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World-first “solar train” about to be launched in Byron Bay
The NEG: No guarantee of success
Australia still lags behind in vehicle emissions testing
Dinosaur sported 'bandit mask'
Bloodhound car tested ahead of 1,000mph record attempt
Sea levels to rise 1.3m unless coal power ends by 2050, report says
University of Melbourne paper combines latest understanding on Antarctica and current emissions projection scenarios
Coastal cities around the world could be devastated by 1.3m of sea level rise this century unless coal-generated electricity is virtually eliminated by 2050, according to a new paper that combines the latest understanding of Antarctica’s contribution to sea level rise and the latest emissions projection scenarios.
It confirms again that significant sea level rise is inevitable and requires rapid adaptation. But, on a more positive note, the work reveals the majority of that rise – driven by newly recognised processes on Antarctica – could be avoided if the world fulfils its commitment made in Paris to keep global warming to “well below 2C”.
Continue reading...Ciwem environmental photographer of the year 2017 winners – in pictures
The winner of the 10th annual environmental photographer of the year competition is Quoc Nguyen Linh Vinh, from Vietnam, for his poignant image of a young girl and her mother, surrounded by filth, danger and pollution, making their living by collecting waste
Continue reading...Revealed: oil giants pay billions less tax in Canada than abroad
Data shows companies made much higher payments to developing countries in 2016 than to Canadian, provincial governments
Canada taxes its oil and gas companies at a fraction of the rate they are taxed abroad, including by countries ranked among the world’s most corrupt, according to an analysis of public data by the Guardian.
The low rate that oil companies pay in Canada represents billions of dollars in potential revenue lost, which an industry expert who looked at the data says is a worrying sign that the country may be “a kind of tax haven for our own companies.”
Continue reading...Fit UK fishing boats with monitoring technology after Brexit, campaigners urge
The EU currently sets fishing catch limits in order to maintain fish stocks. The WWF is concerned that poor management post-Brexit could result in over-fishing
All of the UK’s fishing fleet should be fitted with electronic monitoring technology after Brexit in order to protect fish stocks from poor management and potentially illegal landings of fish, campaigners have urged.
Remote monitoring technology, including closed circuit television, is now widely available for fishing vessels, but is often not deployed. A study by WWF, the environmental group, has found numerous examples of fishermen obstructing physical monitoring by independent observers.
Continue reading...Australian ministers write to China to confirm approval of Carmichael mine
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary says Adani may have requested letter to help secure Chinese funding
Senior Turnbull government ministers have written a formal letter to China’s government to confirm that the controversial Adani Carmichael coal project in Queensland has passed all necessary environmental approvals.
Frances Adamson, the secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told senators on Thursday that Adani may have requested the letter to help it secure funding from the Chinese.
Continue reading...Ancient skull 'oldest tsunami victim'
Country diary: in the slow lane of an old Roman road
A14, Huntingdonshire: Taken at a chariot’s pace the highway reveals its pockets of wilderness and unexpected beauty
Two thousand years after the Romans cut an urban vein through rural Huntingdonshire, naming it Via Devana (Chester Street), the road is scheduled to shift its course. I decided to follow the old highway at a chariot’s pace, stopping often to seek out the oddities and glimpses of character you invariably find in the slow lane.
My first layby, outside Godmanchester, was jammed with a bumper-to-tail trio of container lorries. A weather-battered and lichen-encrusted fence divided us from a bank of blackthorn bushes bursting with unpickable sloes, and hawthorns with shrunken berries.
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