The Guardian

Chairs of eight all-party parliamentary groups pledge to support the UK’s green agenda

MPs not fully behind net zero are “a small minority” and the government should stay committed to its goal, a cross-party group of parliamentarians has said.

Chairs of eight all-party parliamentary groups, including on climate change, net zero, clean air and fuel poverty, have written a letter to the Guardian , vowing they will “continue to support and promote ambitious environmental leadership in parliament”.

The best thing about recovery plans is nobody pays any attention except for a few greenists and weary scientists

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Electric vehicle stations to be placed every 50 miles along interstate highways to spur adoption of zero-emission cars

The Biden administration has unveiled a plan to award nearly $5bn over five years to build thousands of electric vehicle charging stations.

The nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations would place new or upgraded ones every 50 miles (80km) along interstate highways as part of the administration’s plan to spur widespread adoption of zero-emission cars.

California ruling does not affect wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming

Federal protections for gray wolves were restored across much of the US on Thursday, after their removal in the waning days of the Trump administration exposed the predators to hunting that critics said would undermine their rebound from widespread extermination early last century.

US district judge Jeffrey White in Oakland, California, said the US Fish and Wildlife Service had failed to show wolf populations could be sustained in the midwest and portions of the west without protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Labour’s Ed Miliband is right to call for a one-off increase in corporation tax on North Sea producers to fund lower bills for consumers

Windfall taxes are nothing new. Margaret Thatcher’s government was one of the most notable users of the tactic – with one-off levies on banks and oil companies for making excess gains in the early 1980s. Perhaps the fact that such duties find favour with the public surprises some who think economic populism is passé. But with gas prices trebling and the bosses of fossil fuel companies proclaiming “cash machine” profits, surely Labour’s Ed Miliband is right to call for a one-off increase in corporation tax on North Sea producers to fund lower bills for consumers.

Big oil’s claim that it is paying its fair share to the Treasury is not credible, given that handouts from the state have often actually exceeded the tax take that the industry generates. Between 2018 and 2020, Shell and BP, which together produce more than 1.7bn tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, paid no corporation tax or production levies on North Sea oil operations and claimed tax reliefs of nearly £400m.

Dorset police appeal for information after white-tailed eagles found dead in south of England

Two of the white-tailed eagles reintroduced to the Isle of Wight have been found dead, police have said.

About 25 of the birds of prey, which have a 2.4 metre (8ft) wingspan, have been released in the area since 2019 as part of an effort to bring back a long-lost species to UK skies.

No recovery plan for the Australian marsupial was in place despite it being identified as a requirement nine years ago

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The Australian government has officially listed the koala as endangered after a decline in its numbers due to land clearing and catastrophic bushfires shrinking its habitat.

The environment minister, Sussan Ley, accepted the recommendation of the threatened species scientific committee that the koala populations of Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory should have their conservation status upgraded.

Cloud and rain over the past 10 days bring much-needed relief to heat-stressed coral, government authority says

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The risk of widespread coral bleaching across the Great Barrier Reef has subsided after cloud and rain over the past 10 days caused “substantial cooling” of heat-stressed corals, according to the government’s reef management authority.

Scientists and conservationists have feared it could suffer its sixth major mass bleaching outbreak this summer with record high temperatures over the reef in December.

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Conservationists argue plans to rebuild the Penguin Island centre distract from human impacts affecting the threatened birds

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Plans to build a new $3.3m “discovery centre” on Penguin Island in Western Australia will push the threatened bird colony to breaking point, conservationists say.

The state’s new environment minister, Reece Whitby, unveiled a concept design on Tuesday, which would see the existing centre on the island demolished and a new one built 50 metres away.

Insulate Britain supporters donate rent from George Eustice’s office towards protesters’ court costs

The constituency office of the environment secretary, George Eustice, has been bought by supporters of Insulate Britain, who have donated his rent to a legal fund for activists.

Supporters of the group, which made headlines last year by obstructing major roads and calling on the government to retrofit all British homes to make them energy efficient, formed a coalition of investors.

Film-maker urges UK ministers to make it mandatory for schemes to align portfolios with climate target

Pension funds should face legal obligations to bring their investments in line with the net zero greenhouse gas emissions goal, the film-maker Richard Curtis has said.

Curtis, a co-founder of the Make My Money Matter campaigning group, urged ministers to follow up the UK’s legal commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050 by making it mandatory for pension schemes to align their portfolios with the target.

Firm sets out plan to seal two shale gas wells in Lancashire two years after government shutdown order

The owner of shale fracking firm Cuadrilla will permanently plug and abandon its two shale wells in Lancashire, drawing a line on Britain’s failed fracking industry.

Cuadrilla set out plans to permanently seal the two shale gas wells drilled at the Preston New Road (PNR) Lancashire shale exploration site a little over two years after the government brought an end to fracking in England.

First legally binding climate act faces race against the clock before Stormont’s dissolution next month

Northern Ireland’s first legally binding climate act faces a race against time to get passed before the devolved institutions at Stormont are dissolved in the coming weeks.

The second of two climate change bills – introduced by the agriculture minister, Edwin Poots – has moved through consideration stage, with a batch of new amendments prompting more than 25 hours of assembly debate.

The Swiss artist spent two years studying the Engadine valley, using scientific data and historical research to produce these captivating, experimental images

Campaigners say the sector leads to overexploitation of stocks while pushing up prices and aggravating local unemployment

The UN’s food agency has warned that the “overexploitation” of fish in west Africa by the growing global fishmeal and fish oil industry is having a “considerably negative impact” on food security, undermining the ability of local communities to feed themselves.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report said that in Senegal, where three more huge fishmeal factories opened between 2015 and 2019, the industry was “likely increasing the risk” of overexploitation of sardinella and bonga, two pelagic fish on which communities depend.

Satellite data shows rainforest cleared for cattle and maize on farms growing soya, undermining claims crop is deforestation-free

More than 400 sq miles (1,000 sq km) of Amazon rainforest has been felled to expand farms growing soya in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso in a 10-year period, despite an agreement to protect it, according to a new investigation.

In 2006, the landmark Amazon soy moratorium was introduced banning the sale of soya grown on land deforested after 2008. From 2004 to 2012, the clearing of trees in the Amazon fell by 84%.

But in recent years deforestation has climbed steeply, reaching a 15-year high last year – encouraged, campaigners say, by President Jair Bolsonaro’s anti-conservationist rhetoric and policies.

With the moratorium applying only to soya, farmers have been able to sell the crop as deforestation-free, while still clearing land for cattle, maize or other commodities.

Human exposure to 2,4-D has substantially risen despite a multitude of health and environmental concerns

One in three people across America have detectable levels of a toxic herbicide linked to cancers, birth defects and hormonal imbalances, a major nationwide survey has found.

Human exposure to the herbicide 2,4-D has substantially risen amid expanding use among farmers despite a multitude of health and environmental concerns, according to the first nationally representative study evaluating the footprint of the chemical.

EnergyAustralia is building a regular fossil fuel power station and buying carbon offsets based on its emissions

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“At EnergyAustralia, we’re already building Australia’s first carbon offset power station,” says a smiling tradie in hi-vis overlooking a construction site.

The line is from EnergyAustralia’s new TV ad that has been appearing in prime time slots accompanied by Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 classic tune, Don’t Stop.

The US Department of Agriculture has been called in to trap and relocate the feisty fowl before they begin nesting

A rafter of rowdy turkeys have run afoul of researchers at Nasa’s Ames Center in Mountain View, California.

Nearly two dozen birds have been creating chaos at the Bay Area space agency outpost, pecking at cars, blocking traffic, disrupting flights at the nearby Moffett federal airfield, and blanketing most everything with their droppings. They have become such a nuisance that officials from the US Department of Agriculture have been called in to trap and relocate them – before they begin nesting and hatch a new generation of pillaging poults.

Body representing MPs and peers insists vast majority support climate plans despite vocal backbenchers

The “vast majority” of Conservative MPs support the government’s net zero climate plans despite increasingly vocal opposition from a small number of backbenchers, according to a Tory environment group.

On Tuesday the Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG) of 19 Conservatives was accused of attempting to derail the government’s green agenda, linking it to the cost-of-living crisis and calling for cuts to green taxes and an increase in fossil fuel production.