Environment news

• UK's net-zero transition will create up to 1.7 million green jobs this decade, report finds

  25-03-2021 23:31
  
  If the UK Government adopts the Climate Change Committee's Sixth Carbon Budget advice and supports businesses accordingly, some 1.7 million new 'green-collar' jobs can be created by 2030.
  
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• Brazil meat giant JBS vows net zero by 2040 amid record profits

  25-03-2021 19:27
  
  Much of net-zero target could be met if JBS ended deforestation by Amazon suppliers, say campaignersThe Brazilian company JBS, the world’s biggest meat processor, has announced record profits a day after it pledged to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 – the first global meat and poultry company to do so.Surging exports to China and Hong Kong fed its record profit of 4bn Brazilian reais (£516m) for the last quarter of 2020 – up a staggering 65% on the previou
  
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• Top US scientists back $100m geoengineering research programme

  25-03-2021 16:00
  
  All options to fight climate crisis must be explored, says national academy, but critics fear side-effectsThe US should establish a multimillion-dollar research programme on solar geoengineering, according to the country’s national science academy.In a report it recommends funding of $100m (£73m) to $200m over five years to better understand the feasibility of interventions to dim the sun, the risk of harmful unintended consequences and how such technology could be governed in an eth
  
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• 'Dimming the sun': $100m geoengineering research programme proposed

  25-03-2021 16:00
  
  All options to fight climate crisis must be explored, says national academy, but critics fear side-effectsThe US should establish a multimillion-dollar research programme on solar geoengineering, according to the country’s national science academy.In a report it recommends funding of $100m (£73m) to $200m over five years to better understand the feasibility of interventions to dim the sun, the risk of harmful unintended consequences and how such technology could be governed in an eth
  
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• SustyTalk: Planet Patrol's Lizzie Carr on single-use plastics and business activism

  25-03-2021 15:26
  
  edie's #SustyTalk series continues during Circular Economy Week, with Planet Patrol's founder and activist Lizzie Carr discussing public attitudes towards single-use plastics and how businesses can become activists to help create a closed-loop future.
  
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• Indigenous peoples by far the best guardians of forests – UN report

  25-03-2021 15:00
  
  Preserving Latin America’s forests is vital to fight the climate crisis and deforestation is lower in indigenous territoriesThe embattled indigenous peoples of Latin America are by far the best guardians of the regions’ forests, according to a UN report, with deforestation rates up to 50% lower in their territories than elsewhere.Protecting the vast forests is vital to tackling the climate crisis and plummeting populations of wildlife, and the report found that recognising the rights
  
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• Extinction: Elephants driven to the brink by poaching

  25-03-2021 14:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The ivory trade and habitat loss combine to push Africa's elephants closer to extinction.
  
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• Facial recognition beats the Covid-mask challenge

  25-03-2021 14:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  As people all over the world mask up, how has the facial-recognition industry coped?
  
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• Shades of grey: how to tell African elephant species apart

  25-03-2021 14:00
  
  From their ears, tusks and legs to their family lifestyles and habitats, here are the key differencesAfrican elephant recognised as two separate species – both endangered
  There are now three recognised species of elephant – the Asian elephant, the African savanna elephant and the African forest elephant.All three are recognised as threatened with extinction after an important revision to the “red list”, where the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) compi
  
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• Africa’s forest elephant has been largely overlooked. Now we need to fight for it | Lee White

  25-03-2021 14:00
  
  This critically endangered ‘gardener’ of the forest has been ‘red listed’ independent of its famous savanna relative for the first time. It’s time to take its plight seriouslyAfrican elephant recognised as two separate species – both endangeredScience and conservation politics have finally agreed that Africa is home to two elephant species: the savanna and forest elephant. The debate lasted about two decades, with the politics of elephant conservation and the
  
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• African elephant recognised as two separate species – both endangered

  25-03-2021 14:00
  
  ‘Red list’ assessment of two separate African species exposes ‘critically endangered’ status of forest elephants, down 86% in 31 yearsShades of grey: how to tell African elephant species apartThe first ever “red list” assessment of the African elephant as two separate species – the forest elephant and savanna elephant – has found that both are threatened with extinction, according to an updated review of the world’s most at-risk plants and an
  
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• UK ‘flying blind’ on levels of toxic chemicals in tap water

  25-03-2021 13:58
  
  Government is not testing drinking water for PFAS, which studies have linked to numerous health issuesThe UK government is not testing drinking water for a group of toxic manmade chemicals linked to a range of diseases including cancers, while across the world people are falling sick and suing for hundreds of millions of dollars at a time after finding the substances in their tap water.Known collectively as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), or “forever chemicals” because th
  
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• New Alan Turing £50 note design is revealed

  25-03-2021 13:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The banknote will enter circulation on 23 June - Alan Turing's birthday - and will be made of polymer.
  
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• Covid-19 sees emissions fall 10% in 2020 as UK nears half-way mark to net-zero

  25-03-2021 11:37
  
  The impacts of the coronavirus pandemic delivered an estimated 10.7% reduction in carbon emissions in 2020, with total greenhouse gas emissions almost 50% lower than they were in 1990, the baseline year for the UK's net-zero target.
  
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• Covid-19 sees carbon emissions fall 10% in 2020 as UK nears half-way mark to net-zero

  25-03-2021 11:37
  
  The impacts of the coronavirus pandemic delivered an estimated 10.7% reduction in carbon emissions in 2020, with total greenhouse gas emissions almost 50% lower than they were in 1990, the baseline year for the UK's net-zero target.
  
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• The US military is poisoning communities across the US with toxic chemicals

  25-03-2021 11:24
  
  The Department of Defense has ordered the burning of 20m pounds of AFFF – despite risks to human healthOne of the most enduring, indestructible toxic chemicals known to man – Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF), which is a PFAS “forever chemical” – is being secretly incinerated next to disadvantaged communities in the United States. The people behind this crackpot operation? It’s none other than the US military.As new data published by Bennington College this wee
  
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• Interface launches its first 'carbon negative' carpets

  25-03-2021 11:15
  
  In a major step towards its vision to become a carbon-negative business by 2040, modular flooring firm Interface has launched its first carbon-negative certified product in the UK.
  
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• Hopes rise for US climate shift with Deb Haaland at interior helm

  25-03-2021 11:05
  
  Experts say new interior secretary will renew focus on climate emergency and public lands after years of cuts under TrumpAfter four years under an administration that denied the climate crisis, opened public lands to oil and gas drilling and stripped protections from national monuments, the US interior department will look radically different with Deb Haaland at its helm.Haaland, the first Native American cabinet secretary in US history and a member of the Laguna Pueblo, was sworn in to her post
  
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• 'A bold agenda': hopes rise for US climate change reversal as Deb Haaland sworn in

  25-03-2021 11:05
  
  Experts say new interior secretary will renew focus on climate emergency and public lands after years of cuts under TrumpAfter four years under an administration that denied the climate crisis, opened public lands to oil and gas drilling and stripped protections from national monuments, the US interior department will look radically different with Deb Haaland at its helm.Haaland, the first Native American cabinet secretary in US history and a member of the Laguna Pueblo, was sworn in to her post
  
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• Building resilience post-Covid-19: Businesses urged to 'reinvent capitalism' and regenerate nature

  25-03-2021 10:53
  
  If the climate crisis is to be averted and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals to be met, businesses must help to "reinvent capitalism" so the "true value" of nature and society are appreciated.
  
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• Government ponders mandatory TCFD requirements for businesses in 2022

  25-03-2021 10:45
  
  The Government is considering creating a legal requirement for private UK companies to outline and disclose climate-related risks to their business in line with Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations, with a mandate potentially coming into force next year.
  
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• The latest must-have among US billionaires? A plan to end the climate crisis

  25-03-2021 10:00
  
  Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates have an estimated wealth of $466bn – and are emblematic of a Davos-centric worldview that sees free markets and tech as the answerThe latest must-have for America’s ultra-rich isn’t another mega yacht or space program – it’s a plan to save the world from the climate crisis. Related: The race to zero: can America reach net-zero emissions by 2050?Continue reading...
  
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• Lava, floating rocks and the Blob: the mystery behind the deaths of millions of seabirds

  25-03-2021 08:39
  
  Almost a decade ago 3 million shearwaters arrived on Australian beaches and died. Now researchers know why Scientists finally know why millions of seabirds wound up dead on Australian beaches after unravelling a complex tale involving floating rocks, an underwater volcano and possibly something called the Blob.Back in 2013, the carcasses of short-tailed shearwaters, commonly known as muttonbirds, were found en masse along Australia’s east coast. Continue reading...
  
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• Traffic wars: who will win the battle for city streets?

  25-03-2021 07:00
  
  Radical new plans to reduce traffic and limit our dependence on cars have sparked bitter conflict. As legal challenges escalate, will Britain’s great traffic experiment be shut down before we have time to see the benefits?On an overcast Saturday afternoon in December, a convoy of 30 cars, led by a red Chevrolet pickup truck, set off from the car park of an east-London Asda with hazard lights flashing. The motorists, who formed a “festive motorcade”, wore Santa hats as they made
  
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• Marswatch: high hopes for first powered controlled flight on another planet

  25-03-2021 07:00
  
  Mars mission’s next major milestone will be deployment of Ingenuity, a small helicopterWelcome to the first in a new series of occasional Marswatch columns. With the change of administration in America, the moon landings scheduled for 2024 are likely to be moved back to their original target of 2028. So we thought we’d change our focus to Mars.The big news at Mars is the landing of Nasa’s rover Perseverance. It touched down on 18 February and has been successfully exploring the
  
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• Country diary: where are the violets?

  25-03-2021 06:30
  
  Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: These longed-for heralds of spring would make this wild morning completeIt begins with geese: the laughing gods, flying laps around their nesting ponds behind the priory before honking over trees, through the mizzle, north-west to Venus Pool, the river’s green hunger their guiding light.Here, in the hedges around the Mayfield, the smoky white of blackthorn winter gathers and a robin sings the world into the wind. Sunlight breaks into the hills, flashing around dow
  
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• NSW floods bring chaos and destruction – in pictures

  25-03-2021 01:52
  
  Guardian Australia photographer Mike Bowers has spent the week documenting one of the state’s worst-hit areas, the mid-north coast. The deluge and its aftermath have been horrific, particularly for farmers. WARNING: this gallery contains images of dead animalsWeather eases but major flooding still occurring across state‘Couldn’t get out’: man who drowned in car stayed on the phone to emergency services for 40 minutes Continue reading...
  
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• Why cutting down trees can be good for the climate

  25-03-2021 01:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Tree felling is helping to restore an ancient ecosystem which can store even more carbon than trees do.
  
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• Government launches consultations on Deposit Return Scheme and Extended Producer Responsibility

  25-03-2021 01:01
  
  MPs have today introduced new consultations to create the largest ever overhaul to the waste and resources sector, recommending that manufacturers cover the full costs of recycling packaging waste, standardising domestic and commercial waste collection and introducing a Deposit Return Scheme for certain types of packaging in 2024.
  
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