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The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

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Parts of eastern Australia are suffering their worst drought in memory, as these aerial images show.

RN Drive unpacks the biggest stories from the week in politics.

The government is being investigated by Senate committee over a decision to provide the Great Barrier Reef Foundation with a $444 million conservation grant.

New types of biodegradable or compostable plastic products seem to offer an alternative to conventional plastics. But they may be no better for the environment. Thomas Neitzert, Professor emeritus, Auckland University of Technology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

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

The amount of solar PV installed in Australia so far in 2018 has already surpassed the combined total of all installations for the whole of 2017.

South Korean car maker joins race to bring first all-electric 4WD utility to market, with unveiling of concept e-SIV.

First commercial-scale offshore wind farm in US expected to save electricity consumers around $1.4bn over 20 years, by supplying power 18% cheaper than alternative sources.

ACT lays out conditions for approval of the controversial policy platform, and they won't please the climate deniers in the Coalition party room.

The NEG is looking more and more like a fraud. It is one thing to have a policy that proudly boasts it will do nothing on emissions, but to produce a document that pretends to be able to halt the pace of technology change is barking mad.

Crook, County Durham: A dozen green-veined and small white butterflies flit restlessly between flower heads, pausing just long enough to uncoil their tongues and probe a floret

Two o’clock in the afternoon, the hottest, drowsiest time of day, and the air is saturated with fragrance from a gnarled old lavender bush that sprawls over the garden wall. It carries more than 200 flower spikes, and every bumblebee and butterfly in the garden seems to have fallen for their charms.

Constant movement makes them hard to count but there must be at least 30 carder bumblebees (Bombus pascuorum). Stems flex under their weight like vaulters’ poles, as they explore each floret for a second, before moving to the next, and then flying to another inflorescence. They are possessed with relentless urgency, and lavender has them in its spell, offering easy-access nectar but only in tiny doses, compelling them to move from floret to floret to make their visits worthwhile. It’s an evolutionary trade-off between flower and pollinator workforce, a balance between floral energy reward and insect energy expenditure. This afternoon lavender offers the best deal in the garden.

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Plastic bags are commonly mistaken for food by sea animals. They require a lot of energy and resources to be made, and have caused floods in some countries. Britta Denise Hardesty, Principal Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship, CSIRO Qamar Schuyler, Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmospheres, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

New report aims to cut through noise on Australia's energy market transformation and give business leaders up-to-date, accessible information.

Italian energy giant teams with Honda in US to offer EV drivers incentives to recharge during times of low electricity demand.

Labor says there has been ‘no probity’ around awarding of grant to tiny charity

The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, is being pressed by Labor and the Greens to explain what was said in a private meeting that led to the awarding of a $443.8m grant to a small not-for-profit group for the Great Barrier Reef without a tender process.

It comes after new revelations that the environment and energy department secretary, Finn Pratt, was not present at an April meeting between Turnbull, the environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation chairman, John Schubert.

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It's Europe's busiest airport but why is Heathrow also a magnet for hot weather?

The vast majority of lemur species, unique primates found only in Madagascar, are on the brink of extinction, say scientists.

Sydney and the Gold Coast emerge as hot spots for Tesla electric vehicle purchases, with NSW accounting for 2/3 of all Tesla sales.

Breakthroughs in satellite imaging are helping scientists in Scotland better understand wildfires in real time.