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Treaty under consideration by 14 countries would ban new coalmines and embraces 1.5C target set at Paris climate talks

The world’s first international treaty that bans or phases out fossil fuels is being considered by leaders of developing Pacific islands nations after a summit in the Solomon Islands this week.

The leaders of 14 countries agreed to consider a proposed Pacific climate treaty, which would bind signatories to targets for renewable energy and ban new or the expansion of coalmines, at the annual leaders’ summit of the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF).

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Americans chuck out two tonnes of food a second – be it at the farm for being ‘ugly’ or at the table because we’re too finicky

Every second, an amount of food equal to the weight of a sedan car is thrown away in the US - about 60m tonnes a year. It starts at the farm. The potato that grew to the size of a brick. The watermelon with the brown slasher marks on the rind. The cauliflower stained yellow in the sun. The peach that lost its blush before harvest. Any of those minor imperfections - none of which affect taste or quality or shelf life - can doom a crop right there. If the grower decides the supermarkets - or ultimately the consumer - will reject it, those fruits and vegetables never make it off the farm.

Then there are the packing warehouses, where a specific count must be maintained for each plastic clamshell or box - and any strawberry or plum that does not make it is junked, if it can’t immediately be sold for juice or jam.

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Solar Juice launches new division, Solar Capital, as one-stop shop for PPAs and early project financing.

Protection for birds, wildlife and waterways should come top of the list when any new payments for farmers are considered, NGOs tell new government

New subsidies paid to farmers under a post-Brexit government must be linked closely to environmental responsibilities, a large group of political and civil society organisations has urged.

Protection for birds, wildlife, waterways and other natural goods should come top of the list when any new payments are considered, wrote 84 food, farming and conservation specialists in a letter to Oliver Letwin and Theresa May on Thursday.

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Pioneering study of four herring gulls nesting in St Ives, Cornwall, found they spent most of their time foraging for food outside of town

The summer holidays are nigh and with them, no doubt, will come stories of seagulls on the rampage, stealing ice cream and chips and launching attacks on people and pets.

But a ground-breaking study that tracked the movement of herring gulls nesting in the Cornish resort of St Ives suggested they spent little time scavenging for goodies or scraps on the streets.

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South Australia pleads with state's most efficient gas generator to switch back on. But what was promised in return? Or was the generator just happy to help?

Regulator proposes new rules to force network operators to consider new technologies - presumably battery storage and local renewable energy - as an alternative to replacing new poles and wires.

Sandy, Bedfordshire What language did its tentacles speak? They appeared to be directionless conductors, randomly sampling the air

At nightfall, garden snails began to come out of the woodpile. I found one spiralling up a twig, stretching out its wet elephant skin. Another swung its body to the side, as if it was having a touch of slug envy, and was trying to dislodge its bulky encumbrance of a shell. One was sliding up the patio window and I went indoors to view it from beneath.

Pressed smooth against the glass, the muscles of its body (technically, its foot) rippled as waves might lap over a shallow, sandy beach, each wave a pulse of movement. Any slight change in direction caused the twisting part of the foot to crease, creating a filmy cellophane effect. What language did its tentacles speak? They appeared to be directionless conductors, randomly sampling the air, out of synch with each other, having no bearing on the animal’s purposeful course.

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Fancy a flight in a solar-powered electric passenger plane? According to the two adventurers behind the remarkable Solar Impulse plane completing a unique and fuel-free flight around the globe, that could be a reality within the next decade.

After an inauspicious start to life, the 10MW Williamsdale solar farm is under construction, and should be generating electricity by November.

The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder​ Portfolio Management Plans 2016-17​ are now available.

Enphase Energy has installed its first residential battery storage system at a Sydney house, in final phase of testing before mass market rollout.

Commercial energy storage economics are attractive today in seven U.S. states. Could grow to 19 states by 2021 according to report.

Conflict with entrenched interests was a major theme of the 2016 Intersolar North America opening session.

Utility charges levied on solar customers have caused uproar among environmentalists in New Zealand.

A Bronze Age village dubbed "Britain's Pompeii" which yielded an "extraordinary window" on the period burnt down after just months, it emerges.

The re-elected Coalition government has the opportunity to revamp its policies on climate change, but will Malcolm Turnbull have the appetite and internal authority to tackle the challenge?

On 5 May 2016 the Australian Government decided on a range of measures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Programme. The measures will further reduce emissions of ozone depleting...

Thousands of Silver Y moths, like those that pestered Ronaldo during the Euro 2016 final, headed for UK shores

Last seen swarming the Stade de France in Paris, the moths that flapped around the injured Cristiano Ronaldo during the Euro 2016 final are on their way to Britain.

Thousands of the Silver Y moths – Autographa gamma – are winging their way from the continent to Britain, and while they will not match the many millions that swarmed as far north as Shetland in 1996, experts are predicting a strong year. “It’s looking like it’s going to be an above average year, providing the conditions are right and there’s a southerly wind,” said Zoe Randle, a surveys officer at the charity Butterfly Conservation.

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So many tree species are present in the Amazon basin that it would take 300 years to catalogue them all, scientists say.