Environment news

• ISO 14080: New standard set to play 'essential role' in climate agenda

  05-05-2017 20:03
  
  A new international standard for climate action is set to play an "essential role" in helping businesses achieve emissions reductions in line with the Paris Agreement goals, according to industry experts.
  
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• ISO 14080: New standard set to play an 'essential role' in climate change agenda

  05-05-2017 20:03
  
  A new international standard for climate action is set to play an "essential role" in helping businesses achieve emissions reductions in line with the Paris Agreement goals, according to industry experts.
  
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• Air quality plan: Why is the Government's strategy 'woefully inadequate'?

  05-05-2017 19:56
  
  The Government's proposals to clean up the UK's toxic levels of air pollution have been received with widespread condemnation for being both "toothless" and "woefully adequate". Here's the industry response in full...
  
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• Air pollution plan: sacrificing the nation's health to save an election campaign

  05-05-2017 18:26
  
  Penalising UK drivers in the heat of an election campaign promises a political car crash, so the government has hit the brakes and slammed clean air policy into reverseFor seven years, people in Britain have been forced to hold their breath and wait for a comprehensive plan to tackle the nation’s toxic air crisis. After a series of humiliating defeats in the courts, Friday’s government plan was meant to finally deliver.But instead ministers hit the brakes and slammed the policy into
  
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• Could towing icebergs to hot places solve the world’s water shortages?

  05-05-2017 17:38
  
  The idea of towing an iceberg from Antarctica to the UAE sounds fantastical, but might not be entirely beyond the realms of plausibilityWho is doing what?
  A firm in Abu Dhabi has floated plans to tow icebergs from Antarctica to the United Arab Emirates to solve the country’s fresh water shortage. An iceberg holding 20bn gallons of fresh water could meet the needs of a million people for five years, but first it would have to be hauled across 10,000km of open ocean to the coast of Fujairah,
  
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• Eating insects, noise versus nature, and a toxic air plan – green news roundup

  05-05-2017 17:14
  
  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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• Digested week: too many loose ends cross the line of duty to the viewer | John Crace

  05-05-2017 15:27
  
  Crime drama concludes as bombshell turns Tory event into one of Labour’s most successful campaign events so farAs so often with long-running series, the season finale of Line of Duty was far less convincing and engaging that its earlier episodes. It felt like it was more interested in setting up the next series than tying up the loose ends in the current one as it raced towards an improbable conclusion. During the last 20 minutes alone the mysterious Balaclava Man was revealed as some unna
  
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• Digested week: too many loose ends cross the line of duty to the viewer

  05-05-2017 15:27
  
  Crime drama concludes as bombshell turns Tory event into one of Labour’s most successful campaign events so farAs so often with long-running series, the season’s finale of Line of Duty was far less convincing and engaging that its earlier episodes. It felt like it was more interested in setting up the next series than tying up the loose ends in the current one as it raced towards an improbable conclusion. During the last 20 minutes alone the mysterious balaclavaman was revealed as so
  
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• India launches 'invaluable' South Asia satellite

  05-05-2017 15:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The satellite, funded by India, will help South Asian nations boost their communication services.
  
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• Air quality: Diesel scrappage scheme being considered

  05-05-2017 14:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The scheme is part of the government's draft clean air plan, which critics dismissed as "toothless".
  
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• Sharing economy makes inroads to combat London's air pollution

  05-05-2017 14:09
  
  A rise in car club members in London is reducing the number of diesel vehicles on the roads, leading to less air pollution and a reduction in vehicle carbon emissions.
  
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• Households in southern England urged to save water after dry winter

  05-05-2017 13:46
  
  Water company advises customers to cut back on use now to avoid restrictions laterHouseholds in southern England are being urged to save water after the driest winter period in 20 years. The driest October to March since 1995-96 has been followed by less than half the average rainfall for April, creating challenging conditions for farmers. The south-east has been worst affected and one water company has advised its customers to take action now to prevent restrictions being imposed later this yea
  
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• Nissan and REA warn of regulatory inaction ahead of energy storage boon

  05-05-2017 13:44
  
  The UK can deliver a "vibrant and healthy" energy storage industry that can create one of the world's most efficient grids, but only if the approaching General Election doesn't "rip up" progress to date.
  
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• UK's new air pollution plan dismissed as 'weak' and 'woefully inadequate'

  05-05-2017 13:39
  
  Lawyers who forced ministers to deliver new proposals to tackle toxic air crisis say government is not taking responsibility for public health emergencyThe government’s new plan to tackle the UK’s toxic air crisis is “much weaker than hoped for”, according to the environmental lawyers that forced ministers to deliver the proposals.James Thornton, chief executive of ClientEarth, said the government was “passing the buck” to local authorities and said he failed
  
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• Eat insects and fake meat to cut impact of livestock on the planet – study

  05-05-2017 13:10
  
  Changes in diet are vital to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation caused by the world’s growing appetite for meat, say scientistsInsects and imitation meat are the best alternatives to real meat in tackling the huge and growing environmental impact of livestock on the planet, new research has shown.
  The world’s appetite for meat is rising fast as incomes grow but the resulting greenhouse gas emissions, already 12% of the total, are also soaring and taming global warming
  
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• Government distances itself from diesel scrappage scheme in air quality plan

  05-05-2017 12:31
  
  The Government has today (5 May) published its overdue air quality plan which fails to commit to a targeted diesel scrappage scheme, while local authorities have been ordered to implement Clean Air Zones across the country.
  
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• Medical scientists report on the impact climate change is having on health | John Abraham

  05-05-2017 12:00
  
  A new report breaks down climate impacts on health by US region
  As a climate scientist, I spend time and energy studying how fast the Earth is warming and what is causing the warming. This knowledge helps us predict what the future will look like. But, what most people are interested in is, “how will it affect me?”Some impacts we are pretty clear about, like the impacts related to sea level rise, increased storms and heavy precipitation, and increased drought and heat waves – p
  
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• Tierra parda y estéril: la sequía histórica de Bolivia – en imágenes

  05-05-2017 11:33
  
  Durante la peor sequía de Bolivia en 25 años, el fotógrafo Marcelo Pérez visitó los reservorios que abastecen de agua potable a las ciudades más grandes, y encontró un paisaje inhóspito y áridoBolivia’s historic drought – in pictures
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• Brown and barren land: Bolivia's historic drought – in pictures

  05-05-2017 11:33
  
  During Bolivia’s worst drought in 25 years, photographer Marcelo Perez visited the reservoirs that supply drinking water to its biggest cities, to find a stark and arid landscape
  La sequía histórica de Bolivia – en imágenes
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• Twitterstorm: why British birdsong is vital to music

  05-05-2017 10:30
  
  From the nightingale to the linnet, via the blackcap and the corn bunting, UK birdsong is as unique and inspiring as the music it influencesNightingales have played the unwitting muse to human poets, playwrights and composers for centuries, from Shakespeare and Hardy to Coleridge and Tchaikovsky. Last year, Nitin Sawhney received a front-row performance from one such feathered troubadour during the making of TV show The Animal Symphony – an experience the initially sceptical composer descr
  
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• Pigeon related to dodo found on Australian mainland for first time

  05-05-2017 10:25
  
  The Nicobar pigeon, which is native to islands in Indian and Pacific oceans, was found by Indigenous rangers near BroomeA rainbow-coloured pigeon native to islands in the Indian and Pacific oceans has been found on the Australian mainland for the first time, by Indigenous rangers working near Broome.The Nicobar pigeon, Caloenas nicobarica, the closest living relative to the dodo, is named for India’s Nicobar Islands, more than 4,000km north of Broome.Continue reading...
  
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• Fake meat and clever concrete: the best US climate change innovations

  05-05-2017 09:00
  
  Trump’s climate plans have sparked anger and upset – but businesses are finding alternative solutions. Oliver Milman runs down today’s top climate innovationsPeople in the US and beyond concerned about climate change may be alarmed at the Trump administration’s policies and attitudes – but there are plenty of businesses and innovators doing work at various scales. From solar to fake meat and low-carbon concrete, Oliver Milman explores some of the best examples of cl
  
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• Ears strained for a mad Highland grouse

  05-05-2017 06:30
  
  Rothiemurchus, Strathspey Rustlings and flittings amid the calls hint at the rich biodiversity of the moor and pine forest To me, at least, the Highlands dishes up its treats in small portions. On the first morning I stepped out of the lodge and heard the clucking undulations of a springtime black grouse somewhere to the south-east. I followed the noise but didn’t see him.Instead the sparse pine forest offered up a bright pair of crossbills. Their “fools’ colours” –
  
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• The great silence: we are on the edge of the abyss but we ignore it | Clive Hamilton

  05-05-2017 03:32
  
  We continue to plan for the future as if climate scientists don’t exist. The greatest tragedy, Clive Hamilton writes, is the absence of a sense of tragedyAfter 200,000 years of modern humans on a 4.5 billion-year-old Earth, we have arrived at new point in history: the Anthropocene. The change has come upon us with disorienting speed. It is the kind of shift that typically takes two or three or four generations to sink in.
  Our best scientists tell us insistently that a calamity is unfolding
  
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• The great climate silence: we are on the edge of the abyss but we ignore it | Clive Hamilton

  05-05-2017 03:32
  
  We continue to plan for the future as if climate scientists don’t exist. The greatest tragedy, Clive Hamilton writes, is the absence of a sense of tragedyAfter 200,000 years of modern humans on a 4.5 billion-year-old Earth, we have arrived at new point in history: the Anthropocene. The change has come upon us with disorienting speed. It is the kind of shift that typically takes two or three or four generations to sink in.
  Our best scientists tell us insistently that a calamity is unfolding
  
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• Oil company Santos admits business plan is based on 4C temperature rise

  05-05-2017 02:06
  
  Chairman Peter Coates says company’s plan is ‘consistent with good value’, but experts call it ‘a breathtaking failure to come to grips with a world in transition’The oil and gas company Santos has admitted its business plans are based on a climate change scenario of a 4C rise n global temperatures, at odds with internationally agreed efforts.Its chairman, Peter Coates, made the comments at an AGM in Adelaide on Thursday, telling shareholders it was “sensible&
  
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• UK clean air strategy: Government to publish draft proposals

  05-05-2017 01:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  After a protracted legal battle, ministers are forced to reveal anti-pollution proposals.
  
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