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Livestock company still hopes to find a buyer for animals on board ship for two months, after rejection by Turkey and Libya

The manager of a ship that has spent months at sea with hundreds of cattle on board has accused Spanish officials of failing to answer his call for help and of threatening to kill all the livestock if the ship enters port.

The Karim Allah is one of two vessels that left from different ports in Spain before Christmas to deliver cargoes of young bulls, but were refused entry by various countries including Turkey and Libya, owing to suspected outbreaks of the bovine disease bluetongue onboard both ships.

The vessel is owned by Khalifeh Livestock Trading and managed by Talia Shipping Line, both based in Lebanon, while the cattle are owned by a third party. The ship took 895 male calves on board at the Spanish port of Cartagena in mid-December and sailed for Turkey.

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Scientists on the volcanic Greek island of Lesbos say they have found a rare fossilised tree.

Produced by successive volcanic eruptions, its vividly coloured fossilised trunks are witness to the explosions that buried much of Lesbos under lava and ash between 17 and 20 million years ago.

Stretching across almost all of the Greek island’s western peninsula, the petrified forest, a Unesco global geopark, is among the largest in the world.

• 'Unique' petrified tree up to 20m years old found intact in Lesbos

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Facilities covered by Australia’s National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) scheme saw a 3% year-on-year drop in their GHG output for FY2019-20, with utility AGL remaining the nation’s biggest emitter by far at more than twice the amount than the next on the list.

Water Act proposes massive injection of federal dollars as millions of people go without access to clean, safe, affordable water

Democratic lawmakers and advocates are urging Joe Biden to back legislation proposing unprecedented investment in America’s ailing water infrastructure amid the country’s worst crisis in decades that has left millions of people without access to clean, safe, affordable water.

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In a year, bitcoin uses around the same about of electricity as the entire country of Norway.

The digital currency is one that allows people to bypass banks and traditional payment methods. It is the most prominent among thousands of so-called cryptocurrencies and has been repeatedly reaching new records - but is it sustainable?

The Guardian’s UK technology editor Alex Hern examines how exactly bitcoin uses electricity and if the environmental cost is too high

• What is bitcoin and why are so many people looking to buy it?
  
• Cryptocurrencies rise in popularity in world’s conflict zones
  

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The 19th Century fossil hunter's achievements were often overlooked during her own lifetime.

Exclusive: Stuffed specimen was only proof of bird’s existence until discovery in rainforest last year

In the 1840s, a mystery bird was caught on an expedition to the East Indies. Charles Lucien Bonaparte, the nephew of Napoleon, described it to science and named it the black-browed babbler (Malacocincla perspicillata).

The species was never seen in the wild again, and a stuffed specimen featuring a bright yellow glass eye was the only proof of its existence. But now the black-browed babbler has been rediscovered in the rainforests of Borneo.

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Coal generators and oil and gas producers dominate latest list of Australia's largest emitters.

The post Coal giant AGL again tops list of Australia’s biggest emitters appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Spanish energy giant Iberdrola says it will have 95GW of wind and solar capacity by the end of the decade, and another 900MW in Australia by 2025.

The post Iberdrola to spend €150bn trebling its growing wind and solar empire appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Last year, renewables provided a whopping 60% of South Australia's electricity supplies. The remarkable progress came as national climate policy was gripped by paralysis – so how did it happen? Michael McGreevy, Research Associate, Flinders University Fran Baum, Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor, Foundation Director, Southgate Institute for Health, Society & Equity, Flinders University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The reporting over the Texas blackout gives a hint at what might be in store from Australia’s new media code, and the boost it could give to fake climate and energy news.

The post Video: Blackouts on the grid, and in the media appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Murdoch papers and Murdoch's Sky News have ramped up their campaign to have nuclear laws repealed, and far-right Coalition MPs and former MPs are along for the ride.

The post Legislation banning nuclear power in Australia should be retained appeared first on RenewEconomy.

By collaborating with Indigenous ranger groups, we can make strategic fire and land management practices economically sustainable for traditional landowners. Kamaljit K Sangha, Senior Ecological Economist, Charles Darwin University Andrew Edwards, Research Fellow Bushfires, Charles Darwin University Willie Rioli Sr, Fire Coordinator for the Tiwi Islands, Indigenous Knowledge Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Bad weather, Covid and a surging Australian dollar leads New Energy Solar to report $74m loss for 2020 - but the ASX-listed remains optimistic.

The post New Energy Solar optimistic despite wild weather, bushfires and Covid-19 impacts appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Trina Solar launches new business unit focused on providing solar and storage solutions, grid services, and microgrids.

The post Trina Solar launches battery storage business appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Google's decision to snub RenewEconomy - apparently because it does not do "public interest" journalism - and include Sky News and a celebrity gossip site on its "showcase, bodes ill for Australian media.

The post Morrison’s media code could be catastrophic for climate and energy news appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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Researchers are developing new technology to help reduce human-elephant conflicts.

A clean powered world will be better than a fossil fuelled one, but there's still room for improvement in the human rights space.

The post How the clean energy revolution can tackle the human rights challenge appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Did you know that Texas isn't even that great a performer in terms of proportion of wind power? Here's every state that's better!

The post Chart of the day – Every US state with more wind power than Texas appeared first on RenewEconomy.