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Australian independent MPs have proposed a raft of amendments to the Safeguard Mechanism legislation currently before parliament before it goes to the Senate, where it is still unclear if the government has the support it needs to pass it.

Spread by the wind, the fungal rusts are among the most feared of all plant diseases. A 2016 myrtle rust outbreak on Lord Howe Island was contained, but now its unique plants are again under threat. Robert Park, Judith and David Coffey Chair in Sustainable Agriculture, Plant Breeding Institute, University of Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Fear and Wonder is a new climate podcast, brought to you by The Conversation, and sponsored by the Climate Council. Misha Ketchell, Editor, The Conversation Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Independents suggest new gas projects should meet net zero standard for the life of project, in compromise deal on Safeguards Mechanism.

The post Independents want coal and gas projects buried in net zero clause rather than Safeguard bans appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Queensland experiences record grid demand at the tail end of another heat wave.

The post Hot and humid autumn sets record demand levels in Queensland grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Clean Energy Regulator says 82 per cent renewables target is within reach, but new installations need to ramp up.

The post Boom cycle means 82 pct renewables target is doable, says regulator appeared first on RenewEconomy.

For the second time in five years, millions of fish suffocated in the Darling River. This was not a natural disaster – it’s our doing Richard Kingsford, Professor, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Australia is willing to spend $368 billion on submarines to protect national security. What could it do with that money to counter the very real climate threat?

The post What Australia could do with $368 billion on the very real climate threat appeared first on RenewEconomy.

By the time Australia gets its first nuclear-powered submarines, ecological collapse will already have reshaped world politics

Under the terms of the government’s nuclear submarine purchase, the first Australian-built Aukus class vessels come into service in the early 2040s. What else might be happening then?

According to the IPCC, at current rates, the planet will have warmed more than 1.5C above its pre-industrial state. In fact, many scientists believe temperatures could smash the 1.5C barrier as soon as 2030 or 2035 – that is, around about when Australia receives the first of its Virginia-class nuclear subs.

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A year after the launch of Russia's attack on Ukraine, Germany appears to be emerging from the energy crisis relatively unscathed and its clean energy targets in tact

The post Transition state of play – Germany is emerging from the energy crisis appeared first on RenewEconomy.

This week the world will receive the latest United Nations climate report. And it’s a big one.

The post What can we expect from the final UN climate report? And what is the IPCC anyway? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

NSW in innovate role reversal, offering crown land for use by major wind and solar developers after striking deal with landholder.

The post NSW in landmark crown land tender for major solar and wind projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Historian Dan Snow pleads for person to come forward who removed head from animal washed up on Lepe beach

An appeal has been launched to recover the head of a rare smalltooth sand tiger shark after the fish was washed up on a Hampshire beach.

The 2 metre (6ft) long shark was initially found on Lepe beach on Friday.

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Australia still feels the thylacine’s presence in its landscape, wildlife and culture. A new book explores everything we know about the thylacine and the hope of a return. Menna Elizabeth Jones, Associate Professor in Zoology, University of Tasmania Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Fiame Naomi Mata’afa pleads for action before landmark IPCC report is expected to issue ‘final warning’

• What is the IPCC report and why does it matter?

The world must step back from the brink of climate disaster to save the people of the Pacific from obliteration, the prime minister of Samoa has urged.

On the eve of a landmark report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which is expected to deliver a scientific “final warning” on the climate emergency, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, Samoa’s prime minister, issued a desperate plea for action.

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Arguments in favour of roads always win, but we have reached a point where the crisis in nature can’t be ignored

Last Wednesday morning, the people of Plymouth woke to a scene on the city’s Armada Way that looked very much like a landscape ravaged by war, trees felled and uprooted as if by artillery shells. And the shocking part was that the felling of more than 100 trees was plotted in secrecy and executed at night by the very people who are meant to love their city, protect its environment, and honour the wellbeing and wishes of its inhabitants – the local council.

No surprise in that, you may say, but what happened in Plymouth was a singular example of bad faith, a betrayal and an act of contempt towards Plymouth’s citizens. The damage done to the environment and to trust is unlikely to be reversed for many years.

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Coton Orchard can literally boast a partridge in a pear tree – but the idyll is threatened by a busway scheme, which campaigners say is totally unnecessary

The Coton Orchard is the eighth largest traditional orchard left in the UK, its owner Anna Gazeley is proud to say. “Not because we’re huge but because 80% have gone since the 1900s,” she said. Commercial fruit trees are smaller and more productive, but this orchard is filled with wildlife, a legacy of Gazeley’s father, who bought the land three decades ago to save the trees from developers.

That may have been a temporary reprieve. The fate of the the trees and farmland west of Cambridge will be decided on Tuesday, when Cambridgeshire county council votes on a £160m scheme to include a bus bypass that would tear through the orchard.

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British stalkers say they are helping nature, but still celebrate the bloody slaughter

An alliance that brought together conservationists, African leaders, taxidermists, recreational hunters and the patron saint of upskirters, Christopher Chope MP, is recovering, its protests having last week failed to prevent the progress of Henry Smith’s hunting trophies (import prohibition) bill towards enactment.

These trophies being – incomprehensibly for anyone whose love of animals does not express itself in killing them – the dead animal’s body parts, brought home for display or sale. A recent US Humane Society investigation at a Safari Club International convention found, for instance, “elephant skin luggage sets ranging from $10,000 to $18,000 and jewellery made from leopard claws”.

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Cyclone Gabrielle has sparked a nationwide debate about climate change and vulnerable homes.

Research into critically endangered orange-bellied parrot finds 1mm difference in length of one feather is enough to reduce survival rate by 2.7 times

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Breeding in captivity can alter birds’ wing shapes, reducing their chances of surviving migratory flights when they are released to the wild, new research suggests.

A study of the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot has found that in captive-bred birds, those with altered wing shapes had a survival rate 2.7 times lower than those born with wings close to an ideal “wild type” wing.

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