The Guardian

People could be deterred from eating meat by increasing its price further up the supply chain, stemming rise in consumption and environmental damage

Governments should tax meat production in order to stem the global rise in consumption and the environmental damage that goes with it, according to a UN expert.

The world faces serious environmental problems if emerging economies such as China emulate Americans and Europeans in the amount of meat they eat, Prof Maarten Hajer, the lead author of a report into the impact of food production and the environment, told the UN environment assembly in Nairobi.

Three climbers have died on Mount Everest in the past week, all succumbing to altitude sickness after reaching the summit. The increasing number of deaths on the world’s tallest mountain is raising fresh fears about overcrowding and the ethics of commercial mountaineering on Everest

More than 8 million people were employed worldwide in the renewable energy sector last year as rapidly falling costs drove growth in the industry

A boom in solar and wind power jobs in the US led the way to a global increase in renewable energy employment to more than 8 million people in 2015, according to a report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena).

More than 769,000 people were employed in renewable energy in the US in 2015, dwarfing the 187,000 employed in the oil and gas sector and the 68,000 in coal mining. The gap is set to grow further, with jobs in solar and wind growing by more than 20% in 2015, while oil and gas jobs fell by 18% as the fossil fuel industry struggled with low prices.

Newcastle University latest to announce it will pursue investment decisions that are compatible with its sustainability values, reports BusinessGreen

As the world’s leading oil and gas majors this week face a series of questions about their ability to respond to escalating climate risks, two of the UK’s leading universities have become the latest institutions to announce new investment strategies designed to curb their exposure to fossil fuel assets.

Newcastle University yesterday followed hot on the heels of the University of Southampton inannouncing plans to modify its investment strategy to better embed Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations.

Paula Kahumbu: A global alliance to end wildlife crime is within reach. Let’s start talking about how it can be made to work

Today the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is hosting a high level dialogue on wildlife crime at the UN Environmental Assembly (UNEA) which is taking place in Nairobi. The session will open with the launch of the UN Wild for Life campaign that is calling on citizens, governments and corporations to pledge to act on this issue. Participants at the event are expected to announce initiatives to take forward the implementation of resolutions made by UNEA-1 and the UN General Assembly on illegal trade in wildlife.

These resolutions, and the incorporation of specific targets to end poaching and trafficking of wildlife in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, have helped raise this issue to the top of the international agenda.

Indonesia’s national bird, the Javan hawk-eagle, is among 13 species threatened by illegal trade, warns a wildlife watchdog

Thirteen species of Indonesian birds, including the country’s symbolic Javan hawk-eagle, are at serious risk of extinction mainly due to the pet trade, a wildlife watchdog warned Wednesday.

A hole is seen alongside the Arno river in Florence on Wednesday, with parked cars slipping into the chasm near the Ponte Vecchio bridge. Nearby residences are evacuated as firefighters report a broken underground pipe to be the cause of the hole

• Off-street parking: Florence road collapse sinks row of cars

Leading seafood suppliers, including McDonald’s, Tesco and Birds Eye, say suppliers won’t expand cod fisheries into pristine Arctic region

Fishermen and seafood suppliers struck a major deal on Wednesday that will protect a key Arctic region from industrial fishing for cod.

Companies including McDonald’s, Tesco, Birds Eye, Europe’s largest frozen fish processor, Espersen, Russian group Karat, and Fiskebåt, which represents the entire Norwegian oceangoing fishing fleet, have said their suppliers will refrain from expanding their cod fisheries further into pristine Arctic waters.

Remain supporters point to latest water quality tests as an example of how EU membership has spurred a dramatic clean up of UK beaches

Almost 95% of British beaches have been given a clean bill of health in the latest EU survey of coastal water quality, down slightly on two years ago.

As recently as 1991, around a quarter of British bathing waters were too dirty to swim in but the threat of EU infringement cases and beach closures, has spurred a dramatic change since then.

Thousands of bees swarm over the back of a Mitsubishi car in Haverfordwest in west Wales after their queen was thought to be stuck in the boot. Tom Moses, a ranger at the Pembrokeshire coast national park, noticed the bees on Sunday after the owner parked it to do some shopping. Beekeepers removed the swarm by luring the bees into a cardboard box

• Bee swarm clinging to car boot has Welsh town abuzz
  

Student and staff campaigners and activist group 350.org welcome university’s plan to completely divest from fossil fuels over the next five years

La Trobe has become the first university in Australia to commit to a complete divestment from fossil fuels, the university council endorsing a plan to do so over the next five years.

It is a significant win for staff and students who have campaigned for the outcome on campuses around the country.

Parasite fron China attacks eggs and larvae of Asian insect pest that has wiped out tens of millions of trees and is on march to Europe and Britain

Millions of tiny wasps that are natural parasites for the emerald ash borer have been released into wooded areas in 24 states of the US to try and peg back the tree-killing insect’s advances.

The US Department of Agriculture has researched and approved for release four species of parasitic wasps that naturally target the larval and egg stages of the ash borer, which has killed an estimated 38m ash trees in urban and residential areas. The estimated cost of treating, removing and replacing the lost trees is $25bn, according to a report written by USDA and US Forest Service entomologists.

New research by WWF as part of the Wear it Wild campaign has revealed that millions of Britons are unaware of how many of the world’s animals are vulnerable, endangered or even critically endangered

Taskforce head reportedly tells Queensland government ‘we’re stuffed with a capital S’ if water quality isn’t improved

A cap on pollution from farms close to the Great Barrier Reef has been proposed by advisers to the Queensland government.

The Great Barrier Reef water science taskforce, which advises the Queensland government on how to meet pollution targets on the reef, said sugar cane, grazing and other sectors should be given pollution load limits for their industries in each catchment. It also called for incentives such as auctions for pollution reduction, greater monitoring and regulation, along with “significantly more investment” in the problem.

Giant animals will light up Sydney’s Taronga zoo as part of the Vivid festival. The festival centerpiece features 10 animal lanterns representing the endangered species the zoo is committing to helping, as part of its centenary celebrations. The animal sculptures will include a Sumatran tiger, Asian elephant, sun bear and a platypus, which will go on display as part of the annual lights festival, starting Friday

Exposure to vehicular and industrial emissions heightens risk during pregnancy, researchers say

Exposure to air pollution may increase the risk of stillbirth, new research suggests.

Stillbirths, classed as such if a baby is born dead after 24 weeks of pregnancy, occur in one in every 200 births. Around 11 babies are stillborn every day in the UK, with aproximately 3,600 cases a year.

South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory take the green podium for their efforts and policies pushing renewable energy targets

New South Wales is the worst Australian state at driving renewable energy, and South Australia and the ACT lead the pack, a report produced by the Climate Council has found.

The results came just weeks after South Australia closed its last coal power station, and the ACT announced a target to source 100% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Drone footage shot by Khmer Times shows mass pollution in the Cambodian Phnom Penh waterways, with the canal system blocked by rubbish ranging from plastic to sewage. The canals and waterways in Phnom Penh are some of the most polluted in the region, leading environmental activists to call on the government to immediately take action

Park ranger and beekeepers help remove thousands of bees after queen was thought trapped in back of a car in Haverfordwest

Thousands of bees left a town buzzing after swarming on to the boot of a car.

The insects are believed to have swarmed on to the back of a silver Mitsubishi Outlander after their queen got stuck in its boot.

Programme in partnership with World Land Trust will create corridors of natural habitat to prevent threatened species from being cut off from each other

A programme to regenerate thousands of acres of forest and link habitats in wildlife-rich parts of the world has been launched.

The “bio-bridges” scheme, which creates corridors of natural habitat to prevent threatened wildlife populations being cut off from each other, is being run by the Body Shop in partnership with the World Land Trust.