Environment news

• Australians could save $100bn on electricity 'if government had clear policy'

  27-04-2017 22:09
  
  Energy transmission industry ramps up call for market mechanism and says clear regulation could lead to zero net emissions by 2050Australia’s electricity and gas transmission industry has intensified a call for a market mechanism to drive orderly transformation in the energy sector, warning a lack of clear regulation will result in higher prices for consumers and a less secure grid.
  Energy Networks Australia (ENA) says clear policy settings could ultimately save Australian energy customers
  
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• The Guardian view on air pollution: playing politics with the nation’s health | Editorial

  27-04-2017 20:25
  
  The high court shouldn’t have been asked to decide on this. But it has rightly ruled against the government’s latest efforts to delay action on air qualityThanks to this government’s intransigence about tackling air pollution, the battle to improve the quality of the air we breathe has played out not in the political arena, but in the courts. Time after time, the government has found itself on the wrong side of the law: first for its failure to meet legally binding European tar
  
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• London's Square Mile Challenge on course to recycle 500,000 coffee cups

  27-04-2017 18:20
  
  A joint campaign coordinated by major coffee retailers and business in the London Square Mile is on course to reach its target to recycle half a million coffee cups in the capital this month.
  
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• Government bid to delay air pollution plan fails

  27-04-2017 17:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UK Government has lost a court bid to delay publication of its air pollution strategy.
  
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• Air pollution plan cannot be delayed, high court tells government

  27-04-2017 17:02
  
  Court rules immediate publication is essential and rejects Defra’s plea to delay until after the general electionThe government has been ordered to publish its plans to tackle air pollution by 9 May after a judge rejected a plea by ministers to delay until after the general election.Mr Justice Garnham, ruling against the government, also told ministers to stick to his original deadline of 31 July to publish the final policy on tackling the air quality crisis – the same date specified
  
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• Harvard 'pausing' investments in some fossil fuels

  27-04-2017 16:33
  
  University stops short of fully divesting its $36bn endowment from coal, oil and gas but green groups welcome the breakthrough after a five-year campaign Harvard University is “pausing” investments in some fossil fuel interests following a five-year campaign by some students and environment groups to pressure the university to divest itself from coal, oil and gas.Continue reading...
  
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• John Lewis recycles 60,000 mattresses through re-use partnership

  27-04-2017 16:16
  
  Retail giant John Lewis has teamed up with a mattress recycling firm to help its customers responsibly dispose of their mattresses, with nearly 60,000 recycled in the past year.
  
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• Air pollution plan would be election campaign bomb, court hears

  27-04-2017 15:13
  
  Government’s advocate applies to delay publishing proposals until 30 June, saying controversy might be seen as ‘Tory plan’The government wants to delay publishing its plan to tackle air pollution in England and Wales because it would be like dropping a bomb into the election campaign, the high court has heard.James Eadie QC, representing the government, said it would be better to put the publication on hold until after the general election to avoid the controversy over how to t
  
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• Science-based targets 'critical' to achieve 2C world, BITC survey finds

  27-04-2017 14:38
  
  The adoption of science-based-targets and the engaging with the supply chain are two of the biggest challenges facing sustainability professionals in the next decade, according to new research from Business in the Community (BITC).
  
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• The Republicans who care about climate change: 'They are done with the denial'

  27-04-2017 12:00
  
  As despair intensifies over Trump’s agenda, the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus brings Democrats and Republicans together to break the deadlockThe failure of American politics to deal with, or even coherently discuss, climate change was perhaps best illustrated when James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, took to the floor of the US senate with a ziploc bag and a mischievous grin in February 2015. Related: March against madness - denial has pushed scientists out into the streets | Da
  
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• New study: global warming keeps on keeping on | John Abraham

  27-04-2017 12:00
  
  A new paper finds no statistical evidence that global warming slowed down in recent years or that it’s sped up just yet
  As humans continue to dump heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the Earth continues to warm. In fact, it has been warming for decades and we now routinely hit temperatures that are 1°C (about 2°F) above the temperatures from 100 years ago.But despite what we may expect, temperatures across the globe don’t rise little by little each ye
  
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• Cassini radio signal from Saturn picked up after dive

  27-04-2017 09:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Cassini spacecraft is back in contact with Earth after diving in between Saturn's rings and cloudtops.
  
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• Look, no cars! Riding the closed-road Etape Loch Ness

  27-04-2017 09:31
  
  Peter Walker takes in stunning views and steep climbs on one of an increasing number of UK cycling sportives that take place on routes shut to motor trafficIf there is one single activity most responsible for the recent mini-boom in Britons taking up road biking, it is arguably the sportive.These organised, entry-only mass cycling events have sprung up around the UK in ever-increasing numbers. For various legal and insurance reasons they are not races but instead challenge riders only against th
  
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• French tourist survives rare shark attack in New Zealand

  27-04-2017 09:24
  
  Tourist survives, suffering only moderate injuries, after rare attack at Curio Bay in the South Island A French tourist survived a rare shark attack in New Zealand on Thursday, suffering only moderate injuries, rescuers and locals said.
  The woman, aged in her 20s, was bodyboarding in the afternoon at Curio Bay in the South Island when the shark attacked her leg, St John Ambulance said. Continue reading...
  
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• Marine Stewardship Council unveils new sustainable seafood targets to mark 20th anniversary

  27-04-2017 09:15
  
  The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has celebrated its 20th anniversary by unveiling new targets to increase the amount of sustainable seafood caught across the world.
  
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• edie Live exhibitor focus: University of Surrey

  27-04-2017 07:55
  
  Ahead of edie Live at the NEC on 23-24 May we get up close and personal with some of our exhibitors to find out what visitors can expect to see at the show, what's new and how they can help in the drive towards sustainability targets.
  
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• British Veterinary Association slams designer cat breeding

  27-04-2017 07:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scottish Fold cats have increased in popularity through social media.
  
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• Cobalt gems luminous in the bright light

  27-04-2017 06:30
  
  Sandy, Bedfordshire Two kingfishers, with daggers of beaks and undercarriages of deep orange, were engaged in a chaseIn the days before we gave names to storms, an anonymous blow laid low a riverside tree. Years later, leafless and lifeless, its branches bare of bark, the tree still lay across the water, an antlered jetty.That gale had heaved the tree over, root plate and all, taking a giant’s bite out of the riverbank. The tree’s sheared and weathered anchors stuck out like pirates&
  
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• Gas producers attack export controls as industrial users cheer 'bold' changes

  27-04-2017 05:21
  
  Malcolm Turnbull forced to clarify that though wholesale costs may halve under plan, prices paid by households will notGas producers have labelled the government’s imposition of export controls an “almost unprecedented” sovereign risk that threatens investment in gas production that would increase supply.But Australian industrial gas users, represented by the Australian Industry Group, have cheered the “bold” changes to secure domestic supply. Continue reading...
  
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• Hume Coal mine would threaten water and net just $6m in royalties a year for NSW

  27-04-2017 04:04
  
  Locals told proposed mine in the southern highlands of NSW, part of Sydney’s water catchment, would damage water table in the region for as long as 73 years A controversial underground coalmine that will threaten the water supply of 71 landowners in NSW’s southern highlands will net the state government just $120m over two decades, locals have been told.A multinational steelmaker, Korea-based Posco, is seeking approval for an underground coalmine near Berrima in the southern highland
  
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