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Environment secretary George Eustice wants to amend Habitats Directive, which protects Natura 2000 sites

Environment secretary George Eustice wants to tear up a key piece of European law that environmentalists say protects cherished habitats in the UK.

Eustice told MPs the Habitats Directive was in a list of laws he wanted to amend in the forthcoming Brexit freedoms bill designed to cut red tape, saying it was bureaucratic and fundamentally flawed on multiple levels.

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On the back of a successful USD 10m Series A capital raise, SustainCERT is looking to expand the team with a (Senior) Business Development and Key Account Manager.

Our team – Resilience, ESG and Disaster Recovery - works with companies and government agencies to achieve sustainability, including deep decarbonization, climate resilience and positive social impact.

Politicians may be better served addressing the message, rather than attacking the messengers. Robyn Gulliver, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Indigenous activist Theresa Ardler travelled halfway across the world to tell leaders at the UN ocean conference in Portugal that they are failing to protect her fishing community back home in Australia.

Ardler, 50, fears the humpback whales that travel through the deep blue waters surrounding her Aboriginal village of Wreck Bay, on the south coast of New South Wales, will suffer if authorities do not act fast enough

• UN head declares ‘ocean emergency’ as global leaders gather in Lisbon

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Three Japanese companies have successfully demonstrated a clean ammonia supply chain to link Japan to the oil and gas-rich United Arab Emirates, they announced Thursday.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

Research ‘exposes litany of misleading claims’ by household names, including Coca-Cola and Unilever

Claims about plastic packaging being eco-friendly made by big brands, including Coca-Cola and Unilever, are misleading greenwashing, according to a report.

The Changing Markets Foundation says claims that companies are intercepting and using “ocean-bound” or “recyclable” plastic to tackle the plastic pollution crisis are some of the most common examples of greenwashing.

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Number of climate-related lawsuits globally has doubled since 2015, with quarter filed in past two years

The world’s most polluting companies are increasingly being targeted by lawsuits challenging their inaction on climate change and attempts to spread misinformation, according to a new report.

Research by the London School of Economics Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment found a surge in legal cases against the fossil fuel industry over the past year – especially outside the US – and growing action in other corporate sectors.

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I took up a challenge from a climate charity – and suddenly my daughter and I were gliding past canals instead of sitting in traffic

I’ve always been a driver at heart. I passed my test when I was 19, and I’ve been behind the wheel for most journeys since. After becoming a parent eight years ago, I became even more dependent on my car, thinking that it meant security for me and my child, almost like driving was my duty. I couldn’t imagine a world where I didn’t get around on four wheels, but that all changed when I tried going car-free.

Earlier this year, I signed up to a challenge posed by the climate charity Possible to see what it would be like to go without my car for three weeks. Given I’ve been driving for 10 years, it was daunting. On the other hand, being a motorist isn’t always a piece of cake: low traffic neighbourhoods make it a bit harder to travel by car in my community, and there isn’t controlled residential parking where I live. I wanted to see if there was another way of getting around.

Funmi Shonibare a mum of one and works as a Travelex bureau manager. She participated in the climate charity Possible’s call to go car-free

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Global carbon funding initiative Frontier has announced the winners of its first carbon removal round, picking six companies, including an Australian Direct Air Capture (DAC) project developer. 

AGL reveals that Canadian investment giant Brookfield quietly increased its stake in the energy company, reviving takeover speculation.

The post AGL says Brookfield has quietly upped shareholding, reviving takeover speculation appeared first on RenewEconomy.

One claim from the past week is based on a nuclear plant that hasn’t been built and another confuses the role of battery storage

• Temperature Check is a weekly column examining claims about climate change made by governments, politicians, business and the media – follow the series here
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Commentary on decarbonising Australia’s electricity network seems to be heading towards net zero nuance, with questionable claims about the costs of batteries and nuclear power in the past week.

One claim relies on an estimate of the cost of a multibillion-dollar nuclear plant that doesn’t exist yet, and another puts a multitrillion-dollar figure against the cost of building batteries.

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A new tree-map suggests there could be around two million unrecorded ancient trees in England.

New research shows Australia ranks as one of the most litigious on climate change, as the number of lawsuits launched globally continues to surge.

The post Australia is becoming a global hotbed for climate change lawsuits appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Court denied Constellation Energy and green groups the opportunity to intervene in the ongoing case against the state's rulemaking to join the 11-state cap-and-trade programme, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.

The varroa mite’s arrival in Australia was only a matter of time. We could benefit from one pest fighting another. Patrick O'Connor, Associate Professor, University of Adelaide Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The project threatens catastrophic harm to one of the world’s most important river systems, and the people who depend on it. Michael Main, Visiting Scholar, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Diversified miner Anglo American has agreed to lead the latest investment round of Sanergy, an organic waste business with operations in Kenya that is eyeing carbon finance to help generate high value agriculture and energy products.

European nations are to overhaul their power markets in a scramble to curb consumer costs and boost energy security while keeping climate goals intact. Renewable-friendly market design that avoids carbon costs is increasingly seen as delivering on all three objectives.