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Environment secretary’s action plan, due in new year, may include plastic bottle deposit scheme and standardised recycling policy

Cutting plastic pollution is the focus of a series of proposals being considered by the UK environment secretary, Michael Gove, who has said he was “haunted” by images of the damage done to the world’s oceans shown in David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II TV series.

The government is due to announce a 25-year plan to improve the UK’s environmental record in the new year. Gove is understood to be planning to introduce refundable deposits on plastic drinks bottles, alongside other measures.

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St Kilda Road trees range from elms planted in late 19th century to London Plane trees planted in 1960s

The decision to cut down 70 trees lining St Kilda Road in Melbourne to make way for a new train station is “an absolute tragedy”, opponents have said.

The trees range in age from elms planted in the late 19th century to London Plane trees planted in the 1960s.

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Rockland St Mary, Norfolk This adaptable bird feeds on fruit, insects, worms – and sometimes something even more substantial

The raised track by this broad is bordered by a sallow thicket that overtops a network of intertidal creeks.

To compensate for the subterranean shadows, you have to cowl your eyes and cup your ears to detect any secret occupant. Usually this is little more than a moorhen but, now and then, it is something finer, such as a feeding woodcock. Fixing the whereabouts of any quiet commotion, which always inserts into the moment a shudder of excitement, is your best hope of seeing it before being seen.

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Turnbull government review declares its climate policy a success. New data, however, tells a different story.

NSW grid at risk of blackout from soaring temperatures - despite, and possibly because of, the state relies on coal generation more than any other grid in the world.

Another indication, amongst many, of the global transition away from coal.

The years 2017, 2016 and 2015 will make up the three hottest years on record for the planet. But there’s no convincing some people

When the global temperature readings are in for 2017, it’s going to be a very hard sell for climate-science deniers: 2017 will likely be ranked either side of 2015 as the second or third hottest year on record, with 2016 still in top spot.

The hottest five-year period recorded in the modern era will be the one we’ve just had.

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Australian battery company Redflow Limited has successfully started manufacturing core components for its zinc-bromine flow batteries at its new production facility in Thailand.

If you want to freeze some water, you might want to heat it up first.

Tesla big battery steps in after big Loy Yang coal unit trips, and arrests and reverses a dramatic fall in frequency - before the contracted coal unit had time to respond.

Three mammals, 11 amphibians, two fish, 11 reptiles and 88 plants were discovered by scientists in 2016, says WWF

A snail-eating turtle found in a food market and a bat with a horseshoe-shaped face are among 115 new species discovered in the Greater Mekong region.

A report from the conservation charity WWF reveals that three new mammals, 11 amphibians, two fish, 11 reptiles and 88 plants were found by scientists in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam in 2016.

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AEMO launches plan for future grid, assuming emission cuts by 2030 twice that contemplated by Australia government, and a network that will be dominated by wind, solar, storage and new transmission. And there is not a single mention of "base-load".

In 2017, the Government reviewed its climate change policies to ensure they remain effective in achieving Australia’s 2030 target and Paris Agreement commitments. A final report was released on 19 December 2017.

The report provides detail on emissions trends, including sector specific analysis of factors driving emissions. These projections update the baseline projections in Australia’s emissions projections 2016.

This report provides estimates of Australia’s national inventory of greenhouse gas emissions up to the June quarter of 2017, and electricity emissions from the National Electricity Market (NEM) up to the September quarter 2017.

Researchers develop a new technique to give a more accurate advance forecast for summer weather.

As part of a research project into e-mobility and Vehicle to Grid (V2G) charging in Slovakia, a Tritium Veefil-RT 50kW DC fast charger has been installed at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, where it has been officially unveiled on by Mr Robert Fico, Slovakia’s Prime Minister.

Politicians are always being told to trust what climate scientists are telling them. But can you have too much of a good thing? What happens when the exchange of ideas becomes too cosy? Rebecca Colvin, Knowledge Exchange Specialist, Australian National University Christopher Cvitanovic, Research Fellow, University of Tasmania Justine Lacey, Senior Social Scientist, CSIRO Mark Howden, Director, Climate Change Institute, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The first known interstellar asteroid may hold water from another star system in its interior, according to a study.

It's the regulator's first investigation since taking over responsibility for BBC standards.