Environment news

• July rainfall across Australia dips to 43% below average, BoM reports

  03-08-2020 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Some places in NSW and Queensland had record rainfalls, while Tasmania had its second-driest July since 1957Rainfall across Australia was 43% below average in July, continuing a long-term drying trend consistent with rising atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions, the weather bureau says.The Bureau of Meteorology’s climate statement for July says the continent was drier than average across most of its south, from Western Australia to the south-west of New South Wales and including most of Vic
  
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• Other mammals lose out in panda conservation drive

  03-08-2020 18:54 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Several carnivorous animals have almost disappeared from areas set up to protect giant pandas.
  
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• 'There’s still a choice': New Zealand's melting glaciers show the human fingerprints of climate change

  03-08-2020 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  New research has found extreme melting of the country’s glaciers in 2018 was at least ten times more likely due to human-caused global heatingTwice a year, glaciologist Lauren Vargo and her colleagues set up camp beside two small lakes close to New Zealand’s Brewster glacier. Each time the trek to carry the measuring stakes takes a little bit longer as the glacier’s terminus gets further away.Dr Vargo, a native of Ohio now working at the Antarctic Research Centre at the Victori
  
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• Joe Biden has made climate central to his policy agenda. So should UK ministers | Matthew Pennycook

  03-08-2020 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  His pledge will create millions of well-paid jobs, boost public transport and cut inequality. It highlights Britain’s lack of ambition
  • Matthew Pennycook MP is the shadow minister for climate changeThroughout the Democratic party presidential primary, candidate Joe Biden was variously chastised for his preference for incrementalism, for declining to fully endorse the Green New Deal, and for his perceived unwillingness to take on fossil fuel interests. Last December, the Sunrise Movem
  
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• Biden has shown that bold climate action is now common sense. Will UK politicians learn? | Matthew Pennycook

  03-08-2020 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  His pledge to create millions of well-paid jobs, boost public transport and cut inequality highlights Britain’s lack of ambition
  • Matthew Pennycook MP is the shadow minister for climate changeThroughout the Democratic party presidential primary, candidate Joe Biden was variously chastised for his preference for incrementalism, for declining to fully endorse the Green New Deal, and for his perceived unwillingness to take on fossil fuel interests. Last December, the Sunrise Movement, a
  
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• How can businesses boost climate disclosure and green investment in line with changing demands?

  03-08-2020 15:59
  
  Investors and consumers alike are demanding more information on business-related climate risks and whether corporates are spending significant sums on decarbonisation - and this trend is likely to accelerate because of Covid-19. So, what is best practice on investment and disclosure, and how should businesses implement these approaches?
  
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• The pandemic has revealed gruesome animal abuses at US factory farms | Andrew Gawthorpe

  03-08-2020 14:53 via theguardian.com
  
  Stories have emerged of mass killings of chickens and pigs, a tiny fraction of daily abuses heaped on farmed animalsMore than any event in recent history, the coronavirus pandemic has made plain the consequences of our abuse of animals. From the Chinese wet market where the virus likely emerged to the American slaughterhouses which have become key vectors of transmission, our ravenous demand for cheap meat has been implicated in enormous human suffering. But the suffering is not ours alone. The
  
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• Private equity investors launch Paris-aligned climate disclosure framework

  03-08-2020 13:36
  
  A group of private equity investors have launched an international network committing to engage with corporates in reducing carbon emissions in line with the needs of the Paris Agreement.
  
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• Coronavirus: Sewage testing for Covid-19 begins in England

  03-08-2020 12:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Samples will be checked for signs of the virus, to get early warnings of spikes in infection levels.
  
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• KLM's biofuel advertisements were greenwashing, regulator rules

  03-08-2020 12:17
  
  Dutch airline KLM has been ordered to change one of its advertising campaigns after it was found to have over-emphasised the firm's use of biofuel.
  
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• The Great Green Recovery Survey: How is Covid-19 affecting you?

  03-08-2020 11:56
  
  edie has launched a new survey giving readers in the CSR, sustainability and energy professions the chance to have their say on exactly how Covid-19 has affected their organisation, and what they make of the global green recovery movement.
  
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• Vodafone and Defra launch IoT tree monitoring system to inform climate policy

  03-08-2020 11:51
  
  Vodafone has enrolled in a new partnership with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to use Internet of Things (IoT) technology to monitor and research tree growth to assist in tackling the climate crisis.
  
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• Have your say in our green recovery survey: How is Covid-19 affecting you?

  03-08-2020 11:14
  
  edie has launched a new survey giving readers in the CSR, sustainability and energy professions the chance to have their say on how Covid-19 has affected their organisation, and what they make of green recovery plans.
  
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• With big rallies cancelled, young climate activists are adapting election tactics

  03-08-2020 11:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Phone banks, social media and friend-to-friend campaigning are the new focus ahead of this year’s US electionsAre you a first-time voter worried by the climate crisis? We’re looking for guest editorsFor young climate activists in the US, staying home because of the pandemic does not mean staying silent, with plans gathering pace across the country to make their voices heard in November’s elections.It has been nearly a year since an estimated 6 million people across the world jo
  
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• California's 'Apple Fire' – the wildfire in pictures

  03-08-2020 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The fire in Cherry Valley, north-west of Palm Springs, prompted authorities to issue new evacuation orders as crews fought the blazeContinue reading...
  
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• Ban SUV adverts to meet UK climate goals, report urges

  03-08-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  High-polluting cars are threat to public health, says New Weather Institute thinktankAdvertising of sports utility vehicles, which emit more greenhouse gases than other cars, should be banned so the UK can meet its climate goals, a report has said.The large increase in numbers of SUVs in the UK and around the world is the second-largest contributor to the increase in global emissions since 2010, according to the International Energy Agency. Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: a prickle of excitement among the purple thistles

  03-08-2020 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Empingham, Rutland: These emblematic plants may not be widely celebrated south of the border, but they do attract the odd rare butterflyEmpingham Marshy Meadows has transformed since April, the spring flora being succeeded by clouds of fragrant meadowsweet along the damp sedgy bottom of the valley, and on the slopes by bird’s-foot trefoil and buttercups.Although they are the national flower of Scotland, we undercelebrate thistles, their subtle shades and spiky architectures. Here, in addit
  
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• Nasa SpaceX crew return: Dragon capsule splashes down

  03-08-2020 05:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The SpaceX capsule touches down off Florida, in the first crewed US water landing in 45 years.
  
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• More coal power generation closed than opened around the world this year, research finds

  03-08-2020 02:00 via theguardian.com
  
  China continues to increase its coal power, but in India construction has ground to a near haltThe size of the global coal power fleet fell for the first time on record over the first six months of the year, with more generation capacity shutting than starting operation.Global Energy Monitor, a US research and advocacy group that tracks fossil fuel development, found the closure of coal generators closing, mostly across Europe and in the US, outstripped stations being commissioned, largely in As
  
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