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Dame Sally Davies says issue is not just environmental and calls on UK government to bring in tougher standards to tackle toxic air

England’s chief medical officer is calling on the government to do more to reduce air pollution by introducing stringent new national standards to reduce the threat to human health.

Dame Sally Davies says pollution must be seen as a public health issue and not just an environmental concern. She recommends the government bring in tougher standards to cut air pollution and standardise any road charging introduced to cut nitrogen dioxide pollution from diesel traffic.

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The Royal Horticultural Society also warns that a ‘game-changing’ bacterial disease called xylella poses a very serious danger to UK plants and trees

The box tree caterpillar and fuchsia gall mite will continue their march across British gardens in 2018, experts warn, after the fast-spreading bugs topped the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) pest list for 2017.

The RHS also warned that a “game-changing” bacterial disease called xylella, which is devastating parts of southern Europe and has already been intercepted at the UK border, is a very serious danger to UK plants and trees.

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The bizarre heatwave in the Arctic this week – with temperatures dozens of degrees above normal – is part of a growing trend of "warm air intrusions" that threaten to disrupt polar ice all year round. Amelie Meyer, Postdoctoral Researcher, Physical Oceanography, Norwegian Polar Institute Erik W. Kolstad, Research professor, Uni Research Mats Granskog, Senior research scientist, Norwegian Polar Institute Robert Graham, Postdoctoral Researcher, Climate Modelling, Norwegian Polar Institute Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The Federal government’s purchase of Victoria’s share of the iconic Snowy Hydro Scheme will deliver a $2 billion windfall for the state.

A Rio Tinto shareholder resolution has been co-filed by major global funds with over AU$84 billion (US$66 billion, GB₤47 billion) in assets under management (AUM).

GE's new 12MW offshore wind turbines have a rotor-star “five times the size of the Arc de Triomphe”.

ABB will supply an ABB Ability enabled microgrid and storage system to help integrate renewable solar and wind energy into the large tropical island’s power supply.

SunPower has already begun a series of layoffs.

AEMO scenarios predict 73% renewables for South Australia by 2020/21, and up to 80% five years later. And is it worried?

Prices stay high as traders doubt regulator's confidence on project timelines, while questions remain on future of RET post 2020.

Jaguar unveils I-Pace all-electric SUV with much ado, and a "drag race" with two Tesla Model Xs. Lights a fire under EV market.

A diversified and distributed energy systems is feasible, but attractive – except to powerful incumbent interests and those whose thinking is trapped in the past.

Scandinavian researchers say a new classification would mean better treatment for patients.

Readership on RenewEconomy website jumped more than 70% over summer period, as interest grew in core subjects of renewables, storage, EVs and policy.

Turnbull's purchase of Snowy Hydro means he is now both utility owner and policy maker. More concerning is that the newly purchased Snowy Hydro has a strong economic interest in preventing the battery storage market from taking off.

Government-funded researchers urge change in way clean energy is funded to reduce burden on poorest households

The richest households should pay £410 a year more towards supporting energy subsidies for wind farms, solar rooftops and home insulation schemes, government-funded researchers have urged.

The UK Energy Research Centre (Ukerc) said that shifting environmental and social levies off electricity bills and instead loading them on to general taxation would reduce the cost of energy for more than two thirds of households.

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Whitehaven Coal receives second extension while it continues to bulldoze critically endangered NSW forest to make way for mine

Five years after the controversial Maules Creek coalmine in north-east New South Wales was given approval to clear critically endangered native ecosystems, Whitehaven Coal has still not secured the biodiversity offsets demanded by the federal government, receiving a second extension in February.

The delay has led opponents to call for offsets – intended to make up for lost ecosystems – to be established prior to the destruction taking place.

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Deal worth $6bn allows Malcolm Turnbull to proceed with plan to expand hydro to boost east coast grid

The federal government has reached an agreement to buy the stakes held by New South Wales and Victoria in the Snowy Hydro project for $6bn.

The agreement, clinched late on Thursday by Malcolm Turnbull, allows the federal government to proceed with its $4.5bn plan to expand Snowy Hydro to benefit the east coast electricity grid.

Related: Snowy Hydro 2.0 is viable but will cost billions more than predicted, study says

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Burning wood releases more CO2 than gas, oil and even coal, so to make it climate neutral we need an increase in forests

With snow on the ground, many people will have been huddling around a wood fire, but researchers are questioning if wood burning is really climate neutral. Burning wood is not CO2 free; it releases carbon, stored over the previous decades, in one quick burst. For an equal amount of heat or electricity, it releases more CO2 than burning gas, oil and even coal, so straight away we have more CO2 in the air from burning wood. This should be reabsorbed as trees regrow. For logs from mature Canadian woodland, it could take more than 100 years before the atmospheric CO2 is less than the alternative scenario of burning a fossil fuel and leaving the trees in the forest.

Related: Wood fires fuel climate change – UN

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The Environment Secretary attacks water industry bosses' salaries and lack of investment.