The Guardian

Western Australia’s government is seeking the power to approve activities that could ‘take or disturb’ an endangered species

Western Australia’s government could have the power to approve activities that could make a threatened species extinct, under biodiversity laws now before state parliament.

The provision has been dubbed “the God clause” by scientists and conservationists, who say giving the environment minister discretion to effectively authorise the extinction of a species contradicts the very purpose of biodiversity legislation.

Global or regional agreements are vital for cross-border problems such as pollution and wildlife crime, says new environment chief, Erik Solheim

The UN’s new environment chief has called for a post-Brexit Britain to link up with the EU on environment policy, adopting key bloc climate laws and maintaining its nature directives.

In his first interview since taking office, Erik Solheim told the Guardian it was vital that supranational decisions continued for problems such as pollution and wildlife crime which crossed borders, and could not be dealt with by states acting alone.

Tory leadership candidate and EU Leave campaigner says she remains committed to current pledges to cut emissions and decarbonise energy supply

Andrea Leadsom, the Tory leadership candidate and campaigner to leave the EU, vowed on Tuesday to continue with the UK’s commitments to tackle climate change and decarbonise the energy supply.

She said that reducing greenhouse gases was a duty to future generations, and pledged to continue with the UK’s carbon budgets to set a limit on emissions.

Damian Carrington tests a concept vehicle touted as a ‘solution for future urban transport’ in a rapidly urbanising world

I’m sitting in a cross between an electric-assisted bicycle and an electric car that looks like a cool golf buggy.

The model I am in is also the only one in the world and cost a lot of money to build. So no pressure as I take this concept vehicle for my first spin. The Schaeffler Bio-Hybrid looks hi-tech, but luckily it is very easy to drive. Or do I mean ride?

When comparing apples to apples, a new study finds energy budget climate sensitivity estimates consistent with climate models

Scientists use a variety of approaches to estimate the Earth’s climate sensitivity – how much the planet will warm as a result of humans increasing greenhouse effect. For decades, the different methods were all in good general agreement that if we double the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, Earth’s surface temperatures will immediately warm by about 1–3°C (this is known as the ‘transient climate response’). Because it would take decades to centuries for the Earth to reach a new energy balance, climate scientists have estimated an eventual 2–4.5°C warming from doubled atmospheric carbon (this is ‘equilibrium climate sensitivity’).

However, a 2013 paper led by Alexander Otto disrupted the agreement between the various different approaches. Using a combination of recent climate measurements and a relatively simple climate model, the ‘energy budget’ approach used in Otto’s study yielded a best estimate for the immediate (transient) warming of 1.3°C and equilibrium warming of 2.0°C; within the agreed range, but less than climate model best estimates of 1.8°C and 3.2°C, respectively.

Wolf Hall actor lends his support to Save our Sands, which wants to stop the dredging of Goodwin Sands for the development of Dover port

The actor Mark Rylance has lent his support to a campaign to stop the dredging of a stretch of sandbanks off the Kent coast.

Dover Harbour Board has applied for a licence to dredge Goodwin Sands, which had been proposed as a marine conservation zone, for aggregate to be used in the expansion and development of Dover port.

Mayor to target older, dirtier vehicles with £10 charge from 2017 as part of proposals to tackle the capital’s ‘toxic’ air

Older, dirtier cars will have to pay a £10 pollution charge to drive in central London, according to plans set out by Sadiq Khan on Tuesday.

The charge, on top of the existing £11.50 congestion charge, would apply from 2017 to cars first sold before 2005. The mayor of London’s proposals to tackle the capital’s “toxic” air also include a big expansion of a planned Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) and a faster roll-out of cleaner buses.

Analysis shows most UK plastic ends up in the Arctic, where it does ‘extreme harm’ to the fragile polar environment

Plastic dumped into the seas around the UK is carried to the Arctic within two years, scientists have revealed, where it does “extreme harm” to the fragile polar environment.

Marine plastic pollution is a huge problem, with 5tn pieces of plastic now floating in the world’s oceans. The plastic is frequently mistaken for food by fish and birds, causing damage to life throughout the seas.

To mark the 60th anniversary of the Clean Air Act, we’ve been asking Guardian readers to share their memories and stories of what the UK was like before the act came into force.

• You can see all the contributions – or submit your own – via GuardianWitness

The great smog of 1952 swathed London in a toxic smog of pollution, resulting in thousands of deaths over a four-day period. The Clean Air Act was a groundbreaking piece of legislation that led to the phase-out of coal in Britain’s towns and cities.

Sheila Romain, 88, West Sussex
“Coming home from school one day I caught the bus from Crystal Palace to Dulwich. When we got to Gypsy Hill the bus driver said he couldn’t see well enough to go on. I got off knowing I could walk home. When the driver saw in which direction I was going he asked if he could follow me. So, for the next mile and a half, the bus followed me. This must have been the winter 1946-47.”

Claxton, Norfolk Ants allow us to reflect upon a chemical realm we can seldom know empirically. They are governed by it

If I set aside the rag-winged rooks and moulting lapwings, and forget the storms that this land has just endured, the morning seems utterly still. I stand to watch a long flotilla of cumulus over the marsh, as beautiful and unmoving as sail ships becalmed in doldrums. There is so little breeze that neither foreground nettle nor the red-tinged Yorkshire fog beyond so much as stirs.

Even with my coarse senses, however, I know that this rain-washed stillness is volatile and densely scented. There is a deer nudging through the reeds that I shall never see, because it navigates by smell.

Fringe political groups such as One Nation, Family First and the Liberal Democrats still reject the evidence that humans are causing climate change

So we’re in that post-election twilight zone where analysts, psephologists and columnists try and pull something cogent out of all the mess of uncertainty.

Who’ll be the next prime minister? Which party will lead and how will they do it? What does it all mean, and did Donald Trump have anything to do with it? What do psephologists do when there’s no election on?

Authorities to remove carcass of humpback whale on Honeycombs beach because it is a popular surf location and decomposing animal could attract sharks

A 12-metre humpback whale weighing up to 40 tonnes has washed up on the beach near Margaret River prompting a shark warning.

The Department of Parks and Wildlife will remove the whale carcass that washed up on Honeycombs beach in Leeuwin-Naturaliste national park in the WA’s south-west.

YouGov survey of more than 800 people shows 76% want to bring their cities in line with European limits on air pollution

The UK may be on its way out of the EU but more than three-quarters (76%) of people want clean air zones to bring their cities into line with European standards, according to a YouGov poll.

The poll comes as new forecasting suggests London will still breach the limits for another 14 years without further action and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, prepares to make a major speech on pollution-cutting measures on Tuesday.

Male and female mountain chicken frogs that were sole survivors of deadly disease are hoped to begin breeding on Montserrat for the first time since 2009

The last two remaining wild mountain chicken frogs living on Montserrat have been reunited, and are hoped to begin breeding on the Caribbean island for the first time since 2009.

Last month, a project took the last female and relocated her into the territory of the remaining male as part of a 20-year recovery plan for the species, one of the world’s largest and rarest frogs that exists on just two Caribbean islands, Montserrat and Dominica.

Growing trend to lay fake lawns instead of real grass causes loss of habitat for wildlife and creates waste that will never biodegrade

Environmentalists have warned that a growing trend to lay artificial lawns instead of real grass threatens the loss of wildlife and habitat across Britain.

From local authorities who purchase in bulk for use in street scaping, to primary schools for children’s play areas and in the gardens of ordinary suburban family homes, the sight of pristine, green artificial grass is becoming a familiar sight. One company has registered a 220% year-on-year increase in trade of the lawns.

The Cairns Frog Safe project blames neonicotinoids for population decline and malformations, but cannot attract government or academic interest

The head of Australia’s only dedicated frog hospital believes powerful insecticides are behind a staggering decline in frog populations along the Queensland coast.

Related: Neonicotinoids: new warning on pesticide harm to bees

Huge rich-metal deposits on the ocean floor could transform the global commodities market but there are fears mining them could harm rare ecosystems

A scientific expedition has been launched from the UK to explore the mining of rich metal deposits on the deep ocean floor, which are the focus of a new gold rush around the world.

The UK research vessel, the RSS James Cook, left Southampton on Thursday, heading for the underwater ridge in the middle of the Atlantic where volcanic activity drives hot springs, also known as black smokers.

Glen Torridon, Liathach, Highlands The path that worms up alongside the waterfalls is invisible until we’re on it

From Glen Torridon, Liathach looks impregnable, with little sign of a way upwards; the path that worms up alongside the waterfalls of the Allt an Doire Ghairbh is invisible until we’re on it. The vast bulwarks and bastions of rock rise into a ceiling of white cloud, their full extent obscured.

We climb unhurriedly, content to wait for the forecasted “cloud free Munros” to materialise.

Market Forces finds only two financing deals closed in first half of 2016 despite banks’ purported support for sector

Australia’s big four banks’ lending for Australian renewable energy projects has tumbled in the first half of 2016, despite all of them spruiking their continuing support for the sector.

Based on public announcements from the banks and their customers, the activist group Market Forces has found only two financing deals were closed this year in the Australian renewables sector.

FSA identifies myths preventing people from freezing food, as households throw away 7 million tonnes of food a year

Consumer ignorance about how to freeze food safely is helping to fuel the annual 7-million-tonne household food waste mountain in the UK, the government’s food watchdog has said.

The Food Standards Agency, working with the government department Defra, is to launch an urgent review of current guidance given to the food industry on date marking for food, which could include giving consumers more detailed and easy-to-understand advice on freezing and food storage.