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Solar power is soaring, wind goes from strength to strength. Look for a mighty surge in renewables over the next few years

One day in late March, during a sunny weekend, something spectacular happened. Solar power broke a new record. The demand for daytime electricity in UK homes fell to night times levels – thanks to solar panels in roofs and fields. Thanks to the sunshine, solar power created six times more electricity than coal-fired power stations that day.

One day in late March, solar power created six times more electricity than coal-fired power stations

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Environment minister says Coalition takes emissions targets seriously and US climate change policy was ‘a matter for the Trump administration’

The Turnbull government will support the Paris agreement on climate change regardless of whether or not the US president, Donald Trump, pulls out, the environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, has signalled.

Trump upset world leaders on the weekend by refusing, at the conclusion of the G7 summit in Italy, to declare his support for the UN’s landmark treaty signed in Paris in 2015.

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The US president says he will announce this week if he will pull out of the Paris agreement.

The ANU's Dr George Wilson has long been worried about the way our animals are disappearing from the landscape. Could market forces play a role in conservation?

The ANU's Dr George Wilson has long been worried about the way our animals are disappearing from the landscape. Could market forces play a role in conservation?

• President resists pressure from other G7 countries to support treaty
• Merkel says discussions on climate deal ‘difficult and unsatisfactory’

Donald Trump has resisted pressure from Europe, Canada and Japan to declare his support for the UN’s landmark climate change treaty signed in Paris in 2015, marking a defiant end to his first international trip as US president.

The deadlock at the end of the G7 summit in Italy left other world leaders frustrated. The German chancellor Angela Merkel said the discussions “had been very difficult and not to say very unsatisfactory.”

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Toxic micro-organisms, the result of warming ocean waters, are thought to have caused the mass death of thousands of sei whales in Chilean Patagonia in 2015.

Annastacia Palaszczuk confirms the Indian mining group will have to pay ‘every cent’ of royalties for the project

Queensland’s cabinet has dumped a controversial plan to offer the Adani Group a royalties holiday for its $16bn Carmichael coal mine.

The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said late on Friday the Indian mining group would have to pay “every cent” of royalties for the proposed mine.

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How does a fish the size of a toothbrush head, with bright red fins and big blue eyes, end up living in a puddle of water in the middle of the Australian outback? This story is about one of the rarest fish species in the world, and it's simply epic.

What is the true cost of the meat we buy?

Is last chance tourism killing the places we love?

The biggest environmental campaign seen in Australia since the 80s is causing bumps in the road for both sides of politics

When it comes to the Adani Carmichael coalmine, the spotlight this week has been trained on Queensland as the state government battled an internal split on whether to give the project a royalties holiday. There have also been murmurings in Canberra, where Labor MPs are starting to express public opposition to a project many have been privately wringing their hands about.

But to fathom the next phase in the political battle against the project, we need to train our eyes a bit further south.

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This week meet hypnotist and water diviner Ziggy Sieczka; horses and riders bond in a mustering camp; we take a carriage ride around Clermont; and a former Melbourne teacher swaps cold Victoria for life in the Northern Territory.

Researchers say their study identifies "cognitive factors" that might lie behind brutal acts.

Kierra Box, Maureen Wood and Margaret Cliff on protecting a precious resource

This weekend Brits will flock to our beaches. Thanks to EU pressure, visitors to more than 95% of our bathing beaches can paddle safe in the knowledge that nothing nasty lurks beneath the waves – a massive improvement since 1987, when it was judged safe to enter the water at just 55% of our favourite swimming spots. However, the European Environment Agency is right to raise a red flag (UK bathing water ranks next from last in EU beach table, 23 May). The UK continued to pump gallons of untreated effluent into some of our most beautiful seaside areas every year right up until 1998. Even today, only 65% of our beaches are rated as excellent by the Environment Agency, compared with 91% in Italy and 89% in Spain. And these are at risk if EU standards which guarantee clean bathing water are weakened or abandoned after Brexit.

No one wants to see Britain return to being seen as the dirty man of Europe. Let’s ensure this election doesn’t mark the end of our summer holidays by the sea and ask that all political parties commit to retaining EU bathing standards and ensure our future is safe from sewage.
Kierra Box
Land, food and water campaigner, Friends of the Earth

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Thousands of photovoltaic panels across the UK generate 8.7GW, smashing previous high of 8.48GW earlier this month

Solar power has broken new records in the UK by providing nearly a quarter of the country’s electricity needs, thanks to sunny skies and relatively low summer demand.

National Grid said the thousands of photovoltaic panels on rooftops and in fields across the UK were generating 8.7GW, or 24.3% of demand at 1pm on Friday, smashing the previous high of 8.48GW earlier this month.

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The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

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Herons in flight, an inquisitive marmot and a blue whale are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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The Royal Geographical Society is releasing films of its scientific explorations from the early 20th Century.

Cars that emit up to 18 times the official NOx limit in real-world conditions are still being sold, 20 months after the emissions scandal broke and amid an ongoing air pollution crisis

Diesel cars that emit up to 18 times the official limit for toxic pollution when taken on to the road are still being sold, 20 months after the emissions scandal erupted and amid an ongoing air pollution crisis.

In real world conditions, the Nissan Qashqai produces 18 times more nitrogen oxides than the official lab-based test allows under EU directives, while Nissan’s Juke pumps out 16 times more NOx pollution than the limit, according to data from vehicle testing company Emissions Analytics seen by the Guardian.

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