Environment news

• International aviation and shipping likely to be added to UK's net zero carbon target

  08-07-2020 20:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Sector excluded in transport emissions figures but policy change unlikely until 2023 International aviation and shipping emissions are likely to be included in the UK government’s net zero target, it has emerged – but not until after 2023.The intention to review carbon accounting emerged after ministers and advisers, including climate activists, held the first meeting of the Department for Transport’s net zero board. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• 'Not what a green recovery looks like': Rishi Sunak's plan gets mixed response

  08-07-2020 19:40 via theguardian.com
  
  Summer statement’s focus on energy efficiency welcomed but disappointment that no boost for renewablesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThere was no lack of advice for the chancellor on measures to green the economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis from top economists and the government’s own climate advisers.But the Rishi Sunak seems to have focused on just one – home insulation – to a mixed reception from green experts and industry f
  
  Read more

• Rishi Sunak's green recovery plan is the only way to boost the British economy | Alexander Stafford

  08-07-2020 18:21 via theguardian.com
  
  We environmentally minded Conservatives know there’s no contradiction between being blue and greenAs a green Conservative, I warmly welcome the environmental steps announced by the chancellor in his summer economic update on Wednesday. The government has made a decisive commitment to the green agenda which places the environment at the heart of policymaking for decades to come.The launch of the “kickstart” jobs scheme and the unveiling of the new apprenticeships scheme provide
  
  Read more

• Spreading rock dust on fields could remove vast amounts of CO2 from air

  08-07-2020 17:31 via theguardian.com
  
  It may be best near-term way to remove CO2, say scientists, but cutting fossil fuel use remains criticalSpreading rock dust on farmland could suck billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air every year, according to the first detailed global analysis of the technique.The chemical reactions that degrade the rock particles lock the greenhouse gas into carbonates within months, and some scientists say this approach may be the best near-term way of removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Continue re
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Facebook to capture and donate wasted heat from Danish data centre

  08-07-2020 16:37
  
  The installation of a "hyperscale" district heating system at Facebook's data centre in Odense, Denmark, has been completed, setting the firm up to donate 100,000MWh of energy annually.
  
  Read more

• Protect one-third of world's oceans and land to deliver $500bn economic boost, scientists urge

  08-07-2020 15:55
  
  Protecting 30% of oceans and land globally would reap economic benefits five times greater than the initial costs of conservation and restoration, a major new scientific report has concluded.
  
  Read more

• British Gas orders 1,000 all-electric vans

  08-07-2020 15:55
  
  British Gas has ordered 1,000 new all-electric vans from Vauxhall, in a move that will assist the gas company's parent firm Centrica on its commitment to have an entirely electric fleet by 2030.
  
  Read more

• Protecting 30% of planet could bolster economy, study says

  08-07-2020 15:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Scientists claim widespread conservation can bring rewards if right policies are followedNearly a third of the world’s oceans and land area could be placed under environmental protections without harming the global economy, and even produce bumper economic benefits if the right policies were followed, according to a global assessment.Ecosystems around the world are collapsing or hovering on the brink of disaster, with a million species threatened with extinction. But if at least 30% of the
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• 'An encouraging start': Reaction as Treasury unveils £3bn boost for green economy

  08-07-2020 14:25
  
  BREAKING: Chancellor Rishi Sunak has delivered his Summer Economic Update to Parliament, including a £3bn package to stimulate the UK's green economy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has broadly been welcomed by key individuals and organisations.
  
  Read more

• Rosewood smuggling in The Gambia: Shipping firm halts timber exports

  08-07-2020 14:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A BBC investigation found vast quantities of protected rosewood were being trafficked from The Gambia.
  
  Read more

• Seafood fraud: why your Mediterranean swordfish might actually be shark

  08-07-2020 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Pressure on fish stocks has led to sharks being passed off as swordfish or tuna, endangering the Mediterranean ecosystemFranco Comes last caught sharks more than six months ago, while longline fishing for swordfish in the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Monopoli, Italy. He hauled in an accidental handful of blue sharks. They were tiny. “They are fewer and fewer, and they are also becoming smaller,” Comes says. “Twenty years ago, there used to be so many sharks – so many! Th
  
  Read more

• #SustyTalk: Hitachi Europe's Hans Daems on the evolution of CSR in the new normal

  08-07-2020 12:24
  
  edie's #SustyTalk interview series continues with Hitachi Europe's head of public affairs Hans Daems offering his thoughts on the evolution of corporate CSR as we begin to emerge out of lockdown and head towards a "new normal".
  
  Read more

• Kimberly-Clark vows to halve environmental footprint within a decade

  08-07-2020 12:24
  
  Personal care giant Kimberly-Clark has pledged to halve its global environmental footprint by 2030, under a new sustainability strategy covering issues such as emissions, forestry, water and plastics.
  
  Read more

• Trees can’t move fast enough to escape a warming climate. Should we help them?

  08-07-2020 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Concerned about trees’ slow migration patterns, some ecologists are spreading seeds themselves. Critics fear they are playing GodThere is an impressive array of pine species at the Nature Conservancy’s Plum Creek preserve in Maryland – loblolly, Virginia, shortleaf – creating a landscape that emits the smell of Christmas well into the summer. But a newcomer to the preserve has fueled an ethical debate about the role of conservationists in the age of climate change.Since 2
  
  Read more

• 'Playing the hand of God': scientists' experiment aims to help trees survive climate change

  08-07-2020 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Scientists use a strategy called assisted migration in an attempt to rescue tree species from inhospitable conditions
  There is an impressive array of pine species at the Nature Conservancy’s Plum Creek preserve in Maryland – loblolly, Virginia, shortleaf – creating a landscape that emits the smell of Christmas well into the summer. But a newcomer to the preserve has fueled an ethical debate about the role of conservationists in the age of climate change.Since 2013, TNC has plan
  
  Read more

• 'Landscape of fear': what a mass of rotting reindeer carcasses taught scientists

  08-07-2020 08:45 via theguardian.com
  
  When 323 reindeer were killed by lightning on a remote Norwegian plateau, their bodies were left for nature to take its courseIn August 2016, a park ranger stumbled upon 323 dead wild tundra reindeer in Norway’s remote Hardangervidda plateau. They had been killed in a freak lightning event. But instead of removing the carcasses, the park decided to leave them where they were, allowing nature to take its course – and scientists to study this island of decomposition and how it might ch
  
  Read more

• Halve UK pesticide use to save insects, say conservationists

  08-07-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Wildlife Trusts report also calls for expansion of projects such as flower-rich road verges and butterfly reintroductionsThe use of pesticides in the UK must be at least halved to reverse steep losses in insect abundance and boost the natural world that depends on them, according to a report.It warns that insects are the “canaries in the coal mine” of the natural world and that everyone, including the government, local authorities, community groups and individuals, needs to become in
  
  Read more

• Great white vanishing act: where have South Africa's famous sharks gone?

  08-07-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Longline fishing, pollution, the arrival of orcas – what’s causing these crowd-drawing sharks to shun Cape Town’s waters?
  For those who watch the waves, rocks and beaches for the distinctive silhouettes and dorsal fins, there is still hope. If the great white sharks are gone for now, they will return, one day soon.Not so long ago, there were 200 or more annual sightings in South Africa’s False Bay of the most famous of sharks. The sheer numbers gathering around one island
  
  Read more

• New government unit to take over Covid response

  08-07-2020 02:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  There are questions over whether the Joint Biosecurity Centre has the expertise needed for the job.
  
  Read more

• Survey: Energy professionals believe retrofitting is key to a green Covid-19 recovery

  08-07-2020 02:02
  
  A survey of 250 UK-based energy professionals has found that 80% want the majority of the UK's Covid-19 recovery package funnelled into 'green' industries, with energy efficiency retrofits for housing cited as the most popular route to both economic recovery and net-zero.
  
  Read more

• Bright feathers, bright brains: hummingbirds 'can order numerically'

  08-07-2020 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Study claims tiny creatures can order things in sequence, but researchers say it does not confirm they can count
  Hummingbirds are not only bright in appearance but also in brain, it would seem, with new research suggesting the tiny creatures are able to understand a numerical concept of order.While hummingbirds have previously been found to visit flowers in particular sequences when foraging, researchers say the new study suggests this process could be based on the concept of “first”
  
  Read more

• Coronavirus: 'The masks you throw away could end up killing a whale'

  08-07-2020 01:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  As the world battles the Covid-19 pandemic, more and more protective equipment is ending up in the sea.
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!