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Underreporting by water companies and failure to hold them to account have resulted in ecological damage, analysis shows

Water companies are being allowed to unlawfully discharge raw sewage into rivers at a scale at least 10 times greater than Environment Agency prosecutions indicate, according to analysis to be presented to the government.

The number of prosecutions of English water companies for unlawful spills from sewage treatment plants in 10 years are just a tiny fraction of the scale of potentially illegal discharges, the research presented to the environment minister, Rebecca Pow, this week will suggest.

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While the G7 meeting was unremarkable, there are growing signs of action on coal phaseout - particularly among Australia's biggest coal customers.

The post G7 fails on solid coal message but worries are building for Morrison appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A marine biologist says it’s the first time he’s ever seen a long-snouted seahorse in the wild.

G7 leaders agreed multiple efforts to raise climate ambition but stopped short of many firm commitments at the close of their three-day summit in the UK on Sunday, disappointing environmental campaigners.

Keeping global warming under 1.5℃ is still achievable with rapid deployment of renewables. A new report found solar and wind can supply the world's energy demand more than 50 times over. Sven Teske, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney Sarah Niklas, Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Switzerland defeated by a narrow margin the country’s CO2 Act in a referendum on Sunday, rejecting more ambitious emissions reduction measures under an updated climate plan.

G7 leaders make new pledges to combat climate change, but campaigners say they lack detail.

Plastic bags, straws and cutlery, along with polystyrene, will be banned as part of a five-year $365m plan

Lightweight plastic bags, disposable plastic straws and cutlery, plastic cotton buds and microbeads will be banned in New South Wales from next year, as part of a state government push to reduce plastic litter by 30% by 2025.

Reducing plastic waste is part of a wider $356m five-year plan from the NSW government that will also see a new “green” bin for food and organic waste rolled out to homes across the state by 2030 – something the state’s environment minister Matt Kean says will help reduce emissions in landfill and allow greater extraction of biogas from waste.

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A moratorium on new thermal coal mining capacity is needed to avoid chaotic employment impacts.

The post NSW accepts thermal coal is set for major decline, now it needs to act appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Supporters say pesticides damage the environment, but farmers warn they could lose their livelihoods.

Sir David warns world leaders that humans may be "on the verge of destabilising the entire planet".

The mystery auction winner will be part of the the first human flight by space company Blue Origin.

Boris Johnson announces £500m for ‘blue planet fund’, but pledge was contained in 2019 Conservative manifesto

Boris Johnson has set out his intention to “build back better for the world”, to protect the natural environment and wildlife, and tackle the climate crisis, at the G7 summit in Cornwall. But he committed no new funds to the initiative, and other G7 leaders showed little sign of coming forward with the cash commitments that campaigners said were needed to help developing countries cope with the climate emergency.

Announcing £500m to be spent on a “blue planet fund”, for the protection of the oceans and coastal areas in poor countries, he said: “As democratic nations, we have a responsibility to help developing countries reap the benefits of clean growth through a fair and transparent system. The G7 has an unprecedented opportunity to drive a global green industrial revolution, with the potential to transform the way we live.

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Nasa has assembled the key elements of its powerful SLS rocket.

Photographer Kathryn Martin started working with wildflowers when she lived in London. Inspired by the copperplate engravings in 18th-century botanist William Curtis’s eight-volume Flora Londinensis, she digitally photographs native wildflowers against graph paper. The idea developed when she moved to the South Downs and collected flowers on her daily walks as a way to connect with the landscape. The resultant exhibition – called Come, See Real Flowers of this Painful World, after a haiku by Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō – is on show at London design shop Egg. “Wildflower habitats are in sharp decline, but are a vital source of food and shelter for countless species,” Martin says. “I want my photographs to show how beautiful these plants are, to encourage people to notice them, and perhaps even sow their own patch.”

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‘Premature austerity will threaten growth’ as world recovers from Covid-19, says climate economist

Wealthy nations must ignore calls to rein in public spending as the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic gathers pace, or risk a fresh crisis, the climate economist Nicholas Stern has warned.

Leaders of the G7 industrialised countries are meeting in Cornwall this weekend, to discuss vaccines, the recovery from the pandemic, and the climate crisis.

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‘Queen of the Deep’ says it is not too late to reverse human-made damage to oceans and preserve biodiversity

The world has the opportunity in the next 10 years to restore our oceans to health after decades of steep decline – but to achieve that, people must wake up to the problem, join in efforts to protect marine areas and stop eating tuna, according to the oceanographer and deep sea explorer Sylvia Earle.

“We are at the most exciting time maybe ever to be a human, because we’re armed with knowledge,” said Earle, also known as the Queen of the Deep and “her Deepness”. Earle has also set numerous records for deep sea diving, and was the first woman to serve as chief scientist of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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Retired 79-year-old John Stimpson started making the boxes as a hobby and now does it full-time.

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Speculators’ California Carbon Allowance (CCA) positions sailed higher this week, with financial firms taking additional length on future vintage allowances, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.