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A reported quarter of a million farmed salmon escaped from their water pens off the coast of Bruny Island after a storm damaged nets earlier this month.

This month's Federal Budget pledged an unprecedented $444 million to a single organisation — the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

In this Background Briefing investigation reporter Bronwyn Adcock speaks to community leaders in the city of Dubbo who are fed up with drug addicts having no other option than to be sent to jail.

Background Briefing has uncovered evidence about the NSW Ambulance officers stealing fentanyl.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

Voluntary carbon market developers risk being crowded out of existence by increasingly expansive climate policies worldwide unless they quickly work out a way to earn revenues within the scope of the Paris Agreement, experts said at an event on Wednesday.

A pair of wooden paddles reminds the former Greens leader Christine Milne of her childhood spent on a Tasmanian dairy farm. As she revisits the farm for our new series about precious family objects, she reflects on how it shaped her commitment to the environment and social equality 

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All 36 people on trial over a €385-million tax fraud using the EU carbon market have been convicted by a Paris court.

California’s Air Resources Board (ARB) handed out some 176,400 carbon offsets to three initiatives this week, with a new ODS project taking home the bulk of the credits.

Australia's recently announced review of its national fuel stockpiles is timely indeed. The country is almost totally reliant on oil being shipped through some of the world's most contested regions. Anthony Richardson, Research Fellow, Future Social Service Institute, RMIT University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Sandpaper figs are the swiss army knife of Australian flora. Danica-Lea Larcombe, PhD Candidate in Biodiversity and Human Health, Edith Cowan University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The second quarterly WCI auction of 2018 cleared above the floor price with buyers again purchasing all current units available, countering worries that political uncertainty in Ontario would lead to an under-subscribed result.

Feral cats kill a million native birds every night and have caused extinction of 20 native species since introduction

The world’s largest cat-proof fence has been completed in central Australia, creating a 94 square kilometre sanctuary for endangered marsupials.

The 44km fence – made of 85,000 pickets, 400km of wire and 130km of netting – surrounds the Newhaven wildlife sanctuary, a former cattle station that has been bought by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.

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When scientists exposed the crop to higher levels of carbon dioxide vitamin levels fell significantly

Rice will become less nutritious as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rise, potentially jeopardising the health of the billions of people who rely on the crop as their main source of food, new research suggests.

Scientists have found that exposing rice to the levels of carbon dioxide that are expected in the atmosphere before the end of the century results in the grain containing lower levels of protein, iron and zinc, as well as reduced levels of a number of B vitamins.

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European carbon prices held around €16 and within sight of recent highs despite two fairly weak auction results on Wednesday.

Almost all nations would benefit economically from keeping global warming to 1.5C, a new study indicates

Achieving the toughest climate change target set in the global Paris agreement will save the world about $30tn in damages, far more than the costs of cutting carbon emissions, according to a new economic analysis.

Most nations, representing 90% of global population, would benefit economically from keeping global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, the research indicates. This includes almost all the world’s poorest countries, as well as the three biggest economies – the US, China and Japan – contradicting the claim of US president, Donald Trump, that climate action is too costly.

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Undercover footage recorded more than 100 incidents over 10 days, with workers apparently kicking pigs in their heads and stomachs

The RSPCA has launched an investigation after the release of footage that appears to show farm workers brutally kicking and punching pigs at a farm in Lincolnshire.

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The slower-than-planned uptake of forest-based carbon offsetting in the US could be buoyed by a reverse auction system that provides cost certainty and flexibility for landowners, according to experts.

Water shortages could stretch into the 2050s, according to the Environment Agency. It’s time to do your bit

The sun is shining and we are due a hot bank holiday Monday, so it must be time for a drought story. And not just any old drought, but one stretching into the 2050s and beyond, according to the Environment Agency, which warns that our use of water is unsustainable. While the agency puts much of its focus on the need for companies to change their behaviour, especially by reducing leakage, there are practical steps we can all take.

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The European Roundtable on Climate Change and Sustainable Transition in Brussels, which is under the umbrella of International Institute for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), is seeking an Research Assistant to work for 6 months starting in June/July 2018, with a possibility for extending the contract.