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Algae on drifting plastic waste gives off a sulfur compound which smells similar to the krill many marine birds feed on, researchers have discovered

Seabirds are enticed into eating plastic debris because it smells like their food, according to scientists.

The study found that drifting plastic waste accumulates algae and gives off a smell very similar to the krill that many marine birds feed on. The findings could explain why certain birds - including albatrosses and shearwaters - which rely on their sense of smell for hunting, are particularly vulnerable to swallowing plastic.

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Countries say they are prepared to move ahead on climate change without the US if Donald Trump pulls out of the Paris agreement.

William Beaton took his first egg at the age of five in 1948 and had illegally collected hundreds more since, court told

A retired solicitor from Devon who amassed a collection of hundreds of eggs over nearly 70 years has been fined almost £5,000 and had his haul confiscated.

William Beaton, 73, told Plymouth magistrates he took his first egg – from a blackbird’s nest – on a “fine April evening” when he was five.

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Cristal Pigment Ltd has been sentenced for two serious incidents at its titanium dioxide plant that arose from poor operational practices, reports ENDS UK

A global chemical company has been fined for poor operational practices that killed one of its employees and seriously hurt another when they were overcome by a toxic vapour cloud.

Cristal Pigment UK Ltd was sentenced at Hull Crown Court on 8 November for two incidents that occurred within less than two years at Europe’s largest titanium dioxide plant at Stallingborough in north-east Lincolnshire.

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Voters across one Florida county have signalled their approval for releasing genetically modified mosquitoes in a bid to fight Zika.

Many fear Donald Trump will reverse the ambitious course set by Barack Obama, withdraw the US from the accord and increase fossil-fuel spending

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Just days after the historic Paris agreement officially came into force, climate denier Donald Trump’s victory has thrown the global deal into uncertainty and raised fears that the US will reverse the ambitious environmental course charted under Barack Obama.

International environmental groups meeting at the UN climate talks in Morocco said it would be a catastrophe if Trump acted on his pledge to withdraw the US from the deal, which took 20 years to negotiate, and to increase federal spending on oil, gas and coal.

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A final sum of €1.7bn (£1.5bn) is released to Airbus Safran Launchers to enable it to develop Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket.

Investment fund would help wave and tidal power to provide a tenth of the bloc’s power by 2050

The EU is proposing to spend hundreds of millions of euros to help the budding ocean energy industry to provide a tenth of the bloc’s power by 2050.

The boost would take the form of a €250m investment fund, with an additional €70m set aside for insurance, loans and guarantees, according to the roadmap for channelling the potential of wave and tidal energy.

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From rapid genetic analysis to spectrography, high-tech advances in forensics are being used to track down and prosecute perpetrators of the illegal wildlife trade, reports Environment 360

Feisal Mohammed Ali, a prominent member of the Kenyan business community, was convicted last July of trafficking two tons of elephant ivory found in a Fuji Motors parking lot in Mombasa. The landmark ruling came after two years of drama: Feisal’s flight to Tanzania, his capture and repatriation, the disappearance of nine vehicles that were major evidence in the case, and accusations of evidence tampering.

The landmark wildlife crime verdict – and 20-year sentence for Feisal – in part came down to political will, courtroom monitoring by NGOs, and police work. Also key, experts say, was the ability to use genetic tests to tie the illegally trafficked elephant tusks from different shipments to the cartel headed by Feisal.

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Government to phase out the most polluting fossil and replace it with cleaner sources, such as gas, to meet climate commitments

The last coal power station in Britain will be forced to close in 2025, the government has said as it laid out the detail of its plan to phase-out the polluting fossil fuel.

Ministers promised last year that the UK would close coal power within a decade and replace it with gas and other sources to meet its climate change commitments.

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‘Equivalent of a Hazelwood a year’ will need to close by early 2030s to meet Paris targets, witnesses tell Senate inquiry

Coal-fired power stations in Australia will need to shut at the rate of about one a year between now and the mid-2030s for the country to meet the commitments made in Paris, a Senate hearing has been told.

Witnesses also told the hearing that since Australia’s coal-fired power stations are now very old – mostly built in the 1970s and 80s – they would be shutting in the coming decades regardless of climate policy, further highlighting the need for a transition plan.

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Wenlock Edge I listen for owls and smell the wet leaves that awaken some wordless feeling like a very misty memory

This has been one of the most vivid autumns I can remember. Days of clear skies and bright sunlight have been plenty this year, and apart from some fog there have yet to be many washouts or frosts. This warm, sunny, weather has been wonderful in the trees, and the furnace colours of oak, birch and beech, the buttery sycamores and field maples, lemony ash and golden syrup limes, have been spectacular. But surely this happens every year, more or less?

Every year the deciduous trees change colour before falling. Every year before winter there is a burst of transition that looks beautiful, and our feelings for it have something to do with an increase in wild food mammals need to bulk up for the winter. The absence of chlorophyll to mask leaf pigments before the tree jettisons them hardly captures the significance of autumn colour or that sense of wonder in seeing the woods shine brightly like a bedtime story before the long sleep.

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Marek Kubik – who oversees European tenders at global power project developer AES – shares his insights into the utility-scale battery market and explains why Australian regulators just don't get it.

New data shows that in South Australia, battery storage is already offering significant savings – as much as 25% on annual electricity bill costs – to households with solar. Retailers will need to turn to Plan B.

America's first offshore wind farm has been completed, and the pioneering project’s implications stretch far beyond its megawatts and electrons.

The Marrakech talks seem a world away for those already seeing the effects of environmental stress and climate change.

The $7.3 million, 1MW Karratha Solar Farm, which showcases ARENA-backed cloud predicting technology, opens in WA.

Two new announcements – that EV Supercharging service no longer free, and purchase of German automated manufacturing company – show signs Tesla is growing up.

CloudCAM technology allows operators to reliably predict the output of solar farms 15 minutes ahead of time

A new way to tackle the much-maligned unpredictability of solar energy is being deployed at a solar farm opening today in Western Australia – cloud-tracking cameras.

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SA government's loosening of the emission cap on new power stations suggests a sell-out to gas. This would be wrong for several reasons.