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Australia's biggest coal miner and leading research organisation come up with ridiculous claims on battery storage in attempts to justify new coal plants and CCS.

Once, alternative energy meant "clean coal" and "fracking." Today, renewables have left those "alternatives" for dead, and not even Trump can save them.

Google's parent company has joined Tesla and other smaller companies, developing ways to store wind and solar affordably.

This well-timed Australian book offers a step-by-step how-to for businesses transitioning to a more sustainable energy future.

Most washing machines come with 25kg of concrete - but researchers claim there's a simple alternative.

Tough new emission standards proposed for Australia's light passenger vehicle fleet will save billions in fuel costs and cut carbon pollution, says ClimateWorks Australia.

Dedicated searches have revealed a rare butterfly back in its former Kent stronghold and gaining other territories

Britain’s most charismatic and elusive butterfly, the purple emperor, has a habit of turning up unannounced. This powerful, treetop, butterfly lives at low densities in the landscape but has been spotted in many new places thanks to the combination of a fine mid-summer and some astonishingly thorough searches by devotees.

Related: Interesting times for lepidopterists

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Government research finds drastic drop in people backing drilling for shale gas since the study was launched in 2012

Public support for fracking has reached a record low, according to the latest government research.

A survey by the Business and Energy Department showed just 16% supported the controversial process of shale gas extraction, down from 21% last year and the lowest since the study was launched five years ago.

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A new species of mega-herbivore dinosaur discovered in Alberta, Canada preserves incredible details of its skin, scales and spines.

Researchers have released the most accurate map ever produced of the dark matter in our Universe.

The interoceanic canal and its ‘murky legal framework’ was also criticized by former model Bianca Jagger, who called the canal ‘an insane project’

Nicaragua’s former revolutionary leaders have led a campaign of harassment and persecution against communities opposing the construction of a controversial canal that threatens the homes and livelihoods of tens of thousands of people, according to Amnesty International.

Plans to construct a $50bn shipping canal 175 miles long and 500 yards wide have provoked a mix of anger, fear and defiance not witnessed since the civil war between the Sandinista government and US-backed Contra rebels ended in 1988.

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VW, BMW, Opel and Daimler’s promise to fix 5 million cars not enough to undo the damage done by emissions scandal, say campaigners

Major car makers are being accused of clutching at straws after they agreed to fit software to 5m diesel vehicles in Germany to reduce harmful emissions by up to 30%.

VW, Daimler, BMW and Opel made the decision at a summit with leading politicians in Berlin. They have been under pressure since the diesel emissions scandal two years ago exposed how VW and – it is suspected – other manufacturers have been cheating the testing regime.

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Scott Pruitt claims change is testament to responsiveness but makes no mention of legal challenge over Obama-era rules to lessen ground-level ozone

One day after getting sued by 15 states, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief, Scott Pruitt, reversed his decision to delay implementation of Obama-era rules reducing emissions of smog-causing air pollutants.

Pruitt presented the change as his agency being more responsive than past administrations to the needs of state environmental regulators. He made no mention of the legal challenge filed against his prior position in a federal appeals court.

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Over four decades of exploration and extraction have caused an environmental and health crisis in indigenous communities

Who is going to clean up Peru’s northern Amazon after decades of companies spilling oil and dumping billions of barrels of toxic production waters? Certainly not US company Occidental which ran the biggest concession, Lot 1-AB, until 2000, nor, it would seem, Petroperu, which ran the other major concession, Lot 8, until 1996 and operates the rusty, leaking North Peruvian Pipeline to this day.

Nor Pluspetrol, a company founded in Argentina and now registered in the Netherlands which took over both Lot 1-AB and Lot 8, if its actions to date are anything to go by. Nor the China National Petroleum Corporation, which bought 45% stakes in both concessions in 2003. Nor the subsidiary of a Canadian company now called Frontera Energy which, in 2015, when Lot 1-AB’s name was effectively changed to Lot 192, bought 100% of operations in a two year temporary contract.

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Deforestation and climate change appear to be amplifying droughts in the Amazon

If you are like me, you picture the Amazon region as an ever lush, wet, tropical region filled with numerous plant and animal species. Who would imagine the Amazon experiencing drought? I mean sure, if we think of drought as “less water than usual,” then any place could have a drought. But what I tend to envision with respect to drought is truly dry.

People who work in this field have a more advanced understanding than I do about drought, how and why it occurs, its frequency and severity, and the impact on natural and human worlds. This recognition brings us to a very interesting paper recently published in Scientific Reports, entitled Unprecedented drought over tropical South America in 2016: significantly under-predicted by tropical SST [sea surface temperature]. So, what did this paper show?

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It's comforting to think of climate change as a far away danger.

Researchers are racing for answers after at least 10 deaths of north Atlantic right whales, marking the deadliest year since tracking began

Researchers are scrambling to figure out why one of the world’s most endangered whale species is dying in “unprecedented” numbers, after at least 10 north Atlantic right whales have been found floating lifelessly off the coast of Canada.

The first whale carcass was reported in early June. Within a month, another six reports came in, leaving researchers reeling. This week, after several carcasses washed up on the shores of western Newfoundland, Canadian officials confirmed that the number of whale deaths had risen to at least 10, making 2017 the deadliest year for the marine mammal since researchers began tracking them in the 1980s.

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The Department is seeking comments on the draft revised referral guideline for the three Western Australian black cockatoos. The consultation period closes 5 September 2017.

Hamsterley Forest, Weardale Their visual sensitivity challenges us and their ability to track small fast objects is unparalleled

Much of Hamsterley forest lay in deep shadow and the scent of conifer resin hung in the still air between the spruces. No one had passed this way this morning; there were intact spiders’ webs stretched across the path high above Spurleswood beck.

And there we found a female golden-ringed dragonfly, Cordulegaster boltonii, clinging to rushes, still grounded by the lingering chill of the night. It’s the largest and, with its jet-black and yellow markings, the most startling, dragonfly species in the north Pennines.

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World needs 1.7 Earths to continue as it is. If everyone lived like Australians, we'd need 5.2 Earths.