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The Latrobe Valley’s vast deposit of brown coal acts as a blanket over a rich source of geothermal heat. Being close to the surface makes it an ideal resource for generating electricity.

Guardian writers examine the pros and cons of extra runways at Heathrow and Gatwick from three different perspectives

Heathrow airport is full to bursting. The same will soon be true of Gatwick. There has been no full-length runway built in the south-east since the 1940s. The UK’s attempts to break into the big and fast-growing markets of the emerging world such as India and China will be thwarted unless it follows the lead of other European countries and upgrades its aviation infrastructure. Jobs, trade and inward investment all depend on the go-ahead for new capacity.

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The internet thinks that Quokkas are the happiest animals in the world, but what's the real life of a quokka like?

Where Theresa May’s team stand on the proposed expansion of the west London airport

As MPs opposed to a third runway at Heathrow are plotting to undermine its anticipated government approval, we look at where members of Theresa May’s cabinet stand on the proposed expansion of the west London airport.

Related: Anti-Heathrow MPs plan to thwart government over third runway

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Video of twin giant panda cubs celebrating their first birthday is released by a zoo.

Documentary that sees the actor touring the world to see global warming’s impact first-hand has its UK premiere in London on Friday

“Try to have a conversation with anyone about climate change and people just tune out,” says Leonardo DiCaprio in his new film. “If the UN really knew how I feel, how pessimistic I am about our future, I mean to be honest they may have picked the wrong guy,” he says in Before the Flood, which shows him urging world leaders at the UN to act on fossil fuels.

But after touring the world to see global warming’s impact first-hand, from Canada’s tar sands and Greenland’s ice to China’s coal belt and Miami’s flood problems, the actor came away more upbeat.

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Viper’s bugloss mason bee, common in Europe, was spotted for the first time in Britain in a London park

Brexit may have caused an anti-immigrant buzz but a traveller from the continent has made the UK its new home: the viper’s bugloss mason bee.

The bee is common in the UK’s European neighbours but has been discovered for the first time in this country, in a small park in Greenwich, London.

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US Secretary of State John Kerry tells delegates meeting in Rwanda that hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) gases were "disastrous for our climate" and should be rapidly phased out.

The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

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Unusual cave art as much as 14,500 years old is found in northern Spain - and pronounced the "most spectacular" in the Iberian peninsula.

Toxic lion fish, a rare brown panda and a green sea turtle are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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Almost two-thirds of licensed sites have above-average biodiversity, that is valuable for functions such as pollination and pest control, analysis shows

Many of the areas that have been recently licensed for fracking are rich in wildlife that perform crucial functions from pollination to decomposition, researchers have found.

Scientists say that almost two-thirds of the areas that have been labelled as suitable for shale gas extraction have levels of biodiversity above the national average, according to a new analysis of records collected from across the country.

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Extra power will mean lights will not go out this winter, says firm that operates UK’s electricity transmission network

The risk of electricity blackouts in Britain this winter has diminished, after the National Grid and the government spent more than £140m on tools designed to guarantee the lights stay on.

The Grid’s capacity margin, the cushion between electricity demand and supply, has risen to 6.6%, beating its summer prediction of 5.5%. The buffer zone is also well ahead of last year’s “tight but manageable” 5.1%, which was the lowest in a decade.

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Photographer Elena Chernyshova spent a year documenting the people and landscape of Norilsk, which was built by prisoners during the Soviet era

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Earth’s atmosphere is warming faster and more in line with models than Ted Cruz and his witnesses argued

A new study has just appeared in the Journal of Climate which deals with an issue commonly raised by those who deny that human-caused climate change is a serious risk. As I have written many times, we know humans are causing the Earth’s climate to change. We know this for many reasons.

First, we know that certain gases trap heat; this fact is indisputable. Second, we know that humans have significantly increased the amount of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. Again, this is indisputable. Third, we know the Earth is warming (again indisputable). We know the Earth warms because we are actually measuring the warming rate in multiple different ways. Those measurements are in good agreement with each other.

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A UK-wide citizen science project that has attracted almost one million participants is awarded a further £1.2m of lottery funding.

A week in the social media feed of ecologist Euan Ritchie.

"Extremely rare" fossils from a swordfish-like predator which lived 100 million years ago have been discovered on Australia's "Dinosaur Trail".

Footage uploaded to YouTube shows the moment a great white shark breaches the side of a cage during a diving trip to Guadalupe Island, off the west coast of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. According to YouTuber Gabe and Garrett, ‘this shark lunged at the bait, accidentally hit the side of the cage, was most likely confused and not able to swim backwards’.

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Maintaining a thriving business today means consistently providing top quality customer service, even if you are a small business growing at a rapid rate. And with new digital technology, small companies now have the tools to compete

When Facebook bought Instagram for $US1 billion in 2012, it had just 13 employees. But it also had global recognition and more than 30 million customers.

And in the years since, the power of small companies to compete with the titans of commerce has only grown, as digital technology continues to empower minnows to make whale-sized splashes.

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