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Excessive use of phosphorus is depleting reserves vital to global food production, while also adding to the climate crisis

Our planet faces “phosphogeddon”, scientists have warned. They fear our misuse of phosphorus could lead to deadly shortages of fertilisers that would disrupt global food production.

At the same time, phosphate fertiliser washed from fields – together with sewage inputs into rivers, lakes and seas – is giving rise to widespread algal blooms and creating aquatic dead zones that threaten fish stocks.

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National wealth fund is intended to pull in private investment and create thousands of new jobs in areas beyond the south-east

The Labour party is planning to put the UK at the head of a worldwide green industrial revolution, with a massive US-style, public-private investment scheme targeted at the most deprived regions.

In an interview with the Observer, Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, who will travel to Washington in May to meet senior Democrats, says a Labour government will follow the model of US president Joe Biden’s hugely ambitious regional recovery plan, using the climate crisis as the catalyst for economic revival.

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A big reason the idea is gaining momentum globally is that the benefits for the health of individuals, communities and the environment are clear and almost immediate. Christopher Patterson, Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing, University of Wollongong Lance Barrie, Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, University of Wollongong Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

First offshore wind auctions in Australia to be held in 2025 as country prepares ports for massive turbines that will help replace last of coal power plants.

The post Date set for Australia’s first offshore wind auction as ports prepare for massive turbines appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Ridding country of the shrub will take 250 years at the current rate of progress, despise posing ‘a mortal threat’ to Britain’s temperate rainforest, say campaigners

It will take 250 years to eradicate rhododendron from England at the current rate of removal, according to new figures, despite the invasive woodland shrub posing “a mortal threat” to Britain’s temperate rainforest, campaigners warn.

Rhododendron, introduced from Asia and widely planted by the Victorians, covers at least 37,600 hectares (93,000 acres) in England, much of it in the west of the country, which is also home to the remaining fragments of temperate rainforest.

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

Power generation by one of Europe’s largest coal plants could be at risk after the EU’s top court this week found that the Bulgarian government broke the law by allowing the facility to exceed pollution limits.

Almost all the growth in global squid fishing has happened in unregulated waters, meaning fishing crews aren’t subject to conservation or marine management programs. Quentin Hanich, Professor, University of Wollongong Katherine Seto, Research Fellow, University of Wollongong Osvaldo Urrutia, Associate professor, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A New York-based livestock offset project is seeking to transition from generating California Carbon Offsets (CCOs) to renewable natural gas under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), according to documents posted Friday, marking the fourth application published this month and continuing a years-long trend.

Compliance entities added to their net long California Carbon Allowance (CCA) and RGGI Allowance (RGA) holdings over a two-week stretch last month and speculators offloaded permits, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed this week as it continued publishing backlogged Commitments of Traders reports.

The space rock has about a 1 in 560 chance of hitting this planet, the agency says.

Environmental markets platform Xpansiv said Friday it will open up its standardised reference data for public use to enable companies to identify and track environmental assets across their entire lifecycle.

A summary of legislative, regulatory, and policy action on carbon, clean fuel standard, and clean energy markets at the US federal and subnational levels this week, including the reintroduction of a RGGI-blocking bill in Pennsylvania and clean fuel standard proposal in Minnesota, along with movement on carbon offset bills in Washington and West Virginia.

Just one river included in government's proposal for new designated swimming sites

The body responsible for shaping which carbon projects will be issued credits under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement resumed work this week, providing clarity on procedural matters such as a work plan that targets final recommendations on methodologies including removals before COP28 in December.

Singapore-based platform Climate Impact X (CIX) is planning to launch standardised nature-based carbon contracts on its new spot trading platform, forging ahead with efforts to drive fungibility in the voluntary market even as rivals focus on project-specific auctions.

With the presentation of the European Commission’s proposal for a Net Zero Industry Act approaching, Brussels plan to bolster domestic production is set to spark controversy.

BP is promising to spend up to $8 billion more on its energy transition plans by 2030, its annual report for 2022 revealed on Friday after the oil major rolled back on previous short term climate targets to facilitate pumping out more oil and gas this decade.

The Q1 RGGI cap-and-trade auction this week cleared at the lowest level since Q3 2021 as financial participants took a back seat, according to results published Friday.

For years the great presenter was criticised for not speaking out. Now he has his voice, fear and politics can’t get in the way

• Report: BBC will not broadcast Attenborough episode over fear of rightwing backlash

Is there no limit to the timidity of the BBC? Bang in the middle of the row over tweeting by the widely respected Gary Lineker, it now seems to be muzzling the most trusted Briton of them all – David Attenborough.

As the Guardian reports today, it has decided not to broadcast the sixth and last programme of the veteran broadcaster’s widely hailed new series on Britain’s wildlife, in which he exposes its dramatic decline, and what has caused it. While the other five episodes of Wild Isles will go out in prime time, amid enormous hype, it will be available only to those who look for it on the BBC’s iPlayer service.

Geoffrey Lean is a specialist environment correspondent and author

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