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Oil giant warned industry would pull out of EU if laws to cut pollution and speed clean energy take up were passed, letter obtained by the Guardian reveals

The EU abandoned or weakened key proposals for new environmental protections after receiving a letter from a top BP executive which warned of an exodus of the oil industry from Europe if the proposals went ahead.

In the 10-page letter, the company predicted in 2013 that a mass industry flight would result if laws to regulate tar sands, cut power plant pollution and accelerate the uptake of renewable energy were passed, because of the extra costs and red tape they allegedly entailed.

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American Lung Association’s ‘state of the air’ report finds 166 million Americans are living in unhealthy ozone or particle pollution with serious health risks

More than half of the US population lives amid potentially dangerous air pollution, with national efforts to improve air quality at risk of being reversed, a new report has warned.

A total of 166 million Americans live in areas that have unhealthy levels of either ozone or particle pollution, according to the American Lung Association, raising their risk of lung cancer, asthma attacks, heart disease, reproductive problems and other ailments.

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Floodplains within the Renmark area, South Australia, will be protected and restored under a landmark Partnership Agreement agreed today between the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and the Renmark Irrigation Trust.

Environmental and cultural benefits for wetlands surrounding the Coorong and Lower Lakes in South Australia, are to be met under a landmark Partnership Agreement between the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and the Ngarrindjeri Regional...

TOWARDS 2050: A shift toward vegetarianism and lower meat consumption would feed the world population until at least 2050 without clearing more forests, according to new research.

Maxima Acuña de Chaupe has won a major environmental prize for defending her land from the biggest gold-mining project in South America

Environmental activism may not have been what Maxima Acuña de Chaupe had in mind when in 2011 she refused to sell her 60-acre plot of land to the biggest gold-mining project in South America.

She did not belong to any movement or organisation but she doggedly held on to her land in spite of her claims of beatings, death threats, intimidation and court proceedings, becoming a symbol of resistance in her native Peru and above all its northern region of Cajamarca which rejected the $4.8bn Conga gold mine after five demonstrators were killed in clashes with the police in 2012.

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Relaxing of specifications on fine green beans is expected to save more than 135 tonnes of edible crops being wasted each year, supermarket says

Tesco is to relax rules on fine green beans imported from Kenya in a move expected to save more than 135 tonnes of edible crops from going to waste every year.

The UK’s largest retailer said shoppers’ preoccupation with pre-prepared vegetables had meant that until recently growers were required to supply fine beans within a strictly specified size range, and then trim them of their “strings” before being packed and shipped to the UK.

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The tiny beads used in exfoliant scrubs and toothpastes are at various stages of being phased out by the industry. Until a blanket ban comes into force, here’s a handy list of popular brands to help you choose which to use and which to avoid

Last week, Greenpeace found that two-thirds of the British public it polled think plastic microbeads used in exfoliant toiletries should be banned.

The tiny beads - found in face and body scrubs and some toothpastes - are too small to be captured through existing wastewater treatment processes, and wash straight into the ocean where they harm fish and other sea life.

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BIG BEARS: Ancient bears evolved to become giants so they could scavenge prey killed by others, suggests a new study.

GREAT MOMENTS IN SCIENCE: People in the US used to be among the tallest in the world, but now that honour goes to the Dutch. Dr Karl gets to the bottom of the slide in height.

EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS: Insects are conscious, egocentric beings, argue Australian scientists in a new paper that suggests basic consciousness may have first evolved in insects in the Cambrian Period.

SLEEP DEPRIVATION: Women's ability to perform tasks accurately is reduced when working night shifts into the early morning, according to a new study that details for the first time differences between men and women's sleep-wake cycles and circadian rhythms.

The city of Miami Beach is slowly disappearing under water. At the big high tides of the year the sea washes over the famous wide beach and floods many of the city streets and magnificent Art Deco buildings. And over the past decade the floods have been striking more frequently.

Most of the city sits just a few feet above sea level, built on a foundation of porous limestone, allowing the rising seas to seep into the city’s foundations, surge up through pipes and drains, encroaching on fresh water supplies and saturating infrastructure. The city is now investing in a $500m project to raise roads and a pumping system to hold back the floods.

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Cambridge physicist and government scientific adviser with a rational approach to the climate and energy debate

Sir David MacKay, who has died of cancer aged 48, was a true polymath, a rare breed in today’s world, where the frontiers of scientific knowledge are increasingly remote and complex. It is a testament to David’s intellectual brilliance that he was able to contribute to advancing more than one of these frontiers during his short career.

David latterly achieved cult status among climate and energy aficionados following the publication of Sustainable Energy: Without the Hot Air (2008), initially self-published using £10,000 of David’s own money and offered – as were all his works – simultaneously free for download on his website. Described as a “tour de force” by the Economist magazine and lauded by Bill Gates as “one of the best books on energy that has been written”, within two years it had sold 40,000 copies and been downloaded nearly half a million times.

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Government urged to crack down on rogue practice of garages removing compulsory diesel particulate filters from vehicles

More than a thousand diesel cars have been caught without an essential pollution filter that traps deadly particles, according to government figures. But experts warn the rogue practice of removing the filters, which contributes to air pollution-related deaths, could be far more widespread.

Almost 29,000 people die prematurely each year in the UK owing to particle pollution, causing £15bn in health costs. Since 2009 diesel particulate filters (DPFs) have been compulsory in new diesel cars. But, particularly for cars driven in cities, the DPFs can become clogged and cause breakdowns.

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The Natural Environment Research Council have conducted a poll to help decide the name of its new £200m polar research vessel and the winning name is – RRS Boaty McBoatface – receiving 124,109 votes. Four times more than RRS Poppy-Mai, which came in second place. Despite the overwhelming result of the poll, the NERC are unlikely to use the winning name. The government says it wants a name that ‘reflects the serious nature of the science it will be doing’

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NERC chief has final say and faces dilemma between credibility of the organisation and burden of public opinion

Latest: Boaty McBoatface may not be name of new polar research vessel

Forget the EU referendum. The major test of modern democracy has fallen into the hands of the Natural Environment Research Council – over the naming of a boat.

As the polls finally closed for the naming of its new polar research ship, the NERC confirmed that the votes were overwhelmingly in favour of RRS Boaty McBoatface.

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Conservationists are putting fragments of information together to learn more about this enigmatic winged creature that only three living people have seen

Somewhere here among the red-dirt channel country of south-west Queensland is a bird that was, until recently, literally a legend.

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After a day in which Britain generated more power from the sun than from coal for the first time, the industry should be rejoicing. But the mood is fearful

Given that the government is determined to avoid playing a financial role in the planned new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point, it is perhaps surprising that it is involved in the UK’s largest solar array.

The 70-megawatt Lyneham photovoltaic farm – big enough to provide light and heat to 20,000 homes – is located at a former RAF base in Wiltshire owned and rented out by the Ministry of Defence.

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Average global temperature was 1.07C hotter - beating last month’s previous record increase

The global temperature in March has shattered a century-long record and by the greatest margin yet seen for any month.

February was far above the long-term average globally, driven largely by climate change, and was described by scientists as a “shocker” and signalling “a kind of climate emergency”. But data released by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) shows that March was even hotter.

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