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Australia is now expected to surpass its 2020 cumulative abatement task by 78 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Scientists astonished to find 600-mile long reef under the muddy water in a site already marked for oil exploration

A huge 3,600 sq mile (9,300 sq km) coral reef system has been found below the muddy waters off the mouth of the river Amazon, astonishing scientists, governments and oil companies who have started to explore on top of it.

The existence of the 600-mile long reef, which ranges from about 30-120m deep and stretches from French Guiana to Brazil’s Maranhão state, was not suspected because many of the world’s great rivers produce major gaps in reef systems where no corals grow.

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These bloggers treasure taking a sleek, modern approach to reducing waste in their efforts to save the planet – but they face their fair share of criticism, too

In pictures: how to produce nearly zero waste

Kathryn Kellogg, a 25-year-old print shop employee, spends four hours a day on her lifestyle blog Going Zero Waste. She posts on Instagram, engages with Facebook followers, and writes about homemade eyeliner and lip balm, worm composting, and shopping bulk bins – anything to avoid unnecessary waste. Her trash for the past year – anything that hasn’t been composted or recycled – fits in an 8oz jar.

Kellogg is earnest, enthusiastic, and admittedly still figuring out what it means to be zero waste. The aspiring actor has also weathered her fair share of criticism. “I’m not even that big yet and I get so much hate mail,” says Kellogg, who draws 10,000 unique page views a month and has 800 subscribers.

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Agency application on ecological sustainability - public comment open from 22 April 2016 until 20 May 2016.

Tory London mayoral candidate supports pulling City Hall’s fund out of oil, coal and gas companies if elected

Zac Goldsmith has backed the fossil fuel divestment movement and said he would pursue efforts to pull London City Hall’s pension fund out of investments in oil, coal and gas if he was elected mayor.

The Conservative mayoral candidate’s support for moving the £4.8bn London Pension Authority Fund (LPFA) out of fossil fuel investments is at odds with Boris Johnson, who last year rejected a motion calling for divestment.

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Leaked proposal on glyphosate seen by the Guardian has few substantive changes from the one that was blocked last month

The European commission is planning to relicense a controversial weedkiller that the World Health Organisation believes probably causes cancer in people, despite opposition from several countries and the European parliament.

In 2015 the International Agency for Research on Cancer – WHO’s cancer agency – said that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide made by agriculture company Monsanto and used widely with GM crops around the world, was classified as probably carcinogenic to humans.

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BIG BABY: The offspring of the largest vertebrates to have ever walked the Earth were probably independent soon after birth, according to an analysis of a 67-million-year-old baby titanosaur.

All 93 vehicles tested in Germany and UK exceeded EU-set limits on air quality and pollution in real-world situation

The air pollution scandal that hit front pages around the world last year with VW’s admission it had been cheating emissions tests has got much bigger.

A UK government-sponsored trial launched in the wake of the VW revelations has found that every single one of the diesel-fuelled vehicles tested had higher emissions of nitrogen oxide pollutants than permitted under EU laws. For some models emissions were 12 times the legal limit.

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Analysis of difference between 1.5C and 2C of warming finds extra 0.5C would mean longer heatwaves, greater droughts and threats to crops and coral reefs

A difference of half a degree centigrade may be barely noticeable day to day, but the difference between 1.5C and 2C of global warming is a shift into a new, more dangerous climate regime, according to the first comprehensive analysis of the issue.

The scientists found the additional 0.5C would lead to longer heatwaves, greater droughts and, in the tropics, reduced crop yield and all coral reefs being put in grave danger.

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Authorities are looking into whether pollution is to blame for a spate of mysterious mass fish deaths along the country’s central coast

Vietnam said on Thursday it was investigating whether pollution is to blame for a spate of mysterious mass fish deaths along the country’s central coast after huge amounts of marine life washed ashore in recent days.

Tonnes of fish, including rare species which live far offshore and in the deep, have been discovered on beaches along the country’s central coastal provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, Quang Binh and Hue.

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The kākāpō has had its most successful breeding season since conservation efforts rescued it from the brink of extinction in the 1970s

The world’s heaviest parrot, a critically endangered bird that only lives in a remote part of New Zealand, has had its most successful breeding season since conservation efforts began more than two decades ago.

Thirty-seven kākāpō chicks are currently surviving, providing a much-needed boost to the population of 123 adult kākāpō which live on predator-free islands.

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Corals on Loomis Reef are dying as one veteran scientist lets the “veil” of academia drop to reveal anger and frustration

Stretching for half a kilometre or so, Loomis Reef is the place where the alarm bells started going off.

Prof Justin Marshall has been diving this reef, about 270km north of Cairns, for 30 years. Right now he is, to say the least, angry.

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PANAMA MONKEY: The discovery of seven little fossilised teeth during excavations to expand the Panama Canal provides the first evidence of a monkey on the North American continent.

AGEING BRAIN: People often find it harder to adapt to new situations as they age and now a new mouse study may have shed light on why.

Animals and plants are increasingly being ‘translocated’ from their native areas to survive effects of climate change, poaching and habitat loss, says top conservationist

More than 1,000 species have had to be relocated because of climate change, poaching and humans taking their habitat, according to a top conservationist.

Dr Axel Moehrenschlager said cases of “translocation”, such as India’s plan to relocate tigers to Cambodia or South Africa’s scheme to airlift rhinos to Australia, have increased exponentially in recent decades and will become more common due to human pressures driving species closer to extinction.

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Oil giant warned industry would pull out of EU if laws to cut pollution and speed clean energy take up were passed, letter obtained by the Guardian reveals

The EU abandoned or weakened key proposals for new environmental protections after receiving a letter from a top BP executive which warned of an exodus of the oil industry from Europe if the proposals went ahead.

In the 10-page letter, the company predicted in 2013 that a mass industry flight would result if laws to regulate tar sands, cut power plant pollution and accelerate the uptake of renewable energy were passed, because of the extra costs and red tape they allegedly entailed.

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American Lung Association’s ‘state of the air’ report finds 166 million Americans are living in unhealthy ozone or particle pollution with serious health risks

More than half of the US population lives amid potentially dangerous air pollution, with national efforts to improve air quality at risk of being reversed, a new report has warned.

A total of 166 million Americans live in areas that have unhealthy levels of either ozone or particle pollution, according to the American Lung Association, raising their risk of lung cancer, asthma attacks, heart disease, reproductive problems and other ailments.

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Floodplains within the Renmark area, South Australia, will be protected and restored under a landmark Partnership Agreement agreed today between the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and the Renmark Irrigation Trust.

Environmental and cultural benefits for wetlands surrounding the Coorong and Lower Lakes in South Australia, are to be met under a landmark Partnership Agreement between the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and the Ngarrindjeri Regional...

TOWARDS 2050: A shift toward vegetarianism and lower meat consumption would feed the world population until at least 2050 without clearing more forests, according to new research.