Sale of peat-based compost for use on private gardens and allotments to be outlawed within 18 months
Sales of peat for use on private gardens and allotments will be banned in England from 2024, the government has announced.
Environmental campaigners have long called for stricter laws to restore peatlands.
Continue reading...Greeks take their seas seriously, with the construction of one of the world’s biggest sewage treatment plants a real game-changer
The shimmering waters along the Athenian riviera offer a welcome respite in the summer heat. In one of Europe’s most congested cities the sight of ever more beaches attaining blue flag status – a mascot of water quality – has heightened the sense of relief that the coastal location affords. For those who flock to its coves, rocks and sandy stretches, the shoreline that extends from the Greek capital’s southern suburbs has become the perfect antidote to the rising temperatures that have accompanied climate breakdown.
It was not always so.
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Continue reading...Clive Palmer’s Central Queensland Coal suggested proposed coalmine is a ‘greater economic powerhouse’
Claims that Clive Palmer’s proposed Central Queensland coalmine would help the Great Barrier Reef – and would generate “more jobs per hectare” – have been derided as “completely laughable” by an environmentalist, economist and First Nations people.
Earlier this month environment minister Tanya Plibersek said she intended to block the coalmine due to its “unacceptable impacts” on the reef world heritage area, which is 10km from the two proposed open cut mines.
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Continue reading...Biodiversity certificates scheme for private landowners gets mixed reception as issues with likened carbon credits system linger
Conservation groups have called on the Albanese government to get on with strengthening the country’s environmental protections after it announced a plan to create a market for nature restoration.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the new scheme would recognise private landholders who restored and managed habitat by granting them biodiversity certificates that could then be sold to other parties.
Continue reading...Public will have chance to weigh in on details of plan, with transportation accounting for 40% of state greenhouse gas emissions
Washington state will follow California and prohibit the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035, Jay Inslee, the state governor, said.
California regulators on Thursday moved forward with a landmark plan to phase out the sale of gas cars over the next 13 years in the US’s largest auto market.
Continue reading...Work to begin in coming weeks in move that emphasises ties between Viktor Orbán and Vladimir Putin
Hungary has announced that the €12.5bn (£10.6bn) construction of two nuclear reactors by Russia’s Rosatom will begin in the coming weeks after regulators approved the project.
The war in Ukraine has not deterred Hungary’s interest in the project to add to the four reactors already operating at the Paks plant outside Budapest.
Continue reading...Authorities say more than 900 killed and 220,000 homes destroyed in worst monsoon rains disaster for a decade
Heavy rain has pounded large areas of Pakistan as the government declared an emergency to deal with monsoon flooding it said had affected more than 30 million people.
The annual monsoon is essential for irrigating crops and replenishing lakes and dams across the Indian subcontinent, but each year it also brings a wave of destruction.
Continue reading...Conservationists welcome successful breeding season but say birds remain at risk of being illegally killed
Nearly 120 rare hen harrier chicks have fledged in England this year, the highest number for more than a century, England’s conservation agency has said.
Natural England and its partners recorded 119 hen harrier chicks successfully fledging from nests across uplands in County Durham, Cumbria, Lancashire, Northumberland and Yorkshire. A fledgling is a young bird that has grown enough to acquire its initial flight feathers and is preparing to leave the nest and care for itself.
Continue reading...Russian-held site forced to fall back on diesel generators, raising risk of catastrophic failure of cooling systems
Fires caused by shelling cut the last remaining power line to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Thursday, temporarily disconnecting it from Ukraine’s national grid for the first time in nearly 40 years of operation, the country’s nuclear power firm, Energoatom, has said.
There have been growing international concerns about safety at Europe’s largest nuclear plant. It has been occupied by Russian forces since the start of the war, and they are now using it to house military vehicles and equipment.
Continue reading...New research also says southern parts of the country may experience deadly heatwaves annually by that time
Tropical regions including northern Australia could experience dangerously high heat levels most days of the year by 2100, while southern regions of Australia may experience deadly heatwaves annually, new research suggests.
The study, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, suggests that even if the world meets the Paris agreement of limiting global warming to 2C, exposure to dangerous heat will “likely increase by 50-100% across much of the tropics”.
Continue reading...Move to electric vehicles hailed as ‘monumental’ but challenges in consumer affordability and charging infrastructure lie ahead
California has approved a ban on the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 as the state takes dramatic steps to reduce emissions and combat the climate emergency.
In a vote on Thursday, state regulators moved forward with a plan to phase out the sale of gas cars over the next 13 years in America’s largest auto market.
Continue reading...Endangered species enjoys best summer in 150 years thanks to habitat restoration scheme
The large blue butterfly has enjoyed its best summer for 150 years in Britain thanks to targeted restoration work, which is also benefiting other rare insects including the rugged oil beetle and the shrill carder bee.
The butterfly, which became extinct in Britain in 1979 but was reintroduced via caterpillars from Sweden four years later, flew in its greatest numbers in June this year since records began.
Continue reading...Italian government ordered to compensate UK firm after exploration forbidden within 12 miles of coast
A corporate tribunal has ordered the Italian government to pay more than £210m to the UK oil company Rockhopper as compensation for an offshore oil drilling ban.
Rockhopper’s case was launched after the Italian government banned oil exploration and production within a 12 mile-limit off Italy’s coast in 2015, scotching the company’s planned Ombrina Mare oilfield.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Revisions revealed through FOI are more focused on protecting forestry industry than preventing species going extinct, scientists argue
Tasmanian and federal bureaucrats pushed for a recovery plan for a critically endangered parrot species to be changed to remove and downplay scientific evidence that logging was the biggest threat to its survival.
Scientists said the proposed changes to the recovery plan for the swift parrot – revealed in draft versions made available under freedom of information laws – were more focused on protecting the forestry industry than preventing the species going extinct.
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Continue reading...State and territory building ministers will meet on Friday amid fierce debate about when and how new regime should begin
New Australian homes could have to comply with tougher energy performance standards within a year, with ministers set to agree to boost the required rating from six to seven stars.
That could cut the thermal energy use of homes by about 25%, experts say. But there’s fierce debate about when and how the new regime should begin.
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Continue reading...Civil society groups say covert screening process excluded government’s critics
A group of Egyptian civil society organisations have been prevented from attending the Cop27 climate summit by a covert registration process that filtered out groups critical of the Egyptian government.
Egypt’s foreign, environment and social solidarity ministries privately selected and screened NGOs that would be permitted to apply for one-time registration for Cop27, a separate process from applications for official observer status, which closed last year.
Continue reading...Local authorities told to take measures and ‘use every unit of water carefully’ in effort to save autumn harvest
A drought in China is threatening food production, prompting the government to order local authorities to take all available measures to ensure crops survive the hottest summer on record.
On Tuesday, four government departments issued an urgent joint emergency notice, warning that the autumn harvest was under “severe threat”. It urged local authorities to ensure “every unit of water … be used carefully”, and called for methods included staggered irrigation, the diversion of new water sources, and cloud seeding.
Continue reading...Climate experts warn temporary increases in water levels will not mitigate a crisis that has been years in the making
Flash floods hitting the American south-west in recent days have shuttered parts of national parks including in Moab and Zion, closed highways in Colorado, submerged cars in Texas and trapped tourists in a New Mexico cave. A young woman remains missing after being swept away while hiking in Zion on Friday.
But the destructive deluges have not been enough to relieve the drought and the continued pressure on water resources, experts say. Even strong storms are unable to overcome dry conditions that are decades in the making.
Continue reading...Perenco sues Peru government for repeal of law that offers recognition to proposed Napo-Tigre reserve
Isolated Peruvian tribes face a threat to their existence from a push to scrap a planned Indigenous reserve led by an Anglo-French oil company, Indigenous groups say.
The firm, Perenco, whose slogan is “Oil remains an adventure”, filed an injunction in May for the repeal of a law offering preliminary government recognition to a proposed Napo-Tigre reserve. The first hearing is scheduled on 7 September.
Continue reading...Essex police arrest 18 people at three locations as protesters try to disrupt distribution of fuel
Dozens of environmental protesters have blocked critical oil infrastructure in Essex and the Midlands as they revived a campaign to “just stop oil”.
At daybreak on Tuesday, about 50 people took part in protests targeting three oil terminals, from where fuel is distributed to petrol stations, the activist group Just Stop Oil said.
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