Environment news

• UK's Net-Zero Business Champion: We must spark conversations outside our usual circles

  03-02-2021 19:07
  
  The UK's Net-Zero Business Champion, Andrew Griffith MP, used his platform at edie's Sustainability Leaders Forum to urge professionals to engage with their supply chains, competitors and communities to maximise positive outcomes ahead of COP26.
  
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• Sustainability Leaders Awards 2021: Winners revealed at glittering virtual ceremony

  03-02-2021 17:37
  
  Willmott Dixon, the Midcounties Co-operative and Virgin Media were among the big winners of edie's 2021 Sustainability Leaders Awards, announced at a fun-packed virtual awards ceremony on Wednesday afternoon (5 February).
  
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• Real estate giant CDL targets net-zero operations by 2030

  03-02-2021 16:35
  
  City Developments Limited (CDL) has become the first large business in Southeast Asia to sign the World Green Building Council's (WorldGBC) net-zero carbon buildings commitment.
  
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• WATCH: Dame Polly Courtice's inspiring Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech

  03-02-2021 16:32
  
  Dame Polly Courtice delivered a galvanising call to action for future business leaders as part of her Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech at edie's Sustainability Leaders Awards 2021 this afternoon (3 February), claiming "this is the generation that still has time to change everything for the better".
  
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• Court convicts French state for failure to address climate crisis

  03-02-2021 16:18 via theguardian.com
  
  State found guilty of ‘non-respect of its engagements’ aimed at fighting global warmingA Paris court has convicted the French state of failing to address the climate crisis and not keeping its promises to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.In what has been hailed as a historic ruling, the court found the state guilty of “non-respect of its engagements” aimed at combating global warming. Continue reading...
  
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• Plant-based diets crucial to saving global wildlife, says report

  03-02-2021 15:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Vicious circle of cheap but damaging food is biggest destroyer of nature, says UN-backed reportThe global food system is the biggest driver of destruction of the natural world, and a shift to predominantly plant-based diets is crucial in halting the damage, according to a report.Agriculture is the main threat to 86% of the 28,000 species known to be at risk of extinction, the report by the Chatham House thinktank said. Without change, the loss of biodiversity will continue to accelerate and thre
  
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• How can businesses become climate advocates? Here are 8 top tips

  03-02-2021 14:13
  
  Since the UK set its 2050 net-zero target in law, many major businesses have outlined plans for getting there faster. But leadership on climate involves taking a stand and engaging others, as well as going further and faster in-house.
  
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• Costa Coffee expands food waste prevention services across UK

  03-02-2021 10:48
  
  Costa Coffee is expanding a partnership with an anti-food-waste app to offer customers the chance to purchase surplus food from more than 1,100 stores across the UK, having saved 250 tonnes of carbon emissions through the existing collaboration.
  
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• Low-carbon heat: UK's heat pump sales set to almost double this year

  03-02-2021 10:05
  
  The UK's heat pump manufacturers have collectively placed orders with suppliers for more than 67,000 units this year - around double the number currently already in warehouses and on shelves.
  
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• Staying with a hunter showed me Greenland beyond the tourist brochures

  03-02-2021 07:30 via theguardian.com
  
  In a new series about memorable encounters, the writer recalls the time she spent with a family whose way of life is threatened by the climate crisisIn mid-February, after months of darkness, the sun returns to the Upernavik archipelago in the far north-west of Greenland. After spending the long polar night working in the archives of Upernavik Museum, I’m eager to leave the islands and experience life elsewhere in the Arctic.By March, I’m flying south in clear spring skies. As the pr
  
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• Terrawatch: the adventurous icebergs that trigger ice ages

  03-02-2021 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Antarctic bergs travelling north spark changes in ocean circulations and affect composition of our atmosphereHow does an ice age start? We know that changes in the Earth’s orbit around the sun alter the amount of solar energy reaching our planet, but it has long been a mystery as to how this triggers such a dramatic change in the climate. A study shows that Antarctic icebergs may be responsible for tipping the balance.Aidan Starr, from Cardiff University, and his team analysed sediments re
  
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• Country diary: slim pickings for a goldcrest in winter

  03-02-2021 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Crook, Co Durham: The bird pulled morsels from mossy crevices, but all I could find were tiny pupa of a micromothOn such a dazzling winter’s day in any other year, I might have gone over the hills and far away. Westwards, over the Pennines to Cumbria’s Eden valley; north to Tynedale; south through the Yorkshire Dales; eastwards, to the sea cliffs. But this afternoon, once again, my four-mile local lockdown route from my doorstep took me around familiar plantations, pastures and arabl
  
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• Government 'painfully slow' on protecting environment

  03-02-2021 06:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  There are serious delays in tackling “critical” issues like air quality and wildlife loss, MPs say.
  
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• Traffic noise impairs songbirds' abilities

  03-02-2021 04:48 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A bird problem-solving experiment has revealed how traffic noise impairs the animals' abilities.
  
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• The African painted dogs that vote by sneezing and run on 'shadow puppet legs' | Helen Sullivan

  03-02-2021 01:20 via theguardian.com
  
  African wild dog pups are a dim black and look ancient, like old bronze, like the Capitoline WolfThe African painted dog – also known as a wild dog or painted wolf – has ears that look as though they have been stitched together by a mad old toymaker. They are huge, bristly black disks – stretched upwards slightly and delicately pinned so that they form shallow bowls. At their bases are tufts of white bristles, for luck.As a child in South Africa, I was forced more than once to
  
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• UK's progress on nature and the environment 'painfully slow', MPs warn

  03-02-2021 01:02
  
  The UK Government is not on track to deliver its vision of improving the natural environment within a generation, due to "serious delays" implementing legislation and "disappointing progress" against existing goals and requirements on air, water and wildlife.
  
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• Human noise affects animal behaviour, studies show

  03-02-2021 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Traffic noise affected zebra finches’ foraging habits and field crickets’ matingWorking from home during Covid-19 has brought noise pollution close to home, whether it’s your partner making calls within earshot or grinding coffee during your Zoom interview. Now research suggests the animal kingdom is also disturbed by the noise of humans and our gadgets.As humans proliferate, we have penetrated deeper into wildlife habitats, creating a pervasive rise in environmental sound that
  
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