Bank of England governor says investors need such information to guide their decisions and repeats his mantra that the age of irresponsibility is overMark Carney has called for companies to disclose their carbon footprints to help investors to make clearer decisions about whether or not to back them.London has a responsibility to lead if the age of irresponsibility is over. Continue reading...

Fundraising letter warns UN deal on climate change would spell an economic suicide for AmericaThe godfather of climate denial has warned that a United Nations deal on global warming would spell “economic suicide” for America and a disaster to the world, according to a leaked fundraising letter.In the rambling 13-page letter, Fred Singer, a retired rocket scientist who rejects the science underlining climate change, appeals for at least $425,000 (£270,212) to stop what he called the “radical, economy-wrecking and sovereignty-destroying UN climate pact”. Continue reading...

Fire in open-cut mine in La Trobe valley blanketed town of Morwell in toxic smoke and ash for 45 days, prompting many residents to fleeA young man has appeared in court charged with starting a bushfire that spread to a coalmine and sent toxic smoke over eastern Victoria in 2014.The 20-year-old, who cannot be named, has been charged with arson and recklessly causing a bushfire over a blaze in the Latrobe Valley that spread to the Hazelwood open cut mine at Morwell.

Candid, cute, almost confessional ... these intimate wildlife shots are all thanks to Snapshot Serengeti, who hid 225 camera traps in the vast national park in Tanzania, and let everything from antelopes to zebras snap themselves in their natural savanna habitat. But can you name them all? Continue reading...

The Northern Territory government has released a quirky, catchy rap track in six languages to help people 'be crocwise'. NT Parks and Wildlife has produced the video in English, Kriol, Anandilyakwa, Murrinh-Patha, Tiwi and Yonlgu. 'Don't hunt by yourself if you're fishing with a spear, always make sure someone else is near,' the rapper warns. Watch the Indigenous language versions here Continue reading...

Glapthorn Cow Pastures, Northamptonshire The black hairstreak has always been a rare butterfly, found only in woods between Peterborough and Oxford

US president Barack Obama discusses climate change and the future of life on Earth with Sir David Attenborough, in an interview to be broadcast simultaneously in the UK and US on BBC1 on Sunday at 10.30pm. Obama confesses to the broadcaster and naturalist that he's been a huge admirer of Attenborough's work for a very long time. Attenborough presented his first natural history programme for the BBC in 1954 Continue reading...

In unexpected turn of events, US president interviewed naturalist during visit to White House in May – though Attenborough asks toughest questions

Neil Young? Joni Mitchell? This week pick out music that goes beyond the big stars to capture the spirit, culture, and landscape of this vast, bilingual country

Mobilization on eve of Pan American summits in Canada brings together start of “new kind of climate movement”A mobilization calling for a “new economy that works for people and the planet” will bring together unions, environmentalists, anti-poverty organizations, farmers, faith groups, Indigenous peoples and others on July 5 in Toronto, according to a video about the March for Jobs, Justice & the Climate.

Decision comes after recent uptick in temblors – 35 of at least 3.0 magnitude from 17-24 June – but it remains unclear what such regulations will look likeOklahoma is considering tightening regulations on its oil and gas industry, after a spate of earthquakes which regulators say were probably related to an increase in fracking in the state.Between 17 and 24 June, Oklahoma experienced 35 earthquakes of 3.0 or greater magnitude, a huge jump from the average of about 12 a week experienced over the last year, according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey. Continue reading...

‘Green Tories’ express dismay at plans to put one of the Conservative party’s few key environmental acheivements up for part-privatisationSenior “green Tories” – Conservative supporters who want the party to act on environmental issues – have attacked the government’s decision to sell a majority stake in the Green Investment Bank (GIB).

British Beekeepers Association says level of winter losses is unacceptably high as European Food Safety Authority launches investigation into bee threatsMore than 14% of England’s honeybee colonies died over the winter, the latest research from the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) has found.The BBKA’s annual survey of beekeepers across England’s found that winter losses were highest in the west country (18%) and lowest in the north of England (11.8).

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has met with French president François Hollande to discuss some of Gates' ideas for the next United Nations conference on climate change, or COP21. France will host the meeting in December. UN member countries meet every year to discuss climate change and how to combat it Continue reading...

A Dutch NGO has won an historic climate change victory in court, persuading a judge to order the state to cut emissions. Here the NGO’s director Marjan Minnesma explains how they did it

Everyone from vulnerable families to peckish builders are taking leftover goods left dropped off by local people in GaldakaoThe large white fridge sits prominently on a pavement in Galdakao, a small city on the outskirts of Bilbao.

Greenpeace and its celebrity supporters sold the land in 2012, declining an option to retain it until 2014, but some people still visit believing it is theirsIt was, some believed, to be an orchard of perpetual, flourishing resistance, its trees adorned with plaques bearing the names of the great and the good and keeping Heathrow’s third runway at bay forever. In a defining moment of the last anti-Heathrow campaign, Greenpeace, backed by political leaders and celebrities, announced: “We’ve bought a piece of land slap bang in the middle of the proposed third runway site.” Continue reading...

Three French banks say they will not invest in Rampal power plant in Bangladesh. As the plant struggles for funding, a report says it is non-compliant with minimum environmental and social standardsThree French banks have said they will not invest in the Rampal power plant, Bangladesh. Six months earlier, two Norwegian pension funds pulled out their investments from India’s National Thermal Power Corporation that is building the project.During his visit to Bangladesh on 6 June 2015, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi endorsed the 1,320 MW Rampal coal- based thermal power project. He said, Continue reading...

$4.4m contract to establish Australia consensus centre at University of WA required Danish academic to do seminars across the country, documents revealThe $4.4m contract to establish the “Australia consensus centre” at the University of Western Australia required Danish academic Bjørn Lomborg to conduct a series of seminars and speeches around the country titled “The Australian Rational Conversation”.UWA eventually gave back the money, after a fierce backlash when Guardian Australia revealed the federal government grant in April. Lomborg is now searching for another Australian education institution that will take the federal money and host his research centre. Continue reading...

An Amur tiger leaps to freedom after being given a new home in a mountainous region of east Russia. The tiger, named Uporny, was captured in November 2014 after being identified as a 'conflict' tiger. He was living in an area deplete of prey and had killed dogs to survive. Uporny's new home has a good supply of prey — and is home to a female Amur tiger Continue reading...

Little-known by scientists and largely ignored by conservationists, the wild Asian dog – or dhole – faces widespread deforestation, poisonings, lack of prey and disease. Can a few dhole champions save this tough predator?

A family living in the middle of an eight-lane motorway, an autorickshaw driver struggling to breathe, a young woman who can’t wait to leave ... the foul air of India’s capital affects all sections of societyFor three years Mohammad Yunus, his wife Babli, five children and a handful of relatives have made their home on a patch of concrete in the middle of an eight-lane motorway, near a stretch of road named after Mahatma Gandhi. As lorries, buses and motorcycles roar past on either side of the family’s cramped bit of south Delhi pavement, and a modern, concrete flyover carries several more lanes of traffic overhead, their evening routine unfolds.A young woman in a pink dress squats to kindle a fire from wooden sticks and plastic bottles, then breaks a lump of dough into pieces to bake into chapatti bread. A three-month-old baby and a toddler sleep on a dirty mat just a few feet from the curb. The incessant blaring of horns makes conversation difficult, but does not rouse the children. Continue reading...

Sandy, Bedfordshire: The bird crouched on the paving slabs with its head bowed, beak slightly open, its long tongue sliding down into an ant tunnelOne of nature’s miners had come down to land on the garden patio, right in front of the kitchen window. Head cocked, the green woodpecker appraised the world as if to say: “Surely some mistake?”Our sense of a bird out of place was reinforced by its stance, or rather its squat, for it seemed to be suffering from a collapsed suspension. Its rump sagged on the ground, tail feathers braced hard against the hard standing, pressed back just a little. Its toes appeared clamped to the concrete as if to a horizontal tree trunk. They were splayed out flat, two to the front, two to the back. Continue reading...

Four environmental activists on roof of the parliament building in Wellington hold Reddit AMA calling for government action on climate changeFour environmental protesters have breached security at New Zealand’s parliament by scaling the roof and perching themselves on a ledge above the main entrance.The Greenpeace protesters on Thursday hauled up eight solar panels and unfurled a banner to protest what they say is the government’s lack of action in promoting renewal energy and dealing with climate change. Continue reading...

Critics including the Greens’ Caroline Lucas and Lib Dem Tim Farron question government’s ‘commitment to low-carbon economy’The government’s commitment to low-carbon technology has been called into question as it prepares to raise more than £1bn by selling a majority stake in the Green Investment Bank, the project that was a central promise in the Conservatives’ 2010 manifesto.Sajid Javid, the business secretary, will announce the plan at the bank’s annual review meeting on Thursday. The government is likely to keep a stake in the bank but could sell off as much as 70%. Continue reading...

Natural gas drilling only has environmental benefits over other processes like coal and oil production if producers can keep a tight lid on leaksNatural gas has been touted as an environmentally friendly substitute to coal and oil production, but a new report estimates enough gas is leaking to negate most of the climate benefits of process.

Cheshire firm steps in to clean up papal household’s dirt-encrusted art-works with machines designed to remove tattoo ink from skinWhen a senior Vatican official made a call to a tattoo removal specialist, it was not a red-faced cardinal hoping to erase an anchor on his bicep. The Vatican Museum had requested the use of tattoo removal equipment for the delicate removal of dirt particles covering some of its most priceless works.Reached through through one of its Italian associates, Lyntons Lasers, the Cheshire company that supplied the tatto removers, later donated one of its machines to the museum. Continue reading...

Dutch ruling could trigger similar cases worldwide with citizens taking their governments to courts to make them act on climate promises“You have been negotiating all my life”, cried out 21-year-old Anjali Appadurai from the lectern of a UN climate change conference four years ago. The activist, speaking on behalf of her nation’s youth, could have speaking for anyone who has taken a mild interest in more than two decades of international negotiations on climate change and stood aghast as world leaders have failed to protect the most basic of human rights – to exist.But today, thanks to 886 Dutch citizens who decided to sue their government, all of that may change. We may not have to wait for the politicians to save us – the lawyers may step in instead. In the first successful case of its kind, a judge in the Hague has ruled that the Dutch government’s stance on climate change is illegal and has ordered them to take action to cut greenhouse gas emissions by a hefty 25% within five years. Continue reading...

Councillors defer decision on Cuadrilla’s bid to undertake hydraulic fracturing for shale gas at Preston New Road, saying they need to seek further legal adviceLancashire county council has once again deferred its decision on whether to approve the UK’s first full scale fracking.A decision will now be taken on Monday on whether to allow fracking for shale gas on a site at Preston New Road near Little Plumpton on the Fylde Coast. Continue reading...