Environment news

• Sixth mass extinction of wildlife accelerating, scientists warn

  01-06-2020 21:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Analysis shows 500 species on brink of extinction – as many as were lost over previous centuryThe sixth mass extinction of wildlife on Earth is accelerating, according to an analysis by scientists who warn it may be a tipping point for the collapse of civilisation.More than 500 species of land animals were found to be on the brink of extinction and likely to be lost within 20 years. In comparison, the same number were lost over the whole of the last century. Without the human destruction o
  
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• Ikea launches circular economy strategic partnership with Ellen MacArthur Foundation

  01-06-2020 21:00
  
  Ikea is building on a commitment to becoming a fully circular business by 2030 by announcing a new strategic partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation that will focus on advocating for closed-loop home furnishing designs and methods to promote circular offers to customers.
  
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• Climate change: May was sunniest calendar month on record in UK

  01-06-2020 17:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Meteorologists say the switch from an extremely wet winter to an extremely dry spring is not "British".
  
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• Defra backs natural capital investment projects

  01-06-2020 16:57
  
  Four projects focused on protecting and restoring natural habitat across the UK are being backed by Government funding as part of a pilot scheme to funnel more private sector investment into the natural environment.
  
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• UPS offers month-long carbon offset incentive for deliveries

  01-06-2020 15:39
  
  Logistics firm UPS will offer the option to pay towards the offset of carbon emissions of shipped parcel deliveries throughout the month of June, to mark World Environment Day this Friday (5 June).
  
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• Top business leaders call on Boris Johnson to set out green recovery plan

  01-06-2020 15:09 via theguardian.com
  
  Heathrow, HSBC and National Grid among 200 CEOs calling for a ‘clean, just recovery’Britain’s most powerful business leaders have called on Boris Johnson to set out economic recovery plans which align with the UK’s climate goals to help rebuild a resilient UK economy in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.Almost 200 chief executives – from companies including HSBC, National Grid, and Heathrow Airport – signed a letter to the prime minister calling on the govern
  
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• UK business giants call for national green recovery tied to net-zero

  01-06-2020 13:53
  
  More than 200 UK businesses and investors, including Sky, Lloyds Bank and Asda, have called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to deliver a green recovery plan from the coronavirus pandemic that builds a stronger and more inclusive economy.
  
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• BT launches innovation platform and UK electric fleet alliance

  01-06-2020 13:13
  
  BT has today (1 June) launched two new platforms to help accelerate green innovation in the UK and drive the adoption of electric vehicle (EV) fleets, both of which the tech giant believes will contribute to a green post-Covid19 recovery for the UK.
  
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• Wind sector is getting bigger, in more ways than one

  01-06-2020 11:55
  
  The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has confirmed that the wind sector installed a record 63GW of new capacity in 2019, while the average size and performance of new turbines have also increased.
  
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• Covid-19 has given us the chance to build a low-carbon future | Christiana Figueres

  01-06-2020 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Lockdown won’t save the world from warming, but the pandemic offers an opportunity to green the global economyThe air is clean and fresh, fish have reappeared in urban waterways, birds are frequenting uncut gardens, wild mammals are meandering through cities and greenhouse gas emissions will likely drop by an unprecedented 8% this year. Nature has clearly benefited from several months of dramatically reduced economic activity. From a climate crisis perspective, this drop in emissions is as
  
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• Critically endangered herb thriving on Macquarie Island after seven-year feral animal eradication program

  01-06-2020 09:16 via theguardian.com
  
  The flowering bedstraw was thought to have died out on the sub-Antarctic island in the 1980s
  A critically-endangered herb once thought extinct on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island has been found growing at a new location as the world-heritage site continues its rabbit-free recovery. The remote island was declared free of pests in 2014, following a seven-year feral animal eradication project. Continue reading...
  
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• 'Magical and antiquarian': William Arnold’s plant portraits

  01-06-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The photographs that make up William Arnold’s Suburban Herbarium appear more as clues than specimens. They are not the plants we would notice as we pass verges and hedges, but an idea of them, transmuted and transmitted through photographic methods which are magical and antiquarianSuburban Herbarium is published by Uniformbooks with a foreword by Mark Cocker and an essay by Val Williams Continue reading...
  
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• ‘For climate protesters, we are like filth’: the German village where coal is still king

  01-06-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Europe is going coal-free, but a vast lignite mine is expanding in eastern Germany and coronavirus has delayed new climate lawsThe landscape makes you think of the surface of the moon. As far as the eye can see, deep gashes scar the earth. At the spot where the giant machines stand, ancient layers of bared coal are visible all the way to the base of the pit. Continue reading...
  
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• Bid to grant MSC 'ecolabel' to bluefin tuna fishery raises fears for ‘king of fish’

  01-06-2020 07:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Conservationists warn the species, which was almost extinct 10 years ago, could be under threat if Japanese fishery is MSC certifiedA decade ago, the highly prized “king of fish”, the bluefin tuna, was taken off menus in high-end restaurants and shunned by top chefs, amid warnings by environmentalists that it was being driven to extinction. Recent assessments of Atlantic bluefin tuna, which can grow to the size of a small car and live for up to 40 years, have shown much healthier pop
  
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• Bid for first eco-labelled bluefin tuna raises fears for protection of ‘king of fish’

  01-06-2020 07:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Conservationists warn the species, which was almost extinct 10 years ago, could be under threat if Japanese fishery is MSC certifiedA decade ago, the highly prized “king of fish”, the bluefin tuna, was taken off menus in high-end restaurants and shunned by top chefs, amid warnings by environmentalists that it was being driven to extinction. Recent assessments of Atlantic bluefin tuna, which can grow to the size of a small car and live for up to 40 years, have shown much healthier pop
  
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• Conservation: Glimmer of hope for world's rarest primate

  01-06-2020 01:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The discovery of a new breeding pair raises hope for the future of a critically endangered gibbon.
  
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• Make Covid-19 recovery green, say business leaders

  01-06-2020 01:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Well-known firms such as Asda and Lloyds Bank are urging ministers to prioritise the environment.
  
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