Australia’s two largest supermarket chains say they will stop using lightweight plastic bags and will offer reusable bags insteadSingle-use plastic bags will phased out from Woolworths and Coles stores across Australia.Woolworth Group announced on Friday morning that stores Australia-wide would phased out the use of plastic bags by July 2018. Continue reading...

Ventnor Botanic Garden, Isle of Wight A balmy microclimate and a scrubland habitat support Britain’s oldest colony of wall lizardsIn mainland Britain the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) is considered an alien species, and concerns have been raised that competition from this robust and agile continental reptile may be hastening the decline of our rare native sand lizard (Lacerta agilis).The Isle of Wight colony is the longest established population of wall lizards in Britain and a celebrated part of the island’s fauna, though its origin is hotly debated. It is believed that in the 1920s there were deliberate releases of the reptile, though local legend has it that they are descendants of survivors from a shipwreck off Bonchurch. Continue reading...

Victoria and South Australia have suggested a states-led initiative if the federal government continues to stall on a clean energy target. Could it work?Australian states exasperated by federal government inaction on the key Finkel review recommendation of a clean energy target have indicated they might band together and go it alone if the federal Coalition does not provide the required leadership.Before Friday’s meeting of energy ministers, for which the federal government refused to put a CET on the agenda, Labor-led Victoria and South Australia called for consideration of a linked-up state-based scheme, and urged Coalition-led NSW to join up. Given recent comments by the NSW energy minister, Don Harwin, who indicated support for the CET, such a move seems plausible. Continue reading...

Royal Academy of Engineering report backs increased use of biofuels but says more should come from waste rather than food cropsBiofuel use needs to increase to help fight climate change as liquid fuels will be needed by aircraft and ships for many decades to come, finds a new report requested by the UK government.The Royal Academy of Engineering report says, however, that some biofuels, such as diesel made from food crops, have led to more emissions than those produced by the fossil fuels they were meant to replace. Instead, the report says, rising biofuel production should make more use of waste, such as used cooking oil and timber. Continue reading...

Italian company plans to drill four exploration wells in the Arctic, which some say will endanger polar bears, bowhead whales and other marine mammalsAn Italian multinational oil and gas company has received permission to move ahead with drilling plans in federal waters off Alaska which environmental campaigners say will endanger polar bears, bowhead whales and other marine mammals.Late on Wednesday, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced conditional approval of an exploratory drilling plan submitted by a US susbsidiary of the company, Eni. Continue reading...

US and French presidents appear to want to put aside differences on climate change and cooperate on Syria and terrorismDonald Trump has made a gushing show of friendship to the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, saying the two countries had an “unbreakable bond” , pledging to draw up a road map for post-conflict Syria, and asserting that the two leaders could work together despite clear differences on climate change.

‘I’ll still be doing this on a mobility scooter,’ says one of 100 volunteers who survey national park’s 1,628 miles of pathsOne of the many reasons Sally Williams loves the Yorkshire dales national park is because its dramatic landscape has been marked by centuries of human activity. “It’s not like you get in America – a huge area of undiscovered land that nobody has ever trodden on,” she says, standing near the entrance to an old limestone quarry. “It’s an area where people have lived and worked for centuries, and you can see the evidence of that all over the countryside.”The 67-year-old former librarian is one of an army of nearly 100 volunteers who, every summer, undertake a survey of the park’s 1,628 miles (2,620km) of public rights of way. The volunteers, mainly local retirees, walk every single path and bridleway, ensuring that the park’s “infrastructure” – including its 5,665 gates, 4,862 stiles, 4,399 signposts and 1,054 bridges – is accessible, undamaged and safe. Continue reading...

Transport secretary says new rules on noise show government is tackling issue, but campaigners lament ‘business as usual’Night flights from Heathrow will continue until the airport is expanded, the government has confirmed, as it published new rules to encourage quieter aircraft across London’s three biggest airports.The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, said efforts to reduce the total noise permitted from flights at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted showed the government was taking the issue very seriously, but residents’ groups said the proposals were “business as usual”. Continue reading...

EU asks court to protect one of Europe’s last primeval woodlands after the Polish government tripled logging operations at the Unesco world heritage site last yearEurope’s last major parcel of primeval woodland could be set for a reprieve after the EU asked the European court to authorise an immediate ban on logging in Poland’s Białowieża forest.Around 80,000 cubic metres of forest have been cleared since the Polish government tripled logging operations around the Unesco world heritage site last year. Continue reading...

Falling battery costs to drive sales but European carmakers will lose out to rivals in the US and Asia, forecasts Dutch bankAll new cars sold in Europe will be electric within less than two decades, driven by government support, falling battery costs and economies of scale, a Dutch bank has predicted.However, ING warned that with battery-powered vehicles accounting for 100% of registrations in 2035 across the continent, European carmakers would lose out to their rivals in the US and Asia who already lead on battery production. Continue reading...

Department for Exiting the EU publishes position papers on Euratom treaty and European court of justiceThe Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) has published position papers on the UK’s stance in the Brexit negotiations on the European atomic energy community (Euratom) and the role of the European court of justice (ECJ).

This year, in collaboration with Global Witness, the Guardian aims to record the deaths of all people killed while protecting land or natural resources. At the current rate, about four defenders will die this week somewhere on the planet Continue reading...

185 people were killed while defending the environment or land in 2015, with Brazil, Nicaragua and the Philippines among the countries with most deaths

Global Witness uses an extensive network of local contacts and other techniques to gather evidence every time a defender is reported as killed. Because so few killings happen in populous places, very few make the official list• Read more from the environmental defenders project here. You can see the names of those who have died so far this year here

Exclusive Activists, wildlife rangers and indigenous leaders are dying violently at the rate of about four a week, with a growing sense around the world that ‘anyone can kill environmental defenders without repercussions’• See the names of all defenders who have died so far this year here. Read more from the project here.Last year was the most perilous ever for people defending their community’s land, natural resources or wildlife, with new research showing that environmental defenders are being killed at the rate of almost four a week across the world.

200 people were killed while defending the environment or land in 2016, with Brazil, Colombia and the Philippines among the countries with most deaths• Read more from the environmental defenders project here. You can see the names of those who have died so far this year hereAnowarul Islam (Angur)

In Guatemala, one of the world’s largest silver deposits reaps millions for its Canadian owners but for local farmers the price is their land and even their livesDeep underground, buried in the lush hills of southern Guatemala, lies a veritable treasure trove: silver, tonnes of it, one of the largest deposits in the world.But it’s above ground where the really dangerous activity goes on. On a dusty highway, about 50 peasant farmers stand praying in a circle, a makeshift roadblock intended to stop trucks reaching the mine. They have already been violently dispersed by police teargas. Now they fear the army might move in. Continue reading...

Increase in peak electricity demand could be more than capacity of planned Hinkley Point C nuclear power station by 2030A dramatic growth in electric vehicles on Britain’s roads could see peak electricity demand jump by more than the capacity of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station by 2030, according to National Grid.The number of plug-in cars and vans could reach 9m by 2030, up from around 90,000 today, said the company, which runs the UK’s national transmission networks for electricity and gas. Continue reading...

IEA says growth in production, as fracking opens up shale oil and gas deposits, will see US rival Russia and Norway

With one elephant killed every 25 minutes, the poaching crisis continues. But with the commitment and activism of a growing global network – dominated by women – laws and attitudes around the world are changingIf dedication and hard work were all it took, Maria Mossman would have saved every last elephant by now. Despite having two children, aged five and seven, and a part-time job for a large corporation, she also spends 35 to 40 hours a week as an unpaid activist. It was even more time when the children were younger. “I used to come home from work at about 4pm and then sit on my computer, networking with other groups and activists until two o’clock in the morning,” she recalls.Mossman, 41, got heavily involved in elephant activism in 2013. As well as founding Action for Elephants UK (AFEUK), she’s one of the key organisers of the global elephant and rhino marches. “It’s really hard work,” she says. “Really stressful. Just before the marches you say: ‘We’re not going to do this again.’ And as soon as one is over you start planning the next one.” Continue reading...

Chicksands Wood, Bedfordshire The butterflies were scuttling quickly on crooked legs, like crabs, between lime fixesThese are the dog days of the birdwatcher’s year, the muted lull when most things of interest melt into the undergrowth to moult. Avid birders look for substitutes with wings, and often turn to butterflies. Woods such as Chicksands offer an opportunity to see one of the rarest – given binoculars, sun, stillness, a cricked neck and an ocean of luck.Even before Dutch elm disease brought a collapse in its population, the white-letter hairstreak would not have been an easy spot. Continue reading...

David Slater has been fighting for years over who has the copyright to photos taken by monkeys using his camera, and says he’s struggling as a resultA US appeals court has debated whether or not a monkey can own the copyright to a “selfie” while the photographer whose camera captured the famous image watched a livestream of the proceedings from his home in the UK.David Slater could not afford the airfare to San Francisco to attend the hearing on Wednesday. Nor can he afford to replace his broken camera equipment, or pay the attorney who has been defending him since the crested black macaque sued him in 2015, and is exploring other ways to earn an income. Continue reading...

Blockchain-enabled energy trading could help lower carbon emissions but efficiency and privacy issues must first be overcomeThe blockchain. It is the much-hyped, virtually foolproof digital ledger that allows cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin to flourish without the need for banks and governments, and promises to enable everything from the creation of ethical supply chains, to the ensuring of instantaneous payment on delivery of goods and services agreed to in immutable smart contracts.

Labor criticises ‘appalling intervention’ by Craig Kelly, who is chair of backbench energy committeeRenewable energy will kill people this winter, Craig Kelly, the chair of the Coalition’s backbench environment and energy committee has claimed.

How about a national network to link people who undertake to pick up just one piece of litter every time they go out, suggests Wendy HarveyWhat can we do about litter? It spoils our streets and countryside and ends up being washed out to sea, polluting our oceans. It frustrates and saddens many of us, and no one seems to know what to do about it. As soon as it is cleared up it reappears in a never-ending cycle. So here’s an idea: how about launching a positive-spirited national network to link together people who undertake to pick up just one piece of litter every time they go out (Andrew Mayers: I pick up plastic waste to save it from landfill. It’s lonely but worth it, 4 July)?Why might this work where other approaches have failed? Because it is such a small easy thing for each person to commit to, but if many people did it the cumulative results could be surprising. Being a lone litter-picker can feel like being Sisyphus, doomed to push his boulder up the hill again and again. If each person knew they were part of a network doing the same thing, results would begin to be seen. Continue reading...

Electric taxis | Pay caps | Unpaved gardens | Medieval monks | True north? | Coining it inHow welcome to see an electric taxi, and we should hail it by all means (Financial, 12 July). But is it the first? Far from it, apparently. Electric taxis first appeared in London at the end of the 19th century, but the “hummingbirds”, as they were known, were very quickly hounded off the road by their horse-drawn rivals. The London Electric Cab Company, which built them, went bust. See Rethink by Steven Poole, reviewed by you July 2016, bought by me July 2017.

In Boigu, part of Australia but just six kilometres from Papua New Guinea, roads are being washed into the seaTorres Strait residents face being forced from their homes by climate change, as their islands are lost to rising seas.On Boigu Island, the most northerly inhabited island in Australia, just six kilometres from Papua New Guinea, the community’s cemetery faces inundation and roads are being washed into the sea. A seawall installed to protect the community is already failing. Continue reading...

Government’s preferred choice of Oxford economist Dieter Helm is controversial owing to criticism of wind and solar powerAn academic who is a vocal critic of the price of renewable power is the government’s preferred choice to head a review of the financial cost of energy in the UK.Dieter Helm, an economist at the University of Oxford, has been chosen by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to carry out the review, the Guardian has learned. The Conservative manifesto promised that the resulting report would be the first step towards “competitive and affordable energy costs”. Continue reading...

Drinks giant’s proposals to reduce plastic waste are unambitious and vague, say some enviromental groupsCoca-Cola’s plan to reduce the millions of plastic bottles that end in the world’s oceans every day has been criticised by environmental groups as unambitious “PR spin”.The world’s biggest drinks brand, estimated to produce more than 100bn plastic bottles every year, raised its 2020 target for the amount of recycled plastic used in its bottles from 40% to 50%. Continue reading...

Campaigners from organisations including Greenpeace, the National Trust and Friends of the Earth highlight major risks to environment if EU protections are dropped or dilutedEnvironmental campaigners with 8 million members between them are putting forward key amendments to the repeal bill to be published on Thursday to tackle the threat of Brexit leaving huge gaps in environmental protection in the UK.

Obike have become the first dockless hire bike company to launch in the capital, following similar schemes in Manchester and Cambridge

A video posted to YouTube shows a protester at Preston New Road fracking site in Lancashire being knocked down by a van leaving the drilling area. Following the incident police have beefed up security, providing 24/7 monitoring around the site, which has long been a focal point of anti-fracking protests Continue reading...

A new study has crunched the numbers on efforts to fight climate change, from skipping holidays to ditching our cars. Here’s a guide to the (not always) easy ways to be greenIt’s easy to feel powerless in the face of new coal mines and shrinking rainforests in distant countries, but we also know that being green starts at home. We do what we can, right? But what really helps, and what is a drop in a warming ocean? A study by the Universities of Lund, Sweden, and British Columbia, Canada, has crunched the numbers and the results are intriguing. Bottom line: every little recycled yoghurt pot helps, but the environmental impacts of our actions vary massively. Here’s a cut-out-and-keep (and then, you know, recycle) guide to a greener you. Continue reading...

MPs say leaving European nuclear treaty without replicating benefits could lead to ‘economically crushed’ communitiesThe Conservative revolt over Theresa May’s plan to withdraw from the Euratom nuclear treaty has grown, with one former minister accusing the government of cutting off its nose to spite its face.A string of Tory MPs opposed leaving the body for nuclear cooperation during a Westminster Hall debate called by Labour’s Albert Owen, suggesting May has no Commons majority for the move. Continue reading...

Cuadrilla drill site to be monitored 24/7 as Green MEP renews calls for reviewing guidance to police officers on how to deal with anti-fracking protests

Gloucestershire officers tweet a picture of the animal along with the message: ‘Have you lost a pig?’A hunt is on for a wild boar that was spotted roaming around the streets of Gloucester city centre late at night.Gloucestershire police posted a picture of the boar on Twitter in the early hours of Wednesday with the message: Continue reading...

Former US vice president and climate change campaigner says providing funding for infrastructure to support Adani coal mine is ‘just nuts’Any move by the Australian government to subsidise coal-fired power would be “crazy” and providing funding for infrastructure to support the Adani coal mine is “just nuts,” former US vice president and climate change campaigner Al Gore has said.“Globally, the world is moving rapidly away from subsidies to fossil fuels,” he said. “It would be odd if Australia went in the opposite direction and subsidised coal. It’s impolitic of me to say it, but it would be crazy.” Continue reading...

Next best actions are selling your car, avoiding flights and going vegetarian, according to study into true impacts of different green lifestyle choicesThe greatest impact individuals can have in fighting climate change is to have one fewer child, according to a new study that identifies the most effective ways people can cut their carbon emissions.The next best actions are selling your car, avoiding long flights, and eating a vegetarian diet. These reduce emissions many times more than common green activities, such as recycling, using low energy light bulbs or drying washing on a line. However, the high impact actions are rarely mentioned in government advice and school textbooks, researchers found. Continue reading...

Wenlock Edge: Shropshire It’s easy to see how the comma butterfly got its English name, but devilishly hard to work out where the French one came fromI crept up on the butterfly as its wings flexed, pumping like delicate bellows, as it took in salts from dried dog urine. For a moment I thought it might be a fritillary – the upper sides of the wings were a rich orangey-brown with complex dark markings, the kind of colour unique to the old slide transparencies of Agfa film.Then it detected my presence and flew up powerfully, manoeuvred in a seemingly random pattern, and settled on a leaf of yellow flag iris. I could see by the shape of its wings, like holes clipped from the edges of a bus ticket, that it wasn’t a fritillary but a comma butterfly.

Australian Automobile Association argues government plan will cost consumers more but government says petrol savings will offset any riseThe Australian car industry has tried to kill any government move to cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars, arguing it would increase the cost to consumers and contradicting comprehensive government modelling.The government plans to introduce emissions standards for new cars, releasing a series of proposed targets in discussion papers and seeking input from industry and other stakeholders. Continue reading...

Energy minister hoses down lobbying from Nationals, saying the government would only support new coal-fired power if the market backed itThe government has no plans to build a coal-fired power station, energy minister Josh Frydenberg has said, despite repeated public lobbying by senior Nationals to bring more coal into the system.Frydenberg told the ABC on Wednesday if the market supported a new coal-fired power station, “then we will support that”. Continue reading...

Resources minister says 51.4% of exploration licence in Liverpool plains would be handed back, in exchange for a refund of $262mThe controversial Shenhua Watermark coalmine in NSW will be scaled back to avoid mining land marked as “strategic” agricultural lands, after a partial buy-back of the mining licence by the state government.The government indicated it was in discussions with Shenhua in August, when it announced a similar buyback of BHP’s planned underground mine in nearby Caroona, also on the Liverpool plains. There has been continued speculation that the mine was not financially viable, given declining Chinese coal imports and Shenhua’s failure to apply for a mining licence, instead extending its cheaper exploration licence. Continue reading...

Joe Howlett helped to rescue a north Atlantic right whale that had become heavily tangled in rope and was struck by the mammal afterwardA Canadian lobster fisherman who saved dozens of endangered whales after they became tangled in fishing nets has been killed – moments after a last successful rescue.Joe Howlett, from Campobello Island, New Brunswick, boarded a vessel off the province’s eastern coast on Monday to help rescue a north Atlantic right whale that had become heavily tangled in rope. Continue reading...

Exclusive: move to improve targets and increase support for recycling comes amid pressure from environmentalistsCoca-Cola is to radically increase the amount of recycled plastic in its bottles, the Guardian understands, amid pressure from environmentalists and new figures that show more than a million plastic bottles are bought globally every minute.The world’s biggest drinks brand is expected to announce on Wednesday that it will increase its target for recycled plastic in its bottles and its support for recycling.

Office of the chief economist projects market will grow by 8.7% by 2022, but Institute for Energy Economics says this is based on out of date analysisAs Australia mulls the building of its biggest-ever export thermal coal mine, its biggest foreign buyers look set to reduce their consumption, driving down the price of Australian coal, and the profitability of its mines.

Huge spike in Queensland land clearing destroys ecological communities and habitat of threatened species, according to analysisThe federal government is allowing the huge spike in land clearing in Queensland to destroy threatened ecological communities, the habitat of threatened species and increase pollution on the Great Barrier Reef by failing to enforce environmental law, according to analysis by WWF.Following the weakening of land clearing laws in Queensland in 2013, the rate of clearing there has tripled to almost 300,000 hectares each year. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary confirms government’s pledge, despite absence from manifestoA total ban on ivory sales in the UK could still be introduced by the British government, foreign secretary Boris Johnson has said, signalling a possible U-turn that has been welcomed by conservationists.In their 2015 manifesto the Conservatives promised to “press for a total ban on ivory sales”. But the pledge was quietly taken out of this year’s Tory manifesto, sparking anger among conservation organisations, which say that by allowing the trade to continue, the UK is fuelling elephant poaching. Continue reading...

A white humpback whale, known as Migaloo, was spotted swimming off Australia’s Gold Coast on Tuesday. The whale was making its annual migration towards the Great Barrier Reef. Up to 5,000 humpbacks migrate north up Australia’s east coast between April and August each year from waters in the Antarctic to feed and breed in warm tropical waters

Elon Musk’s company has rightly been praised for its proposed giant battery in South Australia, although some components will prove controversial

Police investigate after animal rights group films badgers allegedly being caught in snares and shot on the Moscar estatePolice are investigating allegations that protected wildlife was killed on a shooting estate owned by the Duke and Duchess of Rutland.