sector at risk by failing to plan for the future.The future of the automotive sector, Germany’s biggest exporter and provider of about 800,000 jobs, has become a hot election issue as politicians blame executives and each other for the industry’s battered reputation following the emissions scandal. Continue reading...

Dong Energy boss says falling price of renewables means they must power the electric car revolution or the environment will gain only a pyrrhic victoryThe rise of electric cars will be a pyrrhic victory for the environment if they are powered by fossil fuels instead of renewables, according to the UK boss of the world’s biggest offshore windfarm developer.

The window for hope is closing rapidly for the planet. But young activists are demonstrating their power at the ballot box to push for a different future

Lions, elephants and hippos have vanished from Kilombero valley after UK- and US-funded projects helped turn a once-thriving habitat into farmland, teak, and sugar plantations

OK, the Sixth Mass Extinction may be upon us, but there are still some reasons to be cheerfulLet’s begin with the bad news. First, Earth Overshoot Day – the point at which the world consumes more natural resources than the planet can renew throughout the year – shifted forward this year to 2 August, putting humanity in the red for longer.We are starting to unlink greenhouse gas emissions from production and consumption Continue reading...

Energy minister’s comments on market intervention leave open the possibility of government support of coal-fired powerNew high-efficiency low-emission (HELE) coal-fired power plants have a role in the energy mix and the government is prepared to intervene in the market, Josh Frydenberg has said.The energy and environment minister told Sky News on Sunday that new coal plants “need to be considered” alongside other sources of baseload power, and the government could intervene if the market failed to deliver the “best possible outcomes” in the electricity market. Continue reading...

Phone app offers households savings for a fraction of the cost of a top-of-the-range smart fridgeThe world’s first wireless fridge camera goes on sale in the UK next month aimed at helping households slash food waste by being able to check exactly what they have in their refrigerator at any time.As well as taking selfies to be sent to the user, the Smarter FridgeCam and app will also monitor use-by dates and send out automatic top-up reminders to buy more milk, for example. It will also encourage people to eat what they already have – typically festering at the back of the fridge or in the salad box – by suggesting recipes. Continue reading...

From Indonesia to India, wild birds are being sold as pets to families who want their own Hedwig. Ecologists call for protection to help species surviveThe Harry Potter phenomenon has broken publishing and cinema box-office records and spawned a series of lucrative theme parks. But wildlife experts are sounding the alarm over a sad downside to JK Rowling’s tales of the troubled young wizard. The illegal trade in owls has jumped in the far east over the past decade and researchers fear it could endanger the survival of these distinctive predators in Asia.Conservationists say the snowy owl Hedwig – who remains the young wizard’s loyal companion for most of the Harry Potter series – is fuelling global demand for wild-caught birds for use as pets. In 2001, the year in which the first film was released, only a few hundred were sold at Indonesia’s many bird markets. By 2016, the figure had soared to more than 13,000, according to researchers Vincent Nijman and Anna Nekaris of Oxford Brookes University in a paper in Global Ecology and Conservation. At around $10 to $30, the price tag is affordable to most middle-class families. Continue reading...

Some 500,000 birds will have been shot by the end of another inglorious season as a select few continue to trample on the interests of the rest of usAfter 150 years of being treated as a quaint rural pastime, grouse shooting is now under the microscope – unless it reforms it is doomed, and it may drag other country sports down with it.On Saturday, the start of the grouse shooting season, the social media hashtag #inglorious12th was trending, and a social media message, “I want to see an end to raptor persecution in the uplands. Criminal activity needs to be stopped”, set up by 15-year-old birdwatcher and conservation campaigner Findlay Wilde, was sent to more than 11 million people. Continue reading...

Thousands turn out in London and on Yorkshire moors as campaigners call for end to ‘killing for the psychopathic joy of it’

River Ouse, North Yorkshire Once so prolific it was turned into sequins, the endangered tansy beetle is clinging on at its Yorkshire hang-outSequins are a popular way to bring ethereal pizzazz to an outfit. But back before synthetic bling was mass produced in every shade of fabulous, the source of such dazzle could be ethically dubious but more iridescent still. For Victorian fashionistas a statement collar or cape might have been adorned with the wingcases of thousands of tansy beetles.Related: York's flood meadows get site of special scientific interest status Continue reading...

Paula Kahumbu: Ending ivory trafficking should be at the heart of a new vision for Africa’s development

Mayor is letting down Londoners by leaving out a manifesto pledge to create a not-for-profit energy company from his new environment strategy, say green groupsCampaigners have condemned the mayor of London’s new environment strategy for falling short by failing to announce the establishment of a publicly owned energy company for Londoners, one of his manifesto promises.Sadiq Khan published his environment policy on Friday, which aims to turn the capital into a zero waste and zero emissions city by 2050 and ensure that more than half of the city is covered in parks and green spaces in the same time frame. Continue reading...

As estates gear up for Glorious Twelfth, wildlife crime expert talks of direct link between grouse moors and persecution of birds of preyGrouse moors are to blame for persecuting endangered birds of prey in the Scottish Highlands and Uplands, according to a wildlife crime expert.Ian Thomson, the head of investigations at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland, said data from 77 birds of prey that had been satellite-tagged showed a direct correlation between dead and disappeared birds and grouse moors. Continue reading...

Only an experienced beekeeper could have pulled off raid in Anglesey ‘without getting stung to smithereens’, police sayAn experienced beekeeper is suspected of stealing 40,000 bees from Anglesey in one of Britain’s biggest bee rustling cases in years.Only someone with a bee suit and veil could have pulled off the heist on Paul Williams’s hive in Rhydwyn “without getting stung to smithereens”, police said. Continue reading...

Playful gelada and inquisitive sea lions are among our pick of images from the natural world this week Continue reading...

Former US vice president says the US will meet its climate commitments in spite of Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the global agreementDonald Trump has failed to knock the Paris climate agreement off course despite his efforts to derail it, according to the former US vice president Al Gore.“The US will meet its commitments [on emissions] in spite of Donald Trump,” he said in London, where his new film An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power was released on Friday. “Every other country has pledged [to combat climate change]. I think the psychological message is that the train has left the station. The signal sent to investors, businesses, individuals and civil society is extraordinarily powerful.” Continue reading...

For 10 years, Nasa has been flying over the ice caps to chart their retreat. This data is an invaluable record of climate change. But does anyone care?• Read the text version hereSubscribe via Audioboom, iTunes, Soundcloud, Mixcloud, Acast & Sticher and join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter Continue reading...

Salvage operation under way after 12 sections of a giant pipe broke free from Norwegian tugs bound for AlgeriaSections of a giant pipe, one almost half a kilometre long, have washed up on the north Norfolk coast after breaking free from Norwegian tugs bound for Algeria following an accident involving an Icelandic container ship.A 480 metre (1,570ft) length of the plastic piping beached between Sea Palling and Winterton-on-Sea on Friday. Earlier this week a 200 metre section appeared at low tide further west at Horsey. Continue reading...

The odds of 2014, 2015, and 2016 naturally being as hot as they were are about the same as the odds you’ll be struck by lightning this year2014, 2015, and 2016 each broke the global temperature record. A new study led by climate scientist Michael Mann just published in Geophysical Research Letters used climate model simulations to examine the odds that these records would have been set in a world with and without human-caused global warming. In model simulations without a human climate influence, the authors concluded: Continue reading...

Controversial Queensland coalmine project is now without financing from any of Australia’s big four banksThe Commonwealth Bank has indicated it will not lend money to Adani’s proposed Carmichael coalmine, leaving the project without financing from any of Australia’s big four banks.A spokesman from Commonwealth Bank said the bank is “not among the banks who have been, or will be, asked to consider this financing”. Continue reading...

Hundreds of riders race from Belgium to Greece, with no set route, facing extreme heat and often on only a few hours sleep a night Continue reading...

Cameras are part of a series of measures to improve animal welfare and enforce laws against cruelty

Nearly half of £6.1bn energy spending in developing countries from 2010-14 went on oil, coal and gas-fired schemes, data showsThe UK has spent more than twice as much overseas support on fossil fuels projects as on renewable ones so far this decade, according to research commissioned by the Catholic aid agency Cafod.The Overseas Development Institute, which analysed the figures, found that 46% of Britain’s £6.1bn energy spending in developing countries between 2010 and 2014 went on oil, coal and gas-fired schemes, compared with 22% for renewable energy projects. Continue reading...

Public governance specialist raises concerns over the way the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility is conducting itselfIf the federal government funds a rail link to Adani’s proposed Carmichael mine, it will become known as the “government-funded billion-dollar ghost train”, an expert in public governance has told the Senate.Thomas Clark, a professor at the University of Technology Sydney, who has decades of experience in public and corporate governance, appeared before a Senate inquiry into the operation and governance of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (Naif), which is considering a $900m loan to Adani’s rail link. Continue reading...

Four mines operated by Glencore and Anglo could be prosecuted or even shut down, minister tells state parliamentFour underground Queensland coalmines operated by Glencore and Anglo American could be prosecuted or even shut down for failing to properly monitor dust levels.Anthony Lynham, the state’s mines minister, has named and shamed the companies in parliament, warning that they risked severe penalties for failing to meet monitoring obligations designed to protect workers from dust-related diseases such as black lung. Continue reading...

Dumped water containing over eight times the permitted amount of sediment was released by family-linked company during Cyclone Debbie in MarchAn Adani company has been fined by the Queensland government for its unauthorised release of coal-laden stormwater into the sea at its Abbot Point port during a cyclone in March.The coal port operator, which dumped water containing more than eight times the permitted amount of sediment during Cyclone Debbie on 27 March, was issued a $12,190 penalty for a technical breach on 20 July. Continue reading...

Court decision is blow to Vinod Khosla and other wealthy landowners seeking to buy renowned beaches, making public land privateA California court has ordered a Silicon Valley billionaire to restore access to a beloved beach that he closed off for his private use, a major victory for public lands advocates who have been fighting the venture capitalist for years.An appeals court ruled Thursday that Vinod Khosla, who runs the venture capital firm Khosla Ventures and co-founded the tech company Sun Microsystems, must unlock the gates to Martins Beach in northern California by his property. Continue reading...

Former defence force chief decries Australia’s response to climate challenge as a ‘manifest failure of leadership’Military and climate experts, including a former chief of the defence force, have warned that Australia faces potential “disastrous consequences” from climate change, including “revolving” natural disasters and the forced migration of tens of millions of people across the region, overwhelming security forces and government.Former defence force chief Adm Chris Barrie, now adjunct professor at the strategic and defence studies centre at the Australian National University, said in a submission to a Senate inquiry that Australia’s ability to mitigate and respond to the impacts of climate change had been corrupted by political timidity: “Australia’s climate change credentials have suffered from a serious lack of political leadership”.

A former partner in an Amazonian conservation project with Lloyd and his partner Vanessa Hunter is claiming more than $600,000 in damages and costsGraham Lloyd, the environment editor of the Australian, and his partner, Vanessa Hunter, are being sued by a former joint-venture partner in an eco-retreat and Amazonian conservation project in Peru.Cheryl Conway, who provided Lloyd and Hunter with more than $600,000 between 2013 and 2015 to establish the Lupunaluz Foundation and build the Lupunaluz Retreat, has filed an application in the federal court seeking damages for misleading or deceptive conduct and breach of contract. Continue reading...

City council accuses environment secretary of ‘ill-informed whims’ that contradict his government’s policyMichael Gove has intervened in a long-running battle to try to stop a controversial tree-felling programme in Sheffield.A number of Sheffield residents have been arrested trying to protect some of the 6,000 trees that face being chopped down as part of a 25-year £2bn highway maintenance scheme called Streets Ahead. Continue reading...

Company refutes legal analysis of documents suggesting it ignored risk to human health and environment long after pollutants’ lethal effects were knownMonsanto continued to produce and sell toxic industrial chemicals known as PCBs for eight years after learning that they posed hazards to public health and the environment, according to legal analysis of documents put online in a vast searchable archive.More than 20,000 internal memos, minuted meetings, letters and other documents have been published in the new archive, many for the first time. Continue reading...

Noway’s role as the world’s biggest fossil fuel exporter undermines its efforts to cut emissions at home, says NGO reportNorway’s plan to ramp up oil and gas production in the Arctic threatens global efforts to tackle climate change, according to a new study.The research says 12 gigatonnes of carbon could be added by exploration sites in the Barents Sea and elsewhere over the next 50 years, which is 1.5 times more than the Norwegian fields currently being tapped or under construction. Continue reading...

Communities in danger of falling into the sea say assistance from Washington has dried up: ‘It feels like a complete abdication of responsibility on climate change’The US government’s withdrawal from dealing with, or even acknowledging, climate change may have provoked widespread opprobrium, but for Alaskan communities at risk of toppling into the sea, the risks are rather more personal.The Trump administration has moved to dismantle climate adaptation programs including the Denali Commission, an Anchorage-based agency that is crafting a plan to safeguard or relocate dozens of towns at risk from rising sea levels, storms and the winnowing away of sea ice. Continue reading...

Carmakers, recyclers and tech start ups are working to solve the question of how to deal with lithium-ion batteries when they wear out

Skyrocketing Australian gas prices are behind AGL plans to build a $250m LNG import terminal south of MelbourneAs Australia ramps up to become one of the world’s biggest gas exporters, skyrocketing local gas prices are driving one company to build a new gas import terminal, highlighting an apparently absurd situation for local gas users.On Thursday AGL announced it had come closer to realising its plans to build a $250m LNG import terminal, nominating a port 80km south of Melbourne as its preferred location. Continue reading...

Sandy, Bedfordshire As the birdsongs of day fade out, the bat detector stirs into unheard actionThe sun had risen over fields of oats and gone down on a prairie of stubble, yet still the skylarks sang. Though the world beneath their wings had been transformed, they continued exulting or lamenting in twilight overtime. I listened to two, three, or many voices intermingling at the fading of the day, but whether they sang in the sky or gave their evening show from the ground, I could not tell.Other voices came too, though intermittently. Restless flocks of geese seeking rest crisscrossed between land and lakes. Numbering no more than a dozen at a time, they passed low overhead, their wings making a fuzzy buzz. The birds were muted but not mute; single birds made bleating calls that to me were riddled with anxiety at the approach of night. Continue reading...

Families living on riverbanks of north-east India claim pleas for help following devastating floods have been ignored on religious and racial groundsThe Indian government has been accused of religious and racial discrimination after members of the Chakma ethnic group said their pleas for help following the devastating floods and landslides that swept the country’s north-east have fallen on deaf ears. Continue reading...