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Government proposals to tackle air pollution in five UK cities could see electric vehicle drivers using bus lanes and getting priority at traffic lights

Drivers of electric vehicles could be allowed to use bus lanes in five UK cities and even go first at traffic lights, to tackle illegal levels of air pollution, the government has suggested.

Launching its consultation on clean air zones to be introduced in Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton, the environment department said air pollution killed 50,000 people each year at an annual cost to society of £27.5bn.

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Researchers say forecasting tool will stop coastal plants from being shut down by swarms blocking cooling water intakes

Invasions of jellyfish have proved adept at shutting down power plants in recent years. But an early warning tool is now in development to alert power stations to incoming swarms which block the cooling water intakes of coastal plants.

EDF’s Torness nuclear power plant in Scotland was closed for a week in 2011 after a mass of moon jellyfish invaded and the company is now working with researchers from the University of Bristol to tackle the problem.

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As Brexit puts the future of EU laws protecting the environment in doubt, Greenpeace sent photographer Vanessa Miles to Blackpool to recreate a series of images she took in 1990 when just one in five UK beaches met bathing guidelines

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Ogwen valley, which allows easy defence against grey squirrels, is selected for new colony

Conservationists have turned to military strategy to ensure a new wild colony of red squirrels is protected from its bushy-tailed grey adversary in Wales.

A site at Ogwen valley, five miles from Bangor, has been selected because it is ringed by mountains and cut off from grey squirrels.

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Banning the cooling gases currently used in refrigeration and air conditioning could save half a degree of global warming if a deal can be agreed in Rwanda.

The end-of-season classic is not only among the oldest races, but also one of the toughest. Peter Kimpton delves into its course, kit and culture

Snaking down forested hairpin bends towards the finish, just 61 riders remain from 201, most beaten down by a gruelling 240km and multiple climbs across some of Italy’s most challenging but beautiful terrain. Dubbed “la classica delle foglie morte” (the race of the falling/dying leaves), the Giro Di Lombardia recently completed its 110th edition.

This year it traversed the glimmering waters of Lake Como before climbing up through cobbles into the ancient walled section of Citta Alta in Bergamo, where buildings glow orange, brown, red and in the autumn light. A sprint finish in the town’s main square saw Italy’s Diego Rosa tearfully beaten to the line by the ever-smiling Colombian Esteban Chaves, the first non-European ever to triumph here.

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Land Speed Record holder Andy Green reflects on the partnership the Bloodhound supersonic car project has forged with Chinese auto group Geely.

The New South Wales government is proposing controversial shark nets on the state's north coast.

Four scientists are awarded the 2016 World Food Prize for crop work that delivers health benefits in developing nations.

China leads EU and US in market size, with Nissan Leaf taking the top spot for best-selling model followed by Tesla’s Model S and two Chinese-made models

The number of plug-in electric cars on the world’s roads is set to pass the landmark of two million vehicles by the end of 2016, with industry observers saying the electric car revolution is finally underway.

A surging market in China is leading the way and Chinese-made models have pushed into the top five best-selling models. Europe is the second biggest market, followed by the US, but their traditional car manufacturers face a stern challenge from China and from Tesla, whose much-anticipated Model 3 is expected to go into production in 2017.

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Report from the Committee on Climate Change says a government strategy to deploy new, radical technologies at scale by 2050 must begin now

The UK government needs to kickstart technologies to suck carbon dioxide from the air if it is to play its part in meeting the goals of the Paris climate change agreement, according to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), the government’s official advisers.

The global climate deal, which the prime minister, Theresa May, says the UK will ratify by the end of 2016, pledges net zero emissions by the second half of the century, in order to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. Given that some emissions, such as those from aviation and agriculture, will be very difficult to reduce to zero, that means removing some carbon from the atmosphere.

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Environmentalists furious that 2020 moratorium on 400,000ha of Tarkine forests could be reversed to help Forestry Australia ‘stand on its own feet’

Old growth forests in the Tarkine could be logged by private companies under plans being considered by the Tasmanian government to reverse a moratorium on harvesting 400,000ha of high conservation value forests.

The forests were part of 500,000ha protected under the forest peace deal signed by the former Labor government in 2013, which would have seen them eventually gazetted into national parks.

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Ouse Fen, Cambridgeshire There is a looseness, a jauntiness in an off-duty fox, an actor out of costume, performance over. But why was this one stopping so often?

Halfway through the morning, with fog rising from the fen, a fox was caught out at the end of its night shift. It had opted to cross an open field of winter wheat, whose short, narrow blades offered no cover at all. Plenty saw the fox coming. A pair of Egyptian geese that had been grazing at the fringe made a precautionary lift off. A clamour of crows well and truly outed the predator by swirling in an umbrella of flaps and raucous jeers.

The fox paused to sit out the overhead commotion, then traipsed a little further before squatting down to swivel its eyes, ears and snout, and stare intently in the direction of my glinting binocular lenses. It was not the only animal that had been found out.

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Long-running YouGov poll shows support for shale gas extraction at 37.3% – just as industry gears up to begin drilling

The British public’s support for fracking has fallen sharply in the last year and is now at the lowest level ever, according to a long-running poll published as the industry gears up to begin drilling.

New polling by YouGov for the University of Nottingham, which has been tracking attitudes towards shale gas extraction for more than four years, shows support for fracking in the UK is now at 37.3%, down from 46.5% a year ago and 58% in the summer of 2013.

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Putting aside its support for coal mining, the Queensland government has done a huge service to clean energy with its RET draft report, which smashes so many renewables myths it's hard to know where to start.

IPART calls on solar industry, power retailers for advice on tariffs, metering, battery storage and other products to help manage the transition as 146,000 NSW homes come off premium FiT.

Infigen Energy's Miles George will retire as managing director at end 2016, but plans to continue in renewables sector, and in role advocating for it.

Greens win bid for Senate Committee to investigate potential for a battery storage “boom” in Australia, to boost renewables and the resilience of the grid.

Solar will rival coal as the biggest source of electricity supply by 2030 under the scenarios outlined by the state's expert panel on the 50% renewable target.

US solar developer wants to build world's biggest solar development, a 2,000MW, $US5 billion project featuring its solar tower and molten salt storage technology.