It was American, not European, regulators who caught Volkswagen out. If the mis-measurement of pollution is so easily contrived, there will be political as well as commercial imperatives to distortLike the slowly stewed frog, the world has grown steadily used to the banditry of its banks. The remorseless drip of revelations about laundering, rate-fixing and mis-selling have built up too slowly to provoke a violent reaction, but they have seared a distinction in the public mind – that between despised and predatory finance on the one hand and, on the other, more reputable lines of business that make real things.This is the backdrop against which an esteemed global manufacturer, and emblem of Germany’s purposefully productive capitalism, has been caught doing something that would make the most shameless banker blush. Volkswagen has been applying the technical acumen for which it is so admired to the task of tripping up the American regulators that are tasked with protecting the air that citizens breathe. Continue reading...

Campaign to cut Britain’s food waste finds 24m slices of bread are thrown out by households every day

Climate Council says weak government action on climate change was undermining defence force’s ability to respond to severe weather eventsAustralia is behind its allies in preparing for climate change, exposing defence personnel – and the country more broadly – to considerable strategic risk and uncertainty, a new report written by the former defence force chief, Admiral Chris Barrie, warns.More than half the world’s natural disasters last year occurred in the Asia-Pacific region and the Australian defence force was increasingly being called upon to provide humanitarian assistance to affected areas, the Climate Council report said. Continue reading...

Nuclear power may be necessary to limit climate change, but this is the wrong nuclear optionThe case for decarbonising power supplies in order to limit climate change is now beyond challenge. The best way of doing it is as contentious as ever. Every option – carbon capture and storage to reduce coal-fired power stations’ emissions, expanding wind and solar power, developing other renewables such as tidal power, cutting consumption and bringing new nuclear capacity on stream – each has its own daunting problems, although some look a lot cheaper to fix than others. In China this morning the chancellor, in his role as prime-minister-in-waiting, dangled yet another carrot in front of nervous investors, promising a further £2bn of credit guarantees for investment in EDF’s new European pressurised reactor at Hinkley Point C in Somerset. Two-thirds of the estimated £24bn cost of building the power station is now covered by government guarantees, even though EDF has agreed a “strike” price – what it will be paid for its electricity – that will make it the most expensive in the world while earning the company, when fully on stream, an estimated annual profit of £5bn.The need for a non-polluting, reliable source of energy has changed attitudes to nuclear power. It is now accepted, at least by some ex-critics, as the least bad option in a world where a fast-growing population and the multiplication of energy-hungry tech devices will hugely increase demand for the foreseeable future. That was why the last Labour government gave the go-ahead to third-generation nuclear power at Hinkley, and why neither the coalition nor this Conservative government imagine cancellation is an option. Yet it is looking more and more like a bum deal. Overpriced, overcomplicated and overdue, as the UK’s three most prominent green converts to nuclear energy, George Monbiot, Mark Lynas and Chris Goodall, argued last Friday when they wrote an open letter calling for the project to be abandoned and for nuclear generation to be concentrated on small modular reactors, cheaper, factory-made and – a bonus – highly suitable for export to developing countries. Continue reading...

A £20 wind turbine, 3D printed water filter and modular cargo bike among offerings from network of sustainable lifestyle innovatorsThis December world leaders convene in Paris for COP21, their 21st attempt at curbing global climate change.

World leaders will pledge to tackle poverty, inequality and climate change at a historic event in New York. Here’s everything you need to know about itAfter nearly three years of open global consultations, fraught negotiations and some high jinks, the proposed sustainable development goals (SDGs) are expected to be adopted by UN member states at a special summit convened at the UN headquarters in New York from 25 to 27 September. The event sits within the programme of the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which opens on 15 September. Continue reading...

Environmental activists rally to end the ‘ideological attack instigated by Tony Abbott’ at Senate inquiry in MelbourneEnvironmental groups have rallied in Melbourne to defend their tax-deductible status and call on the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, to repair relations with the conservation movement.

Reef report card found despite avoiding an ‘in danger’ listing from Unesco in July, inshore areas are in a bad shape throughout the 2,300km-long ecosystemThe Great Barrier Reef is in poor condition and efforts to prevent pollution flowing onto the coral ecosystem are not happening quickly enough, according to a Queensland government assessment.