Strathnairn, Highlands In all the years we had lived here, we had never had a red squirrel in the garden. This has been the subject of much banter in the village shopOne of the main wildlife mysteries in the strath is the distribution of red squirrels in gardens in the adjoining villages of Farr and Inverarnie. Over many years we have advised people over putting out peanuts and feeders, and every one has succeeded in attracting them. However, one garden of an acre with mature trees and seemingly ideal has not succeeded, and it is ours! Continue reading...

High court judge dismisses claims by mining firm Vedanta Resources that water contamination case against them and subsidiary KCM should be heard in ZambiaEighteen hundred Zambian villagers claiming to have had their water supplies polluted and their health affected by a giant mining company’s subsidiary have won the right to have their case heard in the British courts rather than in Zambia.Vedanta, which is headquartered in London, had argued strongly in the high court that the villagers’ case against them and their subsidiary, KCM, should be heard in Zambia, where the alleged pollution took place near the town of Chingola and the giant Nchanga copper mine. Continue reading...

Leaders of the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the EU urge all countries to join them in eliminating support for coal, oil and gas in a decadeThe G7 nations have for the first time set a deadline for the ending most fossil fuel subsidies, saying government support for coal, oil and gas should end by 2025.The leaders of the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union encouraged all countries to join them in eliminating “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” within a decade. Continue reading...

Mountain goats, beavers and whooping cranes are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Donald Trump crosses threshold to claim Republican nomination; another Berkeley student details sexual harassment; antibiotic resistance gene discovered in womanBarack Obama visited Hiroshima on Friday, the first sitting US president to do so. “Seventy one years ago on a bright cloudless morning death fell from the sky and the world’s was changed,” he said, adding that the atomic bomb had “demonstrated that mankind held the means to destroy itself.” But Obama offered no apology for US use of the weapon, which is generally held to have brought about the end of the conflict in the Pacific. The president – who has campaigned for nuclear disarmament – laid a wreath at the stark concrete memorial arch in the Japanese city and said mankind’s “unmatched capacity for destruction” and its drive for “domination and conquest” came from the same source as its creativity and innovation. But the splitting of the atom also required a “moral revolution”, he said. “We can learn and choose, tell our children of a common humanity that makes war less likely.” Continue reading...

Still stonewalling, the oil giant banned the Guardian from its AGM this week. But even its shareholders are starting to hear the gale-force winds blowing outside

Reform to toxic chemical regulation is the first for 40 years. Unfortunately, it won’t do enough to eliminate harmful substances from our livesThe US is set for the first legislation to regulate toxic industrial chemicals in 40 years.You might think this would be cause for celebration. However, the bill updating the Toxic Substances Control Act continues to put the industry’s interests above those of the public. It does make some improvements, such as requiring new chemicals to be safe before being sold and giving the Environmental Protection Agency the power to demand safety data. But on balance, it does too little to protect Americans from chemicals that cause cancer and nervous system disorders, impaired fertility, immune system dysfunction and a host of other health problems. Continue reading...

Weather is becoming more extreme, and meteorologists are taking notice

Minister keeps up attack on Labor’s ‘carbon tax’ to placate Coalition climate change sceptics, all the while ensuring the machinery is in place for his own ETSFor years Greg Hunt has been suggesting different things to different people about his climate policy. This week he was almost caught out.Most people who understand how it works – environmentalists, business leaders, analysts – know the Coalition’s Direct Action policy cannot meet Australia’s promised long-term greenhouse gas reductions exactly as it stands. For years Hunt has reassured them – don’t worry, the framework is there. Continue reading...

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump pledges to cancel the Paris climate agreement at an oil and natural gas conference in North Dakota on Thursday. It was Trump’s first speech detailing the energy policies he would advance from the White House

A new poll finds that only 20% of Britons have heard of ocean acidification – and even fewer know anything about it

Founder Tony Maloto may hold some controversial views, but GK’s 2,000 communities are helping alleviate poverty in a country in desperate needThe Sacred Heart of Jesus village, in the Philippines’ Nueva Ecija province, is home to 17 families who live in colourful houses, each one edged by plants potted in bottles and plastic bags. A woman pokes her head out of a lime green house. “This is Gawad Kalinga,” she says. “Welcome.”Gawad Kalinga (GK) – meaning “to give care” in Tagalog, the most common Filipino language – is a social movement that emerged from a Catholic youth camp in Manila’s slums more than 20 years ago. Galvanised by the destruction caused by typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,300 people in 2013, the movement has become a household name.

Turnbull shot Turner three times with a rifle after a long-running dispute with NSW environment department over illegal land clearingAn 81-year-old farmer farmer has been found guilty of the murder of a New South Wales environment officer he shot after a long-running dispute over land clearing.A jury found Ian Turnbull guilty in the NSW supreme court of murdering Office of Environment and Heritage compliance officer Glen Turner, 51, at his Croppa Creek property in the state’s north in July 2014. Continue reading...

Red Rocks Marsh, Wirral ‘I have front row seats for the natterjack toad, the loudest amphibian in Europe’There is one last highlighter-pink line in the sky when I take the path down through the red rocks that give this area its name. They are sandstone, worn smooth by time and tide. The sea is keeping its distance, the tide is out, but that familiar coastal tang is in the air mixing with the peppery scent of sundried grass from the dunes.Colour fades to monochrome as the light drains out of the day and my eyes become more attuned to movement. A small spring contracts and expands below to my left. It is a toad and I can just make out the pattern of black bumps speckling its back. This is one of the few places natterjack toads can be found in the UK but, while attractive, this is not one of them: it lacks the distinguishing yellow stripe along its spine. Continue reading...

Renewable power sources, low-energy products and supply chain emissions cuts help Swedish furniture giant boost sustainabilityAs December’s landmark climate change summit in Paris (COP21) approached, Ikea made a number of major announcements. It pledged to invest €600m (£471m) in renewable energy projects – in addition to an earlier €1.5bn (£1.2bn) cash injection – and a further €400m (£314m) to support communities vulnerable to climate change.The world’s biggest furniture retailer says it’s going “all in” to have a net positive impact on the climate through renewable energy investment, energy-efficiency measures, cutting supply chain emissions, and product changes designed to achieve behaviour change. It has already helped its suppliers become 18% more energy efficient over the past four years – through the introduction of a sustainability assessment tool and by bringing suppliers together to share sustainability best practice. Continue reading...

Wyke Farms saves £100,000 a year on energy bills thanks to green initiatives. And that’s just the start“My grandparents used to tell me that if you look after nature, then nature will look after you,” says Richard Clothier, managing director of Wyke Farms, which generates electricity, gas and heat from renewable sources. “It’s nice to go to work in the morning and know you are doing the right thing.”The dairy business in southwest England, which exports 14,000 tonnes of cheddar a year to more than 160 countries, has been building an energy generation and water recycling operation over the past five years to reduce its environmental impact and save money. According to Clothier, it’s been able to lower its energy bills by nearly £100,000 per month as a result. Continue reading...

As well as curbing emissions, the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation is believed to have added millions to the Scottish economyWhen Vijay Bhopal had an idea for a consultancy and research firm to support the growth of the community energy sector, he was a business novice. It was 2011 and he had little idea how he could take his idea forward.Five years later, as the founder of Scene Consulting, he heads a dynamic small business with a burgeoning client list and has been voted Scottish Renewables Entrepreneur of the Year. Continue reading...

Marcatus QED hopes its films will engage Indian farming communities and help empower womenIndia’s attitude towards women – exemplified by its handling of rape cases and the deeply rooted stigma attached to the victims – has provoked international outrage. It’s a country in which women struggle to be heard. But Marcatus QED, a global agri-food solutions company, has come up with a way of giving women a stronger voice.The company – which works with producers contracting 18,000 smallholder farmer families across its gherkin supply chain in south India – has teamed up with a range of organisations, including NGOs Oxfam and Digital Green and the Indian consultancy Centre for Knowledge Societies, to design a culturally appropriate training programme. Continue reading...

Under Bradley’s leadership B&Q has moved to 100% responsibly sourced timber and is working towards all products being peat-freeQuiet tenacity, impressive determination and outstanding leadership are just some of the qualities Rachel Bradley’s colleagues point to when asked why they nominated her to be the Guardian Sustainable Business Unsung Hero 2016.The reader-nominated award, the winner of which is chosen by public vote, recognises an employee who has gone beyond the call of duty to drive sustainable change in his or her organisation. In Bradley’s case, she has managed a number of significant projects in her 11 years at B&Q, including completing the transition to 100% responsibly sourced timber that began in 1991, working towards the company’s products becoming peat-free, and adopting the RHS Perfect for Pollinators label to help customers choose the best flowers for butterflies and bees. Continue reading...

Climate-KIC’s campaign saw 20 cities crowdsource ideas to make their cities greener, from cycling to food wasteHow to get people interested in climate change action when the problem seems so great and so removed from everyday reality? That’s the conundrum governments, activists, companies and the media have faced for decades.Occasionally a standout voice or campaign on climate change action grabs attention – Naomi Klein’s bestseller This Changes Everything, and Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, for example. All too often, however, the science around climate change fails to resonate with people. Continue reading...

At UEA’s Enterprise Centre, local materials meet hi-tech carbon monitoring – all on a traditional budgetVisitors to The Enterprise Centre at the University of East Anglia’s campus can smell the wood as soon as they arrive, although they may not know it comes from nearby Thetford Forest. And though most admire the building’s beautiful design, they may not realise all new materials were sustainably sourced with a minimum carbon footprint.Related: Swedish city builds 'passive houses' as part of ambitious CO2 reduction targets Continue reading...

Winnow’s smart meters identify what foods are being thrown away to help restaurants track where most waste is producedClosing time approaches, waiting staff collect plates littered with leftovers and chefs sweep up spoiled ingredients. This routine, repeated in restaurants across the developed world, means $80bn (£56bn) of food is wasted annually.London-based startup Winnow is tackling the problem with its smart meter for food waste. Since opening in 2013, the business has saved its customers £2m and reduced carbon emissions from the hospitality sector by 34,000 tonnes. Continue reading...

Draft chapter warned reef was ‘poor and deteriorating’ but all references were excised following government intervention• Australia scrubbed from UN climate change report after government interventionThe lead author of a major UN report on climate change has expressed his shock that every reference to Australia was removed from the final version, following intervention from the Australian government.Guardian Australia on Friday revealed that chapters on the Great Barrier Reef and sections on Kakadu and Tasmanian forests were removed from the World Heritage and Tourism in a Changing Climate report, following the Australian Department of Environment’s objection that the information could harm tourism. Continue reading...

Trump told North Dakota oil executives that they were standing at the ‘forefront of a new energy revolution’ powered by deregulation and protectionismFor his first major energy policy remarks, Donald Trump would quote, almost verbatim at times, from an op-ed published in the Grand Forks Herald earlier that morning. But Trump was not the author.

Republican nominee took veiled shots at those who are concerned about global warming and endorsed drilling off the Atlantic coast in a speech on energy policyDonald Trump pledged to cancel the Paris climate agreement, endorsed drilling off the Atlantic coast and said he would allow the Keystone XL pipeline to be built in return for “a big piece of the profits” for the American people.

Exclusive: All mentions of Australia were removed from the final version of a Unesco report on climate change and world heritage sites after the Australian government objected on the grounds it could impact on tourismRevealed: Guardian Australia has obtained the Unesco report Australia didn’t want the world to see. Read it nowEvery reference to Australia was scrubbed from the final version of a major UN report on climate change after the Australian government intervened, objecting that the information could harm tourism.Guardian Australia can reveal the report “World Heritage and Tourism in a Changing Climate”, which Unesco jointly published with the United Nations environment program and the Union of Concerned Scientists on Friday, initially had a key chapter on the Great Barrier Reef, as well as small sections on Kakadu and the Tasmanian forests. Continue reading...

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...