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Research group says discovery could lead to new type of environmentally friendly farming

A biological mechanism that makes plant roots more attractive to soil microbes has been discovered by scientists in the UK. The breakthrough – by researchers at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, Norfolk – opens the door to the creation of crops requiring reduced amounts of nitrate and phosphate fertilisers, they say.

“We can now think of developing a new type of environmentally friendly farming with crops that require less artificial fertiliser,” said Dr Myriam Charpentier, whose group carried out the research.

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The PM and his ministers are supporting illiberal laws that hard-right authoritarians could apply with zeal

If the Trump project implodes, it might take with it the extreme and far-right European parties to which it is umbilically connected. Like all such parties, the hard-right Reform UK poses as patriotic while grovelling to foreign interests, and this could be its undoing.

But we cannot bank on it. The UK government must do all it can to prevent the disaster that has befallen several other European nations. If it fails to meet people’s needs and keeps echoing far-right talking points, we could go the same way as Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, Finland, Sweden and Austria.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

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California diesel consumption in November fell to the second lowest level thus far in 2024, while gasoline volumes dropped month-over-month (MoM) even as retail gas prices continued to decline, state data published this week showed.

Financial players continued to add to their net length in California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) leading up to the Q1 auction, but reduced their exposure in the RGGI and Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) markets, according to latest figures from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released Friday.

Residents living near a nuclear power plant have seen rents double to £3,000 a month.

A California state senator proposed a bill that would invest $80 million in the purchase of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits from in-state projects.

Photographs of gulls eating anything from chips to starfish will help solve a scientific puzzle.

Oregon regulators discussed a delay in mandating nitrogen oxide (NOx) reductions for heavy-duty vehicles in its first of three rulemaking advisory committee meetings hosted by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Friday.

The state of Para in Brazil has progressed in its plans to deliver on a $180 million jurisdictional REDD+ (J-REDD) deal, receiving plans from Indigenous peoples and traditional communities on securing ‘free, prior, and informed consent’ (FPIC) after protracted controversy over FPIC.

A Brazilian conservation think tank has found that deforestation and degradation in the Legal Amazon increased substantially year-on-year (YoY) in January, highlighting that protected and Indigenous lands experience concentrated risks in some states.

California senators have introduced a bill to create a committee that would review appeals from entities denied exemptions or time extensions from the state's Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) requirements.

Belem, Brazil will definitely host the COP30 UN climate conference in November, the COP30 secretary told Brazilian journalists on Wednesday, but countries need to “calm down” and send fewer delegates.

A US biochar producer specialising in road construction and building materials signalled in a Q4 2024 filing that it is suffering recurring losses amounting to nearly $16 million that threaten its ability to continue operations.

A US appeals court agreed to the US EPA’s request to pause litigation around the agency’s controversial power plant standards set by the prior administration to allow the new agency time to review the case.

A Canada-headquartered provider of Earth observation data announced on Thursday it has acquired a wildfire and forest analytics platform to help clients improve environmental risk monitoring and management.

A major UK bank has warned scope 3 emissions data is insufficient to include setting targets for companies it invests in, and added there was a risk of double counting.

A California assemblymember has introduced legislation aimed at regulating the environmental practices of fashion sellers in the state, requiring companies to implement comprehensive environmental due diligence.

A biotech company has demonstrated an average 30% gain in biomass of reforestation projects in the southeastern US by reintroducing soil fungal biodiversity, which it says can accelerate tree growth and carbon removal.

As Ningaloo reef bleaches and an election looms, we must hold to account those who stand in the way of our safety – the small cohort profiting from fossil fuels, and the politicians who protect them

Late last spring, I was part of an expedition to Scott Reef, a magnificent coral atoll nearly 300 kilometres off the Kimberley coast. And while it was a privilege to be in such a remote and wonderful place, watching rare and endemic sea life drifting past, the moment I tipped from the boat in my mask and fins, I knew something was wrong.

The water was too hot. Not tropical warm, but uncomfortably hot.

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There was little sign of a rapprochement between the countries supporting a greenhouse gas (GHG) levy for the shipping sector and those opposing such a measure during talks at the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) this week, with all eyes now on an crucial April meeting.