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The Australian and Queensland governments have released the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan 2017-2022, the key mechanism to progress and measure water quality outcomes from the Reef 2050 plan.

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

The fossil of a prehistoric snake that lived alongside the dinosaurs has been found entombed in amber.

EU carbon prices will continue their rally and will double in the next two years, with a rise above €100 in the next decade “a real possibility”, analysts said.

Powershop’s Victorian customers now have access to carbon neutral gas.

Morrisons leads league table of supermarkets analysed for the proportion of their packaging that can be recycled

Almost a third of plastic packaging used by UK supermarkets is either non-recyclable through standard collection schemes or difficult to recycle, according to a new analysis by a consumer group.

Which? is urging the government to introduce compulsory “clear and simple” recycling labelling on all plastic packaging as its new research reveals “huge inconsistencies” involving myriad different schemes and with some items not labelled at all.

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IEA reoprt says final investment decisions for coal power plants fell by 18% in 2017, to just a third of 2010 levels. And in India, investment in renewable power beat investment in fossil fuels for the first time.

Jaguar says two thirds of Australians could own an EV within 10 years, with millennials more likely to buy one than baby boomers, and men more likely than women.

The Independent Planning Commission has rejected plans for an energy-from-waste facility in Sydney’s west citing ‘uncertainty’ over human health and environmental impacts.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but plastic straws are ruining the ocean. Kim Borg, Doctoral Candidate & Research Officer at BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University Denise Goodwin, Research Fellow, Monash University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Stanhope, Weardale: A watchful heron awaits his moment as the fish introduced to this former industrial landscape gorge on a rich supply of damselfly nymphs

In the heat of yet another cloudless summer afternoon the still air in Ashes quarry wobbled in the heat haze. Blasting, hewing and hauling of limestone ended here 60 years ago. Since then nature has reclaimed this peaceful mile-long scar in the fellside; today the loudest sound came from chirruping grasshoppers.

The prolonged drought is unlikely to dry up the flooded quarry floor, an olive-green oasis surrounded by parched, yellowing grasses growing in the thin veneer of soil on rock scree. Standing on the edge of the squelchy bog, among cotton grass shedding its gossamer seeds and head-tall reed mace, I listened to the croak of moorhens hidden in channels among the forests of water horsetail, and also heard a strange plopping sound.

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BMW has announced that its hybrid electric i8 Roadster, plus a fresh look i8 Coupé, is ready to buy for cashed up Australian EV enthusiasts.

Planning commission finds ‘uncertainty’ around the massive project’s emissions

A plan for a massive waste-to-energy incinerator in western Sydney has been blocked, after the New South Wales Independent Planning Commission ruled there was “uncertainty” over human health and environmental impacts.

The plant – the largest planned in the southern hemisphere – would have burned 552,500 tonnes of waste every year, generating enough electricity to power 100,000 homes.

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Peaking plant in South Australia fined for not following instructions after network fault that forced BHP's Olympic Dam to wind down production and narrowly averted wider blackouts.

One of Victoria's first large-scale solar projects, IIG's merchant funded Swan Hill solar farm, has been formally opened.

Australian CleanTech Index has outperformed ASX200 by cumulative 89% over last five financial years and, for fifth year in row has outperformed the wider market. And investors are making handsome profits.

AEMO report confirms suspicions that the construction of proposed Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project would result in more coal being burned for power needs, and will crowd out large scale solar and other storage projects.

Video of a seabed filmed by a BBC journalist has helped the area get special protection.

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

CERs surged to a 20-month high on Wednesday, accelerating a recent rally that has seen prices double in the past four months and which has left many traders scratching their heads.