Environment news

• Voters prefer low emissions target to carbon trading – Guardian Essential poll

  13-06-2017 21:00
  
  People were less happy to consider coal generation with 100% capture and storage as a ‘low emission’ energy sourceAustralian voters would back a new low emissions target over emissions trading as a policy to reduce carbon pollution, but are not sure about including “clean” coal in the mix, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.The latest survey of 1,785 voters, which follows Tuesday night’s three-hour Coalition party room meeting in which significant conce
  
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• Rare black-tailed godwits released into wild at Welney

  13-06-2017 17:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The 25 endangered black-tailed godwits were hand-reared to ensure their survival.
  
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• Global demand for coal falls in 2016 for second year in a row

  13-06-2017 16:48
  
  UK leads trend away from coal, with use down 52.5%, while China continues to consume less of the dirtiest fossil fuelGlobal demand for coal has fallen for the second consecutive year, according to a BP study, helped by the US and China burning less of the dirtiest fossil fuel.The UK was described as the “most extreme example” of the trend away from coal, which has resulted in use of the fuel returning to levels not seen since the start of the industrial revolution. Continue reading..
  
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• H&M, Zara and Marks & Spencer linked to polluting viscose factories in Asia

  13-06-2017 14:24
  
  Major fashion brands are sourcing viscose from factories in China, Indonesia and India which are polluting and damaging health, according to new reportMajor fashion brands have been linked to viscose produced in polluting factories, according to a new report by the Changing Markets Foundation.
  Viscose, touted as a sustainable alternative to cotton or polyester, is often used as a cheaper and more durable alternative to silk, commonly in skirts and dresses. Experts say it is just as likely to be
  
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• Carlsberg aims for zero carbon emissions after Trump's Paris pullout

  13-06-2017 14:17
  
  Danish brewer to eliminate brewery emissions and halve its water usage by 2030 as part of sustainability driveCarlsberg has unveiled plans to reduce its brewery carbon emissions to zero, singling out Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the US from the Paris climate agreement as a motivating factor.The Danish brewer, whose beers also include Holsten Pils and San Miguel, said it would eliminate brewery emissions and halve its water usage by 2030 as part of a new sustainability drive. Continue readi
  
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• The battle for nesting sites among the birds and the bees

  13-06-2017 14:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Competition for nesting sites could explain why some birds and bumblebees are declining faster than others.
  
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• 'Too early to say' if Coalition will back clean energy target, Frydenberg says

  13-06-2017 13:50
  
  Three-hour meeting fails to resolve government’s position on Finkel review but energy minister denies there’s a backbench revoltJosh Frydenberg says it is too soon to say if the Coalition party room will support a clean energy target after a three-hour extraordinary meeting in which a number of government colleagues raised concerns about the core recommendations of the Finkel review.
  Speaking on ABC on Tuesday night, the energy and environment minister said MPs were “concerned
  
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• Plan to airlift 4,000 cows to isolated Qatar to maintain milk supplies

  13-06-2017 12:29
  
  Businessman hoping to import the animals on 60 flights as country steps up efforts to circumvent blockade by its Gulf neighboursA Qatari businessman is planning to airlift 4,000 Holstein dairy cows into the country as part of efforts to maintain milk supplies during the blockade by Qatar’s Gulf Arab neighbours.The proposal – described as the biggest airlift of cattle ever attempted – comes as Qatar moves rapidly to open an air and sea bridge via Iran, Turkey and port facilities
  
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• Meet the Virginia Democrat who may set a blueprint for the party against Trump

  13-06-2017 12:00
  
  Tom Perriello’s progressive campaign for governor could be a model for Democrats preparing to run against Trump in the midterm elections“The state ends at Roanoke, we are the forgotten corner of Virginia,” said local Democratic activist Oliver Keene of Tazewell, where 20% of the town lives in poverty. “In our eyes, past Roanoke, nobody cares about us. We don’t exist.”Campaigning for statewide office, most Democratic candidates have typically ignored the deep r
  
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• EDF Energy's Vincent de Rivaz to step down after winning Hinkley battle

  13-06-2017 10:19
  
  Chief executive will leave post in October after 15 years, having secured deal with UK government over Somerset nuclear plantThe man who helped secure Britain’s first new nuclear power station in a generation will step down as chief executive of EDF Energy in October, marking the end of a 15-year tenure.Vincent de Rivaz is the longest-serving CEO among the heads of the UK’s big six energy suppliers and will be replaced on 1 November by Simone Rossi, who leads the company’s inte
  
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• UK could get farm aid for two years after Brexit under EU budget plan

  13-06-2017 09:40
  
  Negotiators considering offer to solve problems caused by UK leaving bloc before end of seven-year budgetThe UK could continue to get farm payments and aid for poorer regions for two years after it leaves the EU, if it agrees to pay into the EU budget until the end of 2020, under plans being considered by EU diplomats.The potential offer to sweeten the pill of the UK’s Brexit bill is a sketchy idea rather than a detailed proposal, but two sources familiar with the Brexit negotiations confi
  
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• Bee swarm swamps car in Hull

  13-06-2017 09:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The owner of the vehicle said her family had all been stung by the 20,000 strong swarm.
  
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• Don't ignore young people – we're key to fighting climate change | Daisy Kendrick

  13-06-2017 08:31
  
  Young people are consumers, employees, employers and future leaders but few NGOs take full advantage of the best space to reach us – social mediaFor the world leaders, negotiators and advisers who gathered in Paris in November 2015, the news that the US is withdrawing from the COP 21 climate accord must have felt like a body blow.For my generation? There’s a chance the story got scrolled past, filtered out, buried on a newsfeed, or missed altogether. Continue reading...
  
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• Don't ignore young people – we're key to fighting climate change

  13-06-2017 08:31
  
  Young people are consumers, employees, employers and future leaders but few NGOs take full advantage of the best space to reach us – social mediaFor the world leaders, negotiators and advisers who gathered in Paris in November 2015, the news that the US is withdrawing from the COP 21 climate accord must have felt like a body blow.For my generation? There’s a chance the story got scrolled past, filtered out, buried on a newsfeed, or missed altogether. Continue reading...
  
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• Oslo's car ban sounded simple enough. Then the backlash began

  13-06-2017 08:30
  
  When Oslo decided to be the first European city to ban cars from its centre, businesses protested. So the city did the next best thing: it banned parkingOne day late last summer, in Frogner, a central neighbourhood of Oslo, Nils Sandberg received a note. “It simply stated that shortly, parking spaces in these streets would disappear and bicycle lanes would be built,” says Sandberg. He spoke to neighbours, and learned they had all received the same note. “This came as a total su
  
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• Multi-million dollar upgrade planned to secure 'failsafe' Arctic seed vault

  13-06-2017 08:00
  
  Improvements aim to ensure the vault’s role as an impregnable deep freeze for the world’s most precious food seeds after a recent flooding by melting permafrost
  The Global Seed Vault, built in the Arctic as an impregnable deep freeze for the world’s most precious food seeds, is to undergo a multi-million dollar upgrade after water from melting permafrost flooded its access tunnel.
  No seeds were damaged but the incident undermined the original belief that the vault would be a &l
  
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• Melodious encounter with a family of redstarts

  13-06-2017 06:30
  
  West Sussex The male calls three times, then segues into a short, complex phrase of tweets and whistlesThe wind crashes through the tree tops, like the sea breaking on the shore, the great pines and silver birches that encircle the heathland swaying and shimmering. A red admiral butterfly rises from the heather, but it is snatched up by the wind and tumbles away too quickly for me to follow it.
  I walk along the muddy track that threads between the trees. Where only last week the ground had been
  
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• Butler reveals Labor CET plan on Q&A: 'Get Josh to do all the hard work' – video

  13-06-2017 04:05
  
  Energy minister Josh Frydenberg eventually offers a wry smile after opposition MP Mark Butler makes a joke about Labor’s strategy on the clean energy target during Q&A. Butler says the plan is “to get Josh to do all the hard work. Then lose [the election] and hand it over.” The pair were on ABC TV program to discuss Australia’s energy future. Continue reading...
  
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• Battery storage and rooftop solar could mean new life post-grid for consumers

  13-06-2017 01:51
  
  The Finkel report offers glimpse of opportunity for consumers and businesses to play the electricity market To illustrate the impact of battery storage on the electricity network in Australia, Prof Guoxiu Wang likes to compare it to the invention of refrigeration.
  “Before people invented the fridge, we produced food, we consumed food immediately,” says Wang, director of the Centre for Clean Energy Technology at the University of Technology, Sydney. “With the development of appr
  
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