Feed aggregator

Managed retreat can be traumatic and hard. But with good planning, the land left behind can serve new purposes, and make public what was once private. Christina Hanna, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Planning, University of Waikato Iain White, Professor of Environmental Planning, University of Waikato Pip Wallace, Senior lecturer in Environmental Planning, University of Waikato Raven Cretney, Senior lecturer in Environmental Policy, Lincoln University, New Zealand Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Dozens of Australian mammal species have declined and gone extinct since European colonisation – and introduced predators are often blamed. But evidence is lacking. Arian Wallach, Future Fellow in Ecology, Queensland University of Technology Erick Lundgren, Postdoctoral Fellow in Ecology, University of Alberta Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A proposal to inject CO2 underground in Louisiana has moved forward following preliminary state-level approval.

A US federal funding squeeze for EV policy could push state-led initiatives to the forefront, which analysts say should focus on affordability and access—a conundrum for regulators driving higher ETS stringency.

In the past few days, UK firefighters have been tackling wildfires across the UK.

A property consultancy has launched an innovative way of funding natural capital with three different projects in Scotland, including highland cattle and capercaillie birds, in a vision it hopes to scale.

The government of Botswana is taking steps to encourage private sector investment in the renewable energy sector, which may help the nation establish a carbon market framework.

Addressing the Australian extinction crisis and the decline of our environment will be possible when political leaders embrace it

• Explore the series – Last chance: the extinction crisis being ignored this election
• Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email

I’ve been wondering if I remember all my surprise encounters with animals in the wild.

I remember sitting totally still on a riverbank watching a platypus going about its business as the dusk descended, by a logging road on the boundary of Tasmania’s world heritage area. And a moose in the Yukon, blundering out of the scrub at full speed right in front of us, as terrified and surprised as we were. A huge thing, my vision filled with moose. It turned and kept bolting. And summer evenings camping on the Thredbo River where wombats make for strange silent sentinels, munching grass as humans rustle plastic and wrangle gas stoves, the fuss of cooking al fresco.

Continue reading...

Shift away from fossil fuels by BOC is expected to cut company’s Australian emissions 40% by 2035 and follows similar commitment by Rio Tinto

• Get our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcast

A major industrial gas company in Australia will shift its power use away from fossil fuels and instead meet nearly half its electricity needs across three states from solar.

BOC, owned by global gas and engineering company Linde, supplies speciality gases to large manufacturers, industry and oxygen to hospitals.

Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter

Continue reading...

Agapanthus are daggy, environmental pests. Can we stop and think before these unsightly shrubs take over?

On my birthday I made time for my one true passion. Hating agapanthus.

I was walking my kids to school, taking time from their precious blink-and-you’ll-miss-it childhoods to seethe and take a picture of the revolting, saggy mess of agapanthus on the way. I have urgently supplied this picture to the Guardian and I’m ready and willing to speak out further.

Emily Mulligan is a writer from Sydney

Continue reading...

Global research reveals most of 400m tonnes produced using fossil fuels, predominantly coal or oil

Less than 10% of the plastic produced around the world is made from recycled material, according to the first detailed global analysis of its life cycle.

The research reveals that most plastic is made from fossil fuels, predominantly coal and oil, despite rhetoric by producers, supermarkets and drinks companies about plastic being recycled.

Continue reading...

In December 2024, when unseasonable flooding threatened the breeding season of a critically endangered turtle, Marilyn Connell and other members of a Queensland community conservation group sprang into action. The Mary river turtle is one of 2,000 Australian species listed as under threat in what scientists are calling an extinction crisis

• ‘Every year matters’: Queensland’s critically endangered ‘bum-breathing’ turtle battles the odds

Continue reading...

Scheme in England and Wales covers only heat pumps, uptake of which has been slow

• UK politics live – latest updates

The UK government is considering expanding the boiler upgrade grant scheme for England and Wales to cover sources of low-carbon heating for domestic homes other than heat pumps, the Guardian understands.

The government has a target of 600,000 heat pump installations annually by 2028. But data from the Resolution Foundation on Wednesday revealed worryingly low uptake of heat pumps. Last year, installation of gas boilers outnumbered heat pump installations by 15:1, according to the Resolution Foundation report, and only one in eight new homes were equipped with the low-carbon option, despite the government’s clean energy targets.

Continue reading...

EU climate legislation is helping drive investment into affordable and sustainable housing, especially in Denmark and Poland — however, plans to simplify green finance rules could slow the transition, according to a report published on Thursday.

The Greens, who may hold the balance of power after Australia’s May 8 election, on Thursday released its energy and climate plan, pledging to tighten the Safeguard Mechanism and restrict usage of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) and international offsets.

The European Parliament's ruling centre-right European People's Party (EPP) is calling on Brussels to reevaluate the social impact of the bloc's Emissions Trading System for road and heating fuels (ETS2), adding to mounting criticism of the upcoming EU carbon pricing scheme.

A cohort including Verra aiming to advance the market for nature stewardship certificates without baselines plans to open a public consultation on a first version of its standard next month, one of its members has Carbon Pulse.

The government of Uzbekistan and the World Bank have launched the Uzbekistan Resilient Landscapes Restoration Project (RESILAND) as part of a broader regional programme aiming to support five Central Asian countries in rehabilitating degraded forests and lands.

The Coalition reveals plans to review Australia’s 2030 emissions reduction target if they win government at the next federal election. Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

European carbon prices gapped significantly higher at the opening on Thursday, in line with steep gains in equity markets after US President Donald Trump delayed the implementation of import tariffs by 90 days, before gradually falling back as macroeconomic uncertainty continued to undermine sentiment.