Chief executive Ben van Beurden tells shareholders the firm wants to gradually increase its operations in clean energyShell will avoid investing too heavily in solar or other technologies until they can make financial profits, its chief executive has said.Ben van Beurden told a meeting of shareholders in London that the oil company was already established in windfarms, a carbon capture plant, and wanted to gradually increase its operations in clean energy. Continue reading...

‘Urgent and clear need’ to limit temperature rises to protect key sites from warming, rising seas and harsher weatherClimate change now poses the single biggest threat to the world’s most famous heritage sites – including the Galápagos islands, the Statue of Liberty, Easter Island and Venice – according to a UN sponsored report.Related: Ikea and Nestle call for new EU laws to cut truck emissions Continue reading...

Data suggests global glut is easing due to fall in US output and supply disruption in Canada, Libya and NigeriaOil prices have broken through the $50 per barrel mark for the first time in almost seven months after storage figures suggested that the glut in global crude supplies was easing. Many analysts have predicted that the recovery, which will help the North Sea oil industry and could steady the global economy but hurt motorists through higher petrol costs, could be short-lived.The price of Brent crude edged up 0.9% to $50.2 a barrel, boosted by data from the US government showing a sharper than expected fall in crude stocks last week, and it later fell back slightly. Continue reading...

Danish firm that is major investor in UK offshore windfarms expects to sell up to 17% of shares in year’s biggest float so farDanish-based Dong Energy, a major investor in British offshore windfarms, is heading for the world’s biggest stock market flotation so far this year with a price tag for the entire business of 106.5bn kroner (£11bn).The group, which has been a flag carrier for companies moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy, expects to sell up to 17% of its shares, each priced between 200 and 255 kroner. Continue reading...

Mayor of London will submit statement and evidence in high court case brought by ClientEarth on the air pollution crisis in the capitalThe mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has joined a high court challenge against the government over its air pollution plans, overturning the position of his predecessor, Boris Johnson. Khan filed legal documents on Thursday and can now submit a witness statement and evidence to the court on the air pollution crisis in the capital.Environmental lawyers ClientEarth are suing the government for the second time in a year, having won a case at the supreme court in 2015 which ordered ministers to fulfil their legal duty to cut pollution in “the shortest time possible”. The new case argues the government is still failing to do this. Continue reading...

Hundreds of millions of people could be displaced by the end of the century due to conflict caused by global warming, says Ségolène RoyalGlobal warming will create hundreds of millions of climate change migrants by the end of the century if governments do not act, France’s environment minister has warned.Ségolène Royal told ministers from 170 countries at the UN environment assembly in Nairobi that climate change was linked to conflicts, which in turned caused migration. Continue reading...

In a rare move to shun tourism profits for environmental protection, 10 popular dive sites have been shut down in a bid to slow a coral bleaching crisisThailand has shut down 10 popular diving sites in a bid to slow a coral bleaching crisis, an official said Thursday, in a rare move to shun tourism profits to protect the environment.The tropical country’s southern coastline and string of islands are home to some of the world’s most prized white sand beaches and scuba sites, and the booming tourism industry props up Thailand’s lagging economy. Continue reading...

Increase fuel efficiency of heavy good vehicles that cause a quarter of Europe’s traffic carbon emissions to meet climate targets, says clean corporate allianceAn alliance of companies including Ikea, Nestle and Heathrow airport have called on the EU to pass new laws cutting truck emissions within two years, to meet promises made at the Paris climate conference.Heavy duty vehicles make up less than 5% of Europe’s road traffic but chug out a quarter of the sector’s carbon emissions – more than airplanes – and their fuel efficiency has hardly changed in two decades. Continue reading...

String of attacks by group – who claim to fight for environment and local people – have pushed down Nigeria’s oil outputMembers of the Nigerian militant group the Niger Delta Avengers have shut down facilities owned by one of the world’s biggest oil companies.People living near Chevron’s Escravos terminal in the oil-rich southern Nigerian region of the Niger delta reported hearing a loud blast during the night. Chevron confirmed on Thursday morning that the attack, which was on its main electricity power line, had shut down all its onshore activities. Continue reading...

A World Bank loan helped privatise sanitation in Ecuador’s largest city, but some residents say they still lack clean water and claim the river is polluted with sewageThe waters flowing through Estero Salado, a river delta in Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil, can be deceptive, even for those who have lived their entire lives alongside the filthy and meandering estuarine network.“We know the water is not clean, but you build up a tolerance,” says 21-year-old local activist Jasmanny Caicedo. Though he says he can take a dip without becoming ill most of the time, even Caicedo says he gets caught out on the “really bad pollution days”. Continue reading...

The electric circus that is Formula E travelled to Berlin this week where Felix Clay plugged himself in. The race result sets up a close finish for the Pro Series finale in London next month Continue reading...

Author and passionate lepidopterist Vladimir Nabokov once said: ‘Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man.’ His scientific drawings and watercolours of butterflies have now been collected into one volume, Fine Lines Continue reading...

On climate change, is Trump uninformed, or playing his voters?

Environmental protection order the first use of Queensland’s new chain-of-responsibility lawsAn environmental protection order has been issued against Linc Energy’s former chief executive Peter Bond.It is the first time the Queensland government’s new chain-of-responsibility laws have been put into use and comes after creditors on Monday unanimously voted to place Linc into liquidation. Continue reading...

The concept vehicle is designed to float above the clogged-up streets of some of the country’s biggest citiesA Beijing company has unveiled spectacularly futuristic designs for a pollution-busting, elevated bus capable of gliding over the nightmarish mega-jams for which urban China has become notorious.

Will we live in buildings made out of waste, heavily surveilled smart cities, or maybe floating communities designed to cope with rising sea levels?Amid the much-mythologised graffiti that appeared around Sorbonne University during the French civil unrest in May 1968, one line still stands out as intriguing and ambiguous: “The future will only contain what we put into it now.”

Male and female set free as part of five-year trial to monitor the impact of England’s only wild population of the mammalsA new pair of beavers has been released into a river in Devon to boost the genetic diversity of England’s only wild population of the mammals.The male and female were set free on the river Otter as part of a five-year trial monitoring the impact of Eurasian beavers, a species hunted to extinction hundreds of years ago in the UK, on the surrounding landscape, wildlife and economy. Continue reading...

More than half a million bike trips a day are now made in London as business increasingly sees the benefit of helping cities compete on liveabilityMy regular bike commute to work comes in two very distinct parts, a split which epitomises the rapid changes to cycling in London. The beginning and the end – Walworth Road and Farringdon Road for those who know the city – are an experience familiar to cyclists in the capital for many years: a slightly gung ho rush of mingling with the buses, cabs and construction trucks.But for one, blissful mile in the middle, this all changes. Those of us on two wheels are funnelled onto a brand new, billiard table-smooth bike lane, separated from the metal behemoths by a raised kerb, cosseted with our own mini traffic lights. Continue reading...

Malcolm Turnbull’s $150m pledge to boost agriculture in northern Australia comes under fire from conservationistsMalcolm Turnbull has promised to spend $150m on dams in Queensland as part of a plan to double the agricultural output of northern Australia – but which would dump thousands of tonnes of pollution on the Great Barrier Reef, according to conservationists.The prime minister committed $130m to one dam near Rockhampton and a further $20m to feasibility studies for 14 others across the state. Continue reading...

Sandy, Bedfordshire Ash dieback threatens a tree that is unwittingly generous at both ends of the seasonA line of trees on the green, their fresh bright leaves glazed with sunlight, take from the east and give nothing to the west. Oaks, sycamores and chestnuts bathe their crowns in the mid-morning rays and cast dark shadows on the ground, as wide as the trees are broad, as long as they are tall, with dappled haloes all around. The beeches are worst of all, offering the land beneath no chink in their green armour. No wonder so little grows under the canopy of a beech wood, a crowd of overlapping umbrellas giving shelter, blotting out the light. Continue reading...

With booming sales and more than 1,000 public charging spots, Tesla CEO Elon Musk predicted the city would be a leader on electric car adoptionHong Kong’s population density, efficient public transportation and general lack of space hardly provide incentive to buy a private car. High registration taxes on new vehicles – up to 115% of the price portion above HK$500,000 (£45,000) – make anyone balk. The heavy levy is meant to reduce road traffic and street level emissions, which is the main contributor to the port city’s air pollution.

A majority of voters are in support of more government action on climate change – and yet somehow it’s not an election issue. Let’s make it oneThe current dissonance between election campaign rhetoric and the facts of climate change is unfathomable, that is, until you dig a little deeper.This month, the world passed a disastrous tipping point from which there will be no return: the Cape Grim Air Quality Monitoring Station registered a count of 400 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere. Climate scientists have acknowledged that there is basically no going back from this point. We are in a climate emergency. Continue reading...

Civil society organizations and Peru government institutions say United Cacao is operating illegally, but the company denies itTwo indigenous Shipibo men from Peru’s Amazon - Sedequías Ancón Chávez and Robert Guimaraes Vasquez - paid a rare visit to the London Stock Exchange (LSE) earlier this month. The reason? To present a letter addressed to Marcus Stuttard, Claire Dorrian and Umerah Akram from the LSE’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) urging the AIM to investigate, suspend and bar a company called United Cacao Limited SEZC - as well as amend its rules and “exact more active oversight” in general.“The nature of the crimes which the company stands accused are an important matter for AIM to address,” the letter states. “Allowing companies listed on AIM to raise capital to violate other countries’ national laws jeopardizes the “integrity and reputation” of the market, which is grounds for suspension of a company’s trading, according to AIM Rules.” Continue reading...

They may be delicious and sure, there are lots of them, but next time you’re chomping down on your barbecued octopus, just remember they were the first intelligent beings on Earth and have more genes than you doWhen Inky the octopus made global headlines for his eight-legged getaway from a New Zealand aquarium, I seemed to be the only person on the internet whose imagination was not caught up in his “great escape”.Chalk it up to tall poppy syndrome. But Inky’s “daring” (ABC) pursuit of “liberty over security” (NPR) was no more “amazing” (the Telegraph) a feat than that which any no-name captivity octopus, anywhere in the world, is capable of any day. Continue reading...

Engie tells French senate committee that it plans to withdraw from coal-fired power generation and is looking at possible shutdown of Victoria’s Hazelwood power stationThe Hazelwood coal-fired power plant in Victoria may be closed or sold by its owner, French utility Engie, as part of its move away from operating any coal-fired plants, the company said on Wednesday.Engie’s chief executive, Isabelle Kocher, told a French senate committee on Wednesday that the utility planned a gradual withdrawal from coal-fired power generation in the coming years and that following the sale announced earlier this year of two plants in Indonesia and India the share of coal in its energy mix would fall to about 10% from 15%. Continue reading...

Shareholders win vote that could support board candidates concerned about climate as Rex Tillerson faces turbulent annual meetingRex Tillerson, the boss of oil giant ExxonMobil, said cutting oil production was “not acceptable for humanity” as he fought off shareholders’ and activists’ attempts to force the company to fully acknowledge the impact of climate change on the environment and Exxon’s future profits.During a long and fractious annual meeting in Dallas on Wednesday, Tillerson, who serves as Exxon’s chairman and chief executive, beat back several proposals to force the company to take more action on climate change. Continue reading...

The decision of North Yorkshire county council to allow fracking (Campaigners vow to fight fracking permit, 25 May) was based on limited information. I enquired some weeks ago whether there was or would be a social cost-benefit analysis (SCBA), and was told in essence this was too difficult and not required for a planning decision. An SCBA would examine not only the economic viability of a scheme but also the social costs to the community of pollution and damage to the local amenities. One clear social cost will be the damage and repair costs caused by thousands of heavy lorry movements on rural roads. These costs would be borne by the taxpayers of North Yorkshire, as now sanctified by the council, and not the drillers and government so enthusiastic for the fracking.

Activists consider ‘more confrontational’ action to prevent energy firms drilling for shale gas in Yorkshire and LancashireAnti-fracking campaigners are threatening to set up protest camps in Yorkshire and Lancashire to prevent energy companies drilling for shale gas. Fracking firm Third Energy was given permission on Monday to carry out test drilling at a site in Kirby Misperton in Rydale, North Yorkshire, even after 99% of locals voiced their opposition to the application.The decision prompted fears around the country that other fracking sites would be given the green light. Those fears are particularly acute in Lancashire, seen as the “next frontier” in the fight against the extreme form of energy extraction. Ian Roberts, the chair of Residents Action on Fylde Fracking, which opposes fracking on the Fylde coast in Lancashire, said his group was ready to start “more confrontational” action. Continue reading...

Ripple claims its non-dairy milk made from yellow split peas is more eco-friendly than its competitors – despite the main ingredient being shipped from overseasOn a recent Thursday night at trendy West Hollywood vegan outpost Gracias Madres, bartenders served up cocktails, including George Clooney’s Casamigos tequila, cocoa and … pea milk.Yes, pea milk, a liquid derived from yellow split peas, is the latest non-dairy milk to hit grocery store shelves. It joins hemp milk, brown rice milk and cashew drinks on the growing list of other alternatives in the now booming business of dairy alternatives. Non-dairy milk sales rose 9% in 2015 to $1.9bn, while dairy milk sales fell 7% in 2015 to $17.8bn and are expected to drop another 11% through 2020, according to a study released in April by market research firm Mintel. Continue reading...

The World Wildlife Foundation surveyed 2000 UK adults about their knowledge of endangered species. Roughly a third didn’t know giant pandas and snow leopards are under threat, while a fifth thought cows and grey squirrels are. One in four thought the dodo and brachiosaurus still exist!

Campaigners fear more sites will get green light after decision to let Third Energy carry out test drilling in Kirby MispertonAnti-fracking campaigners are threatening to set up protest camps in Yorkshire and Lancashire to prevent energy companies drilling for shale gas.The fracking firm Third Energy was given permission on Monday to carry out test drilling at a site in Kirby Misperton in Ryedale, North Yorkshire, despite 99% of locals opposing its application. Continue reading...

People could be deterred from eating meat by increasing its price further up the supply chain, stemming rise in consumption and environmental damageGovernments should tax meat production in order to stem the global rise in consumption and the environmental damage that goes with it, according to a UN expert.The world faces serious environmental problems if emerging economies such as China emulate Americans and Europeans in the amount of meat they eat, Prof Maarten Hajer, the lead author of a report into the impact of food production and the environment, told the UN environment assembly in Nairobi. Continue reading...

Readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific conceptsWhy is it that you never see bird corpses (except those the cat brings in) when the countryside should be littered with them? Where do they go to die?John Parke, London SW14 Continue reading...

Three climbers have died on Mount Everest in the past week, all succumbing to altitude sickness after reaching the summit. The increasing number of deaths on the world’s tallest mountain is raising fresh fears about overcrowding and the ethics of commercial mountaineering on Everest

More than 8 million people were employed worldwide in the renewable energy sector last year as rapidly falling costs drove growth in the industryA boom in solar and wind power jobs in the US led the way to a global increase in renewable energy employment to more than 8 million people in 2015, according to a report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena).More than 769,000 people were employed in renewable energy in the US in 2015, dwarfing the 187,000 employed in the oil and gas sector and the 68,000 in coal mining. The gap is set to grow further, with jobs in solar and wind growing by more than 20% in 2015, while oil and gas jobs fell by 18% as the fossil fuel industry struggled with low prices. Continue reading...

Newcastle University latest to announce it will pursue investment decisions that are compatible with its sustainability values, reports BusinessGreenAs the world’s leading oil and gas majors this week face a series of questions about their ability to respond to escalating climate risks, two of the UK’s leading universities have become the latest institutions to announce new investment strategies designed to curb their exposure to fossil fuel assets.Newcastle University yesterday followed hot on the heels of the University of Southampton inannouncing plans to modify its investment strategy to better embed Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations. Continue reading...

Paula Kahumbu: A global alliance to end wildlife crime is within reach. Let’s start talking about how it can be made to workToday the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is hosting a high level dialogue on wildlife crime at the UN Environmental Assembly (UNEA) which is taking place in Nairobi. The session will open with the launch of the UN Wild for Life campaign that is calling on citizens, governments and corporations to pledge to act on this issue. Participants at the event are expected to announce initiatives to take forward the implementation of resolutions made by UNEA-1 and the UN General Assembly on illegal trade in wildlife.These resolutions, and the incorporation of specific targets to end poaching and trafficking of wildlife in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, have helped raise this issue to the top of the international agenda. Continue reading...

Oil firm accuses newspaper of ‘lack of objectivity’ on climate change reporting in ‘campaign’ against energy companiesKeep it in the ground, this newspaper has argued for ages on fossil fuels. Then keep out of our annual meeting, replies ExxonMobil.Or, to quote Exxon’s media relations manager, Alan Jeffers: “We are denying your request [to attend Wednesday’s meeting] because of the Guardian’s lack of objectivity on climate change reporting demonstrated by its partnership with anti-oil and gas activists and its campaign against companies that provide energy necessary for modern life, including newspapers.” Continue reading...

Indonesia’s national bird, the Javan hawk-eagle, is among 13 species threatened by illegal trade, warns a wildlife watchdogThirteen species of Indonesian birds, including the country’s symbolic Javan hawk-eagle, are at serious risk of extinction mainly due to the pet trade, a wildlife watchdog warned Wednesday. Continue reading...

Perhaps 2015 wouldn’t have broken all temperature records had they acted then – but it’s not too late to do something nowRelated: Let's give up the climate change charade: Exxon won't change its stripes | Bill McKibbenAt Wednesday’s ExxonMobil shareholders meeting, CEO Rex Tillerson will have to answer tough questions about the company’s role in causing climate change, including one from my family. Continue reading...

Most of us ignore our environmental responsibilities in the workplace, research suggests. We asked you to share your experiences – and this is what you told us

The Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities programme has unveiled the final tranche of 37 cities it is helping to prepare for – and bounce back from – shocks and stresses such as flooding, terrorism, earthquakes and hurricanes Continue reading...

A hole is seen alongside the Arno river in Florence on Wednesday, with parked cars slipping into the chasm near the Ponte Vecchio bridge. Nearby residences are evacuated as firefighters report a broken underground pipe to be the cause of the hole

Leading seafood suppliers, including McDonald’s, Tesco and Birds Eye, say suppliers won’t expand cod fisheries into pristine Arctic regionFishermen and seafood suppliers struck a major deal on Wednesday that will protect a key Arctic region from industrial fishing for cod.Companies including McDonald’s, Tesco, Birds Eye, Europe’s largest frozen fish processor, Espersen, Russian group Karat, and Fiskebåt, which represents the entire Norwegian oceangoing fishing fleet, have said their suppliers will refrain from expanding their cod fisheries further into pristine Arctic waters. Continue reading...

Remain supporters point to latest water quality tests as an example of how EU membership has spurred a dramatic clean up of UK beachesAlmost 95% of British beaches have been given a clean bill of health in the latest EU survey of coastal water quality, down slightly on two years ago.As recently as 1991, around a quarter of British bathing waters were too dirty to swim in but the threat of EU infringement cases and beach closures, has spurred a dramatic change since then. Continue reading...

Thousands of bees swarm over the back of a Mitsubishi car in Haverfordwest in west Wales after their queen was thought to be stuck in the boot. Tom Moses, a ranger at the Pembrokeshire coast national park, noticed the bees on Sunday after the owner parked it to do some shopping. Beekeepers removed the swarm by luring the bees into a cardboard box

Washington and Seattle, Nairobi and Lagos, Manchester and Belfast are all included in the final list of member cities as 100RC programme reveals it has had more than 1,000 applications since 2013Less than three years after its launch, the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities programme has reached a notable landmark, with the announcement of its third and final tranche of members – taking this global initiative up to its full quota of 100 cities.With fast-growing megacities such as Lagos, Jakarta, Seoul and Nairobi among the 37 revealed today in a joint launch in the Kenyan capital and Washington DC, the multimillion dollar programme looks to be tackling the most ambitious and difficult aspects of “building resilience” (a phrase describing the process of discovering how multiple shocks and stresses are interlinked and related). Continue reading...

Student and staff campaigners and activist group 350.org welcome university’s plan to completely divest from fossil fuels over the next five yearsLa Trobe has become the first university in Australia to commit to a complete divestment from fossil fuels, the university council endorsing a plan to do so over the next five years.

Parasite fron China attacks eggs and larvae of Asian insect pest that has wiped out tens of millions of trees and is on march to Europe and BritainMillions of tiny wasps that are natural parasites for the emerald ash borer have been released into wooded areas in 24 states of the US to try and peg back the tree-killing insect’s advances.The US Department of Agriculture has researched and approved for release four species of parasitic wasps that naturally target the larval and egg stages of the ash borer, which has killed an estimated 38m ash trees in urban and residential areas. The estimated cost of treating, removing and replacing the lost trees is $25bn, according to a report written by USDA and US Forest Service entomologists.