Category Archives: Environment

Foul fumes and sewage spills in Tory stronghold of Michael Gove

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Aggrieved residents tell of issues in constituency of housing secretary planning to rip up pollution laws

While Michael Gove was deciding to weaken pollution laws for new housing developments this week, his own constituency was being plagued by the stench of human waste.

People living on the outskirts of Camberley, the largest town in Gove’s constituency of Surrey Heath, have been complaining for months that foul-smelling fumes from the local sewage works have ruined their summers, causing even the washing they hang out to stink.

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Seven new ‘walking leaf’ insect species discovered

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Researchers used genetic analysis to identify species that cannot be distinguished by appearance alone

Seven new leaf insect species, known as “walking leaves”, have been discovered.

The insects exhibit a sophisticated “twigs and leaf-like” camouflage allowing them to blend into their surroundings without detection, posing a challenge to both predators and researchers.

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Scientists demand end to dingo baiting after research reveals most are genetically pure

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Discovery that most canids in Australia are not hybrids with wild dogs leads researchers to push to change policy and terminology

Scientists are calling on governments to end baiting programs targeting dingoes in national parks, to ditch the “inappropriate and misleading” term “wild dog”, and to proactively engage with Indigenous Australians regarding dingo management.

Dozens of scientists have written to the New South Wales, Victorian and South Australian environment and agriculture ministers to push for changes to dingo policies in light of new scientific research.

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RSPB v the Tories: Six claims, the truth or otherwise

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Do the charity’s accusations that the government has reneged on a range of environmental pledges stand up to scrutiny?

If the RSPB hoped to raise awareness about the perplexing concept of “nutrient neutrality” their post calling Rishi Sunak, Michael Gove and Thérèse Coffey “LIARS!” worked: it has, to date, been viewed by five million people.

“You lie, and you lie, and you lie again,” the conservation charity declared on X, formerly Twitter, listing a number of environmental statements from the trio over recent years.

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Hurricane Idalia: Georgia declares state of emergency as severe flooding and storm surges hit south-eastern US – live

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The eye of Hurricane Idalia made landfall along the coast of the Florida Big Bend near Keaton Beach around 7.45am Eastern time, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm’s maximum sustained winds were near 125 mph.

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Hurricane Idalia batters south-eastern US causing storm surges and power outages

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Idalia makes landfall on Florida’s Gulf coast with torrential rains and 125mph winds and heads up coast to Georgia and the Carolinas

Federal officials warned of “catastrophic and life-threatening” flooding across the south-eastern US on Wednesday after Hurricane Idalia crashed ashore in Florida with 125mph winds, torrential rains and surging seawater. Later in the afternoon the storm made its way up the coast to Georgia and the Carolinas.

The powerful storm, which the National Hurricane Center (NHC) called “an unprecedented event”, made landfall shortly after daybreak with 160mph gusts near Keaton Beach on Florida’s Gulf coast.

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Ørsted shares fall 25% after it reveals troubles in US business

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Almost £7bn wiped off value of world’s largest offshore wind company over possible £1.8bn write-down

Shares in the world’s largest offshore wind company have tumbled by nearly a quarter after it said it may have to write down the value of its US portfolio by nearly £2bn.

Ørsted said it had been hit by a flurry of setbacks in its American business, triggering a rapid sell-off in its shares, listed in Copenhagen.

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EU imports of Russian liquified gas leap by 40% since Ukraine invasion

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Pipeline flows from Russia have fallen to historic lows, but shipments of LNG from all over the world have surged

EU imports of Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) have increased by 40% since the invasion of Ukraine despite efforts to cut down supplies.

Member states have bought more than half of Russia’s LNG on the market in the first seven months of this year, according to analysis of data by Kpler, which tracks marine and tanker traffic.

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Foreign ownership of Australia’s water rights on the rise

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Report reveals that foreign interests hold 11.3% of Australia’s water entitlements – about half of which are in the food and fibre producing Murray-Darling Basin

Foreign interests hold almost 12% of all water entitlements in the Murray-Darling Basin and the level of foreign ownership in water is increasing, a new report shows.

Foreigners own or have a significant share in 4,503GL of Australian water entitlements, which is 11.3% of all the entitlements across the country, the Australian Taxation Office’s report says.

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Australia news live: ‘no downside, only upside’, PM says, confirming Indigenous voice to parliament referendum date as 14 October

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The formal announcement of a voice referendum date triggers a campaign from both the yes and no camps, before Australians eventually head to the polls. Follow today’s live news updates

Report points to Snowy 2.0 project costs blowing out to $12bn

Nine’s Sydney Morning Herald and the Age are this morning reporting that the cost of Snowy Hydro’s 2.0 giant pumped hydro project has doubled in six months to $12bn.

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Tories accused of hypocrisy in Ulez row after call to extend congestion charge

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Ministers have claimed Ulez is cash-raising ploy – but letter reveals Grant Shapps backed a separate charge for same reason

Ministers have been accused of hypocrisy in claiming Sadiq Khan expanded London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to raise revenue after it emerged the Department for Transport urged the mayor to extend the city’s congestion charge for the same reason.

On the first day of Ulez covering every London borough there was renewed bickering between the Labour mayor and the government, with Khan castigating Mark Harper, the transport secretary, for what he called factual mistakes after the pair crossed paths at a TV studio.

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Scrapping housebuilder water pollution rules in England to cost taxpayer £140m

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Under Lords amendment, developers will no longer have to offset nutrient pollution from new homes’ sewage

Taxpayers will pick up the bill for pollution by housebuilders, government officials have admitted, as rules on chemical releases into waterways are scrapped.

If an amendment in the House of Lords tabled on Tuesday passes, developers will no longer have to offset the nutrient pollution caused by sewage from new homes. The government has said it will double Natural England’s wetland funding to £280m in order to show it is trying to meet the requirements of its legally binding Environment Act.

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China continues coal spree despite climate goals

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World’s biggest carbon emitter approving equivalent of two new coal plants a week, analysis shows

China is approving new coal power projects at the equivalent of two plants every week, a rate energy watchdogs say is unsustainable if the country hopes to achieve its energy targets.

The government has pledged to peak emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2060, and in 2021 the president, Xi Jinping, promised to stop building coal powered plants.

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Developed countries urged to ‘step up’ contributions to global nature fund

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Canada and UK only donor countries to contribute so far, leaving scheme short of $40m to formally launch

Developed countries have been urged to contribute to a new nature fund after it was left undercapitalised by $40m (£32m), receiving money from just two donors.

At the Cop15 biodiversity summit in December, where countries agreed this decade’s biodiversity targets that included aims to protect 30% of Earth, governments agreed to the creation of a fund to help developing countries meet the deal’s aims, which included a target to provide $200bn for nature a year by 2030.

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Clean air ‘a right not a privilege’, says London mayor as Ulez is expanded

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Sadiq Khan defends expansion of ultra-low emission zone as government continues to criticise it

Clean air is “a right not a privilege”, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has said as the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) was expanded to include the outer boroughs of London.

People who drive in the zone in a vehicle that does not meet minimum emissions standards are required to pay a £12.50 daily fee or risk a £180 fine, reduced to £90 if paid within 14 days.

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Protesters interrupt ANU event – as it happened

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Victoria bans Nazi salute, symbols and gestures in public

The Victorian government will today introduce legislation to parliament to ban the Nazi salute.

Victorians have zero tolerance for the glorification of hateful ideology. We’re making sure people who use these symbols and gestures to harass, intimidate and incite hate are held accountable for their cowardly behaviour. While we wish making these laws wasn’t necessary, we will always tackle antisemitism, hatred and racism head-on – because all Victorians deserve to feel accepted, safe and included.

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Government to use Ulez expansion to attack Labour over ‘war on motorists’

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Ministers hope anti-green message will impress voters, as London mayor says he is ‘a doer, not a delayer’

The government is to use the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to go on the attack over what it has called “Labour’s war on motorists”, part of a wider battle against green policies it hopes could prove popular with voters.

With the extension of the clean air scheme to every London borough beginning at midnight on Monday, Sadiq Khan, the capital’s Labour mayor, said that while the decision was difficult, the devastating health effects of toxic exhausts trumped other considerations.

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England’s rivers at risk as Michael Gove rips up rules on new housing

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Exclusive: Announcement set to anger environmentalists, but builders say nutrient neutrality laws are exacerbating housing crisis

Michael Gove is planning to rip up water pollution rules that builders have blamed for exacerbating England’s housing crisis but which environmental groups say are essential for protecting the country’s rivers.

The housing secretary, alongside Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, will announce the move on Tuesday, according to several people briefed on the plans, alongside hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of extra funding to mitigate the potential impact on England’s waterways.

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Hundreds more rapid charging points installed in UK to help drivers go electric

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Fast charging stations that allow for longer journeys are being added in regions beyond London

Charging companies are plugging the gaps in the UK’s high-speed charger network, with hundreds added this year outside London in a shift that will help end the “range anxiety” that holds back some would-be electric car buyers.

The capital and the south-east still have far more chargers of all speeds – ranging from slow to rapid and ultra-rapid – than the rest of the country. But the presence of high-speed chargers, generally used for quick recharging on longer journeys, is increasing in other regions as electric car sales surge.

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Home of endangered marsupial hit by state-sanctioned logging in NSW, environmentalists say

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Conservationists say Forestry Corporation of NSW logging operation is ‘knocking to pieces’ a forest home to the greater glider

Conservation groups have accused a New South Wales agency of logging one of the last known remaining strongholds of the greater glider, an endangered marsupial species, and urged the state government to intervene.

Bob Debus, a former Labor environment minister and now chair of the group Wilderness Australia, said there was overwhelming evidence that a Forestry Corporation of NSW logging operation was “smashing into the middle” of forest that was home to a large population of greater gliders.

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