Environment news

• Whitehaven coal mine plan to be re-examined by council

  09-02-2021 19:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Councillors will reconsider the planning application in the light of climate change advice.
  
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• 'It's an ecological wasteland': offsets for Sydney toll way were promised but never delivered

  09-02-2021 17:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The M7 was supposed to be offset by environmental protection 15 years ago. Leaked documents show that never happenedWestern Sydney has seen some of the most intensive urban development in Australia in the past 20 years – and what’s known as “conservation offsets” have been used as a bargaining chip to make this rapid construction of new residential suburbs and infrastructure more palatable to the public.But an investigation by Guardian Australia has found at least two ins
  
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• 'It's an ecological wasteland': offsets for Sydney toll road were promised but never delivered

  09-02-2021 17:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The M7 was supposed to be offset by environmental protection 15 years ago. Leaked documents show that never happenedWestern Sydney has seen some of the most intensive urban development in Australia in the past 20 years – and what’s known as “conservation offsets” have been used as a bargaining chip to make this rapid construction of new residential suburbs and infrastructure more palatable to the public.But an investigation by Guardian Australia has found at least two ins
  
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• Cumbria County Council puts plans for controversial coal mine on hold

  09-02-2021 17:25
  
  After much criticism of its decision to approve the UK's first deep coal mine in more than 30 years, Cumbria County Council has confirmed that it will reconsider the move.
  
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• County council to reconsider Cumbria coalmine application

  09-02-2021 16:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Planning proposal for project near Whitehaven faces widespread opposition from environmentalistsCumbria county council has said it will reconsider the planning application for a new coalmine near Whitehaven, which has prompted widespread criticism.Government ministers in January declined to intervene in the go-ahead for the mine on the basis it was a local decision, but environmental campaigners have warned it undermines UK efforts to tackle climate change. Continue reading...
  
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• Animals farmed: insects for lunch, £2bn for mink farmers and the future of male chicks

  09-02-2021 15:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Welcome to our monthly roundup of the biggest issues in farming and food production, with must-read reports from around the webFrench president Emmanuel Macron has said Europe should grow its own soy and that to depend on Brazilian soy “would be to condone deforestation of the Amazon”. The EU is the second largest importer of Brazil’s agricultural products after China, and Brazil is seeking to expand exports with a trade deal with the EU. More than 1m tonnes of soya used by UK
  
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• Sustainability Leaders Forum: Five top tips for turning climate ambition into action

  09-02-2021 12:54
  
  With the dust settling on three days of thought-provoking conversations at edie's Sustainability Leaders Forum (SLF), edie rounds up how businesses can make 2021 a super year for climate action, which turns ambition into action for corporate sustainability.
  
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• UK's energy storage pipeline passes 16GW

  09-02-2021 12:23
  
  The UK has more than 16GW of battery storage capacity planned across more than 700 projects, with the technology emerging as a key enabler of the net-zero target, new research has revealed.
  
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• ‘This land feeds our souls’: the battle to save the Rockies from big coal

  09-02-2021 12:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Growing opposition to the lifting of mining protections in Alberta has forced the Canadian province to backtrackTo the east of the Bluebird Valley ranch, the grasslands of the Canadian prairies extend beyond the horizon. To the west, the fields rise, and then sharply erupt into the Rocky Mountains.Cattle graze the 3,600 hectares (9,000 acres) of the Bluebird, an hour south-west of Calgary, and on hot summer days rancher Jolayne Gardner’s children jump into the chilly waters of a creek that
  
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• Premier Inn turns to flywheel energy storage to assist electric vehicle charging

  09-02-2021 11:53
  
  Whitbread-owned Premier Inn has installed a kinetic energy storage system for electric vehicle (EV) charging at its Leipzig hotel in Germany to help overcome poor grid balance.
  
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• Biden's new conservation corps stirs hopes of nature-focused hiring spree

  09-02-2021 11:20 via theguardian.com
  
  A 1930s initiative that tackled environmental woes and unemployment could inspire the new administration’s plans to confront the climate crisis Nearly a century ago, the US faced unemployment at 25% and environmental woes such as flooding along major rivers and extensive deforestation. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt decided to tackle these emergencies simultaneously by creating the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as part of his New Deal. Related: Trump's assault on the environment i
  
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• Climate crisis pushing great white sharks into new waters

  09-02-2021 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Shift is caused by the heating of the oceans and other wildlife is suffering more attacks The climate crisis is pushing great white sharks into new waters where they are causing populations of endangered wildlife to plunge, research has shown.Heating of the oceans, which reached a record level in 2020, has led young great white sharks to move 600km (373 miles) northwards off the coast of California since 2014, into waters that were previously too cold. Over that time there was a dramatic rise in
  
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• Bailiffs find tunnels at Highbury Corner as tree protector activists are evicted – video

  09-02-2021 10:29 via theguardian.com
  
  A second tunnel or tunnel network has been occupied by activists in London in a protest against plans by Islington council to fell a range of mature trees.Activists say the tunnel at Highbury Corner tree protection camp was built by the crew that dug the tunnel at the Euston Square Gardens HS2 protection camp.Activists occupy second London tunnel in protest at tree-felling plansContinue reading...
  
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• UK Power Networks funnels £80m into net-zero projects

  09-02-2021 09:58
  
  The network operator that provides energy to more than 18 million people across London and the South East has launched an £80m fund to support projects that will contribute to the UK's net-zero emissions target for 2050.
  
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• Climate change: New targets to eliminate Wales' gases

  09-02-2021 09:56 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Changes could mean replacing gas boilers in homes and finding new ways to make steel without coal.
  
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• Absolut hits recycled materials target four years early

  09-02-2021 09:48
  
  The Absolut Company has met a target to use 50% recycled material in its glass bottles four years ahead of schedule.
  
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• Activists occupy second London tunnel in protest at tree-felling plans

  09-02-2021 09:16 via theguardian.com
  
  Highbury Corner tunnel built by same crew behind HS2 protest tunnel at Euston, say environmentalists
  A second tunnel or tunnel network has been occupied by tree protectors in central London in protest at plans by Islington council to fell a range of mature trees.In a statement on Tuesday, activists said: “Early this morning, authorities were reeling to discover they’d failed to learn their lesson from The Great Escape – that there’s always more than one tunnel!” Con
  
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• 'Invisible killer': fossil fuels caused 8.7m deaths globally in 2018, research finds

  09-02-2021 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Pollution from power plants, vehicles and other sources accounted for one in five of all deaths that year, more detailed analysis reveals
  Air pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil was responsible for 8.7m deaths globally in 2018, a staggering one in five of all people who died that year, new research has found.Countries with the most prodigious consumption of fossil fuels to power factories, homes and vehicles are suffering the highest death tolls, with the study f
  
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• Australia's climate wars were always stupid. Now they've got even dumber | Katharine Murphy

  09-02-2021 08:32 via theguardian.com
  
  Climate action wreckers who used to rant about real things – carbon pricing, a national energy guarantee – are spouting about policies that don’t even existGiven Australian politics has transited back to climate change, stupid isn’t really a shock. Stupid is the default.But even though stupid is to be expected – and stupid always gets supercharged when the Coalition fuses its climate change “debates” with internal leadership tension – I’m sti
  
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• Joanna Lumley urges PM to stop detonation of bombs that deafen whales

  09-02-2021 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Boris Johnson told exploding wartime ordinance to clear way for windfarms can harm marine lifeJoanna Lumley has urged Boris Johnson to stop the “needless” detonation of wartime bombs at sea because it can cause deafness and even death in vulnerable whales and dolphins.In a letter to the prime minister and his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, who is a conservationist and animal welfare campaigner, the actor describes underwater explosions used to clear ordinance ahead of windfarm construction
  
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• Whale threats from fishing gear 'underestimated'

  09-02-2021 04:15 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Blue whales may be at a bigger risk than previously thought of getting entangled in fishing nets.
  
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• Poor environmental disclosure to add $120bn to supply chain costs

  09-02-2021 01:01
  
  Businesses could face up to $120bn in additional costs across their supply chains from the impacts of climate and environmental breakdown in the next five years, new research from CDP has warned.
  
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