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With some exceptions, the news industry is still not responding to the true scale and danger of global heating

In much of what we see, hear and read, the climate crisis has become inescapable. On Netflix, Don’t Look Up spent weeks as the most-streamed movie ever. Pop star Billie Eilish sings about hills burning in California. At the bookstore, climate fiction has become a genre of its own, while Jeff Goodell’s The Heat Will Kill You First, a harrowing nonfiction account of what life on a warming planet will mean, is entering its second month on the New York Times Best Sellers list.

And where is journalism in all of this? Despite our living through the hottest summer in history, as well as wildfires, tropical storms and crazy-hot oceans, the news media continues to be outdone by the rest of popular culture when it comes to covering the most urgent story of our time.

Mark Hertsgaard, CCNow executive director, author, and environment correspondent for The Nation, and Kyle Pope, editor and publisher of Columbia Journalism Review, are founders of Covering Climate Now

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Guardian investigation finds 98% of Europeans breathing highly damaging polluted air linked to 400,000 deaths a year

• Europe’s pollution divide: see how your area compares

Europe is facing a “severe public health crisis”, with almost everyone across the continent living in areas with dangerous levels of air pollution, an investigation by the Guardian has found.

Analysis of data gathered using cutting-edge methodology – including detailed satellite images and measurements from more than 1,400 ground monitoring stations – reveals a dire picture of dirty air, with 98% of people living in areas with highly damaging fine particulate pollution that exceed World Health Organization guidelines. Almost two-thirds live in areas where air quality is more than double the WHO’s guidelines.

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Rishi Sunak accused of ‘disgusting betrayal of vulnerable people’ over net zero U-turn as he misses UN climate ambition summit

The UK was notable by its absence on Wednesday from a key statement pledging ambitious action on the climate crisis, from a group of countries of which it is normally a leading member.

The “high ambition coalition” of countries, which aims to push the world to swifter cuts on greenhouse gas emissions, issued a call for “faster stronger” action on the climate, to cause emissions to peak by 2025, and a plan to put the world on course to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris agreement.

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Kiwi company Carbonscape raises $18m to help commercialise its wood-to-graphite technology using EU and US forestry waste.

The post Could wood chips fill the battery demand hole? Biographite start-up hopes to find out appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The 42 known species of the parasitic plant Rafflesia, known as the corpse flower, are endangered due to destruction of forest habitats

Parasitic, elusive and emitting an overwhelming odour of putrefying flesh, Rafflesia – often called the corpse flower – has intrigued botanists for centuries. Now, scientists are warning that it is at risk of extinction and calling for action to save it.

The blooms of the Rafflesia have become famous for their odour of decaying meat, produced to attract flesh-eating flies. But the genus – which includes the largest flowers in the world, at more than a metre across – is at risk due to the destruction of forest habitats in south-east Asia. There are 42 species of Rafflesia, and researchers warn that all of them are under threat, with 25 classified as critically endangered and 15 as endangered.

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Major milestone for Australia's energy transition as huge amounts of rooftop solar help set a new high for the instantaneous share of renewables on the grid.

The post Renewables sail past 70 pct on Australia’s main grid, send coal to fresh lows appeared first on RenewEconomy.

California start-up will trial UNSW technology aimed at simplifying how the performance of perovskite solar cells is tested on the production line.

The post Perovskite solar glass start-up eyes UNSW cell testing technology appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Progress for plans to build more than 4GW of wind, solar and battery storage projects in Queensland coal country, as wind farm wins state approval.

The post Massive wind, solar and battery project edges ahead in Central Queensland appeared first on RenewEconomy.

ASX-listed miner looks to invest some of its windfall coal profits into renewables, including a potential giga-scale solar, wind and pumped hydro project in Queensland.

The post New Hope for renewables? Coal miner floats huge solar, wind and pumped hydro plan appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Newcomers in Australia found and took rich pastures made by Aboriginal fire. Without fire, pastures would revert to forest or scrub. Bill Gammage, Emeritus Professor, Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Rooftop and distributed solar set remarkable new record for the world's biggest standalone grid after peaking at nearly 2GW and a 74 pct share of output.

The post Rooftop solar takes record 74 pct share of generation in world’s biggest standalone grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Majority of offset projects that have sold the most carbon credits are ‘likely junk’, according to analysis by Corporate Accountability and the Guardian

The vast majority of the environmental projects most frequently used to offset greenhouse gas emissions appear to have fundamental failings suggesting they cannot be relied upon to cut planet-heating emissions, according to a new analysis.

The global, multibillion-dollar voluntary carbon trading industry has been embraced by governments, organisations and corporations including oil and gas companies, airlines, fast-food brands, fashion houses, tech firms, art galleries and universities as a way of claiming to reduce their greenhouse gas footprint.

A total of 39 of the top 50 emission offset projects, or 78% of them, were categorised as likely junk or worthless due to one or more fundamental failing that undermines its promised emission cuts.

Eight others (16%) look problematic, with evidence suggesting they may have at least one fundamental failing and are potentially junk, according to the classification system applied.

The efficacy of the remaining three projects (6%) could not be determined definitively as there was insufficient public, independent information to adequately assess the quality of the credits and/or accuracy of their claimed climate benefits.

Overall, $1.16bn (£937m) of carbon credits have been traded so far from the projects classified by the investigation as likely junk or worthless; a further $400m of credits bought and sold were potentially junk.

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The Prince of Wales joins the global stage in New York as the Earthshot Prize finalists are revealed.

Plans set to be announced on Friday could include delaying ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars

Rishi Sunak is planning to row back on some of the government’s net zero policies that impose a direct cost on consumers as the Conservatives attempt to create a dividing line with Labour before the next election.

The Guardian understands that the move, expected to be announced in a major speech this Friday, could include delaying a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and watering down the phasing out of gas boilers.

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Plans could include delaying a ban on sales of new petrol cars and the phasing out of gas boilers.

An unattended pastry truck was irresistible to a bear mom and her cub, who gorged on doughnuts before being chased away

Two bears on an Alaska military base raided a Krispy Kreme doughnut van that was stopped outside a convenience store during its delivery route.

The driver usually left his doors open when he stopped at the store but this time a sow and one of her cubs that loitered nearby sauntered inside, where they stayed for probably 20 minutes on Tuesday morning, said Shelly Deano, the store manager for Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson JMM Express. The bears chomped on doughnut holes and other pastries, ignoring the banging on the side of the van that was intended to shoo them away, Deano said.

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Prof Lesley Hughes and others says there is ‘cognitive dissonance’ between Labor’s stated commitment to the climate crisis and its policies

The Australian government is “missing half the equation” in acting on the climate crisis by backing a shift to renewable energy but having no plan to get out of fossil fuels, according to an author of a new scientific review.

Prof Lesley Hughes is a leading climate change scientist and member of the independent Climate Council and government advisory body the Climate Change Authority. Hughes said there is a “cognitive dissonance” between Labor’s stated commitment to addressing the problem and the pace at which it is moving.

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These beady-eyed, bulletproof birds are an adaptive species – and their lift and lilt is like a flight path that takes me safely home

• The Australian bird of the year poll launches on 25 September 2023
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One year I built myself a little nest in a green tent, surrounded by moonahs and gumtrees. Inside, I had an old embroidered tablecloth, its coloured threads stitched in swirls. I had crocheted rugs, a bean bag, a small seat and a floor covering.

From the tent I felt and heard the beauty in many small things: the way the light came through the fabric walls; the birds, so close to me, feeding in the wet soil; the magpies singing all morning from high up in the dry branches of the gumtree; tiny wrens of yellow and grey, a mass of them flitting in the tea tree; wattlebirds clacking; and the lift and lilt of the currawongs carolling.

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Google DeepMind has used its technology to identify parts of human DNA that might cause diseases.

Federal Government urged to facet-track net zero target to 2035 to try and avoid the worst impacts of warming on an already vulnerable Australia.

The post “We should lead:” Australia urged to fast track net zero to 2035, as El Niño declared appeared first on RenewEconomy.