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The list of places that tell our nation’s story now has its own place in print with the launch of the book Australia’s National Heritage List – The Story So Far.

Australian government’s draft Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan provides new water quality targets, but has very few other concrete changes

Australia’s draft plan to improve water quality on the Great Barrier Reef has ignored official government scientific advice, which was published by the Queensland and federal governments alongside the new plan this week.

The draft Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan is an update to the plan released in 2013, and provides new water quality targets for specific parts of the reef, but has very few other concrete changes overall.

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Climate Council ranks state efforts on renewables and climate targets as they race to fill the federal government void.

A guide of what we know about the links between climate change and Harvey to help unpack the elements that contributed to this historic and unfolding storm

Wind output in Australia hits record highs in August, with wind and rooftop solar combining to provide 59 per cent of South Australia's consumption.

Two of India’s leading public sector banks at risk of losing a “significant proportion” of US$7.4 billion loaned over three years to private power producers

Australian homes and businesses have installed almost 2.8m small-scale renewables systems, pushing total installed capacity to the 6GW mark – 5.9GW of it rooftop solar.

Vet Amir Khalil goes into conflict areas to save the zoo animals left behind.

Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne today became the 111th place on our National Heritage List. This outstanding site shows the role of religious and charitable institutions in Australia’s social and welfare history during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Canberra's public transport bus fleet will trial two pure electric buses and one electric-diesel hybrid, as it transitions away from ageing diesel fleet.

New data has shown that in North Sydney, alone, 74% of residents can’t access solar because they are renters or live in apartment buildings. But there are ways to solve the problem – as well as new companies making it their mission.

State and Federal Governments are currently working on a strategy for national environmental accounting — with the goal to have an agreement signed by the end of the year.

Kenyans producing, selling or even using plastic bags will risk imprisonment of up to four years or fines of $50,000, as the world's toughest law aimed at reducing plastic pollution comes into effect.

US authorities approve a treatment which re-designs a patient's own immune system to attack cancer.

Judge says president Michel Temer went beyond his authority in issuing decree to dissolve Renca, after fury from activists

A Brazilian court has blocked an attempt by the president, Michel Temer, to open up swaths of the Amazon forest to mining companies after an outcry by environmental campaigners and climate activists.

The federal judge Rolando Valcir Spanholo said the president went beyond his authority in issuing a decree to abolish Renca, an area of 46,000 sq km (17,760 sq miles) that has been protected since 1984.

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Critics say authorisation of supplementary culls shows the programme, which began four years ago, is not working

Another 1,000 badgers are set to be killed this autumn and winter in the two UK counties where the controversial cull began four years ago.

Natural England confirmed on Wednesday that supplementary culls had been authorised in Gloucestershire and Somerset.

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Are American lives simply worth more, wonder Lynne Edwards, Peter Williams, and Susan Howe. Plus letters from Bob Pike and Sheila Rigby

While I have the greatest sympathy for those who have lost friends, family, pets or property in the Texas floods (Report, 30 August), I am disgusted at the relative number of column inches and amounts of airtime devoted to its coverage. During precisely the same period huge areas of Bangladesh, Nepal and India are suffering an even greater catastrophe, with 1,200 plus lives lost and millions made homeless. Let’s get some balance here. America is a rich country and will cope, despite inept leadership. Or are we saying that American lives are worth more?.
Susan Howe
Ross on Wye, Herefordshire

• The contrast between the coverage of floods in Texas and floods in South Asia is stark. Live updating of trivia as well as important events from Houston; the odd report from India, Nepal, Bangladesh and elsewhere. There are probably many more people of South Asian heritage in this country than American. The implicit message is that they, and their relatives, are far less important than a pet in Houston. I don’t want Texas coverage reduced, but please take more notice of the rest of the world.
Lynne Edwards
New Quay, Ceredigion

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After being criticised by Canberra, South Australia is leading the race, with ACT and Tasmania close behind, says Climate Council

Australian states and territories are powering ahead, developing policies that will meet the federal government’s internationally agreed greenhouse gas emission targets, with South Australia, the ACT and Tasmania leading the race.

Despite being chastised by the federal government for unilateral action, South Australia is leading the race, with the ACT and Tasmania not far behind, according to a report by the Climate Council.

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Beulah Johnson, an evacuee, films the inside of a shelter in Houston that has been overwhelmed by water in the wake of tropical storm Harvey, forcing about 100 weary people to retreat to bleacher seats with their belongings. Marcus McLellan of Jefferson County sheriff’s office said on Wednesday that the Bowers Civic Center in Port Arthur had been inundated overnight, owing to rainfall and an overflowing canal nearby

• Tropical storm Harvey – live updates
  

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The order prevents the government from exploiting a protected area bigger than Denmark.