Category Archives: Environment

End of the road for Ford Fiesta: UK’s all-time bestselling car halts production

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Owners mourn ‘modern-day classic’ as last factory in Germany switches to new electric models

“I don’t know what I’d go for if I didn’t have the Fiesta,” said Karen Fox, a civil servant in Edinburgh. She is due to pick up her fourth version of the model on Saturday, but it is likely to be her last: Ford on Wednesday confirmed it will end production of the UK’s all-time bestselling car next June.

The model’s end will become only the latest symbol of the shift from internal combustion engines to batteries: the factory in Cologne, Germany, where the last Fiestas are being made will switch to producing two new electric models.

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Rishi Sunak will keep ban on fracking in UK, No 10 confirms

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PM said he stood by Tories’ 2019 manifesto policy when asked in Commons, in rebuff to Liz Truss

Fracking will in effect remain banned under Rishi Sunak’s government, his spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday, saying the new prime minister was committed to the policy in the 2019 manifesto.

The confirmation came after the prime minister told the Commons that he “stands by” the manifesto, which put a moratorium on shale gas extraction.

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EU plans tighter controls on pollution as doctors call for urgent action

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Stricter standards will tackle fine particulates and PFAS and require polluters to pay for cleanups

The EU executive has proposed tighter controls on pollutants and chemicals that harm air quality and foul lakes, rivers and seas, but health campaigners said the plans lacked urgency.

As part of a major reform of the EU’s anti-pollution legislation, the European Commission said it planned to tighten air quality standards, including on one of the most dangerous pollutants, fine particulate matter. Water standards are also going to be stricter, with 25 substances added to a control list, such as the category of PFAS (also known as “forever chemicals”), the substance Bisphenol A, pesticides including glyphosate, and antibiotics.

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Fish feed additive banned in EU found in Tasmanian salmon at concerning levels, researchers say

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Experts call for tighter regulations as tests find ethoxyquin exceeds maximum limits in Tassal and Petuna salmon

A fish feed additive banned in the European Union out of concerns for health impacts in animals and humans has been found in Tasmanian salmon at concerning levels, say experts who are calling for tighter regulations.

Dr Christian Narkowicz, an organic chemist, last year commissioned the National Measurement Institute to test salmon for residues of ethoxyquin.

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Federal budget: Jim Chalmers flags intervention in energy market as prices surge

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ACCC to review gas industry as Labor’s budget forecasts point to a 56% rise in power prices over the next two years

The Albanese government has asked the competition watchdog to review the code of conduct covering the gas industry and recommend options to toughen the current regime in the hope of delivering energy price relief to households and businesses.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission confirmed it had new riding instructions from the government after the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, on Wednesday flagged fresh government intervention in the energy market.

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Deadliest summer for heat-related deaths in Arizona’s biggest county

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Maricopa county’s 359 heat-associated fatalities this year outpace 339 deaths confirmed in 2021, figures show

This summer was the deadliest on record for heat-related deathsin Arizona’s largest county, with public health statistics this week confirming 359 such deaths just days before the end of the six-month heat season.

The jump comes amid a growing homelessness crisis in the area and raises questions about how to better protect vulnerable people in the desert south-west as temperatures soar.

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Narrabri evacuated as flood waters enter homes in saturated northern NSW

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Hydrologist says flood levels similar to last year but this time the water has nowhere to go, prolonging the disaster

About 1,500 residents in Narrabri, in the north-west slopes of New South Wales, have been told to evacuate as the flooding crisis continues across swathes of eastern Australia.

There were 121 current emergency warnings in place across NSW on Tuesday, including 22 directing people to evacuate or move to higher ground, as swollen rivers threatened homes.

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Australian budget forecasts heavy hit to economy due to floods and disasters

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Estimates growth will lose about quarter of a percentage point during the current quarter, or about $5bn in economic activity, because of flooding

The increasing frequency of weather disasters will take its toll on the economy in the near term and force the government to fork out hundreds of millions of dollars to build resilience for more to come.

As Australia endures its third La Niña event in as many years, the budget estimates growth will lose about quarter of a percentage point during the current quarter, or about $5bn in economic activity, because of the flooding across the country’s south-east.

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Labor hints at more controls on energy sector – as it happened

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We will be breaking into the political coverage today to keep you updated on the floods as well:

Overnight, residents of the north west NSW town of Narrabri have been ordered to evacuate due to flooding, with the SES issuing the warnings for the town’s industrial and residential areas.

The rivers are very, very full and, of course, our dams are mostly at full capacity at present. So, even the smallest rainfall can cause an elevated risk of flash flooding and riverine flooding. We will see rivers decline, but the risk is real.

We are bracing for another wet weather system into the state on the weekend.

He is a friend of Australia as the UK is a friend of Australia. We congratulate him on his elevation to the Prime Ministership. The UK, like Australia, has no shortage of challenges and no shortage of economic challenges.

So, we wish Rishi Sunak well. Some of us had the opportunity to work with him briefly when we first came to government. I was able to exchange messages with him when he was unsuccessful in the last leadership ballot. I think it says something about his commitment and his persistence, the way that he conducted himself in the interim. I don’t think it’s insignificant that a country like the United Kingdom has its first Prime Minister of colour.

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Russia and China must ‘get on side with conservation’, US tells Antarctic commission meeting in Hobart

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US assistant secretary of state says two countries have stopped creation of new protected areas in Antarctica ‘for too long’

The US has urged China and Russia to “get on side with conservation” and stop blocking nearly 4m sq km in new marine protected areas around Antarctica.

Speaking at a major international meeting on Antarctic conservation in Hobart, the US assistant secretary of state, Monica Medina, said the two countries had prevented the creation of three new protected areas in Antarctic waters “for too long” and it was time to “shake up the system”.

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Egypt shuts down event spaces on first Monday of Cop27 in blow to NGOs

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Groups say cancellations could restrict debate as host country tightens security for opening days

Civil society organisations and governments may have to cancel events at the UN climate summit in November as the Egyptian hosts have tightened security for the opening days.

Cop27 will open on Sunday 6 November in Sharm el-Sheikh, and on the Monday and Tuesday world leaders are due to descend on the conference centre for talks to direct their negotiating teams.

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Only 5% of plastic waste generated by US last year was recycled, report says

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Americans discarded 51m tons of plastic in 2021 – of which almost 95% ended up in landfills, oceans or scattered in the atmosphere

Only 5% of the mountains of plastic waste generated by US households last year was recycled, according to new research by Greenpeace.

Americans discarded 51m tons of wrappers, bottles and bags in 2021 – about 309lb of plastic per person – of which almost 95% ended up in landfills, oceans or scattered in the atmosphere in tiny toxic particles.

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Big opportunity, little interest: New Zealand struggles to fill dream job protecting wildlife

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The Department of Conservation is looking for a biodiversity supervisor on the wild, remote coast of the South Island, a Unesco world heritage site

A NZ$90,000 salary, a helicopter commute, and a Unesco world heritage site as your playground. It sounds like a dream job. But despite the considerable perks, New Zealand’s Department of Conservation has been struggling to attract candidates to be their new biodiversity supervisor in Haast on the wild, remote coast of the South Island. Now, the search is going global.

The job is based in Te Wāhipounamu – an area encompassing 26,000 square kilometres of mountain ranges, isolated beaches and native forests, classed as a Unesco World Heritage Area in 1990. Its mountain ranges formed the backdrop for the White Mountains/Ered Nimrais in Peter Jackson’s adaption of the Lord of the Rings.

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Climate activists throw mashed potatoes at Monet work in Germany

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Two protesters pelt painting with potatoes and glue their hands to wall at Museum Barberini in Potsdam

Claude Monet has become the latest artist to be the focus of food-related climate protests, after members of a German environmental group threw mashed potatoes over one of his paintings in a Potsdam museum on Sunday.

Nine days after Just Stop Oil emptied tomato soup over Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London, two activists from Letzte Generation (Last Generation) entered the Museum Barberini and doused Monet’s Les Meules (Haystacks) with potato before glueing their hands to the wall.

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SES urges residents of several NSW areas to evacuate – as it happened

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Flood waters in Victorian border towns reach record levels as residents of several NSW towns are urged to evacuate. This blog is now closed

Taylor: potential inflation decrease ‘a good thing’

Taylor is now discussing inflation and says the Coalition believes inflation will be down to 2.5% in the next financial year according to Labor’s forecasts.

I’ve got to say many of the investments I’ve seen out in regional New South Wales have added to productivity, very significant impact.

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Australia and Japan sign new security deal; flood waters peaking in northern Victoria – as it happened

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Volunteers place 195,000 sandbags in and around Echuca, which could reach devastating 1993 flood levels. This blog is now closed

Australian ultrarunner on pace to break daily marathon world record

Did you know that you have the genes to be a long distance runner?

If you go back to our early genetics, basically, everyone has the genes to be a distance runner. Back 50,000 years ago, our survival depended on us being able to walk and jog long distances to be able to get food, and catch animals.

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Lismore residents warned of major flooding as heavy rain falls along the east coast

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Water is spilling over a levee in the Murray River border town of Echuca-Moama, as residents anxiously wait to see if it will hold back flood’s peak

Lismore residents have been warned to brace for another round of flooding as heavy rain falls along the east coast, and the Murray River town of Echuca-Moama anxiously waits to see if its levees will hold back the forecast peak on Sunday.

The Murray River at the Echuca Wharf gauge was expected to exceed the 1993 flood levels of 94.77 metres AHD on Saturday afternoon, and reach a peak of 95m on Sunday or Monday.

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Las Vegas teen dies from brain-eating amoeba as experts warn against panic

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Investigators believe teen was exposed in warm waters at Lake Mead but epidemiologist says disease is ‘very, very rare’

Experts have said that the death of a teenager in the Las Vegas area from a rare brain-eating amoeba should prompt caution, not panic, among people at freshwater lakes, rivers and springs.

“It gets people’s attention because of the name,” Brian Labus, a former public health epidemiologist, said on Friday of the naturally occurring organism officially called Naegleria fowleri but almost always dubbed the brain-eating amoeba. “But it is a very, very rare disease.”

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France becomes latest country to leave controversial energy charter treaty

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Quitting the ECT, which protects fossil fuel investors from policy changes that might threaten their profits, was ‘coherent’ with Paris climate deal, Macron said

France has become the latest country to pull out of the controversial energy charter treaty (ECT), which protects fossil fuel investors from policy changes that might threaten their profits.

Speaking after an EU summit in Brussels on Friday, French president, Emmanuel Macron, said: “France has decided to withdraw from the energy charter treaty.” Quitting the ECT was “coherent” with the Paris climate deal, he added.

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Weather tracker: Nigeria flooding and US blows hot and cold

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Authorities partly blamed after months of deadly flooding in African nation; jet stream causes temperature divide in US

Nigeria has found itself at the centre of devastating floods over the past week, with poor preparation from authorities partly blamed for the damage caused. At least 600 people have died across the west African nation, with two-thirds of states affected by the disaster.

An estimated 1.3 million people have been displaced, with up to a quarter of a million homes reportedly destroyed. The floods are a culmination of months of above average rainfall, with the first floods having occurred in summer.

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