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Assuming it is implemented, the Turnbull government's National Energy Guarantee will in effect establish a de facto price on carbon emissions from the power sector.

The federal government has announced a new National Energy Guarantee focused on electricity reliability, after deciding not to implement a clean energy target. Alan Pears, Senior Industry Fellow, RMIT University Anna Skarbek, CEO at ClimateWorks Australia, Monash University Dylan McConnell, Researcher at the Australian German Climate and Energy College, University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A ceremony at the Natural History Museum, London, will reveal the winners of its Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition on Wednesday. Two overall winning images have been selected from the winners of each category, depicting the incredible diversity of life on our planet. They are on show with 99 other images selected by an international panel of judges at the 53rd exhibition, which opens at the museum on Friday.

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The decision to walk away from a Clean Energy Target makes no sense. But small communities will forge ahead with the transition to renewable energy.

• Researchers find alligators preying on small sharks in Atlantic and Gulf
• ‘The frequency of one predator eating the other is really about size dynamic’

American alligators are frequently seen ambling around golf courses in Florida as players warily compete their rounds. But new research suggests the reptiles partake in a far more outlandish habit when away from the greens – eating sharks.

Related: ‘I don’t want to imagine a world without giant snakes in it’

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Animals that evolved in cold parts of the world usually have lighter skin. If a light-skinned animal has blood vessels close to the surface of their ear skin, this will make the ears look pink. Wayne Iwan Lee Davies, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia Shaun Collin, Winthrop Professor/WA Premier's Research Fellow, School of Biological Sciences and the Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Walsall’s heyday | Wind power | Elon Musk’s Hyperloop | Today programme | Worst deal ever

“Walsall was never a pretty town”, according to Roy Boffy (Letters, 16 October); this may be true now but has not always been the case. Its handsome villas and public buildings were remarked on in 1834 by William White in The History, Gazeteer and Directory of Staffordshire and he believed it needed to yield to no other town in Staffordshire in beauty and elegance. During the 19th century, Walsall added more civic buildings, many built to help improve the life of working people. The 20th and 21st century have not been kind to the town but that is not a reason to forget its history.
Cathy Schling
London

• Regarding Paula Cocozza’s article on “the resource that could power the world” (G2, 15 October), let us not forget that wind has indeed already powered the world in the political and economic sense, powering the sailing ships of naval and merchant fleets that set up the European empires that dominated the pre-20th-century globe.
Beth Cresswell
Hightown, Merseyside

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New bill omits key ‘precautionary’ principle requiring developers and industry to prove actions will not harm wildlife or habitats as well as ‘polluter pays’ protections

• Interactive: How will Brexit affect British wildlife?
  

The cornerstones of wildlife and habitat protection have been quietly left out of the withdrawal bill ripping the heart out of environmental law, campaigners say.

A key principle under EU law which provides a robust legal backstop against destruction of the environment – the precautionary principle - has been specifically ruled out of the bill as a means of legal challenge in British courts.

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Natural solutions such as tree planting, protecting peatlands and better land management could account for 37% of all cuts needed by 2030, says study

Planting forests and other activities that harness the power of nature could play a major role in limiting global warming under the 2015 Paris agreement, an international study showed on Monday.

Natural climate solutions, also including protection of carbon-storing peatlands and better management of soils and grasslands, could account for 37% of all actions needed by 2030 under the 195-nation Paris plan, it said.

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The outgoing Threatened Species Commissioner has downplayed the importance of land clearing as a threat to Australia's plants and animals. But it's the biggest threat, and magnifies the others too. Brendan Wintle, Professor of Conservation Ecology, University of Melbourne, University of Melbourne Sarah Bekessy, Professor, RMIT University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

If one thing is clear from the Coalition's new energy policy announcement today, it is that Tony Abbott has won, and consumers have lost. Even in the most optimistic scenario presented by the government, energy consumers will see little reduction in their energy bills over the next decade. And that's outrageous.

The National Energy Guarantee promises to make electricity supply more reliable, cheaper and less polluting. Michael Hopkin, Environment + Energy Editor, The Conversation Madeleine De Gabriele, Deputy Editor: Energy + Environment, The Conversation Wes Mountain, Deputy Multimedia Editor, The Conversation Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Cressbrook Dale, Derbyshire These often despised trees took centuries to go native but today they are a welcome addition to the autumn atmosphere – especially in the rain

I find it strange to read in Oliver Rackham’s wonderful Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape that sycamores were probably introduced to the UK in the 16th century, but only went native in the 18th. It seems odd, because it is hard to imagine this restless beast of a tree settling for domestic imprisonment for 200 years.

My experience is that its whirling helicopter-like “keys”, aided only by the slightest breeze, can unpick any attempt to block their escape into the wild. In our Norfolk village I am also astonished how quickly those seeds put down roots and I’ve even taken to using mole grips to wrestle with the saplings’ iron-like purchase on our garden soil.

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The new policy will put the onus on electricity retailers to cut emissions while guaranteeing reliability. And while the scheme isn't perfect, it offers a rare opportunity for bipartisanship. David Blowers, Energy Fellow, Grattan Institute Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The Australian Government is powering forward with a plan that will deliver an affordable and reliable energy system that will also help meet our international commitments. A better energy future for Australia

Conservationists and Indigenous groups hail decision to examine plan to lay rubber matting over middens and heritage sites

The federal government has requested an independent assessment of an application to open four-wheel-drive tracks along Tasmania’s heritage-listed north-west coast, potentially delaying action until the state election.

Conservationists and Indigenous groups have been fighting the Hodgman government’s proposal to lay rubber matting over middens and other Aboriginal heritage sites along the Tarkine coast to allow four-wheel-drive access.

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Anne Cameron’s remains and walking stick found at Craiglie Creek, south of Port Douglas, after 79-year-old went missing from her aged-care facility

Human remains have been found inside a large crocodile police believe killed an elderly woman in Queensland’s far north.

Remains believed to belong to Anne Cameron, her walking stick and other items were located at Craiglie Creek, south of Port Douglas, last week.

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Origin Energy rolls out flexible energy trial in South Australia, allowing commercial and industrial customers to align demand with renewables output.

The Turnbull Coalition government unveils its new energy policy.

With energy policy set to remain a political battleground in Australia, physics, in the form of global warming, will continue to gradually push decarbonization to the top of the policy agenda.