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Missing winter sea-ice signals changes in Antarctica that could be "absolute disaster for the world", scientists say.

The tech giant has bowed to European legislation with a USB-C connector on its new iPhone but the UK government has failed to make messaging services toe the line on encryption

Sometimes, when Apple launches a new device (or even an upgrade of an existing one), it’s tempting to think that the accompanying blurb is a satirical spoof. On Tuesday, the day the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus were launched in California, for example, it burbled that both phones featured “industry-first colour-infused back glass with a stunning, textured matt finish and a new contoured edge on the aluminium enclosure. Both models feature the dynamic island [which displays outputs and alerts] and an advanced camera system designed to help users take fantastic photos of everyday moments in their lives. A powerful 48MP [megapixel] main camera enables super-high-resolution photos and a new 2x telephoto option to give users a total of three optical zoom levels – like having a third camera. The iPhone 15 lineup also introduces the next generation of portraits, making it easier to capture portraits with great detail and low-light performance.”

Oh, and by the way, it also has a USB-C charging port. This information, which comes towards the end of the blurb, is both interesting and symbolic: interesting because it signals that Apple is finally bowing to the EU’s requirement that all electronic devices should use the USB-C standard by 2024; and symbolic because it demonstrates that regulators can clip the wings of even the most powerful companies if they are resolute and clear about the consequences of noncompliance.

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Three years after unprecedented inquest ruling, absence of other cases has left a gap for pollution sceptics to exploit

• Drivers ‘likely to benefit from London Ulez’

Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah reserves a withering eye roll for people who question the impact that air pollution has on the health of children living in London. It helps her to shrug off the increasingly politicised debate over what needs to be done to improve the capital’s air quality.

Adoo-Kissi-Debrah fought a calm and determined campaign for seven years to make sure air pollution was included on her daughter Ella’s death certificate, and in December 2020 a second inquest ruled that air pollution contributed to Ella’s death from asthma in 2013.

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Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which oversees Norway’s NOK15.3 trillion ($1.4 trillion) sovereign wealth fund, on Friday published stricter climate action guidelines for companies in which it invests, highlighting that climate risk equates to financial risk but also offers opportunities.

Car users can be exposed to more damaging pollution than cyclists, bus passengers or pedestrians, research claims

Drivers in London are likely to be among the biggest beneficiaries of moves to penalise highly polluting vehicles in the capital, London’s mayor is to say, because at present many drivers are likely to experience more pollution than other road users.

Though they may have the illusion of being insulated in their vehicles from the effects of exhaust fumes, drivers can be more exposed to pollutants including the highly dangerous small particles known as PM2.5, which can damage lungs and lodge deep within the body.

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China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) on Friday evening announced it had approved, in principle, a set of administrative measures that will underpin the relaunch of its national carbon offset programme, which has been suspended for more than six years.

In a first for the UK, the methane was detected by satellite, bringing hope for curbing the greenhouse gas.

This beautiful bird’s former name represented colonial dominance – and told us nothing about the species

• This year’s Guardian/BirdLife Australia bird of the year poll runs from 25 September to 6 October. Nominate your favourite for the shortlist
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The pink cockatoo has had a few names over the years. The father of Australian ornithology, John Gould, knew it as Leadbeater’s cockatoo, following the scientific name given to it in 1831, Cacatua leadbeateri. This was named after Benjamin Leadbeater, the London naturalist and taxidermist whose name also commemorates Victoria’s faunal emblem, Leadbeater’s possum.

Sir Thomas Mitchell, the surveyor general of New South Wales from 1828 to 1855, called it the red-top cockatoo. He was awestruck by its beauty. “Few birds more enliven the monotonous hues of the Australian forest than this beautiful species whose pink-coloured wings and flowing crest might have embellished the air of a more voluptuous region,” he gushed.

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In a webinar Friday, a panel of labour representatives cautioned the state against over-zealous regulation in its forthcoming cap-and-invest programme, while urging the protection of workers and jobs.

California and Quebec will offer more carbon allowances at the November auction in comparison to the Q3 2023 sale in August following the inclusion of past vintage units, according to a government notice published Friday.

Compliance entities moved their positions on the California Carbon Allowance (CCA) market to the current year while selling off RGGI Allowances (RGAs) , while speculators rolled their CCA positions to next year and picked up RGAs over the past week, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.

A US-based agricultural technology firm providing carbon services and products has raised over $250 million to advance its suite of offerings for sustainable agriculture, according to a release published Friday that follows reports of a steep drop in the company's valuation.

A  carbon credit certifier announced a partnership with two international institutions to develop  methodologies for blue carbon and blue economy on Thursday, while signalling a long-term aim to broaden its work beyond carbon. 

Malaysia trial shows quicker recovery compared with areas replanted with four or just a single native species

Replanting logged tropical forests with a diverse mixture of seedlings can help them regrow more quickly than allowing trees to regenerate naturally, a study has shown.

Satellite observations of one of the largest ecological experiments in the world in the Malaysian state of Sabah have revealed how lowland rainforest recovered over a decade.

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Bamboo could be the next market to boom in nature-based removal solutions as a startup developer in Uganda expects its first batch of afforestation carbon credits to trade at $20, although the company’s expansion plans into Kenya may be at risk from the country’s new revenue sharing demands for local communities.   

Verra has largely welcomed the latest academic bashing of REDD methodologies because it says the criticisms are addressed in its upcoming VCS methodology updates, although the standard body has also pointed out some areas that need to be clarified.

In the nascent and fragmented biochar market, more could be done to tie the carbon credit price for a project with how the biochar will ultimately be used, such as in concrete or as a soil amendment, and subsequently how long the carbon will likely be sequestered.

More than a trillion dollars have now been committed to boost renewables and access to electricity and clean cooking technologies by 2030, although it falls far short of the funds needed to meet the Paris Agreement climate target, warns a report released Friday ahead of a UN summit.

The UK’s approach to using biomass to produce electricity will be closely examined by the country’s National Audit Office, following ongoing critique about where the fuel is sourced and concerns by environmental activists that burning biomass is not truly renewable.