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Australia commits to ratifying Paris climate deal, which will come into force by the end of the year - a speed of action almost unprecedented on the international stage. But that means Malcolm Turnbull will have to match words with action. But how?

Research says genetically modified enzymes, which allow products to be still labelled as ‘natural’, should be tested like potentially hazardous chemicals

Genetically modified enzymes used in food, perfumes, medicine and cleaning products are “potent allergens” and should be tested like other potentially hazardous chemicals, experts have said.

There has been an explosion in the use of enzymes to boost flavours and aromas, including in low-fat foods, helping to create a sector worth about $10bn (£7.7bn), according to a study published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

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The defining 'boom and bust' flooding cycles of Australia's inland Great Artesian Basin desert river systems are under threat from the development of unconventional gas mining, according to a new report.

Carbon dioxide standards for cars are the cheapest way to cut emissions. Car exhaust www.shutterstock.com

The Australian government has started looking into carbon dioxide emissions standards for light vehicles, as part of new measures to meet the nation’s 2030 climate targets.

However, some are already questioning the use of standards, with media reports pointing to higher costs for new car buyers and the possibility of the government bungling the introduction of standards.

Ministers Josh Frydenberg (energy and environment) and Paul Fletcher (urban infrastructure) have acknowledged these concerns, stating that “the reform agenda raises issues which need to be carefully considered including for their impact on motorists, the automotive sector and others”.

In 2015, new Australian vehicles produced an average of 184 grams of CO₂ for each kilometre. Introducing a standard is the cheapest way to cut carbon emissions in Australia’s economy.

At ClimateWorks Australia, we’ve long been calling for best-practice standards for new light vehicles. This has been supported by Global Fuel Economy Initiative, Future Climate Australia, and other environmental groups. Indeed, the latest report from the Climate Change Authority also recommended a mandatory CO₂ emission standard.

Our research shows that the introduction of emission standards for light vehicles has considerable benefits for motorists and Australia more broadly.

So let’s look at five key concerns and why light vehicle CO₂ emission standards should be introduced in Australia.

Emission standards will cuts costs for drivers

Based on a conservative estimate, we estimate that more efficient vehicles would add A$2,500 to the upfront costs for motorists (the Climate Change Authority estimates A$1,500). However, our research shows that the average driver could recoup these within three years through fuel savings, or even sooner for fleet drivers travelling greater distances. These payback periods are well within the average ownership periods for new cars.

With best-practice vehicle emission standards in place, by 2025 the average vehicle owner driving 14,000km a year would achieve annual fuel savings of up to A$850, while a fleet driver averaging 20,000km each year would save up to A$1,200.

Emission standards are the cheapest way to cut carbon

ClimateWorks’ Low Carbon Growth Plan for Australia and a range of other studies shows that reducing emissions from cars and light commercial vehicles through better fuel use is the cheapest way to reduce emissions across our economy.

Our analysis shows best-practice standards for new light vehicles, equivalent to 130g of CO₂ per km in 2020 and 95g CO₂ per km in 2025, would reduce CO₂ emissions by about 100 million tonnes from 2020 to 2030. This is bigger than the 76 million tonnes of CO₂ previously identified by the federal government.

Currently Australia is one of the few remaining developed countries without light vehicle CO₂ emission standards in place, with standards covering over 80% of the global automotive market. Any delay in implementing CO₂ emission standards will lock-in less efficient vehicles, resulting in higher costs to consumers, and higher emissions.

We don’t have to wait for better testing

The Volkswagen emissions scandal has increased scepticism about introducing standards here. The scandal highlighted the issue that laboratory testing of emissions does not reflect on-road driving conditions resulting in an overestimate of actual emissions reductions.

In fact, a recent report found completely legal inconsistencies between testing and on-road use in car models across Europe.

Some argue that Australia should do nothing until a better testing system has been developed to address these issues. However, even taking into account the fact that on-road emissions may possibly be higher than what current standards testing show, Australia would still improve the efficiency of its vehicle fleet by 50% with standards in place.

Fuel quality standards won’t get in the way

Some groups argue that Australia’s lack of low-sulfur fuel could be a roadblock in meeting future new vehicle CO₂ standards and that we need to have more stringent fuel quality standards in place before we look to introduce CO₂ standards.

Vehicles do run more efficiently with low-sulfur fuel, meaning they produce less CO₂. However, the sulfur content of our current fuel quality standards does not present an obstacle for vehicle efficiency technologies for compliance with CO₂ standards. The International Council on Clean Transportation has stated that Australia’s fuel quality now doesn’t present any impediment to reduce vehicle emissions at rates comparable to the other regions of the world.

As improving fuel efficiency now is shown to be cost-effective and technically feasible, we shouldn’t delay the implementation of CO₂ emission standards. Our research shows that any delay in improving vehicle emissions standards will lead to a level of emissions lock-in – where a larger proportion of vehicles on our roads will be less efficient than they would be with standards in place – reducing the potential by which vehicle emission standards can contribute to Australia’s emission reduction targets.

Australians will have more choice

The introduction of best-practice emission standards does not mean that drivers will have less choice. Under emissions standards, manufacturers are required to meet an average emissions standard across the entire fleet. This allows manufacturers to provide a range of models so long as the average emissions of the fleet as a whole does not exceed the agreed standard.

Rather than limit consumer choice, standards should increase the availability of more efficient vehicles into the Australian market and continue current trends of increasing the number of green vehicles.

The federal government has the opportunity to introduce best practice emission standards for light vehicles. If designed well, in collaboration with industry and consumers, it presents a significant opportunity to reduce emissions from the transport sector while providing benefits for vehicle owners and the broader economy.

ClimateWorks is funded by philanthropy through The Myer Foundation with Monash University. ClimateWorks Australia also periodically conducts research with funding from Federal, State and local governments and from private companies; all our work is focused on supporting strong emissions reductions in Australia. The author has no other relevant affiliations.

GENETIC HISTORY: The most comprehensive genomic study of Indigenous Australians to date not only confirms they are the descendants of the first people to inhabit Australia, but that there is remarkable genetic diversity across the continent.

Months after the worst coral bleaching event to hit the reef, Australian conservationist Tim Flannery returns to a tourism hot spot 50km north-east of Port Douglas to witness the destruction wrought by a warming planet

John Rumney says that just a year ago, this particular spot was once the most stunning coral garden on the entire Great Barrier Reef. If a film crew said it wanted to get a cliche shot of the reef with its mind-boggling richness of coral and fish species, this was where he took them.

Now he’s taking us there to see the destruction wrought by climate change. He says the fact this reef was used in so many films and magazines means it’s a perfect location to see the effects of the recent bleaching event.

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The Australian conservationist travels back to the Great Barrier Reef with the Climate Council after witnessing extensive coral bleaching in the area in May. An estimated 30% to 40% of the previously bleached sections of the reef have now died, which Flannery attributes to ‘the burden of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere causing these unprecedented underwater heatwaves’

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Natural Resources Defence Council claims Samsung, LG and Vizio have designed sets that perform well in testing but disable energy-saving features in real-world conditions, causing energy consumption to soar

Independent tests in the US have found that the energy consumption of Samsung and LG TV sets nosedives under test conditions but can soar by up to 45% in real-world use, raising questions of manipulation by software devices.

TVs from the top three best selling US brands - Samsung, LG and Vizio - have also been found to be switching off power-saving features without warning, as soon as consumers make “out of the box” changes to their main picture menu settings, which can double the TV sets’ energy usage.

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Ice cap is disappearing far more rapidly than previously estimated, and is part of a long-term trend, new research shows

The huge annual losses of ice from the Greenland cap are even worse than thought, according to new research which also shows that the melt is not a short-term blip but a long-term trend.

The melting Greenland ice sheet is already a major contributor to rising sea level and if it was eventually lost entirely, the oceans would rise by six metres around the world, flooding many of the world’s largest cities.

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Evidence for an early exodus of modern humans from Africa may have been detected in living humans.

UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, predicts global climate deal will be fully ratified by the end of the year after 31 nations officially sign up in New York

The Paris climate agreement is on the brink of coming into force after 31 nations officially joined the landmark accord, with the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, predicting it will be fully ratified by the end of the year.

On Wednesday, 31 countries formally signed up to the Paris deal at the UN general assembly in New York. They include Brazil, the world’s seventh largest emitter of greenhouse gases, Mexico, Argentina and Sri Lanka. Oil-rich United Arab Emirates also ratified the deal, as did nations considered particularly vulnerable to sea level rise, such as Kiribati and Bangladesh.

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China's first space station is expected to fall back to Earth in the second half of 2017, amid speculation authorities have lost control of it.

How the government is trying to trace nests of invasive hornet which kills honey bees

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says trading ivory not verified as antique should be banned

UK ordered to pay European commission’s legal costs after ruling that coal plant was wrongly granted higher pollution threshold

A coal-burning power station in Wales repeatedly violated pollution controls for nitrogen oxide emissions, the European court of justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg has ruled.

It ordered the UK to pay the European commission’s legal costs after ruling that Aberthaw power station, near Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, should not have been allowed to exceed specially negotiated pollution limits.

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375 National Academy of Sciences members sign an open letter expressing frustration at political inaction on climate change

Yesterday, 375 of the world’s top scientists, including 30 Nobel Prize winners, published an open letter regarding climate change. In the letter, the scientists report that the evidence is clear: humans are causing climate change. We are now observing climate change and its affect across the globe. The seas are rising, the oceans are warming, the lower atmosphere is warming, the land is warming, ice is melting, rainfall patterns are changing and the ocean is becoming more acidic.

These facts are incontrovertible. No reputable scientist disputes them. It is the truth.

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Authorities from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have rejected recent research on the number of early deaths caused by last year’s fires

Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean authorities have dismissed research that suggested smoky haze from catastrophic forest fires in Indonesia last year caused 100,000 deaths. Some even contend the haze caused no serious health problems, but experts say those assertions contradict well-established science.

Last year’s fires in Sumatra and the Indonesian part of Borneo were the worst since 1997, burning about 261,000 hectares of forests and peatland and sending haze across the region for weeks. Many were deliberately set by companies to clear land for palm oil and pulpwood plantations.

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New initiative closes loophole allowing dealers to claim ivory from recently killed elephants is antique without providing proof of age

Britain is to ban all sales of ivory which are not backed by proof that the item is over 70 years old.

Although it is already illegal to sell ivory from elephants killed after 1947, a loophole allows dealers to claim items are antique without providing documentary evidence of their age.

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It will be the first Australian city to install the system, which relies on underground pneumonic tubes to transfer waste out of the city-centre.

University of Maryland students say they have achieved an aviation first, getting their manned, solar powered helicopter off the ground.