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Chinese scientists say their experimental Micius spacecraft paves the way for a new kind of internet.

BNEF report suggests wind and solar will fall further than Finkel Review expects, undermining case for even refurbished coal generators. The cost falls mean that Australia's current Paris targets will be met even without a clean energy target mechanism.

The international community must show Trump, and any other leaders that may follow suit, that other core diplomatic goals – such as Nato funding – will depend on honouring their climate commitments

World leaders’ response to Donald Trump’s announcement that he would withdraw the US from the Paris agreement was strong and unified. But did it sting the president and his administration? To deter other potential backsliders and maintain the integrity of the Paris agreement, the perpetrator of a defection of this magnitude should be made to feel the pain. But how?

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Solving air pollution is a national not a local issue, says the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.

Almost 700 of the endangered rodents, immortalised in Wind in the Willows, will be released in Northumberland – and it’s all thanks really to the otter

The biggest reintroduction of water voles in the UK began this week, with 325 voles released into Kielder Forest in Northumberland, and 350 more to follow later in the summer.

Water voles hold a special place in Britain’s natural history, providing the model for Ratty, the much-loved character in The Wind in the Willows. But the species has suffered catastrophic declines over several decades, driven by loss of habitat, the pollution of waterways, increased urbanisation, and rampant populations of American mink, originally farmed for their fur but which escaped into the wild and proved a voracious predator on the native vole.

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Last November, a Citizens' Jury rejected "under any circumstances" plans to import nuclear waste as a money-making venture. So is the dump dead?

Which ASX-listed company indirectly lobbied for the US to withdraw from the Paris Agreement? And what should investors do about it?

If the 2016 conference was lithium, lithium, lithium, the 2017 version has a more nuanced tone. Here are some of the highlights.

SA Senator Cory Bernardi has installed 12kW of solar at his family home – but will it keep the lights on?

Crook, Country Durham Tiny larvae hatched then covered their bloated bodies in their own sticky excrement so they resembled bird droppings

At first I thought the flash of red under the leaf was a ladybird. Then I realised that this was a scarlet lily beetle, which has the delightfully alliterative scientific name of Lilioceris lilii.

These gaudy insects have a formidable appetite for lily foliage and have spread from their native Eurasia throughout most of the temperate northern hemisphere. They first appeared in a Surrey garden in 1939 and reached the US in 1943. They turned up in my garden in May.

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Malcolm Turnbull declared on Wednesday he’d “provided decisive leadership on energy”. It is a claim perhaps better cast in the future tense.

The debate over the Finkel panel’s recommendation for a clean energy target (CET) is just beginning, and already it is clear that reaching an outcome that brings the certainty the business community needs to invest will be a hard slog for Turnbull, who will be undermined by critics on his own side.

In this podcast we talk Finkel with Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, Nationals backbencher George Christensen, and opposition climate spokesman Mark Butler.

Frydenberg, charged with the detailed heavy-lifting, tells Michelle Grattan: “We have to work together as a team to land this difficult policy area.”

Christensen proudly wears the agrarian socialist title as he advocates for radical changes to the regulation of Australian energy prices. “Being bold is the answer and market intervention has to happen.” He’s sceptical of a CET without seeing the modelling and data.

Butler believes a CET is workable but it has to be consistent with principles, which means such a scheme shouldn’t incorporate so-called “clean” coal. “The discussion of the Finkel report shouldn’t include concessions for the hard-right-wing,” he says.

Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

Carnegie has been selected as the company to lead global business in achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal number 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy.

Daniel Pauly is calling for a new plan to manage fishing levels as the industry’s expansion combines with global warming

As climate change pushes marine species towards cooler waters, and the fishing industry expands around the globe, the tropics are emptying out, a leading fisheries expert has warned.

The federal government is expected to release its new management plan for marine reserves in coming weeks, after a 2016 review recommended winding back protections. However Dr Daniel Pauly has called for the creation of more, saying they are the only realistic form of mitigation to the current crisis.

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EV Council says most Australians want to buy electric vehicles, but a lack of policy support – and cars – is getting in the way.

Two days after President Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate accord, Modi and Macron pledged to achieve emissions reductions beyond their nations’ commitments.

BP data shows impact of reduced coal use in emissions, including China. Australia, however, joins smaller emerging economies in lifting emissions.

Wangan and Jagalingou representative who had backed an Indigenous land use agreement now says he opposes the mine

Adani has lost majority support from traditional owner representatives for a land access deal for its Queensland mine, casting doubt on moves to implement the agreement.

Craig Dallen, a Wangan and Jagalingou representative who last year backed an Indigenous land use agreement (Ilua) with the miner, now says he opposes a deal that will not make up for “the destruction the project will wreak upon the traditional culture and lands of our people”.

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The Australian Petroleum Statistics provide statistics on petroleum production, refinery inputs and outputs, sales and stocks of petroleum products, and prices.

Coalition may require new solar and wind farms to match each megawatt of capacity with a megawatt hour of energy storage to "level playing field" with coal.

In remote Australia, India and 1000s of islands around the world, renewable energy micro-grids are already cheaper, cleaner and more reliable than new coal, says energy boss.