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UK and Canada lead global alliance against coal
Colombia zoo gives trafficked elephant root canal surgery
'Political watershed' as 19 countries pledge to phase out coal
New alliance launched at Bonn climate talks hopes to signal the end of the dirtiest fossil fuel that kills 800,000 people a year with air pollution
A new alliance of 19 nations committed to quickly phasing out coal has been launched at the UN climate summit in Bonn, Germany. It was greeted as a “political watershed”, signalling the end of the dirtiest fossil fuel that currently provides 40% of global electricity.
New pledges were made on Thursday by Mexico, New Zealand, Denmark and Angola for the Powering Past Coal Alliance, which is led by the UK and Canada.
Continue reading...US to allow imports of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe
Campaigners fear move by Trump administration will damage global efforts to end the ivory trade
Donald Trump’s administration plans to allow imports of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe into the US – a move campaigners fear could damage global momentum on ending the ivory trade.
In 2014, US big game hunters killing elephants in Zimbabwe were banned from bringing their trophies home, on the basis that the country had failed to show that it was taking elephant management seriously.
Continue reading...'Routine' detection of space ripples
Epic India leopard rescue photo wins award five years later
First gene-editing in human body attempt
Nicholas Stern: ministers must pass 'Trump test' at Bonn climate talks
Leading climate economist says world leaders must move forward without the US on crucial issues in the closing days of the UN summit
Ministers from governments around the world meeting in Bonn for the final days of the UN climate talks must prove they can pass “the Trump test” by moving on without the US on issues crucial to combating global warming, a leading climate economist has said.
“It’s about getting on with it,” Lord Nicholas Stern told the Guardian. “They have to get on with it. But there are good signs.”
Continue reading...Research Filter: Ross 128b, flooded cities and why doting grandparents might be detrimental to kids' health
Country diary: hand-chiselled headstones speak in rural accents
Hamsterley, Weardale, Durham As the centuries passed, the memorials in the village churchyard became more formal and decorative, less idiosyncratic
There has been a place of worship on this spot since 1180 but no one seems to know why St James’ church was founded on this hillside half a mile from the village. “Man fleeth as it were a passing shadow,” cautions the sundial above the porch. Perhaps the grandeur of the rising sun, as I watched it lifting deep shadows from the valley cut by the river Wear, moved its founders to build here.
I wandered around the churchyard, reading names on tombstones carved by stonemasons whose own identities have long since been forgotten.
Continue reading...Australia fails again in climate rankings, but states get honourable mention
Victoria’s battery storage won’t be ready for this summer
Pilbara Solar eyes NAIF funding for plan to export WA solar to Asia
Gas generators profit from scarcity in S.A. again, and again
Tasmanian tech drives renewable Rottnest
Australia’s dirtiest industry dealt another blow as Commonwealth Bank rule out new coal projects
Consumers to displace fossil fuels as biggest supplier of energy
Singapore welcomes rare blue macaw parrots
Commonwealth Bank says its lending for coal will continue to decline
Analysts say a test of the bank’s withdrawal from coal will come when Adani’s Abbot Point terminal comes up for refinancing
The Commonwealth Bank has told its shareholders to expect its support of the coal industry to decline as it helps finance the transition to a low-carbon economy, indicating the bank is unlikely to lend to new large coal projects.
Ahead of its AGM on Thursday, the bank posted the speech of its chairwoman, Catherine Livingstone, to the ASX. In it she said climate change poses both a business risk and a responsibility for the bank.
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