Environment news

• Coronavirus: Dirty air 'on the rise again' in UK cities

  09-07-2020 18:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  As Britain eases out of its Covid-19 lockdown, nitrogen vehicle emissions look to be going back up.
  
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• Victory for Yellowstone's grizzly bears as court rules they cannot be hunted

  09-07-2020 18:04
  
  Fish and Wildlife Service had sought to strip safeguards, which would have allowed a limited number to obtain hunting licensesIn a stunning victory for wildlife conservationists and indigenous tribes – and for bears – a US court ruled on Wednesday that grizzly bears living in the vast Yellowstone ecosystem will remain federally protected and not be subjected to sport hunting.The US Fish and Wildlife Service had sought to strip Yellowstone-area grizzlies of safeguards conferred by the
  
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• Clean energy future 'is vital' - UN chief

  09-07-2020 17:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UN Secretary-General tells a meeting that it is "vital" the world moves towards clean energy.
  
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• JCB electric digger wins top MacRobert engineering prize

  09-07-2020 15:36 via bbc.co.uk
  
  An all-electric construction vehicle from the Staffordshire firm wins this year's MacRobert Award.
  
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• Three-quarters of UK businesses 'reconsidering their environmental credentials due to Covid-19'

  09-07-2020 15:26
  
  In a survey of 500 UK-based business decision-makers, almost three-quarters (72%) said that the pandemic has made them reconsider the environmental credentials of their organisation.
  
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• Elon Musk says full self-driving Tesla tech 'very close'

  09-07-2020 14:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A future software update could activate full "level-five" autonomy in cars, the Tesla founder says.
  
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• European hamster and caterpillar fungus on brink of extinction

  09-07-2020 14:45
  
  Update to IUCN red list warns of hamster’s falling birth rate and high demand for fungusHamsters and fungi may not be poster species among those threatened with extinction but are no less important in ecosystems, according to an updated list of the world’s most fragile species.The European hamster once scurried across much of Europe and Russia but has now vanished from most of its original range and on current trends will go extinct within 30 years, according to the update of the IUC
  
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• Extinction: One third of all lemurs 'on the brink'

  09-07-2020 14:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A third of all the lemur species on Earth are "one step from extinction".
  
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• Report: Governments are bowing to fossil fuel lobbying in Covid-19 recovery planning

  09-07-2020 13:00
  
  Almost two-thirds of the interventions which fossil fuel lobbyists made in policymaking between March and June were successful, new analysis has revealed.
  
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• Government threatened with legal action over coronavirus recovery package

  09-07-2020 12:39
  
  The UK Government is facing another court challenge over climate-wrecking policy decisions, with UK-based Plan B threatening legal action over the recent coronavirus recovery package, calling it a "new deal for polluters".
  
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• edie launches top tips guide for smart grids

  09-07-2020 12:39
  
  edie has published a new top tips guide, outlining 10 clear and concise pieces of advice for businesses looking to explore smart grid technology.
  
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• Government threatened with legal action coronavirus recovery package

  09-07-2020 12:23
  
  The UK Government is facing another court challenge over climate-wrecking policy decisions, with UK-based Plan B threatening legal action over the recent coronavirus recovery package, calling it a "new deal for polluters".
  
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• ‘It’s all on hold’: how Covid-19 derailed the fight against plastic waste

  09-07-2020 12:00
  
  Pandemic prompted states to temporarily ban reusable grocery bags and stalled legislation aimed at reducing plastic packaging 2020 was supposed to be the year America revolted against plastic.Consumers were refusing straws and toting their own coffee mugs. Legislators had proposed an unprecedented wave of laws to ban single-use plastics. Even companies like Coke and Pepsi were opening up to the idea plastic might not be the future. Continue reading...
  
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• In numbers: Tracking public attitudes to plastics during the pandemic

  09-07-2020 11:50
  
  Several businesses have published new research to mark Plastic Free July, including Veolia and Amcor. Here, edie rounds up the key findings, which act as a snapshot of public opinion on plastics in the context of Covid-19.
  
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• CO2 in Earth's atmosphere nearing levels of 15m years ago

  09-07-2020 11:50
  
  Last time CO2 was at similar level temperatures were 3C to 4C hotter and sea levels were 20 metres higherThe amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere is approaching a level not seen in 15m years and perhaps never previously experienced by a hominoid, according to the authors of a study.At pre-lockdown rates of increase, within five years atmospheric CO2 will pass 427 parts per million, which was the probable peak of the mid-Pliocene warming period 3.3m years ago, when temperature
  
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• Banks and pension funds among investors bankrolling meat and dairy

  09-07-2020 08:30
  
  £380bn in backing comes despite calls by scientists for large reductions in meat consumption to help avoid climate crisis Banks, investors and pension funds have poured billions into the world’s largest meat and dairy companies over the past five years, a new report has found. It compares the environmental impact of “‘big ag” to that of big oil.
  The report, published on Thursday, said private financial backing for the world’s 35 largest meat and dairy companie
  
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• The ocean’s largest mystery – why has no one seen a whale shark give birth?

  09-07-2020 07:59
  
  A world-first ultrasound and chance sightings of potential mating rituals could help in the urgent work to save these gentle giants from extinction
  Covered in polka dots and stretching the length of a single-decker bus, the gentle giant barrelled towards them. The team of scientists, ready with a 17kg waterproof ultrasound machine they had lugged to one of the world’s most isolated dives sites, waited for the whale shark.Months of preparation had gone into the encounter, expected to last b
  
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• Climate change: 'Rising chance' of exceeding 1.5C global target

  09-07-2020 03:54 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The chance of breaching one of the Paris accord goals in the next five years has doubled, a study says.
  
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• Global temperatures likely to hit at least 1C warming for next five years

  09-07-2020 02:46
  
  Experts say new climate data shows how close world already is to breaching 1.5C Paris agreement pledgeThere is a one-in-five chance annual global temperatures will be at least 1.5C warmer than in pre-industrial times in the next five years, experts have said.Annual global temperatures are likely to be at least 1C above the levels they were before the industrial era in each year between 2020 and 2024, a long-range forecast by experts led by the UK Met Office shows. Continue reading...
  
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• Coronavirus: Is India the next global hotspot?

  09-07-2020 02:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  India's confirmed cases are going up rapidly, but it's not all bad news.
  
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• The tech behind Virgin Orbit's mission to space

  09-07-2020 01:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Marc Cieslak looks at how Virgin Orbit plans to launch its rockets from a plane.
  
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