Environment news

• How coal baron Trevor St Baker turned a $1m power plant into a money-making machine

  04-12-2020 20:00
  
  In 2015, the ageing Vales Point station seemed destined for the scrapheap – now, it’s making more than $100m a yearIf you are hoping to make your way in the energy business, you could do worse than to find someone who looks at you the way Coalition governments look at businessman Trevor St Baker.In September 2015, the then NSW treasurer, Gladys Berejiklian, sold the Vales Point coal power plant to St Baker’s Sunset Power International for just $1m. Continue reading...
  
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• A change in the weather: new demand for TV presenters to include climate in forecasts

  04-12-2020 20:00
  
  The ABC’s Graham Creed says new climate change research could ‘fill a big gap’ in public understandingGraham Creed has spent 30 years with his head in synoptic charts, and for the past 20 he’s been on television letting Australians know if it’s going to be hot, cold, wet or dry.But for the past two years, usually at the end of months with heatwaves and extreme temperatures, Creed has been adding extra information to his weather segments. Continue reading...
  
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• The Guardian view on Amazonian cave art: a story about the environment, too | Editorial

  04-12-2020 19:25
  
  Astonishing rock paintings discovered in Colombia hold a lesson for today’s rainforestIn the past week, remarkable images of ancient cave art have hit the headlines: rock paintings made in South America around 12,000 years ago. The art, created on rock faces in the Serranía de la Lindosa, on the northern edge of the Colombian Amazon, is a riot of ochre-coloured geometrical pattern, handprints, and images of animals and humans. Until recent excavations, the works of art had been unkn
  
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• Police move in after Herefordshire river bulldozed and straightened

  04-12-2020 15:58
  
  Witness describes damage to mile-long stretch of Lugg as egregious act of ‘ecological vandalism’Police and environment agency staff have moved in to stop further damage being done to a protected river, after what one witness described as one of the most egregious acts of ecological vandalism in 25 years.A mile-long stretch of the River Lugg outside Kingsland, near Leominster in Herefordshire, has been flattened by a bulldozer. Trees have been felled, the river straightened and the ri
  
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• William v Harry: are princes in a charity work battle royal?

  04-12-2020 15:52
  
  Conservation charity videos prompt speculation the brothers are engaged in publicity tug of war
  It was a roster of “wonderful talent”, Prince William said earlier this week. And so it gave him great pleasure to honour the winners of the Tusk awards, organised by a conservation charity working in Africa of which he is patron, at an online ceremony.“I hope their stories go far and wide,” the Duke of Cambridge continued, in a video call from one of his several drawing rooms.
  
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• Accelerating climate action: edie publishes Net-Zero November round-up report

  04-12-2020 15:08
  
  For those who missed edie's special themed month of content - Net-Zero November, headlined by Net-Zero Live - edie has published a report recapping all the key announcements and talking points.
  
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• Climate change: UK aim of 68% emissions cut a 'colossal challenge'

  04-12-2020 13:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The "ambitious" target for 2030 would see the UK move faster than any major economy, the PM says.
  
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• Uniper targets carbon neutrality by 2050, outlines coal-free vision

  04-12-2020 12:55
  
  German multinational energy giant Uniper has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality across its global business by 2050, outlining new goals around coal phase-outs and green hydrogen.
  
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• M&S expands plastic-free refill offering as UK lockdown lifts

  04-12-2020 12:05
  
  Marks and Spencer (M&S) has launched its packaging-free refill offering for dried, ambient and frozen foods in a third store due to growing customer demand.
  
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• Legal & General to halve emissions of £81bn pension portfolio by 2030

  04-12-2020 11:43
  
  Legal & General's Retirement arm has pledged to halve the carbon emission intensity of its annuity book, which totals almost £81bn, within a decade.
  
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• Nasa to pay company $1 to collect rocks from moon

  04-12-2020 11:29 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The US space agency has awarded two American and one Japanese firm contracts to pick up lunar soil.
  
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• A 'vital step': Green economy reacts to the UK's new climate commitment

  04-12-2020 10:08
  
  Green groups and business leaders have welcomed Prime Minister Boris Johnson's announcement that the UK has created an updated domestic emissions target for 2030 as its contribution to the Paris Agreement, but with progress lacking against upcoming carbon budgets, many want to see more detailed action plans.
  
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• What's the point of lab-grown meat when we can simply eat more vegetables? | Jenny Kleeman

  04-12-2020 10:00
  
  The corporate race for cultured protein rests on a view of human beings as greedy and incapable of changeThe stuff of science fiction has landed on our plates. Meat grown in a lab, instead of inside the body of an animal, has been approved for sale for the first time. The Singapore Food Agency has given regulatory approval to Eat Just’s “chicken bites”, grown from the cells of a chicken that’s still flapping its wings. The US startup took a biopsy of cells from a live chi
  
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• Global soils underpin life but future looks ‘bleak’, warns UN report

  04-12-2020 10:00
  
  It takes thousands of years for soils to form, meaning protection is needed urgently, say scientistsGlobal soils are the source of all life on land but their future looks “bleak” without action to halt degradation, according to the authors of a UN report.A quarter of all the animal species on Earth live beneath our feet and provide the nutrients for all food. Soils also store as much carbon as all plants above ground and are therefore critical in tackling the climate emergency. But t
  
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• UK vows to outdo other economies with 68% emissions cuts by 2030

  04-12-2020 09:53
  
  Boris Johnson promises to go further and faster by setting target of 68% reduction in annual carbon emissionsThe UK will cut greenhouse gas emissions further and faster than any other major economy in the next decade, according to a new carbon target set out by the prime minister.There will be a reduction of 68% in annual carbon emissions by 2030, compared with 1990 levels, a significant increase on the current target of about 57% reductions. The raising of ambition on tackling climate breakdown
  
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• US plans to protect thousands of miles of coral reefs in Pacific and Caribbean

  04-12-2020 09:45
  
  Proposals cite climate change as most severe threat to US reefs, which may be in danger of disappearing in some placesIn a long-awaited move from the Trump administration, the US has proposed critical habitat protections for twelve coral species in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean. The rules would protect over 6,000 sq miles (nearly 16,000 sq km) of critical coral habitat.The rules cite climate change as the most severe threat to all 12 coral species across their range. Impacts of the climate cri
  
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• Local authorities 'need more government support to deliver net-zero visions'

  04-12-2020 09:07
  
  Three-quarters of local councils in England have declared climate emergencies - but funding shortages and issues with the skills pipeline could hinder their net-zero progress, according to new analysis from Green Alliance.
  
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• Going wild? A radical green plan for Nottingham's unloved shopping centre

  04-12-2020 07:01
  
  Could replacing empty shops with wetlands, woodlands and meadows offer a new model for cities? Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAn empty 1970s shopping centre in Nottingham could be transformed into wetlands, pocket woodlands and a wildflower meadow as part of a post-pandemic urban rewilding project.The debate about Broadmarsh shopping centre, considered an eyesore by many, has rumbled on for years. This year it was undergoing a £86m revamp by real estate i
  
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• Pollutionwatch: toxic threat from wood burning and tyre dust

  04-12-2020 07:00
  
  Swiss study analyses different sources of air pollution – the fourth largest risk factor for early deathGlobally, breathing polluted air is the fourth largest risk factor for an early death. Most of this health impact comes from particles that pollute the air that we breath. We know from industrial diseases that inhaling some types of particle such as asbestos or coal dust is harmful. In outdoor air, the particles that we breathe come from a wide variety of sources and it is unclear what s
  
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