Environment news

• Free home insulation: Too good to be true?

  10-07-2020 23:51 via bbc.co.uk
  Questions remain over the Green Homes Grant, which aims to make homes more energy efficient.
  
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• ‘A mockery’: Great Barrier Reef Foundation raises just $21m of $357m target

  10-07-2020 22:00
  
  Labor calls for greater transparency into fundraising of foundation, which was awarded $443m by Coalition
  The Great Barrier Reef Foundation has raised only $21.7m out of a target of $357m in donations more than two years after it was awarded the largest single environmental grant in Australian history.It has prompted Labor to call for greater transparency from the foundation about its fundraising, while the Greens have said the figure “makes a mockery of the government’s logic”
  
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• Coronavirus pandemic prompts record drop in global emissions, study finds

  10-07-2020 21:47
  
  Lockdowns, travel bans and factory closures drive reductionDramatic decline falls short of necessary global heating cutsThe coronavirus pandemic has led to the largest drop in heat-trapping emissions in human history, according to a new study. Lockdowns, travel bans and closed manufacturing sites have caused global emissions to drop by 4.6%, or 2.5 gigatonnes, according to a University of Sydney review of 38 regions and 26 sectors published in the journal Plos One. Fine particle pollution decrea
  
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• Brussels failing to protect bees, says watchdog

  10-07-2020 16:32
  
  EU loopholes allow use of banned pesticides known to be major killers of key speciesBees and other wild pollinators are not being protected from decline by the EU, with loopholes even allowing for the use of banned pesticides known to be major killers of key species.A report from the European court of auditors has found that Brussels’ efforts to prevent the decline of bees, wasps, hoverflies, butterflies, moths, and beetles have been largely ineffective. Continue reading...
  
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• Boris Johnson says newts are a drag on the UK’s economy. Here’s why he’s wrong

  10-07-2020 16:00
  
  Last week the PM claimed conservation causes construction delays – but newts are not the pantomime villains developers would have us believeLingering in the shallows of a south Norfolk pond, voracious amphibians are resting ahead of a night gorging on slugs, worms and insects. The pool network, long grasses and shrubs in Silfield newt reserve are a perfect habitat for the great crested newt – the pantomime villain for housing developers.The UK’s largest newt, which takes its na
  
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• Venice test brings up floodgates for first time

  10-07-2020 15:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The system of 78 mobile barriers has taken years to construct and its design goes back to the 1980s.
  
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• Aldi to halve plastic packaging use in the UK by 2025

  10-07-2020 13:54
  
  Aldi UK and Ireland has pledged to halve the volume of plastic packaging it uses annually by 2025.
  
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• UK air pollution still down despite return to normal traffic – study

  10-07-2020 13:30
  
  Exclusive: reduced congestion most likely reason for lower nitrogen dioxide, scientists say Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAir pollution has remained at lower levels in UK towns and cities despite a return to near-normal traffic levels after the easing of coronavirus restrictions, according to research.Analysis of data from more than 100 urban roadside locations shows nitrogen dioxide pollution levels were 30% below normal at the end of June, despite HGV traffi
  
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• Swim on sharks, nothing to see here: could fake kelp prevent attacks?

  10-07-2020 13:07
  
  As the brutality of drumlines and culling is exposed, ingenious new ideas are being trialled to protect humans from sharks – and vice versa In 2017, surf champion Kelly Slater responded on Instagram to the death of Alexandre Naussac, a bodyboarder who died after a shark attack: “Honestly, I won’t be popular for saying this but there needs to be a serious cull,” Slater wrote. “There is a clear imbalance happening in the ocean there … 20 attacks since 2011!?&rd
  
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• Sustainable Business Covered podcast: The Plastic-Free July special

  10-07-2020 12:55
  
  For episode 89 of the Sustainable Business Covered podcast, edie has assembled expert speakers for exclusive discussions on how plastics action is progressing throughout the Covid-19 crisis.
  
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• Nasa Mars rover Perseverance is attached to rocket

  10-07-2020 12:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The US space agency's next rover is placed atop of the rocket that will send it to the Red Planet.
  
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• Environment Agency unveils five-year plan to bolster 2030 net-zero target

  10-07-2020 12:11
  
  The Environment Agency (EA) has outlined its plans to boost climate resilience, improve natural resources and foster green growth through to 2025, after setting a 2030 net-zero target late last year.
  
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• #SustyTalk: Natura's Keyvan Macedo on brand purpose and net-zero

  10-07-2020 11:34
  
  edie's #SustyTalk interview series continues with Natura's senior sustainability manager Keyvan Macedo outlining the company's recent net-zero commitments and the role of brand purpose in reaching that ambition.
  
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• Amazon starts sourcing bio-jet fuel in drive to slash air cargo emissions

  10-07-2020 11:34
  
  Amazon's air cargo arm has signed a deal to source six million gallons of bio-based sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), as the e-commerce giant works towards its 2040 net-zero target.
  
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• Wildlife traffickers target lion, jaguar and leopard body parts as tiger substitutes

  10-07-2020 11:00
  
  But demand for ivory and rhino horn shows signs of falling, says UN wildlife crime report Lion, jaguar and leopard body parts are being increasingly sought as substitutes to tiger products by traffickers, a major UN report has found, but demand for ivory and rhino horn has shown signs of a sustained fall.Wildlife trafficking continues to pose a major threat to nature, global biodiversity and human health, the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has warned, following an analysis of trend
  
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• European bison to be introduced into Kent woodland

  10-07-2020 10:28 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The European mammals will restore a rich habitat for local wildlife, conservationists say.
  
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• Brenda the Civil Disobedience Penguin vs the Gigantic Floating Gas Refinery | First Dog on the Moon

  10-07-2020 08:11
  
  You’re turning a perfectly good planet into a hellworld for money!Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are publishedGet all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...
  
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• Wild bison to return to UK for first time in 6,000 years

  10-07-2020 08:00
  
  Release of a small herd of endangered animals in Kent is planned for spring 2022Wild bison are to return to the UK for the first time in 6,000 years, with the release of a small herd in Kent planned for spring 2022.The £1m project to reintroduce the animals will help secure the future of an endangered species. But they will also naturally regenerate a former pine wood plantation by killing off trees. This creates a healthy mix of woodland, scrub and glades, boosting insect, bird and plant
  
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• Parts of England could run out of water within 20 years, warn MPs

  10-07-2020 08:00
  
  Water firms not addressing problem of leaks, causing loss of 3bn litres a day, report findsThere is a serious risk that parts of England will run out of water within 20 years, MPs have warned.The public accounts committee said the bodies responsible for water in the UK had “taken their eye off the ball” and the scale of leakage – more than 3bn litres a day – was “wholly unacceptable”. Continue reading...
  
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• 'People want blood and gore': what we got wrong about filming sharks

  10-07-2020 05:00
  
  From Jaws to James Bond, film-makers have tried to make a fish not inclined to bite humans look hell-bent on doing so“You convince yourself that there is no danger,” Ron Taylor once said of how he captured his groundbreaking underwater footage of sharks. And afterwards, “You wonder how you got out of it alive.”In 1970, Australian divers Taylor and his wife, Valerie, set out with the directors Peter Gimbel and James Lipscomb on a global quest to find and film great white s
  
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• England at serious risk of water shortage by 2040, MPs warn

  10-07-2020 02:02
  
  England is at "serious risk" of running out of water within 20 years because of policymakers', regulators' and the water sector's failure to tackle leakage and align with net-zero.
  
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• England's future water supplies at 'serious risk'

  10-07-2020 01:48 via bbc.co.uk
  
  MPs warn some regions will run out of water within the next 20 years unless "urgent action" is taken.
  
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• Climate change: Road plans will scupper CO2 targets, report says

  10-07-2020 01:47 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The majority of emissions cuts from electric cars will be wiped out by new road-building.
  
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