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Experts criticise Defra’s decision not to use OECD definition of PFAS, with one asking if move is ‘politically based’

• What are PFAS, how toxic are they and how do you become exposed?

Leading scientists have criticised the UK government for failing to take stronger action to tackle “forever chemical” pollution and refusing to match moves in the EU to ban non-essential uses of the substances.

Last year, 59 experts in per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) sent a letter to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) asking it to follow the science, which has established that PFAS do not biodegrade and that despite variations in toxicity, this persistence itself is sufficiently worrying that all PFAS should be regulated as one class.

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Scientists say frog’s journey shows difficulty of spotting insects or fungi spread by global plant trade

A tiny tree frog hitchhiking in a bunch of roses to Sheffield from Colombia has inspired a study into invasive species reaching the UK’s shores.

Dr Silviu Petrovan, a researcher in the University of Cambridge’s zoology department and a senior author of a paper published today in the journal BioScience, had his interest piqued when he was asked to identify a live frog found in roses in a florist’s shop in Sheffield.

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Report criticises ‘slow progress’ on industry regulation, amid record fish mortality and concerns over welfare and environmental pollution

The Scottish government has been criticised for its “slow progress” on regulating the salmon farming industry by a parliamentary inquiry that took evidence for five months before reaching its conclusion.

The report reveals that MSPs “seriously considered” calling for a moratorium on new farms and expansion of existing sites due to concerns over persistently high salmon mortality rates but did not do so due to uncertainties over the impact on jobs and communities.

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Data for 2024 shows humanity is moving yet deeper into a dangerous world of supercharged extreme weather

Wildfires that blazed around the world in 2024 helped to drive a record annual leap in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, surprising scientists. The data shows humanity is moving yet deeper into a dangerous world of supercharged extreme weather.

The CO2 level at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii jumped by 3.6 parts per million (ppm) to 427ppm, far above the 280ppm level before the large-scale burning of fossil fuels sparked the climate crisis. The Mauna Loa observations, known as the Keeling curve, began in 1958 and are the longest running direct measurements of CO2.

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Google signed a second large biochar carbon removal deal Thursday, buying 100,000 tonnes of CO2 through 2030 from a California-based developer.

ASX-listed battery materials hopeful Novonix says it has raised well in excess of the $5 million target the company had originally hoped for.

The post Brisbane-based battery upstart celebrates “heavily oversubscribed” share purchase plan appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Allied Green Ammonia celebrate signing the “monumental deal” with Plug Power that will form the core of its huge green hydrogen-to-ammonia plant in the NT.

The post Australian outfit seals “monumental deal” to buy electrolysers for giga-scale green ammonia project appeared first on RenewEconomy.

RACV says its newly launched virtual power plant is one of the first to compete with traditional generators in wholesale energy markets – and it wants customers to join.

The post RACV launches solar and battery VPP, asks commercial customers to join appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Investigations are underway following a turbine blade break at a huge new wind farm, with teams working to determine the cause of the incident and to how to detatch the affected blade.

The post Turbine blade break under investigation at Australia’s biggest wind farm appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Claims electric cooktops are vastly more expensive and more emissions intensive than cooking with gas are being called out as “potentially misleading,” as the fossil fight against home electrification ramps up.

The post Gas industry cooks up a “culture war” as the electrification of everything gathers pace appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Officials at Elon Musk's company said the upper stage was lost, minutes after it launched.

Officials at Elon Musk's company said the upper stage was lost, minutes after it launched.

Our society emphasises the value of conquering and overcoming your fears – but I can live with the idea of not climbing every mountain

Earlier this year, I finally climbed Mount Anne. This has taken an unlikely amount of time – I’ve been climbing Tasmanian mountains for years, but had never been up one of the island’s signature summits.

A “peak bagging” hobby is great fun, and takes you out to all sorts of interesting places. Some Tasmanians set themselves to climb the Abels, a list of 158 mountains that are at least 1100m high, but the list compiled by the Hobart Walking Club, the one I follow, is far more ridiculous – a total of 481 summits to find your way up. A list that huge seems bigger than most of them.

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Frogs, lizards, snakes and insect pests are being transported across the world on ornamental plants.

A Toyota subsidiary agreed to plead guilty to charges of emissions fraud, resulting in a $1.6 billion settlement, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said Wednesday.

The ongoing political transition in Canada and federal biofuels tax credits in the US could jeopardise Canadian clean fuel programmes, panellists at a conference said Thursday.

Looking at the year ahead, the biofuels industry will be balancing programmes across different states and federal jurisdictions, with new sustainability guardrails in California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), panellists said at a technical conference in California.

Wild tigers killed nearly 40 people in Nepal between 2019 and 2023. Solutions are hard to come by.

With the outlook for risk of fire, flood and other disasters increasing, this is not a problem that will go away

As we watch the horror of the Los Angeles fires, Australians are painfully reminded of our own vulnerability to climate change, which continues to exacerbate the impact and frequency of these unnatural disasters.

The images of loss and destruction in LA are particularly painful to those who have experienced such losses first-hand in Australia.

Nicki Hutley is an independent economist and councillor with the Climate Council

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Two energy industry companies have been awarded nearly $6 million from the US DOE to scale up technology aimed at reducing methane emissions.