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Analysis finds concerns about environment key factor in having fewer or no children – but reasons differ around world

It was just over a decade ago that Emma Smart and her husband, Andy, first decided they would not have children. Back then, her friends and family did not understand.

“When you tell people you didn’t want to have children, that was a big social no-no,” she recalled. “And then when they asked you why, and you said for environmental reasons, that was completely unheard of.

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The US chat show host's support of the pūteketeke is creating an international PR battle.

A twice-weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

Long-running tensions between the Kenyan government and the Indigenous people of the Mau Forest in the country may have spilled over into the carbon market, with reported claims by human rights lawyers that hundreds of members of the Ogiek community are being evicted from their ancestral lands so the government can profit from carbon credit projects.

Study shows that rising temperatures will boost lightning as the main source of fires in northern forests.

Rotifers could be accelerating risk by splitting particles into thousands of potentially more dangerous nanoplastics

A type of zooplankton found in marine and fresh water can ingest and break down microplastics, scientists have discovered. But rather than providing a solution to the threat plastics pose to aquatic life, the tiny creatures known as rotifers could be accelerating the risk by splitting the particles into thousands of smaller and potentially more dangerous nanoplastics.

Each rotifer, named from the Latin for “wheel-bearer” owing to the whirling wheel of cilia around their mouths, can create between 348,000 and 366,000 nanoplastics – particles smaller than one micrometre – each day.

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The famous tree dates back to 17th Century Ghana and was reportedly planted by a renowned priest.

Germany’s three-party coalition government agreed on an additional five-year package to extend relief for the nation's EU ETS-covered industry struggling with high electricity prices, it announced on Thursday.

A Brazilian coastal state is launching a listening mechanism to engage companies and civil society organisations in developing carbon offsetting projects and other climate solutions.

A number of Japanese project developers are looking to expand their presence in Indonesia's growing offset market, though limited data availability and policy uncertainties remain top challenges for newcomers, a conference heard Thursday.

A blockchain-based biodiversity credit partnership between three companies has secured a small project area in Costa Rica, they announced Thursday.

Carbon credits for carbon capture and storage across the Southeast Asian region will underpin the economic development of what a Japanese government body sees as a key decarbonisation tool.

The UN body responsible for the world’s seabed continued to hold discussions on a mining code for the extraction of precious minerals from the deep sea up to the last day of its Council meeting on Wednesday but failed to finalise them, as a Canadian miner announced on the same day that it would continue tests in the Pacific Ocean.

European allowance prices were little changed at the end of Thursday morning as the market continued to look for direction despite the growth in speculative traders' net short positions revealed on Wednesday, with energy prices rising on a combination of colder weather and lower renewable generation.

Some states have implemented free school meals, and Maine has a constitutional amendment to guarantee the ‘unalienable right to food’

The US must acknowledge the right to food in order to transform its broken food system in the post-pandemic era and make it more resilient in the face of the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, according to a United Nations hunger expert.

“Whether we’re talking about right to food, food justice or food sovereignty, there has been growing momentum over the last 10 years to understand that food is not just something we just leave to be determined by what is available or by corporations or the status quo,” said Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food.

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The Indian government on Wednesday released draft rules for its planned compliance carbon market, eyeing an intensity-based scheme rather than one with an absolute cap on greenhouse gas emissions.

China’s Cofco and Mengniu Group have announced the first Chinese deal to import deforestation-free soybeans from Brazil, with the agreement facilitated by the World Economic Forum’s Tropical Forest Alliance.

An Estonia-based nature startup has published a forest-focused biodiversity metric that it says will help companies assess their impact on biodiversity and finance nature protection.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed his country will commit cash to a Pacific Island-focussed funding facility for climate change adaptation and mitigation work, as observers urged rich nations in the region to uphold and increase their climate commitments. 

Government’s Energy Company Obligation has managed to upgrade only 65,000 homes since April 2022, figures show

Labour has attacked the Conservatives over the speed of government efforts to upgrade Britain’s draughty housing stock, as analysis showed a leading household energy efficiency initiative was proceeding at what the party called a “glacial pace”.

Just 65,000 homes have been upgraded under the government’s Energy Company Obligation (Eco) scheme since it was relaunched in April last year, according to analysis of statistics released by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

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