Category Archives: Environment

China accused of scores of abuses linked to ‘green mineral’ mining

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Watchdog identifies 102 violations over past two years as country extracts ‘transition minerals’ for green-energy technology

A new report into China’s dominance in the green-energy market has identified more than a hundred allegations of environmental and human rights violations linked to its overseas transition mineral investments over the past two years.

China dominates the processing and refining of lithium, cobalt, copper, manganese, nickel, zinc, chromium, aluminium and rare-earth elements – and the manufacturing of technologies like solar panels, wind turbines and batteries for electric vehicles (EV), which require so-called transition minerals.

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Time to worry about car tyre pollution, Chris Whitty tells MPs

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Chief medical officer says move to electric cars can reduce impact of exhausts, but may bring different problem to the fore

Ministers need to start looking seriously at the health risks from vehicle tyre wear as the impact of pollutants from car exhausts gradually reduces, Sir Chris Whitty has told MPs.

Giving evidence to the environmental audit committee, England’s chief medical officer said improvements in emissions from petrol and diesel vehicles, and a shift towards electric cars, were reducing the extent of dangerous pollutants such as nitrogen oxides.

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China floods: Xi Jinping urges action as rains kill 15 and displace thousands

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Scientists have warned the country to expect ‘multiple natural disasters’ this month including typhoons and high temperatures

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has called for stronger efforts to protect lives and property from severe flooding, as the country’s scientists warned July will bring more misery from extreme weather.

Fifteen people died and four were missing after torrential rain lashed the metropolis of Chongqing and swathes of southwestern China, local officials and state media said on Wednesday.

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Australia news live: Burney condemns ‘Trump-style’ voice politics; ‘well publicised’ matters referred to federal corruption watchdog

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Follow the day’s news live

Prime minister Anthony Albanese says he is “one of the millions of Australians” who welcomed the decision from the Reserve Bank yesterday, on Nine’s Today program this morning.

People are doing it tough out there … I am determined to work each and every day to provide whatever assistance the government can do. Whether that be the direct assistance in cheaper childcare, the tripling [of] the Medibank bulk billing incentive so people can see their doctor for free, or fee-free TAFE and all those measures to take pressure off cost-of-living.

As well, of course, managing the economy and producing a surplus in excess of $2.4bn to put that downward pressure on inflation.

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Ocean temperatures around Australia 0.5C above June average as UN declares an El Niño

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World Meteorological Organization says weather pattern is in place, which for Australia increases risk of drought, heatwaves, bushfires and coral bleaching

Ocean temperatures around Australia last month were 0.5C above average, as the UN’s weather agency declared the world was now in an El Niño.

El Niño events influence weather extremes around the globe and for Australia increase the risk of drought, heatwaves, bushfires and coral bleaching.

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Court hears councils’ legal challenge over London Ulez expansion

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Five Tory-led councils seeking to block mayor’s plans to extend ultra-low emission zone to whole of capital

A legal challenge to plans to expand London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to the whole of the capital will be heard in the high court on Tuesday as five Conservative-led councils seek to block the proposals.

The Ulez is due to expand at the end of August from the boundary of the north and south circular roads to throughout Greater London, requiring drivers of the most polluting vehicles to pay a fee when using them in the area.

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High levels of toxic chemicals in pets living near US manufacturing plant

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Researchers alarmed by results of study of dogs and horses living close to Chemours factory in North Carolina

Pets living near a PFAS manufacturing plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina have concerning levels of the toxic chemicals in their blood, and show evidence of health effects linked to exposure, new research finds.

PFAS were present in all 32 dog and 31 horse blood samples checked, and the findings provide evidence that human and animal exposures to the chemicals impacts their bodies, said Scott Belcher, a North Carolina State University researcher and co-author.

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Australia resists Japan’s lobbying for NT gas export project to be given special treatment

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Australian government stands by safeguard mechanism’s design and indicates it will not change in response to lobbying

The Albanese government is resisting a push by Japan for a major new Northern Territory gas export development to be given special treatment under Australia’s revamped emissions reduction policy.

The Kishida government has lobbied the Albanese government over its concerns about Australia’s safeguard mechanism, a climate policy that requires major industrial polluters to either cut greenhouse gas emissions intensity – how much they emit per unit of production – or pay for carbon offsets.

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Millions swelter under extreme heat as climate crisis tightens grip on US – live

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Heat dome of high pressure hovers over Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma as thousands remain without power in Chicago with heavy rains knocking down trees and power lines

The heating of the earth’s atmosphere and oceans by the burning of fossil fuels made the current extreme heatwave across the us at least five times more likely, according to a recent analysis by Climate Central, a climate science non-profit.

The rolling heatwave marks the latest in a series of recent extreme “heat dome” events that have scorched various parts of the world.

If you have this sort of high-pressure system sitting stationary over a region, you can have these really impressive heatwaves.

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Taps run dry on Thai island as tourism boom worsens water shortage

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Public urged to use water sparingly on Koh Samui, as authorities say they don’t want it to become ‘a disaster zone’

Authorities on Koh Samui are working to tackle a water shortage that has left taps running dry often for months, saying they do not want the Thai island to become a “disaster zone”.

A lack of rain and a resurgence in tourism has put intense pressure on supplies, prompting Sutham Samthong, a deputy mayor of Koh Samui, to urge the public to use supplies sparingly.

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Will El Niño on top of global heating create the perfect climate storm?

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Rising temperatures in north Atlantic and drop in Antarctic sea ice prompt fears of widespread damage from extreme weather

“Very unusual”, “worrying”, “terrifying”, and “bonkers”; the reactions of veteran scientists to the sharp increase in north Atlantic surface temperatures over the past three months raises the question of whether the world’s climate has entered a more erratic and dangerous phase with the onset of an El Niño event on top of human-made global heating.

Since April, the warming appears to have entered a new trajectory. Meanwhile the area of global sea ice has dropped by more than 1 million sq km below the previous low.

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EPA begins to clean up black globs of asphalt from Yellowstone River train derailment

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Environmental agency officials said workers are cooling the gooey material with river water and putting it into garbage bags for recycling

Globs of asphalt binder that spilled into Montana’s Yellowstone River during a bridge collapse and train derailment could be seen on islands and riverbanks downstream from Yellowstone National Park a week after the spill occurred, witnesses report.

Officials with the Environmental Protection Agency said cleanup efforts began on Sunday, with workers cooling the gooey material with river water, rolling it up and putting the globs into garbage bags. It will probably be recycled, said Paul Peronard with the EPA.

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Humpback whale buried in NSW dunes after stranding on Seven Mile beach

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Research suggests buried carcass unlikely to attract sharks so long as it is placed above water table and high tide mark

A 30-tonne humpback whale has been buried in the dunes behind where it beached and died on Seven Mile beach on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

The adult whale became stranded early on Saturday morning and, despite attempts by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service to save it, died about 7pm.

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Greens refer PwC to Nacc; yes campaign holds voice events across the country – as it happened

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Myroshnychenko says Ukraine war can’t get any worse

On the mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his wagner mercenary group, Myroshnychenko says he is reluctant to get into speculation about “palace intrigue” in Russia.

We haven’t seen any major impact in the battlefield as the mutiny was unfolding, Russians sent on shelling Ukrainian cities sending missiles, heavy battlefields on the frontlines. Definitely the reputation of Vladimir Putin was dented. His leadership was challenged. And in a country like Russia is really extraordinary to see it happening. Putin is running the country as a thug so pretty much a gangster country and all these thugs and somebody revolts all of a sudden, this is already kind of bizarre.

I don’t think anything can be worse, right? Can it get any worse? Look, Russians have deployed 150,000 people in Ukraine – occupied 20% of the land. They just shell us on a continuous basis, killing and raping and murdering people. Can it get any worse? I don’t think so.

I think any support for Ukraine will be very good investment into the restoration of the rules-base international system.

Something which is so important for every Pacific nation because if you can allow a bigger power to curse a smaller power – and you don’t fight back and you let that happen, that sends a wrong signal especially to your neighbours, to countries that depend so much on your support to be sovereign and to make their own decisions and not to be influence bid bigger powers.

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UK airports say they can reach net zero and still expand. Is it just pie in the sky?

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Despite the Climate Change Committee’s warnings to stop growing capacity, Gatwick is gearing up for another try at a second runway

So what bit of “no new airport capacity” did airports not understand? The Climate Change Committee (CCC) spelled it out again on Wednesday: flying accounted for 7% of UK carbon emissions last year, the trend is upwards, and more airport capacity is “incompatible” with national net zero targets.

Of course, they’ve said it before: but as the committee noted in its 2023 progress report, airports have since have been racing to expand. This time, hammering it home, the CCC says that no expansion at all should go ahead until the government sorts out a proper way to manage it.

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Exclusive: UK water giants recruit top staff from regulator Ofwat

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Demands for an end to the ‘revolving door’ as ex-Ofwat directors are hired by key firms

Two-thirds of England’s biggest water companies employ key executives who had previously worked at the watchdog tasked with regulating them, the Observer can reveal.

Cathryn Ross, the new interim joint chief executive of Thames Water and a former head of watchdog Ofwat, is one of several ex-employees working for water companies in senior roles such as strategy, regulation and infrastructure.

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Watchdog rejects Johnson’s suggestion Sue Gray’s Labour job meant she was not impartial investigating Partygate– UK politics live

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Advisory committee on business appointments says it has seen ‘no evidence’ that Gray’s decision-making was affected despite ex-PM’s claim

NHS England has just published its 150-page long-term workforce plan. It’s here.

The government is keen to present it as an NHS plan, not a government plan, and at the moment you cannot find it prominently on the No 10 or Department of Health and Social Care websites.

This is our longer-term, strategic approach to workforce planning. In a nutshell we will:

1. Train more staff

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‘It’s become unbearable’: Texas workers toil through extreme heatwave

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Many employees in Texas have no heat protections and work in intense and prolonged sun exposure, which causes heat illness

Last week as the heat dome scorched Texas, Gloria Machuca arrived for work at a McDonald’s in Houston to find the air conditioning wasn’t working. The temperature inside the restaurant was similar to the temperature outside – at least 90F. It was 7.30am..

Temperatures would rise another 10 degrees that day but already, Machuca said, the intense heat was making her eyes burn. She and five of her co-workers walked out on their jobs.

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Labor’s nature repair market must ban offsets and will need initial funding injection, scientists say

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Members of threatened species scientific committee say allowing environmental offsets would undermine the scheme

A “nature repair market” proposed by Labor will not succeed unless backed by substantial initial public funding and a ban on environmental offsets in the scheme, government scientific advisers have warned.

The Senate environment legislation committee heard a range of critical evidence about the bill on Friday, prompting the government to concede it will indefinitely postpone its passage in parliament.

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Low emission zones are improving health, studies show

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Review of research finds particularly clear evidence that LEZs in cities reduce heart and circulatory problems

An increasing number of research studies are showing that low emission zones (LEZs) improve health.

More than 320 zones are operating across the UK, Europe and notably in Tokyo, Japan. These reduce air pollution across an area by curbing the number of highly polluting vehicles, normally older diesels. Schemes, including London’s ultra-low emission zone, can improve air quality. This should lead to improved health, but does this actually happen?

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