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Cronulla residents believe speared fish may have been ‘Gus’, a 35- to 40-year-old blue groper known to swimmers and divers in the area

A man has been fined $500 for spearing a protected fish species in Sydney over the weekend.

NSW police have confirmed officers spoke to a 26-year-old man on Saturday following reports a blue groper (Achoerodus viridis) was speared and killed at Oak Park in Cronulla.

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Invasive species such as deer, pigs and rabbits might help boost native predator populations. Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

As 2023 wrapped up, some new records were achieved in Australia’s energy transition, particularly in Victoria and South Australia, where rooftop PV met all state demand at one stage.

The post Rooftop solar PV gorilla roars again, meets all demand in one state in holiday peak appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Cabinet papers reveal John Howard killed proposed emissions trading scheme in 2003 after meeting "industry" leaders. Even Joe "wind turbines are offensive" Hockey was on board.

The post John Howard killed emissions trading plan in 2003 after industry lobbying – cabinet papers appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Poor state of critical assets in many parts of country leaves thousands of homes and businesses more vulnerable to storms

Ministers have been told they will be “punished” by voters after analysis revealed the decline of vital flood defences across England.

The proportion of critical assets in disrepair has almost trebled in the West Midlands and the east of England since 2018, leaving thousands of homes and businesses more vulnerable to storms.

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Pioneering initiative to consider children’s addresses after coroner ruled air pollution a factor in death of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, nine

Doctors at Great Ormond Street are being encouraged to consider air pollution levels at their patients’ home addresses when assessing the causes of their illnesses, under an innovative pilot scheme.

Data showing the average annual air pollution rates at patients’ postcodes has been embedded in patients’ electronic files, so that clinicians can help families understand whether their child has been exposed to elevated risk.

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Keeping your cat indoors is safer for your pet and wildlife. There are some simple steps you can take to ensure its quality of life doesn’t suffer. Tiffani J. Howell, Senior Research Fellow, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Kristy Holmes always knew she could use her electric car for ‘good things’, but when storms caused a blackout, it proved life-saving

An electric vehicle owner has used her car’s emergency power system to run her 11-year-old son’s lifesaving dialysis machine and another has ridden to the rescue of his neighbours after devastating storms cut power in south-east Queensland.

When the power went down following storms and flash flooding on Christmas Day, many residents immediately felt the consequences: electric gates did not work, septic tanks began to fill, air conditioners could not run and fridges began to warm as a heatwave followed.

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Protests, natural disasters and First Nations pride were among the memorable images from the past year taken by Australia’s wire agency photographers

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Experts say prolonged delay in replacing chair signals that government does not take net zero policy seriously enough and is harming investment

Rishi Sunak has come under fierce attack from UK climate experts for his government’s failure over the past 18 months to appoint a new chair of the independent committee that advises ministers on emissions targets.

In a letter to the prime minister leaked to the Observer, the UK’s leading organisation working on the economic effects of global warming condemned the “excessive delay” in finding a replacement to previous chair Lord Deben.

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Cautious optimism among experts that emissions from energy use may have peaked as net zero mission intensifies

Global efforts to slow a runaway climate catastrophe may have reached a critical milestone in the last year with the peak of global carbon emissions from energy use, according to experts.

A growing number of climate analysts believe that 2023 may be recorded as the year in which annual emissions reached a pinnacle before the global fossil fuel economy begins a terminal decline.

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Several US banks and hedge funds opened accounts in California’s WCI-linked carbon market in Q4, while dairy digester offset developers continue to exit the cap-and-trade programme, according to state data published Friday.

Farmers in Switzerland want the predators to be reduced in number to protect livestock.

Overflows are only meant to spill sewage after heavy rain, but last year saw 1.75 million hours of discharges

Regulated parties and speculators built up 2024 vintage net holdings of California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) and RGGI allowances (RGAs) into the last trading week of 2023, while the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) did not report Washington allowance (WCA) positions in data published Friday.

Disastrous events included flash flooding in Africa and wildfires in Europe and North America

The hottest year in recorded history casts doubts on humanity’s ability to deal with a climate crisis of its own making, senior scientists have said.

As historically high temperatures continued to be registered in many parts of the world in late December, the former Nasa scientist James Hansen told the Guardian that 2023 would be remembered as the moment when failures became apparent.

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Conservationists say government strategy to recover England’s degraded temperate rainforest is a good start but want a target to double the area by 2050

Conservationists have praised the launch of a new government strategy to revive the remaining fragments of the vast temperate rainforests that were once “one of the jewels of Britain’s nature crown”.

Temperate rainforest, also known as Atlantic woodland or Celtic rainforest, once covered most of western Britain and Ireland. The archipelago’s wet, mild conditions are ideal for lichens, mosses and liverworts. But centuries of destruction have meant that only small, isolated pockets remain.

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The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

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Conservationists celebrated findings but warned that species and habitats are in overall decline in Britain

Spectacular feeding frenzies of Atlantic bluefin tuna, surging numbers of glowworms, and a record-breaking breeding season for pied flycatchers are among the British wildlife highlights of 2023.

But conservationists warned that overall wildlife continued to decline, with one in six species at risk of extinction – and that wildlife was being challenged in new ways by global heating, disease and other destructive human activities.

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Escaping poverty, violence and the climate crisis are factors, but the main driver is rich societies demanding cheap labour

We seem to be living in times of unprecedented mass migration. Images of people from Africa crammed into unseaworthy boats desperately trying to cross the Mediterranean, asylum seekers crossing the Channel into Britain, and “caravans” of migrants trying to reach the Mexico-US border all seem to confirm fears that global migration is spinning out of control.

A toxic combination of poverty, inequality, violence, oppression, climate breakdown and population growth appear to be pushing growing numbers of people from Africa, Asia and Latin America to embark upon desperate journeys to reach the shores of the wealthy west.

Hein de Haas is professor of sociology at the University of Amsterdam, and the author of How Migration Really Works

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