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BBC News examines allegations that the coronavirus was accidentally released from a lab.

A global environmental markets investment fund has notched an impressive 8% return in its first five weeks of operation, its managers said Thursday.

Expanding planned burning is often touted as a way to lessen the risk of bushfires. But this burn-off season is bad news for the COVID-19 pandemic. Don Driscoll, Professor in Terrestrial Ecology, Deakin University Brian Oliver, Research Leader in Respiratory cellular and molecular biology at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research and Professor, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney Courtney Alice Waugh, Associate Professor in Immunology and Disease, Nord University Marcel Klaassen, Alfred Deakin Professor and Chair in Ecology, Deakin University Veerle L. B. Jaspers, Professor, Norwegian University of Science and Technology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Five refining-heavy states petitioned the US EPA to exempt them from requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), arguing that the coronavirus pandemic has made current blending mandates untenable.

A drought as bad as any in recorded history may be underway in the US.

Poland’s decline in domestic coal production is likely to have important consequences in the country’s energy transition and its attitude towards low-carbon fuels, according to a Warsaw-based think-tank.

Exclusive: experiment uses a modified turbine to spray trillions of nano-sized salt crystals into the air from a barge

Scientists have carried out a trial of prototype cloud brightening equipment on the Great Barrier Reef they hope could be scaled up to shade and cool corals and protect them from bleaching caused by rising global temperatures.

The experiment used a modified turbine with 100 high-pressure nozzles to spray trillions of nano-sized ocean salt crystals into the air from the back of a barge.

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Teams of Australian marine scientists have tested a technique they hope may give the Great Barrier Reef respite from coral bleaching caused by global heating. The experiment used a modified turbine with 100 high-pressure nozzles to spray trillions of nano-sized ocean salt crystals into the air from the back of a barge. The researchers hope the tiny salt crystals will mix with low-altitude clouds, making them brighter and reflecting more sunlight away from the ocean surface. Daniel Harrison of Southern Cross University says if the trial can be successfully scaled up it might buy the reef a decade or two, but no technological fix will work unless global heating can be restrained

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As farms struggle under Covid-19, NFU says furloughed workers keen to join paid ‘land army’

The leader of the UK’s biggest farming organisation says she is optimistic that British workers will come forward to rescue the harvest and keep the nation fed, instead of having to rely on flying in overseas workers.

“A lot of signs are optimistic and we have really positive news,” said Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union. “We are hearing people are very keen [to work on farms]. There does seem to be a real swell of support from people to do this.”

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Pennsylvania agencies are maintaining their timeline to finish a draft RGGI-aligned cap-and-trade regulation despite a statewide 'shelter-in-place' order to slow the spread of the coronavirus, as green groups outlined numerous ways for the Keystone State to strengthen its existing proposal.

European carbon prices climbed back above €21 on Thursday, surging nearly 10% on what was seen as speculative buying and short-covering as French utility EDF announced a large cut to its nuclear generation output this year.

• New Orleans, Honolulu and Miami expected to be vulnerable
• Research: advancing tides will ‘radically redefine the coastline’

Flooding events that now occur in America once in a lifetime could become a daily occurrence along the vast majority of the US coastline if sea level rise is not curbed, according to a new study that warns the advancing tides will “radically redefine the coastline of the 21st century”.

The research finds major cities such as Honolulu, New Orleans and Miami will become increasingly vulnerable to elevated high tides and stronger storms fueled by the global heating caused by human activity. Beach and cliff erosion will exacerbate this situation.

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The European Commission is likely to release a feasibility study on increasing the EU 2030 emission reduction target by September as planned, even as officials consider delaying other climate initiatives as the bloc grapples with the coronavirus pandemic.

No strangers to isolation, the trio left for the space station months before Covid-19 emerged.

Our global, profit-driven, meat-centered food system is making us sick. We need a radical rethink

It was bats. Or pangolins. To hear common narratives about the origins of Covid-19, there is a simple causal relationship between China’s consumption of wild animals and the coronavirus ravaging the globe.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top epidemiologist, told Fox: “It boggles my mind how when we have so many diseases that emanate out of that unusual human-animal interface, that we don’t just shut it down.” His opinion echoes a growing chorus across the political spectrum that singles out China’s so-called “wet markets” as the culprit for the pandemic. The Republican senator Lindsey Graham has called the Chinese exotic animal trade “disgusting” and conservationist Jane Goodall has called for “a global ban”.

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The Western Australia EPA on Thursday released guidelines allowing it to require major new projects to document how they intend to contribute to the state’s 2050 net zero emissions target, including plans to acquire carbon credits.

Europe's newest space telescope starts its study and characterisation of distant planets.

Australian households invested in almost two-and-a-half “Big Batteries” worth of home energy storage in 2019, installing 22,661 systems over the course of the year with a total capacity of 233MWh, and taking further control over their energy supply.

The post Australians installed 22,661 home battery systems in 2019 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Public sector pledge said to target removal of 9m kg of meat a year from UK meals

Public sector caterers serving billions of meals a year in schools, universities, hospitals and care homes have pledged to cut the amount of meat they serve by 20%.

The caterers’ meals are eaten by a quarter of the UK population and the groups said their action was aimed at reducing environmental impact and improving the healthiness of meals. Industry experts called the move unprecedented.

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SA Water to build a solar farm on a former oil refinery site to help power the Adelaide desalination plant.

The post SA Water to build solar farm on former oil refinery site appeared first on RenewEconomy.