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AEMO underlines push on demand side of grid, wanting new market rules and regulations to facilitate rooftop solar, storage, energy efficiency and demand management. It marks major shift for the grid operator, and for the design of Australia's grid towards consumers rather than generators.

A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and despite the rise in recycling culture over the past few decades, just 7% of those collected last year were turned into new bottles. Most end up in landfill or in the ocean and by 2050 plastic waste is estimated to outweigh all the fish in the sea

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Modelling shows that ocean currents can concentrate slow-degrading debris in certain parts of the world’s oceans, leading to so-called ‘garbage patches’

It is estimated that between four and 12m metric tonnes of plastic makes its way into the ocean each year. This figure is only likely to rise, and a 2016 report predicted that by 2050 the amount of plastic in the sea will outweigh the amount of fish.

A normal plastic bottle takes about 450 years to break down completely, so the components of a bottle dropped in the ocean today could still be polluting the waters for our great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren.

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Could the resurgence of an ancient philosophy turn China into an environmental superpower?

Deposit return schemes for plastic bottles have been shown to cut litter and increase recycling in many countries – but not everyone agrees they’re a good idea

More than 4m plastic bottles a week could be prevented from littering streets and marine environments in Britain if authorities adopted the kind of deposit-return schemes that operate in at least a dozen other countries, according to new evidence.

A report for the last parliament that was never published suggests there could be a dramatic reduction in the number of bottles littered if people paid a deposit that would be refunded if they returned used bottles.

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RN Drive filters fact from fiction from the week's biggest science news

International climate task force says companies should disclose all of their direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions

Banks should disclose lending to companies with carbon-related risks, according to recommendations in a new report by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

The TCFD report – part of a G20 initiative led by governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney and former mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg – outlines how companies should disclose climate-related information in their financial filings, with the aim of allowing economies to properly value climate-related risks.

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The government has rejected advice to approve the new regulations that ensure homes, hospitals and schools do not overheat as the number of deadly heatwaves rises with climate change

The government must reverse its opposition to new building regulations that ensure homes, hospitals and schools do not overheat as the number of deadly heatwaves rises, according to its official climate change advisers.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) recommended the new regulations in 2015 but ministers rejected the advice, citing a commitment to “reduce net regulation on homebuilders”. Without action, the number of people dying as a result of heat is expected to more than triple to 7,000 a year by 2040, the CCC warns in its annual report on the UK’s progress on tackling global warming.

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Our dependence on plastic has to end as we contribute to an estimated 12m tonnes entering our oceans, polluting marine life, every year

Staying hydrated is good for our health. But contributing to the ever growing mound of waste plastic is not only bad for the planet, but for our wellbeing too.

The global demand for plastic bottles, spurred on by the drinks industry, is wreaking havoc on the environment. Every year, about half a trillion new bottles are produced, and many billions end up in landfill, the sea or the environment.

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The Go-Go Gang are a bunch of dancing militants on a mission to save the planet through kidnappings – and killer moves. Find out more in this taste of Murder a Go-Go, photographer Matt Henry’s fictional mashup of eco-action and 1960s exploitation cinema

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Natalie Fee left a job in television to focus on reducing plastic pollution. Her latest project, Refill, aims to make reusing a plastic bottle simpler than buying a new one and it’s catching on in cities from Bath to Bonn

Scrambling down the muddy riverbank, Natalie Fee frowns as she looks out across the River Avon. Three weeks earlier she had spent a day with other volunteers collecting hundreds of plastic bottles that were littering the river as it made its way to the sea. Now a new tide of plastic has returned.

“In a sense it is dispiriting,” says Fee as she starts to gather up the bottles strewn along the bank. “In another way, it just highlights how important it is we keep pushing ahead with the work we are doing.”

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Goat Island, East Devon After trotting through coastal scrub, the path abruptly writhes and plunges into dark shadow

A hot day on the South West Coast Path between Axmouth and Lyme Regis. The quivering air smells warmly of bracken. Gorse pods snap sharply, flinging their seeds into the tangled undergrowth.

After trotting easily through coastal scrub, the path abruptly writhes and plunges into the dark shadow of the chasm. This is the undercliff, a wooded no-man’s land between clifftop and shoreline, formed by a continuous cycle of landslips.

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GTM highlights what is becoming an increasingly common refrain these days — solar prices continue to fall, and they’re not slowing down.

Call for new coal generation to be stopped by 2020 comes as the industry's flagship "clean coal" project terminated after $10 billion investment, and as Coalition considers new coal generator and threatens to turn financial screws on states that oppose fracking.

Perth-based Stellata Energy has won approval for a 120MW solar plant near Merredin, in Western Australia’s wheatbelt, adding to the growing queue of large scale renewable projects lining up for construction after a near four-year investment drought. Stellata has teamed up with UK investment manager Ingenious investment to build the Merredin solar farm, which would be the largest in […]

Self-driving vehicles will not only need to “see” the world, they’ll need to communicate and work together..

Some states and electric power companies are rolling out a new weapon against fossil fuels — giant batteries.

The project, which relied on a “gasifier” to turn a cheap and common grade of coal into fuel, is over, at least for now, Southern said.

Energy Minister Mark Bailey unveiled the first of many fast-charging electric vehicle stations which will be rolled out at various locations right up the Queensland coast.

From 1 July 2017, the Commercial Building Disclosure (CBD) Program will extend to commercial building spaces of 1,000 square metres and more, helping more businesses save on their energy costs.