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As the fifth annual Great British Bee Count gets under way, wildlife and gardening experts are calling on the public to grow weeds to help Britain’s bees. The count, which will provide the first national health check for wild bees and other pollinators, runs until 30 June

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EU nations such as France are moving in the right direction in their efforts to impose a carbon price floor in addition to the ETS because recent price rises still leave the market and other mechanisms insufficient for tackling climate change, according to World Bank climate chief John Roome.

The future of emissions trading globally rests on whether China’s carbon market is deemed a success by the international community.

Critics of the government proposals say they put too much responsibility on local councils.

Development of major new markets in China and reforms in Europe have provided a crucial boost as countries look at tools to cut carbon and meet their Paris climate targets

Global carbon markets have been revived from the brink of collapse as, after years in the doldrums, recent developments have provided a much-needed boost, according to a new report from the World Bank.

China has made strong progress on its new carbon markets, which when complete will be the biggest in the world, while the EU initiated reforms of its carbon trading system which have already had an effect on prices.

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Snares – either metal or rope – are indiscriminately killing wildlife across Southeast Asia, from elephants to mouse deer. The problem has become so bad that scientists are referring to protected areas in the region as “empty forests.”

A simple break cable for motorbikes can kill a tiger, a bear, even a young elephant in Southeast Asia. Local hunters use these ubiquitous wires to create snares – indiscriminate forest bombs – that are crippling and killing Southeast Asia’s most charismatic species and many lesser-known animals as well. A fact from a new paper in Biodiversity Conservation highlights the scale of this epidemic: in Cambodia’s Southern Cardamom National Park rangers with the Wildlife Alliance removed 109,217 snares over just six years.

“Some forests in Vietnam don’t have any mammals left larger than squirrels,” Thomas Gray, the lead author of the new paper and the Science Director for Wildlife Alliance, said. “Given how diverse these forests formally were this must be having substantial impacts on ecosystem services and the [forest’s] entire biodiversity.”

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South Australia transmission company ElectraNet says it has found a cheaper solution that using the state’s gas plants to provide system strength to the local grid.

The biggest and most modern gas generation units in South Australia have been out of action for the past month.

Consultation proposes reducing pollutants, including particulates from wood burners and ammonia from farms – but does little to tackle diesel emissions

A new clean air strategy published by the UK government has been criticised as “hugely disappointing” by the Labour party. Other groups said it did little to tackle the dirty diesel vehicles that are the main source of toxic air in urban areas.

The new strategy, announced on Tuesday by environment secretary, Michael Gove, aims to crack down on a wide range of pollutants. These include particulates from wet wood and coal burning in homes, ammonia emissions from farms and dust from vehicle tyres and brakes.

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Lower Benefield, Northamptonshire: When the two eggs hatch, the nomad bee larva’s sickle-shaped jaws make short work of the mining bee larva

Our delayed spring, when it arrived, came in a sudden burst. Each insect species has a calendar slot for emerging from hibernation. For many bees good timing ensures that they emerge when their favourite flowers are opening. For the chocolate mining bee (Andrena scotica), a large, shiny, dark bee that nests in Benefield lawns and banks, success is awaking when the blackthorn blossom bursts.

The thaw triggered an explosion of flowers and insects that in warmer years would have emerged in March and early April, all arrived at once. My car windscreen accrued a sparse smattering of ex-insect life, and others reported similar. It is odd to celebrate pointless high-speed fatalities, but they represent an echo of the richer aerial plankton of past decades, and thereby a flicker of hope for the future.

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White clouds of gas billow into the sky over Hawaii as molten rock from the Kilauea volcano pours into the ocean. People have been warned to stay away from the fumes, which are laced with hydrochloric acid and fine glass particles that can irritate the skin and eyes and cause breathing problems.

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Construction underway on 144MW Cattle Hill Wind Farm, which will boost Tasmania's wind capacity by 50%.

IEEFA report shows solar taking an increasingly prominent role in driving the ongoing transformation of global electricity generation.

New study pin-points yet another barrier to the global shift to EVs – and it's coming up at the point of sale. The research adds a new party to the list of incumbent industry groups whose business case is being threatened by EVs: car dealers.

We might not be driving them, but soaring global electric vehicle demand puts Australia in the front seat for a new mining boom, says BNEF.

Unions welcome transition of Liddell site from coal to clean energy, as Coalition government lurches from worst of Trump's America and Maduro's Venezuela.

Plan promises much cleaner air for many, but it's accused of ducking difficult issues

The world's largest amphibian is in "catastrophic" decline, with probably only a handful left in the wild.

The world's largest amphibian is in "catastrophic" decline, with probably only a handful left in the wild.

A genetic study reveals the secrets of how malaria evolved to be a killer of humans.