Environment news

• Building a better battery

  28-06-2016 22:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  Forget mousetraps -- today's scientists will get the cheese if they manage to build a better battery.An international team led by Texas A&M University chemist Sarbajit Banerjee is one step closer, thanks to new research published today (June 28) in the journal Nature Communications that has the potential to create more efficient batteries by shedding light on the cause of one of their biggest problems -- a "traffic jam" of ions that slows down their charging and discharging process
  
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• Portugal fined £8.7m by EU court for failing to protect biodiversity

  05-03-2026 15:35
  The court of justice said Portugal had committed serious infringements of EU environmental lawPortugal has been fined €10m (£8.7m) by the EU’s court of justice for failing to comply with environmental laws that require it to protect biodiversity. It has also been ordered to pay €41,250 a day until it complies with a previous court order in 2019.The court said it was imposing the maximum fine possible to “encourage” Portugal to bring the infringement to an end. C
  
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• Marsupials previously thought extinct for millennia discovered in New Guinea

  05-03-2026 14:01
  The chances of finding one mammal species thought to be lost was ‘almost zero’ and finding two is ‘unprecedented’, biologist Tim Flannery saysResearchers led by the Australian scientist Tim Flannery have made a once-in-a-lifetime discovery: that two charismatic marsupial species that had been thought extinct for 6,000 years are alive in rainforest in remote West Papua.The pair are rare examples of “Lazarus taxa” – species that disappeared from fossil rec
  
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• UK must double down on renewables as wars drive up energy costs, experts say

  05-03-2026 12:00
  Fossil fuel price surge after US-Israeli attacks on Iran prompts calls to end dependence on ‘volatile’ energy sourceMiddle East crisis live – latest updatesThe UK government must double down on its clean energy drive to protect bill payers from increasingly volatile fossil fuel markets in the wake of the US-Israel war on Iran, climate groups, academics and energy experts have warned.Research published on Thursday shows that the last fossil fuel energy crisis, caused by the Russ
  
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• You be the judge: should my eco-conscious husband park his dislike of flying?

  05-03-2026 09:00
  Jenny wants to spread her wings and see the world, but Teddy is happy at home. Where do they go from here? You decide• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a jurorI worry about my carbon footprint, but you can’t go everywhere by train and I want to see the worldIt’s not an environmental issue. I’ve just had my fill of flying and don’t really enjoy being a tourist Continue reading...
  
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• Weatherwatch: how a warmer world and more rain could transform Antarctica

  05-03-2026 07:00
  Shrinking and faster-moving glaciers, weakened ice shelves and more icebergs would bring fundamental changesYou don’t need an umbrella in Antarctica. With an average of just 16cm of precipitation each year, this continent is the world’s largest desert. But all that could change. A study shows that as the world warms, Antarctica is going to experience more rain, bringing with it fundamental changes to the landscape and wildlife inhabiting this unique environment.Bethan Davies, a glaci
  
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• Lobbyists send legal threats to councils over anti-wood burner campaigns

  05-03-2026 07:00
  At least eight councils receive legal threats alleging flyers criticising wood burners are in breach of advertising codesLobbyists for the UK wood-burning stove industry have threatened councils with legal action over public information campaigns warning of the harms of air pollution.At least eight councils have received legal threats, according to research by the British Medical Journal (BMJ). The Stove Industry Association (SIA), which represents the UK’s expanding industry around the bu
  
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• Country diary: When wild swans need a human hand | Sara Hudston

  05-03-2026 06:30
  Abbotsbury, Dorset: The swannery has been here since the 11th century, and this winter, after the storms harmed the flock’s feeding, it came into its ownThe sea is rough and turbid, with big, grey waves breaking white all along the pebbled length of Chesil Beach, but the water in the lagoon behind is merely ruffled. Here at the westernmost end, the shore is white not with surf but with hundreds of mute swans.There has been a swannery at Abbotsbury since the 11th century, when Benedictine m
  
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• Will China own the green energy future? – podcast

  05-03-2026 06:00
  The conflict in the Middle East has sent energy prices soaring, and for countries that import a high proportion of their fuel, it’s a reminder of the perils of energy dependence. As the recipient of almost 90% of Iran’s crude oil, China knows this only too well. Which partly explains why the country spent the last decade heavily investing in clean power.To find out what else could be driving the strategy, Madeleine Finlay speaks to senior China correspondent Amy Hawkins. And energy c
  
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• Tiny, lost and constipated: what a baby turtle told Australian scientists about warming seas

  05-03-2026 06:00
  The arrival of loggerheads in New South Wales shows these ‘sentinels of climate change’ are being forced into unknown territoryWhen Bulwal Bilima (BB for short) first arrived at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, she, or possibly he, was lethargic, badly constipated and dehydrated. Named “strong turtle” in the Aboriginal Dhurga language of the Yuin people on whose land it was found, the tiny 110g loggerhead hatchling, no bigger than a bar of soap, had a fight on its hands.
  
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• A Europe of clean, green cities and resurgent industry is a fantasy – unless we get really creative | Hans Larsson

  05-03-2026 06:00
  If we want things to be ‘Made in Europe’ again, we need to be realistic about how grimy and grey our centres of commerce once were“Bitterfeld, Bitterfeld, where dirt falls from the sky,” went a popular saying. Located in the intensely industrialised Chemical Triangle of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), in the 1980s Bitterfeld became known as the dirtiest town in Europe. Its chemical industry and lignite mines dumped toxic waste in waterways, and the air carried a con
  
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• A delightful day at the dump: ‘The trick is not to leave with more stuff than I arrived with!’

  05-03-2026 06:00
  At the council recycling tip in Chingford, people drop off fridges, dishwashers, mattresses, golf clubs, bicycles and batteries – then head into the shop to hunt through the weird and wonderful treasuresWhen an embalmed rabbit in a Perspex box arrived at the dump in Chingford, north-east London, last year, with fur on its head but its organs and skeleton exposed to teach veterinary students about the digestive system, Lisa Charlton knew she had to save it from landfill. She was sure that o
  
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• Rachel Reeves should scrap the North Sea windfall tax now

  04-03-2026 19:33
  The UK should optimise North Sea oil and gas production while it transfers to renewables and nuclear developmentsThe chancellor’s failure to reform or remove the energy profits levy (EPL) – aka the North Sea windfall tax – in her spring statement was a case of “political expediency and more to do with putting one byelection result ahead of the economic needs of the country”. Who said that? Some Tory or Reform politician being opportunist as war in Iran puts the UK&r
  
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• Trump has launched an unprecedented assault on the environment. Where’s the pushback?

  04-03-2026 17:56
  Climate deniers expected more resistance to the fossil fuel blitz. But Democrats, billionaires and activists have gone silentThis story is published in partnership with DeSmog, the climate investigations siteAs Donald Trump assaults the legal foundation of America’s ability to regulate global warming emissions, climate deniers have been privately celebrating what they claim is the “silent” acquiescence of billionaires, Democrats, climate activists and even reporters to the pres
  
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• Analysis finds urban areas in England where no one lives within 15-minute walk of nature

  04-03-2026 17:52
  Government says it is working to solve ‘postcode lottery’ of access to green or blue spacesThere are urban areas of England where no one lives within a 15-minute walk of nature, government data shows, as ministers scramble to meet their access to nature targets.While the data shows 80% of people live within walking distance of green or blue spaces such as a river, park or woodland, it also reveals a disparity between rural and poorer urban areas. Continue reading...
  
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• Global sea levels have been underestimated due to poor modelling, research suggests

  04-03-2026 17:00
  Analysis shows average levels are 30cm higher than thought, and up to 150cm in south-east Asia and Indo-PacificSea levels around the world have been underestimated due to inaccurate modelling, with research suggesting ocean levels are far higher than previously understood.The finding could significantly affect assessments of the future impacts of global heating and the effects on coastal settlements. Continue reading...
  
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• Fever dream: Australia swelters through one of the hottest summers on record, with little relief at night

  04-03-2026 15:00
  Data shows that some locations stayed well above 30C through the night during a heatwave in late JanuaryWant to get more charts in your inbox every fortnight? Sign up for The Crunch hereAustralia’s summer was one of the hottest since measurements began, with more than 60 weather stations recording their highest ever daily maximum temperatures during a heatwave in January.But it wasn’t just the days that were sweltering – Australia experienced the fifth-warmest summertime night
  
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• Fever dream: Australia sweltered through one of the hottest summers on record, with little relief at night

  04-03-2026 15:00
  Data shows that some locations stayed well above 30C through the night during a heatwave in late JanuaryWant to get more charts in your inbox every fortnight? Sign up for The Crunch hereFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesAustralia’s summer was one of the hottest since measurements began, with more than 60 weather stations recording their highest ever daily maximum temperatures during a heatwave in January.But it wasn’t just the days that were sweltering – Aus
  
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• Relentless sun and ruthless populists: how the climate crisis will change the next 20 years

  04-03-2026 14:00
  Former diplomat Arthur Snell says a heating planet is accelerating conflict and migration – and fostering a new age of empire. Democracies are dangerously unprepared, he warnsAfter a diplomatic career spent in the war zones of Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen, the last place Arthur Snell expected to cheat death was on holiday.But it was an uncomfortably close brush with a falling boulder while climbing in the Swiss Alps that helped to bring his personal and professional lives together. His belo
  
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• ‘A real dark situation to be in’: thousands of starving seabirds stranded in biggest ‘wreck’ in a decade

  04-03-2026 14:00
  Puffins, guillemots, razorbills and terns are washing up on shores across Europe, after a string of storms affected their ability to find foodThe two puffins washed up among seaweed and bits of plastic on a beach in Newquay, Cornwall, on a damp February morning. Normally, these much-loved seabirds pull in crowds of tourists eager to see their courtship rituals, but these were rolling in the surf, dead. Most people walking past probably missed them.Their breast bones were sticking out, they had n
  
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• Glass deposit plan 'could push up prices for consumer'

  04-03-2026 13:48 via bbc.com
  Wales is the only UK nation planning to include glass in a deposit return scheme from October 2027.
  
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• Councillors scrap 2050 carbon neutral target

  04-03-2026 13:39 via bbc.com
  The Reform UK-led Lincolnshire County Council has agreed to scrap the net zero target.
  
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• World’s largest krill harvester at centre of row over ‘blue tick’ sustainability label

  04-03-2026 12:00
  Aker QRILL is facing criticism of its fishery management amid calls by environmentalists for curbs on Antarctic fishing of the keystone speciesEnvironmental groups have objected to the recommendation of a “blue tick” sustainability label being awarded to a Norwegian krill fishing giant, amid concerns over concentrated fishing pressure and dramatic climate-driven effects on the Antarctic’s fragile ecosystem.Norway’s Aker QRILL, the world’s largest harvester of krill,
  
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• In pictures: Worm Moon captured over Northern Ireland

  04-03-2026 10:22 via bbc.com
  The first full Moon of the spring, a Worm Moon, was visible on Monday and Tuesday across Northern Ireland.
  
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• Specieswatch: is the world’s wildlife entering its ‘samey’ era?

  04-03-2026 07:00
  Scientists are calling loss of biodiversity the ‘homogenocene’, where niche species are pushed out by generalists like pigeons and ratsPlants and animals are disappearing at an alarming rate across the planet, with some estimates suggesting a loss of up to 150 species every day. Meanwhile, the versatile species that thrive alongside humans, such as pigeons, rats and cockroaches, expand to fill the vacant gaps. Some scientists are calling this loss of biodiversity the “homogenoc
  
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• Protect caterpillars as UK’s moth population plummets, urge charities

  04-03-2026 07:00
  Instead of removing plant-munching caterpillars, gardeners asked to take relaxed attitude to support the moths many of them grow intoAs spring unfolds and plants come to life, gardeners often fight a losing battle against the caterpillars who munch their cabbages.Traditionally, advice for gardeners regarding caterpillars would be about how to get rid of them and stop unsightly holes in plants. But the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and the Wildlife Trusts are asking Britons to take a relaxed
  
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• Country diary: This is the field where spring arrives first | Nicola Chester

  04-03-2026 06:30
  Inkpen, West Berkshire: Its display of crocuses is the largest in the country, and it has a venerable history – but what kind of history, nobody quite knowsThere is a small boggy valley of old pasture at the centre of the village, a Wildlife Trust nature reserve that is remarkable for what has preserved it: a non-native flower more aligned with municipal parks.Inkpen crocus field is where spring happens first. A rare example of unimproved, unploughed meadow (the sort we’ve lost 97% o
  
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• Timelapse vision of rare blood moon lunar eclipse in New Zealand – video

  04-03-2026 03:01
  A rare total lunar eclipse on Tuesday night resulted in a spectacular blood moon, captured by Josh Aoraki from the Te Whatu Stardome in AucklandRed alert: the best photos of the rare blood moon total lunar eclipse – in pictures Continue reading...
  
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• Red alert: the best photos of the rare blood moon total lunar eclipse – in pictures

  04-03-2026 00:48
  A rare total lunar eclipse on Tuesday night resulted in a spectacular blood moon, seen first in Western Australia, then in parts of Asia, Europe and across North America. The next total eclipse will be New Year’s Eve 2028From sacred sisters to hyper-sexualised models: PhotoVogue festival – in pictures Continue reading...
  
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• The businesses that prioritise people and planet

  03-03-2026 18:16 via bbc.com
  Firms with B-Corp status want more companies to prioritise people and the planet as much as profits.
  
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