Environment news

• Bushfires in the tropics: Queensland faces terrifying new reality

  03-12-2018 23:00
  With cyclone season under way, exhausted emergency services are more aware than most that climate change is beginning to pose impossible challenges Late on Sunday night, a tropical cyclone formed off the north Queensland coast.The storm has begun a track towards the coast, where more than 100 bushfires are still burning after week-long heatwaves and “unprecedented” conditions. Tropical cyclone Owen will bring some relief from the stinking heat; lower temperatures and rainfall that sh
  
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• The Guardian view on the gilets jaunes: Macron needs to regain his popular touch | Editorial

  03-12-2018 19:45
  The French president needs to find a way to tackle both climate change and the anger on the streetsAlmost two decades ago a new fresh-faced leader of the centre-left emerged in Europe and appeared, having won a historic election, on the cusp of changing politics in his country. But as he flew higher, he lost a sense of the public mood and failed to face up early on to a crisis which brought his modern industrial society to a halt. In doing so he revealed an inability to control events or win aro
  
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• Maximising the power of Energy-from-Waste: edie launches free business guide

  03-12-2018 19:12
  Organisations seeking to capitalise on the sustainability benefits offered by Energy-from-Waste (EfW) now have access to a new edie Explains guide which breaks down everything you need to know about deploying EfW solutions across business operations.
  
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• Bacton Gas Terminal to be protected by sandscaping plan

  03-12-2018 18:59 via bbc.co.uk
  A nationally important terminal on the Norfolk coast is to be protected by a new "sandscape".
  
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• Soyuz rocket: First crewed launch since failure docks at ISS

  03-12-2018 18:58 via bbc.co.uk
  Russia's space agency confirmed the docking - the first crewed launch since October's failure.
  
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• Fortnum’s can lead tea workers’ struggle | Letters

  03-12-2018 18:38
  The West End store must tell the estates from which it buys its tea that their workers need a pay rise, writes Fiona GoochFortnum & Mason has announced profits of £9.6m, buoyed by the sales of its loose leaf tea from Assam (Calming cuppa lifts fortunes for Fortnum & Mason, 30 November). At the same time, women in Assam are being paid less than £1.90 (167 rupees) a day to pick tea.If Fortnum’s wants better conditions for tea workers, it needs to follow the example of Yor
  
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• Osiris-Rex: Nasa probe arrives at Asteroid Bennu

  03-12-2018 18:32 via bbc.co.uk
  Nasa's Osiris-Rex spacecraft moves alongside the 500m-wide rock from which it hopes to grab a sample.
  
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• MPs to examine environmental impact of UK's export credit agency

  03-12-2018 17:40
  The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has launched an inquiry into the sustainability efforts being made by UK Export Finance (UKEF), following claims that the body's financing of fossil fuels overseas is at odds with the aims set out in the UK's Clean Growth Strategy.
  
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• Shell to pay executives in line with decarbonisation achievements

  03-12-2018 16:30
  Oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell has today (3 December) pledged to link progress made towards its carbon reduction aims to the amount of pay awarded to members of its executive board, in a move to engage senior stakeholders with sustainability.
  
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• Take back control – could self-sufficiency be the answer to a no-deal Brexit?

  03-12-2018 16:16
  I moved with my husband and kids to rural Kent to try to grow our own food to alleviate even the harshest crisis next year. Unfortunately, crops are as complicated as the latest withdrawal agreementIn January 2017, my husband, Jared, and I moved our family from a semi in Ramsgate to a ramshackle house in rural Kent that came with two acres of mud. Our desire for change was born of the political, social and environmental turmoil. There was certainly a naive pursuit of the good life, but we were a
  
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• Students blockade schools as French protests spread

  03-12-2018 15:24
  About 100 schools under blockade while prime minister meets opposition leadersThe French prime minister, Edouard Philippe, has met opposition party leaders as nationwide protests continue to spread across France, with students blockading about 100 schools. Related: Who are the gilets jaunes and what do they want?Continue reading...
  
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• Peatland restoration and electric planes: Inside Heathrow's new roadmap for net-zero expansion

  03-12-2018 15:13
  EXCLUSIVE: After launching a roadmap outlining how it will ensure its expansion is carbon-neutral ahead of the opening of its third runway in 2026, Heathrow Airport is exploring ways in which it can sell ecosystem restoration services as well as flights.
  
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• 'Continuation of civilisation is in your hands,' Attenborough tells world leaders – video

  03-12-2018 14:26
   The broadcaster David Attenborough told delegates at a UN climate summit: 'If we don't take action the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.' The naturalist was chosen to represent the world’s people at the summit in PolandDavid Attenborough: collapse of civilisation is on the horizonContinue reading...
  
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• HSBC: Businesses turning the screw on supply chain sustainability

  03-12-2018 14:14
  A third of global businesses are looking to benefit the sustainability of their supply chains over the next three years, according to an extensive new survey from HSBC.
  
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• A billion people without electricity ‘missing out on pledged climate funds’

  03-12-2018 14:03
  UN climate summit in Poland will hear public money available is not enough to provide clean energy for those living off-gridThe world’s 1 billion people who live without electricity are not benefiting from climate change money promised by governments to help them develop.In theory, there has never been a better time for developing countries to install renewable energy such as solar or wind to combat climate change. The UN’s Green Climate Fund (GCF), along with the World Bank and regi
  
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• David Attenborough: collapse of civilisation is on the horizon

  03-12-2018 13:29
  Naturalist tells leaders at UN climate summit that fate of world is in their handsThe collapse of civilisation and the natural world is on the horizon, Sir David Attenborough has told the UN climate change summit in Poland.The naturalist was chosen to represent the world’s people in addressing delegates of almost 200 nations who are in Katowice to negotiate how to turn pledges made in the 2015 Paris climate deal into reality. Continue reading...
  
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• Gravitational waves: Monster black hole merger detected

  03-12-2018 13:13 via bbc.co.uk
  Laser labs sense gravitational waves from a black hole collision nine billion light-years away.
  
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• RSPCA investigates shooting of swans in Kent

  03-12-2018 13:03
  Five cygnets and their parents were shot, wrapped in plastic bags and thrown down bank of a streamA family of swans has been shot and killed in what has been called a “senseless” attack.The bodies of five cygnets and both of their parents were found wrapped in plastic bags after they were thrown down the bank of a stream in the village of Benenden, in Kent. Continue reading...
  
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• Soyuz rocket: First astronauts launch into space since failure

  03-12-2018 12:47 via bbc.co.uk
  Three astronauts from Russia, Canada and the US left from Kazakhstan on Monday morning.
  
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• Wind generates record amount of electricity

  03-12-2018 12:25
  Windfarms generated a record amount of electricity on Wednesday (28 November), according to National Grid.
  
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• Sir David Attenborough: Climate change 'our greatest threat'

  03-12-2018 12:03 via bbc.co.uk
  Naturalist Sir David Attenborough says climate change is humanity's greatest threat in thousands of years.
  
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• World Bank to invest $200bn to combat climate change

  03-12-2018 11:57
  Sum available for 2021-25 represents doubling of current five-year plan The World Bank is to make about $200bn (£157bn) available to fund action on climate change from 2021-25, helping countries adapt to the effects of warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.The sum represents a doubling of the five-year investment plan put in place after the landmark Paris agreement of 2015. Continue reading...
  
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• Defra launches call for evidence on 'biodiversity net-gain' developments

  03-12-2018 11:38
  The Government is consulting on whether property developers should be required to deliver a "biodiversity net-gain" when building new housing or commercial projects.
  
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• 'We are last generation that can stop climate change' - UN summit

  03-12-2018 10:49
  The UN climate change summit begins on Monday with a warning that today's generation is the last that can prevent catastrophic global warming, as well as the first to be suffering its impacts.
  
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• Bird ringing on the Wash estuary – in pictures

  03-12-2018 10:00
  Volunteers catch and tag migratory waders as the birds arrive to spend winter on the East Anglian coastContinue reading...
  
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• Climate change: 'Trump effect' threatens Paris pact

  03-12-2018 09:01 via bbc.co.uk
  President Trump's actions are restricting global efforts to cut carbon, a study suggests.
  
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• Climate adaptation proves the bee's knees for fishermen in Madagascar

  03-12-2018 08:00
  In Kivalo, where cyclones, overfishing and rising seas threaten livelihoods, beekeeping offers an unlikely alternative to fishingArriving in the village of Kivalo in south-west Madagascar after a boat ride of about three-quarters of an hour through beautiful mangrove from the nearest land point, is a bit like stepping out of time. Children frolic in the water. Palm trees sway in the ocean breeze. Chickens run between thatched huts as fishing nets hang by the beach, ready for the next outing. It
  
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• The 'climate diaspora' trying to save the Paris agreement from Trump

  03-12-2018 07:00
  There was an exodus of climate experts from the White House after the 2016 election – but they still turn up to UN talksIn a hallway beneath the UN climate change headquarters in Bonn, Germany, Sue Biniaz leans on a table, scribbling some thoughts on a piece of paper.It’s May 2018, three years after representatives from nearly 200 countries convened in France in an extraordinary display of international unity and agreed to keep global warming below 2C and to pursue a tougher target o
  
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• Rocky road up to red deer stronghold - Country diary, 9 December 1968

  03-12-2018 07:00
  9 December 1968 The way to the top of the crag is a rockfall, almost a rock-ladder and today it was slippery and dangerous with dampLake District
  It is over two years since I was up on the ridge of crags, a stronghold of the red deer, where stunted larches, Scots pines and junipers compete for a toehold on the rock. It was hard work getting there today, too mild a December does not make for easy walking, and in the woods below the crags the depth of grass (unusual for the time of year) and the m
  
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• Insurers in UK and US lagging behind in divesting from coal, report finds

  03-12-2018 07:00
  European firms are making faster progress in refusing to insure polluting firms, says campaign group Unfriend CoalUK and US insurers are lagging far behind European firms when it comes to divesting from coal-heavy businesses and refusing to insure them, campaigners have warned.At least 19 major insurers holding more than $6tn in assets – a fifth of the industry’s global assets – have now divested from coal, according to a report from the Unfriend Coal campaign, which represents
  
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• Sacked man claims discrimination against his 'ethical veganism'

  03-12-2018 06:04 via bbc.co.uk
  Jordi Casamitjana wants to have ethical veganism recognised as a philosophical belief, in a landmark legal action.
  
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• What does Adani's latest mine plan mean? – video explainer

  03-12-2018 03:01
  Indian mining giant Adani has announced  it will scale back its proposed Carmichael mine in Queensland's Galilee Basin, but begin construction 'imminently', using its own funds. But the company still faces numerous obstacles including groundwater approval and native title. Most of all, it has its eyes on the impending federal election and the uncertain position of a potential incoming Labor government on the mine. Ben Smee breaks down the state of playContinue reading...
  
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• Coal, coal, coal and soaring emissions - as a Liberal, I have had enough | Oliver Yates

  03-12-2018 02:10
  Trust into the Liberals has been destroyed, and no amount of ‘shuffling the deck chairs’ will change the outcome of the next federal electionTime is up. The Liberal party won’t reform, so it is time to stop fighting, split and take the opportunity to compete for the support of the public. The Liberal party is now broken, brand-damaged and unable to attract new members that would enable it to represent a “broad church”.The failure of the existing Liberal party to add
  
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• The country where being a climate activist is a lonely job

  03-12-2018 01:06 via bbc.co.uk
  Almost 80% of Poland's electricity is generated by coal. Patryk Bialas says it's time that changed.
  
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• 'We are last generation that can stop climate change' – UN summit

  03-12-2018 01:01
  Big cuts in carbon emissions and a rise in protection from extreme weather urgently neededThe UN climate change summit begins on Monday with a warning that today’s generation is the last that can prevent catastrophic global warming, as well as the first to be suffering its impacts.Almost 200 nations were set to meet in Poland for two weeks, aiming to hammer out a vital agreement to turn the carbon-cutting vision set in Paris in 2015 into reality. Moves to rapidly ramp up action would be an
  
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• Taking place on Thursday: edie's 'Preparing to lead' sustainable business power hour webinar

  03-12-2018 01:01
  Sustainability professionals seeking advice and insight on how to hit the ground running in 2019 to transform their approach to CSR and increase actions and ambitions are invited to register for a free edie webinar on Thursday (6 December), featuring speakers from Ball Corporation, Canary Wharf Group and PwC.
  
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