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You’re more likely to die taking a selfie than in a shark attack: as oceans warm, we need to get used to close encounters

Silly season is upon us and sharks are dominating the headlines again. As a marine conservationist, if I see another headline along the lines of “Menacing man-eating shark lurking off the coast of Britain” accompanied by a photo of a basking shark – a species that exclusively consumes plankton – I think I might scream.

It seems all a shark needs to do these days is push its dorsal fin above the ocean waves and panic immediately ensues. Just this week, that’s exactly what happened off the French coast. A blue shark – a species typically found in the open ocean with an extremely low record of unprovoked attacks on humans – was spotted close to the shoreline. Instant drama ensued, with lifeguards closing the beach and swimmers watching on from the water’s edge. What is it about sharks that makes us lose our minds?

Hannah Rudd is the author of Britain’s Living Seas: Our Coastal Wildlife and How We Save It, a marine scientist at Shark Hub UK, and policy and advocacy manager at the Angling Trust

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Pro-car campaigns fail to cut through in Britain. Labour must dare to stand firm in defence of green policies

Once so clogged with noxious fumes that it earned the nickname the Smoke, London has been battling pollution for more than a century. From the Great Stink to the Great Smog, successive public health emergencies have for decades prompted ambitious anti-pollution measures, gradually transforming the capital for the better.

The Victoria Embankment containing Joseph Bazalgette’s pioneering sewer system, the magnificent Abbey Mills pumping station and the groundbreaking Clean Air Act 1956 stand among other initiatives as testaments to the unflinching conviction of past leaders in tackling London’s pollution problems head-on.

Phineas Harper is chief executive of the charity Open City

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The best of this week’s wildlife photographs, including deer in Greece, busy ants and the return of the kākāpō

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The Australian state of Victoria has announced it will ban gas connections in new homes and public buildings from next year as it races to meet its ambitious 2035 and 2045 emission reduction targets, while the spread between generic and human-induced regeneration (HIR) Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) widens.

The Malaysian government has released the first part of its Energy Transition Roadmap, identifying 10 flagship projects that it says will help generate major investment opportunities to help the country achieve its climate goals.

Some baby sharks eat their unborn siblings in utero, while others spend 100 years in childhood. Sink your teeth into the weird world of these juvenile wonders of the deep. Jaelen Nicole Myers, PhD Candidate, James Cook University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

One of the world's leading solar inverter makers has responded to Coalition claims that China made inverters pose a serious security risk to Australia's energy grid.

The post “We operate independently:” China inverter giant answers Coalition PV scare campaign appeared first on RenewEconomy.

July was the planet’s hottest month ever recorded – and may have been the hottest month in 120,000 years.

The post “It is terrifying:” July confirmed as planet’s hottest month on record appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Shell and Eku Energy kick off early works at the Rangebank big battery to be built on the outskirts of Melbourne.

The post Shell and Macquarie’s Eku begin early works on big battery in Melbourne appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A man in the US has filmed three humpback whales breaching in almost perfect synchronisation off the coast of Massachusetts.

AEMO to model "extremely rapid" switch to renewables, but dials down green hydrogen exports. It also releases new "conceptual" transmission map, even as costs rise.

The post AEMO to model “extremely rapid” green energy switch, even as transmission costs soar appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Anna Skarbek from Cimateworks on why renewables will play central role in getting big industry to net zero. First, the grid. Plus: Big battery boom.

The post Energy Insiders Podcast: The path to net zero for industry appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Planning permits for new homes will only connect to all-electric networks in 2024, marking a major about face for the state with the highest residential gas use in Australia.

The post Fossil gas ban: Victoria calls time on gas connections for new homes appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Thousands of dead and sick seabirds are being washed up along the UK's coastline as avian flu spreads.

Neoen says battery earnings are volatile, but the contract locked in for its first four-hour battery will help propel overall earning to more than $1.1 billion in 2025.

The post Huge four-hour battery to propel Neoen towards $1.1 billion annual profit appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Weather forecasters wrongly accused of using misleading data to "drive fear".

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

California will factor in the viability of nascent low-carbon technology roll out and importance having a permit bank as it weighs steeper cups to cap-and-trade allowance budgets over the remainder of the decade, a senior official with state regulator ARB said Thursday.

Using North American automatic programme adjustments in the design of New York’s cap-and-invest scheme, rather than the supply-responsive approaches that their European counterparts use, would better serve to ensure programme stability, experts said Thursday.

French renewable energy developer Neoen says it has been paid significant damages for delays in the country's biggest solar project.

The post Neoen pockets significant damages for delays to Australia’s biggest solar project appeared first on RenewEconomy.