Category Archives: Environment

UK ministers push ahead with discount on bills for households near new pylons

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Plans have provoked outrage from communities in areas of Great Britain expected to host new infrastructure

The government is pushing head with a plan to offer those who live near new electricity pylons a discount of £2,500 from their energy bills over the next 10 years to ease the backlash against its clean power plans.

Thousands of households within half a kilometre of new or upgraded electricity infrastructure could each receive up to £250 off their annual energy bill from next year to help speed up the rollout of infrastructure critical to the government’s targets.

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Plan to reintroduce banned pesticide in France overruled by constitutional council

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‘Duplomb law’ provision to allow use of acetamiprid, toxic to pollinators, found not to abide by environmental charter

France’s top constitutional authority has ruled against the reintroduction of a pesticide that is harmful to ecosystems, saying it is unconstitutional.

The decision on Thursday night deals a blow to the government. It comes after weeks of opposition from the left, environmentalists and doctors, and a record-breaking 2m signatures on a petition against a bill that would have allowed a pesticide banned in France in 2020 to come back into use.

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Lynx could thrive in Northumberland with most in area supporting return, study finds

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Release of 20 lynx over several years into Kielder Forest area would create population of about 50 animals

Releasing just 20 lynx in Northumberland would be enough to create a healthy wild population, research has found, and most people in the area would support the practice.

Northumberland Wildlife Trust has been working to see if the wild cats, which became extinct in Britain about 1,300 years ago as a result of hunting and habitat loss, could be returned to the area.

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‘Unprecedented’ wildfire burns area size of Paris in southern France

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Advancing blaze scorches 16,000 hectares near Spanish border, destroying homes and forcing people to flee

Hundreds of firefighters are battling to stop the spread of a fast-moving wildfire in southern France after one woman died and nine people were injured as the blaze scorched a vast area of the Corbières hills.

The blaze burned an area the size of Paris over one afternoon and night and was still burning on Wednesday evening, making it the second biggest fire in France in 50 years.

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Four rare Barbary lion cubs born at Czech zoo

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Lion that once roamed northern Africa has been extinct in the wild since 1960s

Four Barbary lion cubs were born recently in a Czech zoo, a vital contribution for the small surviving population of a rare lion that is extinct in the wild.

The three females and one male were seen playing in their outdoor enclosure at Dvůr Králové safari park on Wednesday under the watchful eye of their parents, Khalila and Bart.

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Increase in vapes found on Britain’s coastline by beach clean volunteers

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Marine Conservation Society calls for swift action as its litter surveys show some forms of plastic are on the rise

Volunteer beach cleaners are finding more vapes than ever before as plastic pollution chokes Britain’s coastline.

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) on Wednesday launches its annual beach clean, which last year involved more than 15,000 volunteers who completed more than 1,200 litter surveys.

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About 100 people missing as flash flood tears through town in northern India

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Large-scale search and rescue operation under way after at least five people killed in Himalayan region

Dozens of people were missing after a fast-moving surge of water and mud smashed into a town in India’s Himalayan region on Tuesday, tearing down a mountain valley and demolishing buildings, killing at least five people.

Videos broadcast on Indian media showed a terrifying river of muddy water engulf the town of Dharali in Uttarakhand state on Tuesday afternoon, sweeping away entire homes and apartment blocks. In footage recorded at the scene, people could been seen screaming in fear as they tried to escape the surging flood waters.

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Great Barrier Reef suffers biggest annual drop in live coral since 1980s after devastating coral bleaching

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Researchers warn reef may reach tipping point where coral cannot recover fast enough between major catastrophic events

The Great Barrier Reef has suffered its biggest annual drop in live coral in two out of three areas monitored by scientists since 1986, a new report has revealed.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science (Aims) report is the first to comprehensively document the devastating impacts of the early 2024 mass coral bleaching event – the most widespread and severe on record for the Great Barrier Reef.

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Shein fined €1m in Italy for misleading environmental claims about products

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Chinese fast fashion retailer penalised month after €40m fine from French regulator in July

The Italian authorities have fined Shein €1m (£870,000) for making “misleading or omissive” environmental claims about its products, the second time in as many months the Chinese fashion retailer has been targeted by European regulators.

Environmental sustainability and social responsibility messages on Shein’s website were in some cases “vague, generic, and/or overly emphatic” and in others were “misleading or omissive”, said Italy’s competition authority, AGCM.

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Canada wildfires prompt severe air quality alerts across country and US

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More than 700 active wildfires burning across Canada and about two-thirds are currently out-of-control

Billowing smoke from hundreds of out-of-control wildfires – most of which are in the Canadian Prairies – have caused severe air quality alerts across Canada and the United States.

Detroit, Michigan, and the Canadian cities of Montreal and Toronto, recorded some of the worst air quality in the world on Monday, according to a ranking by IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company.

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BP makes its biggest oil and gas discovery in 25 years off coast of Brazil

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Company to carry out more tests on its Santos basin find as it continues shift from renewables back to fossil fuels

BP has made its largest oil and gas discovery of the past 25 years off the coast of Brazil as it continues to shift its focus away from renewables and back to fossil fuels.

The Santos basin oil and gas discovery, which is located in deep waters, is the company’s 10th oil discovery of the year and could be its largest since its discovery at the Shah Deniz gasfield in Azerbaijan in 1999.

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New Zealand to charge foreign tourists to visit most famous sites

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Visitors to pay up to NZ$40 to access certain attractions in coming years amid overhaul of conservation laws

New Zealand plans to start charging international tourists fees to enter its famous natural sites and will make it easier for businesses to operate on conservation land as part of a controversial proposal to “unleash” growth on ecologically and culturally protected areas.

The government plans to start charging foreign visitors NZ$20-40 ($12-24) per person to access some sites. Initially, those would probably include Cathedral Cove/Te Whanganui-a-Hei, Tongariro Crossing, Milford Track and Aoraki Mount Cook. The fees are likely to be imposed from 2027.

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Nordic countries hit by ‘truly unprecedented’ heatwave

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Scientists record longest streak of temperatures higher than 30C in region in records going back to 1961

Cold Nordic countries are being seared by “truly unprecedented” heat, as hot weather strengthened and lengthened by carbon pollution continues to roast northern Europe.

A weather station in the Norwegian part of the Arctic Circle recorded temperatures above 30C (86F) on 13 days in July, while Finland has had three straight weeks with 30C heat.

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Nordic countries hit by ‘truly unprecedented’ heatwave

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Scientists record longest streak of temperatures higher than 30C in region in records going back to 1961

Cold Nordic countries are being seared by “truly unprecedented” heat, as hot weather strengthened and lengthened by carbon pollution continues to roast northern Europe.

A weather station in the Norwegian part of the Arctic Circle recorded temperatures above 30C (86F) on 13 days in July, while Finland has had three straight weeks with 30C heat.

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Nordic countries hit by ‘truly unprecedented’ heatwave

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Scientists record longest streak of temperatures higher than 30C in region in records going back to 1961

Cold Nordic countries are being seared by “truly unprecedented” heat, as hot weather strengthened and lengthened by carbon pollution continues to roast northern Europe.

A weather station in the Norwegian part of the Arctic Circle recorded temperatures above 30C (86F) on 13 days in July, while Finland has had three straight weeks with 30C heat.

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Wet and wintry weekend in store for NSW, with warnings of heavy rainfall and damaging winds

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Weather bureau says bulk of the rain forecast to hit on weekend as a low-pressure system deepens off the coast

New South Wales is heading for a sodden Saturday, with the wet and wintry weather that has been plaguing the east coast expected to ramp up over the weekend.

After a week of intermittent showers, the bulk of the rain was forecast to hit on the weekend as a low-pressure system deepened off the coast, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Sydney: Rain. Saturday max 18C. Sunday max 19C.

Melbourne: Mostly cloudy on Saturday, max 15C. Sunday, mostly sunny, max 18C.

Brisbane: Shower or two. Saturday max 19C. Sunday max 21C.

Adelaide: Partly cloudy on Saturday, max 14C. Sunday, max 17C.

Perth: Rain. Saturday, max 18C. Sunday, mostly sunny, max 29C.

Canberra: Shower or two on Saturday, top 13C. Sunday, cloudy, max 15C.

Hobart: Mostly sunny. Saturday 14C. Sunday max 15C.

Darwin: Sunny. Saturday and Sunday max 31C.

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Chinese official makes rare admission of failings over deadly Beijing floods

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Local Communist party secretary says there were ‘gaps’ in city’s readiness for extreme weather after at least 40 killed

A Beijing city official has issued a rare public acknowledgment of official failings in the authorities’ response to the severe flooding that hit China’s capital this week.

Yu Weiguo, a Communist party secretary for Miyun, the northern district worst affected by this week’s extreme weather, said in a press conference on Thursday that there were “gaps” in the city’s readiness for the deadly floods.

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Fears for South Australia’s annual cuttlefish gathering amid deadly algal bloom

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Breeding event known as Cuttlefest takes place in waters off Point Lowly but this year scientists warn the effect of toxic algae could be ‘catastrophic’

As thousands of giant cuttlefish gather in South Australia’s Spencer Gulf, scientists are investigating emergency actions amid fears the state’s toxic algal bloom could be catastrophic for the globally unique natural phenomenon.

The spectacular annual cephalopod meet-up takes place in a kaleidoscope of colour off the coast of Whyalla from late May to August, attracting thousands of tourists from Australia and overseas.

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Countries failing to act on UN climate pledge to triple renewables, thinktank finds

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Fossil fuel reliance likely to continue and Cop28 target of limiting global heating to below 1.5C will be missed

Most global governments have failed to act on the 2023 UN pledge to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade, according to climate analysts.

The failure to act means that on current forecasts the world will fall far short of its clean energy goals, leading to a continued reliance on fossil fuels that is incompatible with the target of limiting global heating to below 1.5C.

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UN holds emergency talks over sky-high accommodation costs at Cop30 in Brazil

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Concerns poorer countries could be priced out of negotiations in Belém as room rates soar amid shortage

The UN climate bureau has held an urgent meeting about concerns that sky-high rates for accommodation at this year’s Cop30 summit in Brazil could price poorer countries out of the negotiations.

Brazil is preparing to host Cop30 this November in the rainforest city of Belém, where representatives of nearly every government in the world will gather to negotiate their joint efforts to curb the climate crisis.

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