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More demand for meat sets nearly 2 billion farm animals on the move a year despite concerns about poor transport conditions and inhumane slaughter

• ‘It would be kinder to shoot them’: Ireland’s calves set for live export
• The global trade in live animals in eight charts

The global trade in live farm animals has more than quadrupled in size over the past 50 years, but patchy regulation means animals may be put at risk on some journeys, or exposed to cruelty when they reach their destination.

Every year nearly 2 billion farm animals are loaded on to trucks or ships and sent to new countries in journeys that can take days and sometimes weeks. Every day, at least 5 million animals are in transit.

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An unwelcome byproduct of a booming industry, male dairy calves can endure a short and brutal existence

• Live export: animals at risk in giant global industry
• The global trade in live animals in eight charts

It would be “kinder to shoot” the hundreds of thousands of unwanted male dairy calves due to be born in Ireland this year, rather than export them to the Middle East or let them die on the farm, experts have told the Guardian.

Irish farmers have hit a streak of gold on dairy exports, and as a result the industry has rapidly expanded, with the national dairy herd rising from about 1m in 2010 to 1.6m this year.

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The world’s seas and roads are awash with farm animals, with almost two billion pigs, cattle, sheep and chickens trucked or shipped as exports in 2017

• Live export: animals at risk in giant global industry
• ‘It would be kinder to shoot them’: Ireland’s calves set for live export

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This week we’ll be taking a closer look at the reality and risks of the huge industry supplying the growing demand for meat

Over the next week the Guardian’s Animals farmed series will focus on the global live animal export trade, which, despite welfare and disease concerns, has been growing at a pretty steady pace over the past 50 years.

It’s not an industry that most of us think about very often, though meat consumption has become one of the big discussions of our time. But most of us struggle to grasp the full complexity of the modern farming system, where an animal may be born in one location before being transported to another for most of its life, to a third – if it is a beef cow – for fattening, and at last to a final place for its death.

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Environmentalists say incinerating a vast stockpile of firefighting foam containing harmful PFAS is putting communities at risk

The Department of Defense is polluting the environment with toxic chemicals by continuing to incinerate a vast stockpile of firefighting foam in a move environmentalists say is in breach of new regulations.

In a letter sent last week to the secretary of defense, Mark Esper, several environmental organizations argue the defense department is already out of compliance with new provisions regulating the disposal of the material and insist that it “immediately cease” incineration of the foam – called AFFF – which puts communities at risk.

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Sainsbury’s, Lego and H&M feature on list that rewards shift to renewable energy and reducing emissions

Sainsbury’s, Lego and H&M are among the businesses to make a prestigious A-list of companies that are deemed to be at the forefront of the charge to tackle the “existential” climate crisis.

The list is compiled by non-profit group CDP which scores companies based on the environmental data they voluntarily disclose on its platform. Just 2% of the 8,000 companies it scores made the A-list, with Nestlé, Unilever, BT and Walmart among the 179 to make the cut. A focus on the climate emergency was not at the expense of business success, CDP said, with companies on the A-list also outperforming peers on the stock market by 5.5% a year.

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One of the world's biggest users of plastic plans to phase out most single-use items by 2025.

We asked locals in the Belgian city to tell us how things have changed since the shake-up

The city has become a pedestrians and cyclists’ joy, especially for people like me who live in the city centre and have no car. As I type, they are busy turning our street into a low-traffic, communal woonerf or ‘living street’. It has become easier and safer to navigate the town on foot or by bike. Having recently returned from the Middle East the changes are even more striking, especially when it comes to my son. We were not ready for him to cycle before but teaching him to cycle on the roads here has been a fun and relatively stress-free experience. The changes have made an enormous difference to people’s quality of life. Khaled Diab, journalist and writer

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Ghent’s transformation produced shorter journeys, cleaner air and a cycling explosion

Birmingham – once, proudly, the UK’s “motorway city” – has announced plans to entice people out of cars and on to bikes and buses. If officials get their way, the city will be split into zones, and, rather than driving direct, motorists will have to use the ring road for all zone-to-zone journeys.

Those travelling by foot and bicycle in the new Brum won’t be inconvenienced: their journeys will be simple and – with fewer cars – safer. With cars out of the way, bus journeys will become swifter and more reliable.

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Ahead of the World Economic Forum, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema urges governments to take definitive action on climate, deforestation and pollution

Humanity will have given up on planet Earth if world leaders cannot reach an agreement this year to stop the mass extinction of wildlife and destruction of life-supporting ecosystems, the United Nation’s new biodiversity chief has warned.

Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, the acting executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, has implored governments to ensure 2020 is not just another “year of conferences” on the ongoing ecological destruction of the planet, urging countries to take definitive action on deforestation, pollution and the climate crisis.

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Record customer participation in demand response cuts risk of blackouts and delivers more than half a million dollars to savvy households, new data shows.

The post Victoria slashes grid outage risk with record demand response uptake appeared first on RenewEconomy.

It's been a deadly summer for Australia's wildlife. But beyond the fires, we need to act now to protect bats -- which make up a quarter of Australian mammal species -- from a silent overseas killer. Christopher Turbill, Senior Lecturer in Animal Ecology, Western Sydney University Justin Welbergen, President of the Australasian Bat Society | Associate Professor of Animal Ecology, Western Sydney University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Morrison misrepresents federal emissions targets and renewables investment while trying to chastise NSW energy minister Matt Kean over climate.

The post Morrison says NSW minister “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Does Morrison? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The price of the precious metal palladium has hit a record high of $2,500 an ounce as demand rises.

Construction imminent for Lacour Energy’s 800MW Clarke Creek wind farm in central Queensland, with inaugural community consultative committee meeting held last week.

The post Progress as 800MW Clarke Creek wind farm nears construction in Queensland appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Renewable microgrid specialist begins early works on two new 5MW solar farms in South Australia, in continued focus on smaller grid-connected PV projects.

The post MPower starts work on two more 5MW solar farms for South Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

This role will be primarily responsible for supporting the development of new business opportunities for Viva Energy that will assist the organisation in the transition to a lower carbon emission economy.

Rooftop solar nearly caught wind energy at start of 2020, as low futures prices mark debut of the New Year.

The post Know your NEM: Rooftop solar catches wind in slow, but low priced start to 2020 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Nearly 50 threatened species believed to have had more than 80% of their area affected, including seven critically endangered plants

Nearly 50 nationally threatened animal and plant species are believed to have had at least 80% of the area in which they live affected by bushfire, a federal environment department analysis has found.

Another 65 have had more than half their area in the fire zone. Scientists have warned some affected species could be pushed to extinction.

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German government, utilities and key mining states agree on coal phase out, although environmental groups say the plan is too slow.

The post German government, mining states, and utilities fix path for coal exit appeared first on RenewEconomy.