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Professor Peter Waterhouse and the wonder plant Nicotiana benthamiana.

EUAs slumped 5% to fall below €26 on Friday, crashing through technical support as some speculators sold heavily knowing 2018 compliance buying has effectively ended.

Environmental groups are preparing for a fight against the proposal that would end a five-year fracking moratorium in central California

The Trump administration has issued a plan to open more than a million acres in California to fracking, including areas close to Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks.

In its proposal, the government made a case that the effects on a range of delicate issues – from degrading air quality to threats to cultural and Native American resources in the area – could be avoided or minimized on 1,011,470 acres across eight counties. The plan could end a five-year fracking moratorium in California enforced by a federal judge.

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Hungry bears, busy bees and disappearing penguins

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Readers respond to George Monbiot’s piece on doing away with the current economic model and the recent Extinction Rebellion climate protests

George Monbiot (Time to declare the system dead – before it takes us down with it, 25 April) says he has slowly and reluctantly rejected capitalism because the endless impulse for growth and wealth creation ineluctably drives climate change. Asad Rehman, executive director of War on Want, in his global justice seminar at the Extinction Rebellion protests, focused more on neoliberalism – the even more rapacious, ever-expanding incarnation of capitalist exploitation of people and planet over the last four decades – as the driver of global climate inequality and impending calamity. But left-of-centre ideologies also focus on growth in the bid to tackle inequality, with social and economic priorities overshadowing ecological imperatives.

This paper has had occasional discussions of the degrowth movement. In one such, Christiane Kliemann (Let’s face it: we have to choose between our economy and our future, 23 January 2015) posited that once we have accepted there are only radical options left, we have a choice between our economy and our future if we are to meet everybody’s needs more sustainably and equitably, using fewer resources. More focus on degrowth on the political left, and more analysis in these pages of its underpinnings and its potential, could contribute to movements for creating a global economy that can truly be described as “ours”, and a future not only for those of us in the global north, but also a present for those in the global south already experiencing the ravages of growth-driven climate change.
Sarah Cemlyn
Bristol

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Finnish utility Fortum emitted 900,000 tonnes of CO2 from its EU ETS-regulated facilities over Q1 2019, down 10% year-on-year despite lower reservoir levels impacting hydropower output, it said in financial results on Friday.

Nine candidates will stand under Climate Emergency Independents banner

Activists who took part in the Extinction Rebellion protests have announced they will stand in the European elections on a “climate emergency” ticket.

Under the name Climate Emergency Independents, nine candidates will stand in the 23 May polls – seven in London and two in south-west England region.

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The oceans contain almost 200,000 different viral populations, according to the latest count.

The EU is considering paying foresters for the CO2 they remove from the atmosphere in an effort to incentivise more emission savings in the sector.

The London race aims to reduce waste with paper cups, fewer drinks and even edible seaweed energy capsules.

The different methods scientists use to measure cosmic expansion fundamentally disagree with each other.

Success of Sweden’s flygskam campaign means rail-only travel agencies are getting a boost

When Greta Thunberg stepped on to the platform at Stockholm Central station on Thursday after completing her European tour to raise awareness of climate change, an unassuming 69-year-old who runs a tiny travel firm was there to greet her.

Ivar Karlsson has found his business in the spotlight as appetite grows for alternatives to flying. It was Karlsson, whose company specialises in rail-only holidays, that Greta and her father contacted to book their trip, which took in stops in Strasbourg, Rome, London before heading back to Sweden.

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Exclusive: broadcaster says older generations have done terrible things and should listen to young

The outrage of the students striking from school over climate change inaction is “certainly justified”, according to Sir David Attenborough, who said older generations had done terrible damage to the planet.

In an interview with the former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, the broadcaster and naturalist dismissed critics of the widely praised global movement of school strikes as cynics.

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The Hayabusa-2 spacecraft sends back images of the crater made when it detonated an explosive charge on the asteroid it is exploring.

Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China's regional pilot carbon markets this week.

South Korean carbon prices rose to fresh record highs on Friday, leaving state-owned utility KEPCO to pick up the bill as the firm is obligated to compensate power companies for the CO2 allowances they have to buy.

Let Nature Sing, two and a half minutes of birdsong, is being released by the RSPB to highlight the 44m birds lost since 1966 – and the many more at risk

Almost 40 years since The Birdie Song haunted the charts – and every children’s birthday party for a long time afterwards – the wildlife charity RSPB is releasing a single that, while far from novelty, may just match the Tweets’ infuriating oompah hit for sheer oddness.

Let Nature Sing is all chorus – and not in the same way as Blur’s Song 2, say, is all chorus. This is two and a half minutes of pure birdsong, featuring 25 of the UK’s best loved or most threatened birds among its guest vocalists, including the common blackbird and robin and the endangered nightingale and bittern.

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Sir David Attenborough says the restoration of the wetlands is a "unique opportunity" for wildlife.

New superhighways and better networks are helping cycle lane usage boom across the UK

Cycle lanes are one of the most efficient and healthiest ways of moving people. A single bike lane can transport five times as many people as a motor traffic lane, without the air and noise pollution. This is good news for everyone, whether you drive, walk or cycle – or breathe.

What’s clear from the data, though – despite occasional bizarre claims to the contrary, and attempts to have lanes removed – is that to reap cycling’s benefits you have to build proper infrastructure. But if you build it, they will come – and the cycle counters prove it.

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Stygofauna, Australian animals that live in underground water, are under threat from the newly approved uranium mine. Gavin Mudd, Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering, RMIT University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.