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Report on test areas in England hailed by farmers’ union as proof that badger cull works

The culling of badgers in two areas of England has been linked to a marked decrease in new cases of bovine TB on farms, research suggests, bolstering farmers who support the culls.

In Gloucestershire, the incidence of TB cases in cattle was two thirds lower after four years of badger culling than would have been expected from a comparison of similar unculled sites, while in Somerset the rate was 37% lower. In a third area, in Dorset, there was no significant difference.

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Activists block entrance to headquarters of BBC, accusing it of staying silent on crisis

Extinction Rebellion activists have called on the BBC to “tell the full truth” about the climate crisis as they protested outside its headquarters in central London.

Camped outside the main entrance of New Broadcasting House on Friday morning, the protesters held a banner stating: “BBC, your silence is deadly”, and chanted”: “Whose BBC? Our BBC”, and: “BBC, can’t you see, this is an emergency”.

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Hundreds of thousands of Brits travel to Ibiza each summer, but what happens to their waste when they leave?

They may not get much media coverage but working-class activists have long been environmental heroes

Environmental protests are now frequently reported in the media, and the green movement is, at last, getting the attention it deserves. But most of the focus is on the activities of groups, such as Extinction Rebellion, which are not strongly rooted in working-class organisations and communities.

This is a problem because, if we want to build the broad-based support necessary for a radical transition to sustainability, we must recognise and build on all strands of environmentalism, especially that of the working class.

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Firm’s public calls for climate action contrast with backing for conservative thinktanks

• The obscure law that explains why Google backs climate deniers

Google has made “substantial” contributions to some of the most notorious climate deniers in Washington despite its insistence that it supports political action on the climate crisis.

Among hundreds of groups the company has listed on its website as beneficiaries of its political giving are more than a dozen organisations that have campaigned against climate legislation, questioned the need for action, or actively sought to roll back Obama-era environmental protections.

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Company wants to curry favour with conservatives to protect its ‘section 230’ legal immunity

• Revealed: Google made large contributions to climate change deniers

When Eric Schmidt was asked on a radio show in 2014 why Google was supporting an ultra-conservative climate-denying pressure group in Washington, the then chairman of the internet giant offered an unequivocal response: it was wrong and Google was not going to do it again.

“The consensus within the company was that that was some sort of mistake and so we’re trying to not do that in the future,” Schmidt told NPR. People who opposed or questioned climate science were making the world “a much worse place”, he added, and Google “should not be aligned with such people”.

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Wildfires and an encroaching population are threatening grasslands that host some of the world’s rarest species

Conservationist Getachew Assefa points across the valley. “It started close to the mist over there, by the most spectacular viewpoint,” he says. “Almost all the grassland was burnt. All of that plateau and the steep cliff over there.”

Six months after wildfires torched this part of Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains, the scars are healing: heather and grass have returned to carpet the hilltop, brightened by the yellow daisies which bloom after the long rains. On the near side of the valley lie barley fields, rippling in the wind.

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Strict new standards predicted to make household battery storage "really hard, really complicated and really expensive," and will likely put a massive brake on demand.

The post Is this the end of household battery storage in Australia? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Surprise findings have revealed that Australia's cars are getting less fuel efficient. This is bad news for the hip-pockets of motorists - and for the climate. John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Robin Smit, Adjunct professor, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The influential Electrical Trades Union has demanded that the Queensland government put an immediate halt to all large scale renewable and energy projects until it has put together a “just transition plan” and a detailed energy policy. The demand from the ETU came just days after the Queensland government celebrated reaching 4GW of solar power in...

The post Union demands halt to new wind and solar projects in Queensland, but it’s already happened appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Ships entering German port cities will have to turn off their combustion engines for the duration of their stopover and use electricity from the local grid instead.

The post Germany to oblige ships to turn off engines in ports and use power grid instead appeared first on RenewEconomy.

German cabinet settles on climate action plan which includes target of 98GW of solar by 2030, and zero emissions target for 2050.

The post Germany adopts major new climate law, set 98GW solar target for 2030 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

As part of its succession planning, the Board undertook a search process which identified Mr George as a new Director. Mr George will stand for election to the Board at the AGM in 2020 as a new independent Non-Executive Director with the unanimous support of the Board.

The post Spark Infrastructure appoints Miles George to board of directors appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Infigen says new Tesla big battery at its Lake Bonney wind farm finally energised and registered, and should be fully commissioned by end of the year.

The post Infigen says Lake Bonney big battery energised and registered appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

A global temperature rise of 2 degrees C could be avoided if large emitting countries collectively adopt a carbon tax of $75/tonne by 2030, as well as other ambitious actions, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund.

Victory follows similar win by Sydney protesters, including former senator Scott Ludlam

Extinction Rebellion activists charged in Melbourne with blocking streets as part of the “Spring Rebellion” climate change protest have won a battle to have their bail conditions revoked, following a similar court victory in Sydney.

The bail conditions placed on those charged in Melbourne were not as onerous as those for the Sydney protesters, including the former Greens senator Scott Ludlam. But according to the bail conditions document seen by Guardian Australia, police were seeking to prevent the protesters from participating in similar protests blocking roadways in Melbourne while on bail.

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Coal baron Trevor St Baker has the ear of the PM and the energy minister, and he is again rattlling off dubious predictions about the energy sector.

The post Coal barons say the darndest things: St Baker rattles off dubious claims about future of coal appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Fund says tax more cost-effective in mitigating climate crisis than ‘feebate’ models

Australia will fail to meet its Paris agreement emissions reduction target even with a carbon price of US$75 a ton, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

The IMF made the observation in a report on mitigating climate change which concluded that a carbon tax is still a more cost-effective solution than “feebate” models, which impose fees on activities with above-average emissions and subsidise those with below-average emissions.

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ARENA CEO Darren Miller hopes hydrogen can become the 'Netflix of energy', driving a fundamental shift in the energy system.

The post Can renewable hydrogen become the ‘Netflix of the energy sector’? appeared first on RenewEconomy.