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Shale gas not covered in by existing water regulations in ‘glaring omission’, Labor’s environment spokesman says

Regulations on unconventional gas development across Australia would be tightened up if Labor wins the next election.

Labor’s minister for the environment Tony Burke says the party, if elected, will keep the commitment it took to the 2016 election to broaden the “water trigger” to include other forms of unconventional gas extraction. The current water trigger, introduced by the Gillard government in 2013, assesses water resources as a matter of national significance only in relation to coal seam gas and coal mining.

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European carbon prices fell to a new one-month low on Tuesday as late selling wiped out earlier gains prompted by the day’s bullish auction.

The Bulgarian unit of US-based power company ContourGlobal has inked a €78.6 mln deal to buy EU carbon allowances from Germany’s Statkraft Markets.

European engineers shake their Mars rover to see that it can survive the violence of a rocket launch.

Antibiotic use on farms is a major cause of human drug resistance. Yet slick social media campaigns – funded by the multi-billion-dollar industry – aim to muddy the waters

• How much does big pharma make from animal antibiotics?
  
• Can China’s farmers kick their antibiotic habit?
  

A Facebook ad entitled “How to survive as a working mom” depicts a stressed woman with a baby on her lap and a phone under one ear. “Breathe,” the advert says. “Pour a glass of wine (if that’s your thing). Prepare your family the chicken. Whether the label says ‘no antibiotics’ or not, the meat and milk you buy is free of harmful residues from antibiotics.”

The Enough Movement – the “global community” behind this advert – promises to tell you the truth about food. But it’s a PR campaign funded by Elanco, a multinational animal drugs company that sells antibiotics for use on livestock. Elanco operates in more than 70 countries and in 2015 accounted for 13% of the veterinary pharmaceuticals market. A subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company, last year it was valued at $14bn-$16bn (£10.5bn-£12bn).

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It could be a struggle, but the world’s largest consumer of antibiotics is trying to convince its farmers to change their ways

• How much do pharmaceutical companies make from animal antibiotics?
  

High in the hills of Fuzhou, surrounded by acres of rustling bamboo, is a small farm that is pioneering something genuinely unusual in China. Here in the Fujian province, they have turned their backs on industrial farming in favour of natural methods.

After years of working in the industrial farming sector Mr Sun (not his real name – he asked to remain anonymous) wanted to create a space to raise animals with “respect for nature, respect for life”.

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Animal antibiotics are far cheaper than the human equivalent but fears are growing over their real cost

• Calm down about your chicken, say the pharmaceutical companies
  
• Can China’s farmers kick their antibiotic habit?

How much money do pharmaceutical companies earn from animal antibiotics?

Pharmaceutical companies are earning about $5bn (£3.77bn) a year from producing antibiotics for farm animals, according to calculations by Animal Pharm, the agricultural business analysts. The European animal antibiotics market is worth about $1.25bn a year, and the US animal antibiotics industry about $2bn a year.

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Australia’s coal-fired generation capacity could be little more than a twinkle in Tony Abbott’s eye by as early as 2050, when renewables are forecast to provide 92 per cent of the country's electricity.

Labour says figures show government’s commitment to green energy is ‘nothing but an empty PR move’

New solar power installations halved in the UK last year for the second year in a row, as the fallout of government subsidy cuts continued to shake the sector.

Labour said the figures showed the government’s commitment to green energy was “nothing but an empty PR move”.

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New Zealand carbon allowances edged up from 6-month lows on Tuesday as some buyers stepped in to take advantage of the bargain prices.

The Clean Energy Regulator has announced the results of the seventh ERF auction.

Taronga Western Plains zoo has welcomed a new member into its fold –a female Asian elephant.  The calf was born of Friday 14 June and is now bonding with her mother, Porntip

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Nation is a leader in capturing tidal and wave energy, but companies are starting to leave due to lack of government support

Britain is throwing away its opportunity to rule the global wave and tidal energy sector due to lack of government support, a series of leading developers have told the Guardian.

The nation is currently seen as a world leader in capturing renewable energy from the oceans but some companies are already heading for new shores. This is putting other countries, such as France and Canada, in prime position to capitalise on the jobs being created by the emerging industry, the companies say.

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More logging will occur in NSW if conservation areas are rezoned by the state government. Oisín Sweeney, Senior Ecologist at the National Parks Association of NSW, Research Fellow, University of Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

ASX-listed packaging giant Orora signs second renewable energy PPA in matter of months, this time with 228MW Lal Lal wind farm in Victoria.

Puan left an "incredible legacy" of descendants for the critically endangered species, keepers say.

Just as in almost every other industry these days, it pays to keep a close eye on what happens in the Middle Kingdom.

Massachusetts Senate unanimously passes energy bill promising to dramatically reshape the vehicles and fuels that power its transportation system.

James Hansen, who gave a climate warning in 1988 Senate testimony, says real hoax is by leaders claiming to take action

Thirty years after a former Nasa scientist sounded the alarm for the general public about climate change and human activity, the expert issued a fresh warning that the world is failing “miserably” to deal with the worsening dangers.

While Donald Trump and many conservatives like to argue that climate change is a hoax, James Hansen, the 77-year-old former Nasa climate scientist, said in an interview at his home in New York that the relevant hoax today is perpetrated by those leaders claiming to be addressing the problem.

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Claxton, Norfolk: Two plants make completely separate responses to the sun and draw an array of flying insects

At this time of year I love to watch the sun-oriented movement of my garden. By this I mean the way in which our oxeye daisies and cat’s-ear flowers turn in relation to the same source.

In what you might call their dormant state, at about 8am – when the day is bright but temperature neutral – the flowers of both, as well as most of my yellow rattle blooms, are all pretty much oriented north-east. Then, as the day fires up, the daisies and cat’s-ears drop their heads and tilt due east the better to catch the light.

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