Activists in London and Yorkshire call on government to ‘axe Drax’, which they claim receives £1m a day in renewable energy subsidiesDrax faced protests during its annual general meeting in London over its use of public subsidies to support its massive coal and wood-burning power station.Banners were unfurled by campaigners seeking to “axe Drax” outside its AGM in the capital on Wednesday, as well as at the Drax power station site near Selby, North Yorkshire. Continue reading...

The government’s job is to ensure our families and businesses have energy supplies they can rely on. And we are doing it by taking the long-term decisions to ensure secure, clean, affordable supplies now and in the decades ahead. That’s the key role for the Department of Energy and Climate Change and we’ve never said otherwise, despite the very strange claims in your article (Minister: Hinkley no risk to power supply, 20 April).The reason we are backing the construction of Hinkley Point C is that new nuclear is the only proven low-carbon technology that can provide continuous power, irrespective of whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining. We are tackling a legacy of underinvestment and need to replace our ageing power stations. Hinkley will power close to 6m homes for 60 years. But we’re only paying for 35. It will also bring billions of pounds of investment into the UK and create 25,000 jobs during construction. We need electricity that’s safe, clean and reliable at any time of the day or night. New nuclear is one of the best ways of providing this. That’s why we back Hinkley, and I have never said it’s for any other reason.

21 April is the deadline that Judge Breyer has set for VW to respond to the scandal caused by installing “defeat devices” to evade emissions regulations on 567,000 “clean diesel” cars sold in the US (VW emissions cheat software came from Audi – report, 20 April).As owners of a diesel Jetta, we have been waiting for VW to respond for seven months since the scandal broke. The defeat device eliminates the reason we purchased the car: low-emission “clean transport”. In buying it we relied on VW’s compliance with regulations and the company’s “clean diesel” advertising. Continue reading...

Research finds most Americans have seen a pleasant mix of warmer winters and tolerable summers since 1974, but the situation is set for a radical reversalA large majority of Americans have enjoyed more pleasant weather due to global warming over the past 40 years, research has found, but there is set to be an unpleasant sting in the tail as temperatures escalate further this century.Vast areas of the contiguous US have warmed considerably during winters without becoming unbearably hot during the summers, making the climate generally more agreeable to the public. A new study has found that 80% of the American population lives in areas where the weather has become more “preferable” since 1974. Continue reading...

Belgium’s nuclear safety agency says 40-year-old Tihange 2 and Doel 3 reactors meet ‘strictest possible safety requirements’Belgium on Wednesday rejected a request by neighbouring Germany to shutter two ageing nuclear plants near their shared border, arguing the facilities met with the strictest safety standards.German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks earlier on Wednesday requested that the 40-year-old Tihange 2 and Doel 3 reactors be turned off “until the resolution of outstanding security issues”. Continue reading...

Sometimes, the best way to understand what’s happening on the other side of the world is to see it for yourself. Here are some of our favorite Instagrammers who focus on capturing our changing planet Continue reading...

Yale Environment 360: The fate of a tree planted at poet Emily Dickinson’s home raises questions about whether gardeners can - or should - play a role in helping plant species migrate in the face of rising temperatures and swiftly changing botanical zonesOn rare occasions, the townsfolk of Amherst, Massachusetts, would catch a glimpse of a ghostly figure dressed in white, leaning over to tend her flowers by flickering lantern light. The mysterious recluse, who was better known to neighbors for her exquisite garden than for her lyric poems that revealed a passionate love of nature, differed from fellow 19th-century American writers whose thinking became the bedrock of modern environmentalism. While Thoreau famously declared wild places to be “the preservation of the world,” Emily Dickinson was finding nature’s truth and power in an ordinary dandelion.Among the plants that survive on the family property where Dickinson confined herself for much of her adult life are picturesque old trees called umbrella magnolias (Magnolia tripetala) — so named because their leaves, which can reach two feet long, radiate out from the ends of branches like the spokes of an umbrella. Continue reading...

A decade ago today, the Conservative leader visited the Arctic to witness the effects of climate change. But since coming to power, his government has dropped or watered down a succession of green policiesIt is one of the most successful political reinventions ever. In just a few years as its new leader, David Cameron turned around the Tories’ toxic “nasty party” image - at least with enough voters to form a coalition government.One of the most eye-catching moments came 10 years ago today with his “hug a husky” trip to the Arctic to highlight the impact of climate change. It was followed by Cameron’s commitment to lead the “greenest government ever”. Continue reading...

Oil giant warned industry would pull out of EU if laws to cut pollution and speed clean energy take up were passed, letter obtained by the Guardian revealsThe EU abandoned or weakened key proposals for new environmental protections after receiving a letter from a top BP executive which warned of an exodus of the oil industry from Europe if the proposals went ahead.In the 10-page letter, the company predicted in 2013 that a mass industry flight would result if laws to regulate tar sands, cut power plant pollution and accelerate the uptake of renewable energy were passed, because of the extra costs and red tape they allegedly entailed. Continue reading...

Government says quarter of the population suffering, as NGO asks supreme court to order Modi government to do more to helpAbout 330 million people are affected by drought in India, the government has said, as the country reels from severe water shortages and desperately poor farmers suffer crop losses.A senior government lawyer, PS Narasimha, told the supreme court that a quarter of the country’s population, spread across 10 states, had been hit by drought after two consecutive years of weak monsoons. Continue reading...

Share your stories and contribute to our coverage marking the anniversary of the biggest nuclear catastrophe in history

Former energy and climate change secretary warns leaving EU would be ‘environmental madness’, reports BusinessGreenSir Ed Davey has today added his voice to the ranks of energy and climate change experts warning ‘Brexit’ would undermine the UK’s energy security, its ability to combat climate change threats, and its burgeoning green economy.Writing on BusinessGreen today ahead of a roundtable event on the implications of Brexit for energy and climate policy this morning at MHP Communications, where Davey now holds a senior adviser role, the former energy and climate change secretary warned a vote for Brexit can “only be bad for Britain’s green businesses”. Continue reading...

Week of BBC programming, including Zoo Quest, will mark naturalist’s 90th birthdaySome of David Attenborough’s first natural history films will be shown in colour for the first time as part of a week of programming to mark the broadcaster’s 90th birthday.

With only 10% of Chinese firms carrying out sustainability initiatives, the country’s business sector will need to step up its game if China is to meet its emissions targetChina’s offshore oil drilling firm and the country’s largest oil producer with $98.53bn in revenue in 2014, China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) inevitably disturbs marine life as it probes seabeds around the world for resources. Like other big oil firms, the company has caused its share of environmental disasters, including a 2011 oil spill that contaminated 840 sq km (324 sq miles) of Bohai Bay, off China’s northeastern shore. CNOOC got in trouble with government regulators for initially concealing the spill and has since been named in a lawsuit.Related: Carbon emissions: here's what we can do to hit 'science-based targets' Continue reading...

American Lung Association’s ‘state of the air’ report finds 166 million Americans are living in unhealthy ozone or particle pollution with serious health risksMore than half of the US population lives amid potentially dangerous air pollution, with national efforts to improve air quality at risk of being reversed, a new report has warned.

Inaccurate tests covered four of its mini-cars, two of which it manufactured for NissanMitsubishi Motors has admitted manipulating test data to overstate the fuel efficiency of 625,000 cars.The Japanese carmaker said the inaccurate tests covered four of its mini-cars, two of which it manufactured for Nissan. The number of Nissan cars affected was 468,000, while 157,000 were sold under the Mitsubishi brand. Continue reading...

Reducing global oil demand would drive down prices and free up funds for oil importing countries to spend on other areas of the economy, report findsA switch to low-carbon transport such as electric cars would save countries including the UK billions of pounds a year, a report has suggested.

Senate committee wants an immediate ban on production or importation of beauty products containing the tiny plastic beadsThe production or importation of cosmetics containing microbeads should immediately be halted in order to protect vulnerable marine life, a Senate inquiry has recommended.Related: The microbead battle and the search for a greener replacement Continue reading...

St Dominic, Tamar Valley They dance the length of the expanding bank, like a strange flock of black-feathered waders in the distanceOn the day with the lowest tide of the year, people converge on the river banks just upstream of Halton Quay. Here, on the Cornish side by Chapel Farm (reputed to be the site of a religious settlement founded by the parish’s patron saint and her brother from Ireland), holm oaks overhang the stony beach and derelict lime-kiln.Opposite, by North Hooe, shining mud banks are edged with an expanse of pale reeds. Support boats from the Cargreen Yacht Club ferry participants across the choppy water of the ebbing tide towards a sandbank that is revealed only at extremely low tides. Over there, near to Devon, the Wreckers morris side, in black and gold tatters, dance the length of the expanding bank, like a strange flock of black-feathered waders in the distance. Continue reading...

Architects, designers and urban planners are borrowing from natural phenomena as diverse as termite mounds and resilient grapefruits to design smart, sustainable citiesWith soaring glass skyscrapers and swaths of concrete, modern cities often seem actively to work against nature, pushing it down and suppressing it rather than working alongside it.Yet a growing number of progressive architects, designers, engineers, scientists and urban planners are looking to the Earth’s systems for inspiration. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Amount needed would require a renewable energy plant with 15 wind turbines or 250,000 solar panelsAustralia’s first large renewable energy project driven by a group of big energy consumers is a step closer to reality today, with the Melbourne Renewable Energy Project advertising its call for tenders for 110 gigawatt hours of renewable energy.

Australian Conservation Foundation condemns advice to refuse access to federal environment department officers investigating land clearingA former north Queensland Liberal National party official has urged landholders to “hang up” on commonwealth officers who are investigating whether land-clearing plans breach federal conservation laws.Peter Spies, a land-clearing consultant and one-time Atherton LNP branch president, has also suggested landholders refuse access to federal environment department officers unless they have search warrants. Continue reading...

Comprehensive aerial survey reveals full extent of the devastation caused by abnormally warm ocean temperaturesAlmost 93% of reefs on the Great Barrier Reef have been hit by coral bleaching, according to a comprehensive survey revealing the full extent of the devastation caused by abnormally warm ocean temperatures sweeping the globe.

Re “How the cauli got hip” (G2, 14 April), on a trip to France a few years ago we booked a night in St-Omer, Pas-de-Calais, both en route south and at the end of our holiday. It’s a lovely town but, like many places in northern France, deserted in August, so we felt we’d “done” the place that first night. I was not looking forward to a dead Sunday on our weary way home. We arrived to find it was one of the days of the year in St-Omer: La fête du chou-fleur. The streets were packed with local people and local cauliflowers, we had to fight our way through to see the floats on the waterway, each tableau made out of cauliflower crates, including a spindly wooden version of the town’s cathedral and, of course, the evening finished with fireworks. Since then cauliflowers have never been boring, they always bring back that late summer evening. Vive le chou-fleur and please let’s stay part of Europe.

French president and ministers expected to consider financing options for project to build two nuclear reactorsThe French president, François Hollande, is expected to hold a meeting of government ministers at the Elysée palace on Wednesday to discuss whether or not the construction of the £18bn Hinkley Point nuclear power plant in Britain will go ahead.The French government is not yet expected to reach a final decision on the controversial plans for France’s state-controlled utility EDF to build two nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point. But the president and top ministers are expected to consider the various financing options for the project. Continue reading...

UK energy secretary admits for the first time that any delays or cancellations to new nuclear reactors would not compromise national energy supplyThe UK’s energy secretary has admitted for the first time that the lights would stay on if new nuclear reactors at Hinkley were cancelled or delayed.Amber Rudd has previously said that “energy security has to be the number one priority” and that new gas and nuclear power would be “central to our energy-secure future”. Continue reading...

Celebrating Earth Day on 22 April is nice, but is one day truly enough? Madeleine Somerville describes five small lifestyle shifts that will make a big impactOne of the questions I receive most frequently from readers is whether our individual actions truly make a difference. If you choose to recycle, compost, carpool, reduce consumption and refuse plastic bags, does it have an effect? Does it matter at all? Will it do anything to eliminate the Great Pacific garbage patch?The answer is yes. Continue reading...

Instead of approaching banks, small, local farms are finding cash and loyal fans online

Maxima Acuña de Chaupe has won a major environmental prize for defending her land from the biggest gold-mining project in South AmericaEnvironmental activism may not have been what Maxima Acuña de Chaupe had in mind when in 2011 she refused to sell her 60-acre plot of land to the biggest gold-mining project in South America.

Admittedly, calling a boat Boaty McBoatface was a bad idea, voted for by idiots. But it was our bad idea. It was the British character writ large, and this cruel government killed itBoaty McBoatface was too beautiful to live. He was a rare and precious flower, simply not cut out for these ugly times. We created Boaty McBoatface. We created him after our own image, in a rush of optimism, deluding ourselves that he was ever worth a damn. Boaty McBoatface was a perfect idea in an imperfect world. He was all that we were not. He was strong. He was resolute. Truly, he was Boaty McBoatface.Boaty McBoatface is dead. The government killed him. Continue reading...

Three members of Plane Stupid fined £200 each for wilful obstruction of a public highway during protest against a third runway last NovemberThree environmental activists who blocked a tunnel at Heathrow airport last year have been issued fines of £200 each by a court on Tuesday.The protest by Plane Stupid activists last November was part of a series of actions by the group against the expansion of the airport, including the so-called Heathrow 13 who in February were spared prison sentences for occupying the airport’s runway. Continue reading...

Canadian prime minister seeks to bring global agreement into force as soon as possible in bid to reverse reputation as ‘carbon bully’Justin Trudeau will lobby governments to approve the Paris climate agreement and bring it into force as soon as possible, reversing Canada’s past reputation as a “carbon bully”.The Canadian prime minister will join 155 other countries at the United Nations on Friday for a symbolic signing ceremony. Continue reading...

Relaxing of specifications on fine green beans is expected to save more than 135 tonnes of edible crops being wasted each year, supermarket saysTesco is to relax rules on fine green beans imported from Kenya in a move expected to save more than 135 tonnes of edible crops from going to waste every year.

Global warming attribution studies consistently find humans are responsible for all global warming over the past six decades.

The tiny beads used in exfoliant scrubs and toothpastes are at various stages of being phased out by the industry. Until a blanket ban comes into force, here’s a handy list of popular brands to help you choose which to use and which to avoidLast week a Greenpeace poll found that two-thirds of the British public think plastic microbeads used in exfoliant toiletries should be banned.The tiny beads - found in face and body scrubs and some toothpastes - are too small to be captured through existing wastewater treatment processes, and wash straight into the ocean where they harm fish and other sea life. Continue reading...

Use of Amitrole and Isoproturon, herbicides that have been linked to cancer, infertility and birth defects, is prohibited from 30 SeptemberThe European commission has ordered a ground-breaking moratorium on two endocrine-disrupting weedkillers that have been linked to thyroid cancer, infertility, reproductive problems and foetal malformations.Use of Amitrole and Isoproturon will now be banned from 30 September across Europe, after an EU committee voted unanimously for the first ever ban on endocrine-disrupting herbicides. Continue reading...

Storms have dumped more than a foot of rain in the Houston area, flooding dozens of neighbourhoods and forcing the closure of city offices and the suspension of public transport. Massive flooding has become nearly an annual rite of passage in the city, which is experiencing deaths and devastation for the third year running Continue reading...

GetUp! and SolarCitizens say its ‘homegrown power plan’ means it would be technically feasible and cheaper for Australia to switch from fossil fuelsA plan to transform Australia’s energy use to 100% renewables was published by GetUp! and SolarCitizens on Tuesday after a modelling studycommissioned by the groups suggested such a transition was technically feasible and would be cheaper than the status quo.The “homegrown power plan” spells out dozens of policy ideas the two organisations say would achieve a switch to 100% renewable energy while delivering more equitable access to electricity and a fair transition for workers in the fossil-fuel industry. Continue reading...

Attorney general attacks ‘illogic’ of Labor’s opposition to cuts and says taxpayers’ money would be better spent elsewhereThe attorney general, George Brandis, has mounted a bizarre defence of the Turnbull government’s funding cuts to the CSIRO, saying there is no need to keep funding climate science if the science of climate change is settled – but adding that he personally doesn’t believe it is settled.Brandis said the science body’s decision to cut funding for its scientists, who have produced vital climate science research – in response to the former Abbott government’s cuts to the CSIRO in 2014 – is what it ought to do if it believes climate change is real.

Illnesses ranging from nosebleeds to leukaemia among pupils at Changzhou Foreign Languages School, with highly toxic illegal waste dumping blamedEnvironmental activists in China are calling for new laws and an independent investigation into how hundreds of Chinese students fell ill – in some cases severely – after attending a school built on a toxic waste dump.In a case that is being compared to one of the worst environmental catastrophes in US history, about 500 students at a school in the eastern province of Jiangsu have reportedly been affected since late 2015 by ailments including nosebleeds, headaches, coughs, rashes and, in the worst instances, lymphoma and leukaemia. Continue reading...

With a combined ascent of more than 49,000m, the Cent Cols challenge is a daunting experience. And I’ve signed up to ride itFrom early May to the start of September, the three grand tours of cycling – the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España – see the world’s best riders tackle countless punishing climbs amid three weeks of racing.And then, just as this rolling spectacle packs away for another year, 30 amateur riders will attempt an arguably equally difficult feat of ascending. Participants in September’s self explanatory-named Cent Cols challenge will try to ride 100 categorised climbs through the French Pyrenees in just 10 days. Continue reading...

Reform of drug policy is essential to protect the rights of cultivating communities, and ensure they make a living from their landReform of international drug control is urgently needed. The war on drugs has left a trail of suffering and criminality in its wake and has manifestly failed to achieve its objectives. The UN special session of the general assembly (Ungass) this week presents an opportunity. Many reformers put drug users at the centre of changes to international drug policies, but the people growing the plants producing the substances they consume are often overlooked.Farmers’ livelihoods and their communities’ sustainable development are inherently linked to reform of international drug policies. For hundreds of thousands of farmers’ families, existing crop control laws and practices cause conflict and poverty (pdf), and crush hopes for economic improvement. Continue reading...

Eastern Australia is now considered a ‘global deforestation front’. Is this massive loss of wildlife and increased pollution really what Australians want?Somewhere today in Queensland, bulldozers are tearing down native bushland that was once protected.After the weakening of tree clearing controls by the previous state government, more than 200,000 hectares of threatened species habitat was destroyed in the two years from July 2012 to July 2014. Continue reading...

Lightwood, Derbyshire The females act like magnets for all that testosterone. A toad ball could number about a dozen

Delia Lawrie says Labor’s policy of a moratorium is insufficient and voters should be given a clear say on the issueA referendum on fracking should be held at one of the two elections scheduled in the Northern Territory for this year, the former NT opposition leader Delia Lawrie has said.On Tuesday, Helen Bender from Queensland’s Darling Downs and the US cattle rancher and anti-fracking activist John Fenton warned Territorians that “if you do not think this will impact you, you are very … wrong”. Continue reading...

ZCell developer says its battery for homes is more efficient and recyclableAustralia is at the dawn of a battery storage revolution. A recent report from US-based IHS Technology states that Australia’s energy storage market will grow from less than 500 battery installations in 2015 to 30,000 installations by 2018, while Morgan Stanley has found that half of all households in Australia are interested in installing solar panels with battery storage, with the market potential estimated to be $24bn.From the lithium battery Tesla Powerwall unit to the lead acid gel battery of AllGrid Energy’s GridWatt system, the Australian market seems to be welcoming one battery innovation after another. Continue reading...

The deputy prime minister and Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, says Johnny Depp’s performance in the apology video could’ve used a bit more ‘gusto’, claiming the actor looked like ‘he was auditioning for the Godfather’. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard released the video to apologise for smuggling their two dogs, Pistol and Boo into Australia. The video has since gone viral, with many online commenters not buying the authenticity of Depp’s performance Continue reading...

Air and water quality, biodiversity and countryside would be at risk, Commons environment select committee report saysLeaving the EU would threaten the UK’s air and water quality, biodiversity and the countryside, a committee of MPs has warned.

Exclusive: Estimated cost of moving all electricity, industry and transport onto renewables by 2050 would be $800bn, a saving of $90bnTransitioning Australia to 100% renewable energy by 2050 would cost less than continuing on the current path, according to a new report.Related: Australia's defence force could run on sugar cane and tyres under biofuel plan Continue reading...