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As leaders and negotiators head to Katowice, Poland for this year's round of UN climate talks, it is clear that there is still much work to be done to meet the goals set in Paris three years ago. Edward Morgan, Research Fellow in Environmental Policy and Planning, Griffith University Brendan Mackey, Director of the Griffith Climate Change Response Program, Griffith University Johanna Nalau, Research Fellow, Climate Adaptation, Griffith University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The most significant conference on climate change since the 2015 Paris agreement opens in Poland.

Five cygnets and their parents were shot, wrapped in plastic bags and thrown down bank of a stream

A family of swans has been shot and killed in what has been called a “senseless” airgun attack.

The bodies of five cygnets and both of their parents were found wrapped in plastic bags after they were thrown down the bank of a stream in the village of Benenden, in Kent.

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At least four Latin American and Caribbean countries have voiced interest in hosting next year’s UN climate summit after Brazil withdrew its offer.

As the UN sits down for its annual climate conference this week, many experts believe we have passed the point of no return

On Sunday morning hundreds of politicians, government officials and scientists will gather in the grandeur of the International Congress Centre in Katowice, Poland. It will be a familiar experience for many. For 24 years the annual UN climate conference has served up a reliable diet of rhetoric, backroom talks and dramatic last-minute deals aimed at halting global warming.

But this year’s will be a grimmer affair – by far. As recent reports have made clear, the world may no longer be hovering at the edge of destruction but has probably staggered beyond a crucial point of no return. Climate catastrophe is now looking inevitable. We have simply left it too late to hold rising global temperatures to under 1.5C and so prevent a future of drowned coasts, ruined coral reefs, spreading deserts and melted glaciers.

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Coles and Woolworths have prevented an estimated 1.5 billion bags being introduced into the environment

The ban on single-use plastic bags by Australia’s two largest supermarkets prevented the introduction of an estimated 1.5 billion bags into the environment, and the retail industry is hopeful this is only the beginning.

Coles and Woolworths’ decision to stop offering single-use disposable plastic bags midway through the year was initially met with swift public backlash.

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Renewables reach 9GW for first time on Saturday, and wind and solar do that without hydro on Sunday.

The post Milestone – Australia renewables output hits 9GW for first time appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Chile has banned stores from handing out free plastic bags to shoppers and it is a headache for some.

The squirrel, named Horatio, was acting "really confused" when found by the side of the road.

As representatives gather in Poland for talks on climate change, we look at how hot the world has got and what can we can all do to tackle global warming.

A cross between a bus and light rail promises better transport; humans are sounding more like bots online; and solar panels on roads might deliver more hype than energy.

Official minimize warnings and say government report considers only the highest possible levels of greenhouse gas emissions

The Trump administration has a new strategy for deflecting concerns about the warming planet.

Related: Why no US region is safe from climate change

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The UK's herbaria are great scientific collections that must be safeguarded for the future, say scientists.

A technique used to study earthquakes have been adapted to track elephants in the wild.

Zanzibar’s Masingini Natural Forest Reserve provides drinking water for much of the island and habitat for dozens of rare and endangered species, but its forests are being illegally clear-cut. Meanwhile, in the Brazilian Amazon, the “lungs of the planet”, recent satellite images show 7900 square km of illegal deforestation in just the last year. Isolated transgressions? Hardly.

The 2018 Emissions Gap Report released this week by UN Environment shows global emissions have hit an historic high and are showing "no signs of peaking".

A growing number of Canadian provinces and organisations are taking sides and requesting to intervene in the legal fights against the federal government’s carbon tax.

Scientists in Wales are looking at how slag heaps can be used to remove CO2 from the air in the fight against climate change.

Sam Gyimah says a row about the EU's Galileo sat-nav system shows any deal will be "EU first".