Environment news

• Obama's clean energy legacy - how long can it last?

  20-01-2017 22:50 via feedproxy.google.com
  President Trump comes into office determined to discard huge swathes of his predecessor's legacy on day one, writes Mark Barteau. But he will struggle to undo Obama's clean energy regulations. It's not just that they are legally robust, it's also that energy markets in the US and the wider world have shifted firmly, and irreversibly, towards efficiency and renewables. Sorry, Mr Trump.
  
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• Factbox - Quick action Trump could take on energy, environment, climate

  20-01-2017 21:37
  (Reuters) - Donald Trump, a big supporter of the U.S. oil, gas and coal industries, has promised to get to work quickly after being sworn in as president of the United States, raising expectations that he will sign a slew of executive orders. Here are some of the executive actions and other manoeuvres that could come quickly, related to energy, the environment and climate change: CLEAN POWER PLAN Trump, a Republican, has promised to kill Democratic predecessor Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, wh
  
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• Oil prices jump 2 percent ahead of producers' compliance meeting

  20-01-2017 19:40
  By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose more than 2 percent on Friday on expectations that a weekend meeting of the world's top oil producers would demonstrate compliance to a global output cut deal, but rising U.S. drilling activity limited gains. Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and some other producing countries including Russia, will meet in Vienna to establish a mechanism to verify compliance with a deal to cut output 1.8 million barrels
  
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• Want to save the world? Have fewer children | Letters

  20-01-2017 19:37
  
  Climate change | Definite articles | So… | Weetabix concoctions | Playground rhymesChris Goodall’s list of 15 things you can do to help save the world (G2, 19 January) misses what is surely the most important thing: have fewer children. Without controlling population growth we have to run ever faster to stay in the same place as far as climate change is concerned.
  Catherine Goundry
  Retford, Nottinghamshire• In an item regarding Gambia, the country was referred to as “the
  
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• Climate change, endangered primates and life as an elephant – green news roundup

  20-01-2017 17:54
  
  The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox Continue reading...
  
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• Jarvis Cocker fronts campaign to save Sheffield trees

  20-01-2017 17:25
  
  Pop star enters dispute over felling of roadside trees as it emerges council leader has not seen full version of Amey contractHe may be one of Sheffield’s best-known pop stars but Jarvis Cocker has become the unlikely frontman of a bid to secure the future of the city’s trees amid a long-running battle with council bosses.The former Pulp singer has launched a competition to find the city’s greatest tree, as part of a campaign to save hundreds of roadside trees from being felled
  
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• Business leaders call for imminent Industrial Strategy to engage low-carbon firms

  20-01-2017 17:13
  
  Ahead of Prime Minister Theresa May's widely-expected unveiling of the UK's Industrial Strategy blueprint next week, a coalition of European business leaders including Tesco, Kingfisher and Unilever has called upon the Government to work with innovative companies to deliver a zero-carbon economy.
  
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• Scotland sets 'climate-leading' 66% emissions reduction target for 2032

  20-01-2017 15:57
  
  The Scottish Government has put forward new proposals to achieve a 66% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2032, after surpassing its 2020 targets six years early.
  
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• New Study Will Help Find the Best Locations for Thermal Power Stations in Iceland

  20-01-2017 15:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new research article, with lead authors from the University of Gothenburg, gives indications of the best places in Iceland to build thermal power stations.In Iceland, heat is extracted for use in power plants directly from the ground in volcanic areas. Constructing a geothermal power station near a volcano can be beneficial, since Earth’s mantle is located relatively close to the crust in those areas, making the heat easily accessible. This means that the boreholes do not need to be very
  
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• SF State astronomer searches for signs of life on Wolf 1061 exoplanet

  20-01-2017 15:49 via feedproxy.google.com
  SF State astronomer Stephen Kane searches for signs of life in one of the extrasolar systems closest to EarthIs there anybody out there? The question of whether Earthlings are alone in the universe has puzzled everyone from biologists and physicists to philosophers and filmmakers. It’s also the driving force behind San Francisco State University astronomer Stephen Kane’s research into exoplanets — planets that exist outside Earth’s solar system.
  
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• Humans, not climate change, wiped out Australian megafauna

  20-01-2017 15:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  New evidence involving the ancient poop of some of the huge and astonishing creatures that once roamed Australia indicates the primary cause of their extinction around 45,000 years ago was likely a result of humans, not climate change. 
  
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• Oil price rises two percent ahead of producers' compliance meeting

  20-01-2017 15:33
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices edged up for a second day on Friday on expectations that a weekend meeting of the world's top oil producers would demonstrate compliance to a global output cut deal, but a larger than expected rise in weekly U.S. crude stocks capped gains. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading up $1.25, also 2.4 percent, at $52.62 a barrel. "Prices were pushed down a bit too far and hopes will rise that the OPEC/non-OPEC meeting this wee
  
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• Mapping out a low-carbon future

  20-01-2017 15:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  Fulfilling the promise of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change — most notably the goal of limiting the rise in mean global surface temperature since preindustrial times to 2 degrees Celsius — will require a dramatic transition away from fossil fuels and toward low-carbon energy sources. To map out that transition, decision-makers routinely turn to energy scenarios, which use computational models to project changes to the energy mix that will be needed to mee
  
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• How Climate Change Impacts Our Water Supply

  20-01-2017 15:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  The water cycle, the process by which water circulates through the planet’s atmosphere and waterways, helps make life here on Earth possible.Climate change, however, caused by excessive greenhouse gas emissions, is disrupting that process. It’s creating a vicious cycle in which higher temperatures, changes in rainfall and water contamination cause environmental consequences that make global warming worse and damage the health of the planet further.
  
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• The Sustainable Business Covered podcast: Episode 18 - Raising a glass to our sustainability leaders

  20-01-2017 15:00
  
  With edie's flagship Sustainability Leaders Forum and Awards just around the corner, we bring you a very special episode of the Sustainable Business Covered podcast, with Diageo's sustainability development director David Croft providing a unique insight into what makes a modern-day sustainability leader.
  
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• Experience: I was bitten by a shark

  20-01-2017 15:00
  
  The water was murky, so I couldn’t see anything. It just came out of nowhere and then it was gone in a flashI have been doing triathlons for nearly 20 years now. I am always aware of the danger of sharks when ocean swimming, but where I train, Corona del Mar in southern California, is considered a safe area. I always thought it would be more likely for me to have a car accident than be bitten by a shark.On 29 May last year, I was training for a half Ironman race. I decided to do my swim tr
  
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• Gore 'hoping for best' from Trump over climate

  20-01-2017 14:25 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Ex-US Vice President Al Gore, who has made a new climate change film, says he thinks campaigners will "win" the debate.
  
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• China-U.S. trade tensions high on Big Oil's worry list

  20-01-2017 14:01
  By Dmitry Zhdannikov DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Oil executives and Middle East producers are concerned that trade tensions between the United States and China risk clouding the outlook for global energy demand growth and a recovery in the price of oil. Chinese President Xi Jinping offered a vigorous defence of free trade in Davos on Tuesday, underscoring Beijing's desire to play a greater global role as the United States turns inward. "The two largest economies need to sort out their differe
  
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• Sainsbury's sees surge in demand for regional food waste campaign

  20-01-2017 13:16
  
  As the spotlight on reducing consumer food waste intensified this week, Sainsburys director of corporate affairs Louise Evans has revealed that the supermarket has seen a surge in applications from town and cities to take part in its campaign to tackle household food waste.
  
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• Top climate experts give their advice to Donald Trump

  20-01-2017 12:25
  
  We asked the world’s climate leaders for their messages to Trump ahead of his inauguration as the 45th US presidentTo fulfil his campaign slogan of “make America great again”, Donald Trump must back the boom in green technology – that was the message from the leading climate figures ahead of his inauguration as president on Friday.Unleashing US innovation on the trillion-dollar clean technology market will create good US jobs, stimulate its economy, maintain the US’
  
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• CSS left with 'uphill battle' due to Government failings, says National Audit Office

  20-01-2017 11:50
  
  The UK Government's "ambitious, but ultimately, unsuccessful" plan develop and deploy Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) incurred costs of £100m and failed to achieve value for money, the National Audit Office (NAO) has found.
  
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• CCS left with 'uphill battle' due to Government failings, says National Audit Office

  20-01-2017 11:50
  
  The UK Government's "ambitious, but ultimately, unsuccessful" plan develop and deploy Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) incurred costs of £100m and failed to achieve value for money, the National Audit Office (NAO) has found.
  
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• An Inconvenient Sequel review – Al Gore's new climate change film lacks heat

  20-01-2017 11:42
  
  The former vice president’s latest documentary on the threat to the planet, which opened the Sundance festival, is desultory and surprisingly vaingloriousAl Gore knows everybody. He can whip out his cell phone and dial the treasury secretary or the head of a giant solar panel manufacturer and say things such as “I’ll check with President Hollande” or “Elon suggested I call.” It’s amazing, then, that nowhere in his contacts is the number of a documentary
  
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• Parks at risk: green campaigners launch crowdsourcing study

  20-01-2017 11:34
  
  MPs and council leaders to face questions about their plans for local parks and green spaces amid concern about cutsThousands of people are expected to take part in a crowd-sourced investigation to find out how many of England’s parks and green spaces are at risk.Campaign group 38 degrees is asking its members to contact their council leaders to ask them about their plans for their local parks and will help them send follow-up questions under freedom of information requests. Continue readi
  
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• Oil price rises for second day ahead of producers' compliance meeting

  20-01-2017 11:13
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices edged up for a second day on Friday on expectations that a weekend meeting of the world's top oil producers would demonstrate compliance to a global output cut deal, but a larger than expected rise in weekly U.S. crude stocks capped gains. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading up 63 cents at $52 a barrel. "Prices were pushed down a bit too far and hopes will rise that the OPEC/non-OPEC meeting this weekend will show that
  
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• Bangladesh struggles to turn the tide on climate change as sea levels rise | Karen McVeigh

  20-01-2017 10:49
  
  From incessant rains to flooded rice fields, the economic impact of global warming has been keenly felt in the coastal town of Cox’s BazarBangladesh is already one of the most climate vulnerable nations in the world, and global warming will bring more floods, stronger cyclones. At the dry fish yards, close to the airport at the coastal town of Cox’s Bazar, women are busy sorting fish to dry in the sun. They say the process, which begins in October, can continue through to February or
  
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• Exclusive: China quietly shelves plans to launch Shanghai crude oil futures

  20-01-2017 09:50
  By Henning Gloystein and Chen Aizhu SINGAPORE/BEIJING (Reuters) - China's plans to create a new crude futures contract to compete with global pricing benchmarks have been shelved due to market resistance, five sources with knowledge of the matter said, dealing a blow to Shanghai's ambitions to be a leading energy trading hub. Potential international participants were worried they would not be able to freely exchange the yuan currency given a Chinese clampdown on capital outflows, and concerned a
  
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• Global Warning: 24 hours on the climate change frontline as Trump becomes president – as it happened

  20-01-2017 08:09
  
  With climate change deniers moving into the White House, the Guardian is spending 24 hours focusing climate change happening now. After reporting from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, we’re now focusing on how warming temperatures will affect the Asia-Pacific region• Our partner, Univision News, is hosting a parallel event in Spanish today. Follow it here• The Tumblr community is joining us with personal posts about climate change. See them here 7.00am GMTWe&rsqu
  
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• Acland coalmine: Josh Frydenberg gives approval to $900m expansion

  20-01-2017 07:36
  
  New Hope project is still waiting on state permits and the outcome of a legal challenge in land courtA controversial $900m expansion of Queensland’s Acland open-cut coalmine has received federal government approval.The environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, made the announcement on Friday, but the New Hope project is still waiting on state permits and the outcome of a legal challenge in the land court. Continue reading...
  
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• This is a call to arms on climate change. And by arms I mean flippers! | First Dog on the Moon

  20-01-2017 06:43
  
  On Penguin Awareness Day Brenda the Civil Disobedience Penguin issues a rallying cry to fight climate change. It’s so easy to fall into despairSign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are published
  Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and printsContinue reading...
  
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• St Anne's has no more need of a dog-whipper

  20-01-2017 06:30
  
  Baslow, Derbyshire Inside this pleasing medieval church is a strange relic of a long redundant rural occupationI came down the hill to Baslow in a stinging wind that was driving thin broken cloud over the white moor-tops. In the fields below, sheep pushed their faces through the snow to excavate tufts of grass buried in last night’s fall. From Bubnell, I crossed the Derwent on Baslow’s old bridge, an elegant three-arched structure with a pocket-sized tollbooth from the early 1600s. B
  
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• Australia’s conservative government fiddles on climate policy while the country burns | Lenore Taylor

  20-01-2017 06:09
  
  When Malcolm Turnbull deposed Tony Abbott as prime minister, serious action on global warming was hoped for – but almost nothing has changedAustralia’s January news has been full of official reports of record-breaking extreme weather devastating our ecosystems on land and in the sea and government ministers suggesting we build new coal-fired power stations, provide billion-dollar subsidised loans to rail lines for new coal mega-mines, increase coal exports to reduce temperature rises
  
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• Oil rises a second day on supply expectations, record China data

  20-01-2017 04:33
  By Naveen Thukral SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil climbed for a second day on Friday underpinned by expectations of tighter supply and on reports of record Chinese demand, but prices remained under pressure from rising U.S. crude and gasoline inventories. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 15 cents to $54.31 a barrel 0257 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading up 17 cents at $51.54 per barrel.
  
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• From Asia to outback Australia, farmers are challenged by climate change | Anika Molesworth

  20-01-2017 03:30
  
  Not a day goes by that I don’t stand in awe at under-resourced and vulnerable farmers committed to moving mountains despite the odds against themFor those standing on the precipice of life the impacts of climate change are an ever present reality. The rural poor in Southeast Asia are some of the most vulnerable to climate extremes and seasonal vagaries. For these farmers, many who live at subsistence level and survive on less that $1US a day, life is a high-wire act with no safety net. One
  
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• Global warning: Australia and Asia predict climate cost of Trump's agenda – live

  20-01-2017 03:19
  
  With climate change deniers moving into the White House, the Guardian is spending 24 hours focusing climate change happening now. After reporting from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, we’re now focusing on how warming temperatures will affect the Asia-Pacific region• Our partner, Univision News, is hosting a parallel event in Spanish today. Follow it here• The Tumblr community is joining us with personal posts about climate change. See them here 2.17am GMTJohn Co
  
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• Larsen ice crack continues to open up

  20-01-2017 02:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The crack in Antarctica's Larsen C Ice Shelf that looks set to spawn a giant iceberg has spread a further 10km.
  
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• Interview: John Connor, Climate Institute chief executive – video

  20-01-2017 02:17
  
  Connor speaks to Guardian environment reporter Michael Slezak about the successes and failures of the climate movement, the future of the Paris agreement during a Trump presidency and how Australia can be pushed to take climate change seriously. Connor cautions the environment movement not to walk away from engaging in domestic politics and says informed, engaged citizens can exert a positive influence on the debate Continue reading...
  
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• Killing kakas with kindness: New Zealand bird lovers threaten future of parrot

  20-01-2017 02:01
  
  Nuts, seeds and bread left out for native birds are causing a bone disease which leaves chicks with fatal abnormalities The threatened native kaka population of New Zealand’s capital city is being killed by too much love. Kaka is a native New Zealand parrot and there are roughly 500 of them in Wellington, living in parks and reserves close to suburban homes, as well as in the Zealandia sanctuary.Continue reading...
  
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• Oil rises for second day as supply tightens, but U.S. stocks weigh

  20-01-2017 01:56
  U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading up 20 cents at $51.57 per barrel at 0038 GMT. Brent crude was yet to trade. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said that while it was "far too soon" to gauge OPEC members' compliance with promised cuts, commercial oil inventories in the developed world fell for a fourth consecutive month in November, with another decline projected for December.
  
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• Interview: Anne Hoggett, director of Lizard Island Research Station – video

  20-01-2017 01:50
  
  Dr Anne Hoggett speaks with Guardian Australia environment reporter Michael Slezak about the extensive damage the mass coral bleaching event has wrought on the Great Barrier Reef, as viewed from the Lizard Island Research Station, and says the scale of destruction is by far the ‘worst insult the reef has had’ Continue reading...
  
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• Interview: David Ritter, chief executive, Greenpeace Australia Pacific – video

  20-01-2017 01:25
  
  David Ritter speaks with Guardian environment reporter Michael Slezak about how the Donald Trump presidency election will impact the future of environment and climate change campaigning in Australia and around the region Continue reading...
  
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• UK spent 168 million pounds on failed carbon capture initiatives - watchdog

  20-01-2017 01:06
  Britain spent 168 million pounds on two failed initiatives to help to fund carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, a parliamentary watchdog said on Friday. CCS involves the capture of emissions from power plants and industry to allow them to be stored underground and had been viewed by the British government as a vital to help it to meet emissions targets, but two competitions held over the past ten years have failed to produce a commercial-scale project. A report by the National Audit Offi
  
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• Diamond batteries and bendy solar windows: the best green innovations of the week

  20-01-2017 01:01
  
  In a week where the US landscape looks set to shift dramatically, edie rounds up the low-carbon, resource efficient technologies and innovations that could offer hope in a critical year for sustainability development.
  
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• Carbon capture scheme collapsed 'over government department disagreements'

  20-01-2017 01:01
  
  Publicly funded competition had already cost £100m when it was cancelled by the Treasury amid concerns over cost to consumersA publicly funded scheme to reduce carbon emissions collapsed, after running up costs of £100m, following a disagreement between government departments, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has concluded.Ministers launched a competition for developing technology to capture carbon emissions before Treasury officials cancelled the project, a report by the National
  
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• On the climate change frontline: the disappearing fishing villages of Bangladesh #GlobalWarning

  20-01-2017 01:00
  
  Kutubdia’s islanders don’t have much of a carbon footprint – most don’t have regular electricity. But they are facing the reality of a changing climate, and soon tens of millions of their fellow Bangladeshis will be at riskA row of mangrove trees sticking out of the sand, exposed by low tide off Kutubdia island in the Bay of Bengal, is all that remains of a coastal village that for generations was home to 250 families. The villagers were forced to flee as their land, whic
  
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• Interview: glaciologist Jason Roberts in Antarctica – video

  20-01-2017 00:44
  
  Each day glaciologist Jason Roberts flies planes over Antarctica to map the terrain under the ice, trying to discover how climate change will affect sea level rise. Roberts, who works for the Australian Antarctic Division, says the point of his work is to look for the ‘canary in the coalmine’, identifying hotspots where warm water is interacting with the east Antarctic ice shelf, making it vulnerable to changing climate conditions that could have drastic implications Continue reading
  
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• Writing about climate change: my professional detachment has finally turned to panic | Michael Slezak

  20-01-2017 00:40
  
  I’ve maintained a wall between my job and my emotional response to it, but this month I’ve felt dread rising about looming disaster, and it’s an awakeningUntil recently, like a sociopath might have little feelings when witnessing violence, I’ve managed to have relatively mild emotional responses to climate change.For five years I’ve been covering climate change – the science that underpins it, the things that are driving it, the devastation it is wreaking, and
  
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• Alcoa's Portland smelter gets lifeline from Victorian government

  20-01-2017 00:07
  
  Daniel Andrews announces four-year deal to keep aluminium plant open and federal government will also make a contributionVictoria’s struggling Alcoa aluminium smelter will stay open with a “significant” contribution from the state government.On Friday, the premier, Daniel Andrews, announced a four-year deal to keep the smelter open because of the vital role it played in the state’s economy. Continue reading...
  
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• Rising seas sweep away land and livelihoods in Bangladesh – in pictures

  20-01-2017 00:00
  
  Kutubdia, an island of fishing villages and salt farms, has halved in size in 20 years, with family homes destroyed by ever-encroaching tides. In nearby Cox’s Bazar, more frequent storms have had a severe impact on fishermen’s catchesAll photographs by Noor Alam/Majority World Continue reading...
  
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