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Exclusive: Chemical in treatment for pet fleas and ticks is found in nests of blue and great tits, killing chicks

Songbird chicks are being killed by high levels of pesticides in the pet fur used by their parents to line their nests, a study has found.

Researchers surveying nests for the harmful chemical found in pet flea treatments found that it was present in every single nest. The scientists from the University of Sussex are now calling for the government to urgently reassess the environmental risk of pesticides used in flea and tick treatments and consider restricting their use.

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Clean energy additions and slower industrial power demand growth may lead to a fall in China's emissions from the power sector this year, even though government's stimulus efforts could complicate the emissions outlook, according to a report published Monday.

Royal Botanic Gardens scientists are heading to the Victorian national park in search of plant survivors amid the charred landscape

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The Grampians globe-pea, a critically endangered wiry shrub, had finished flowering and was fruiting when fires tore through its home in the Grampians national park, in western Victoria. The spiny plant with vibrant orange and yellow flowers is extremely rare and restricted to a handful of sites, including areas within the 76,000 hectares that burned over December and January.

Finding the globe-pea will be a priority when a plant rescue mission led by Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria heads to the Grampians to search for survivors and signs of life amid the charred landscape.

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Chancellor expected to unveil new building projects and revise planning rules to stimulate UK economy

Rachel Reeves has given her strongest hint yet that she will back a third runway at Heathrow airport, arguing that she is willing to make difficult decisions while pursuing economic growth.

The chancellor is poised to make a significant speech this week where she will outline her plans to boost the British economy by radically altering planning rules and accelerating building projects.

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Achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 is humanity’s only hope of achieving climate security. It’s time to think deeply about our chances of getting there. Nick Rowley, Honorary Associate Professor, The Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Accepting change in the aftermath of natural disasters is hard. But long-term survival may require embracing managed retreat rather than repeated rebuilds. Anthony Richardson, Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director, Te Puna Ako Centre for Tertiary Teaching and Learning, University of Waikato Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Private developers offer politicians a simple solution for bulldozing through this crisis – build more. But it won’t work

Build baby, build. That’s about the intellectual limit of the government’s housing strategy. Millions are under-housed, so let’s “bulldoze” the planning system and build more homes. But it’s not nearly so simple.

As soon as anyone challenges the policy, the government brands them a nimby – another of the crude truncations that pass for debate on this issue: nimbys versus yimbys. So before I go further, let me state that I want to see lots of new social and genuinely affordable housing built as part of a massive programme to solve the worst housing crisis of any wealthy country. I’ve been making similar calls for years, not least in the report I co-authored for the Labour party in 2019: Land for the Many. I oppose Labour’s current approach for a different reason. It will fail.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

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Chancellor says runway would mean fewer planes circling London, and points to moves towards sustainable flying

Rachel Reeves has indicated her support for building a third runway at Heathrow airport, arguing that it would have environmental benefits such as fewer planes circling London.

Ahead of a major speech on economic growth this coming week, the chancellor made the case for Heathrow expansion and said there was “huge investment” in more sustainable aviation.

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In two actions, migrant workers claim exploitation while farmers demonstrate against inheritance tax plan

This is a tale of two countrysides. One was featured prominently on Saturday by broadcasters as farmers held demonstrations throughout the UK against inheritance tax plans they believe will cripple family farms.

A smaller protest staged a day earlier outside the Home Office received almost no attention. A small band of fruit and vegetable pickers, mainly from Latin America, were highlighting their battle against what they call the exploitation of migrant workers.

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Environmentalists say new course could be delayed until 2030 because it is viewed as Conservative party initiative

Leading environmentalists have called on the government to introduce a natural history GCSE immediately, amid fears it could be postponed until 2030.

The previous Conservative administration had supported creating the GCSE, which would teach pupils how to observe, identify and classify plants and animals.

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As chancellor Rachel Reeves’ plan to expand London airports gains traction, the party is accused of back-pedalling on its green commitments

Labour is being warned it is hurtling towards a “powder keg” confrontation with environmentalists, green groups and a swathe of its own supporters in the next few weeks, amid its claims that “blockers” are standing in the way of economic growth.

A flurry of pro-growth measures have been announced by ministers in recent days as part of a government fightback against claims that the economy is stalling.

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India's Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has released 12 draft methodologies to be adopted for its voluntary offset mechanism under the country's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) and has opened them for public consultation, it announced this week.

The chancellor’s attempt to get rich landowners to pay their fair share was correct in principle. But this measure has missed the mark

Rachel Reeves needs to rid herself of ­troublesome farmers. It’s become obvious, if it wasn’t at the time of the budget, that they are not going to go away.

Their shouts of protest are getting louder and the petition against proposals to tax inherited farms is growing longer.

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University of Cambridge research suggests living collections have collectively reached peak capacity

Botanic gardens around the world are failing to conserve the rarest and most threatened species growing in their living collections because they are running out of space, according to research from the University of Cambridge.

Researchers analysed a century’s worth of records from 50 botanic gardens and arboreta, collectively growing half-a-million plants, to see how the world’s living plant collections have changed since 1921.

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A proposed UK law to make climate and environmental targets legally binding amid a more joined-up approach has been delayed after a contentious debate in parliament.

California diesel consumption in October declined month-on-month (MoM) following two months of gains, while gasoline volumes rose from September levels as retail gas prices decreased, state data published this week showed.

Credit prices used towards alternate compliance options in Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulations (CFR) programme for 2024 increased 2.2% compared to last year, according to a notice from the environment ministry on Friday.

Financial entities moved focus to V26 California Carbon Allowances (CCA), while continuing to derisk across V25 CCAs, RGGI Allowances (RGA), Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LFS), and Washington Carbon Allowance (WCA) holdings as credit prices in the secondary market weakened, latest figures from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed Friday.

US DOE-funded carbon management and clean energy projects should consider legally binding community agreements to build long-term trust in low-carbon projects, a national think tank suggested Friday.

An Iowa-based CO2 pipeline project developer filed legal action Thursday against a commissioner on the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission (PUC), demanding she be recused from reviewing the company's permit application due to an alleged conflict of interest.