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The Australian Automobile Association has found some SUVs use up to 20% more fuel on the road than reported in laboratory tests. Is your vehicle underperforming?The Crunch: what Australia’s love for SUVs means for emissions and safety – videoFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails,free app or daily news podcastA real-world testing program at the Australian...

The environmentally friendly LignoSat probe – set to orbit this summer – has been created to combat harmful aluminium particlesJapanese scientists have created one of the world’s most unusual spacecraft – a tiny satellite that is made of timber.The LignoSat probe has been built of magnolia wood, which, in experiments carried out on the International Space Station (ISS), was found to be particularly stable...

Exclusive: Manufacturers retest contaminated soil fill until it ‘complies’ with regulations and can then be used at childcare centres, schools or parksMap and full list of locations where asbestos mulch has been foundGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastA testing regime meant to stop toxic chemicals going into landscaping products in New South Wales has been gamed by...

Research reveals area size of France is under threat by restoration projects taking place in unsuitable landscapesMisguided tree-planting projects are threatening crucial ecosystems across Africa, scientists have warned.Research has revealed that an area the size of France is threatened by forest restoration initiatives that are taking place in inappropriate landscapes. Continue reading...

Fuel continues to leak from overturned and abandoned barge as stain spreads into the Caribbean SeaAn oil spill that has stained Tobago’s coastline in the Caribbean is entering Grenada’s waters and could affect neighboring Venezuela, authorities have warned.Eight days after Trinidad and Tobago’s coastguard first spotted the oil from an overturned and abandoned barge, the vessel continues to leak fuel, and portions of the...

Bears use ice to access food, but study of animals in Canada shows them struggling to adapt to more time on land amid climate crisisPolar bears in Canada’s Hudson Bay risk starvation as the climate crisis lengthens periods without Arctic Sea ice, despite the creatures’ willingness to expand their diets.Polar bears use the ice that stretches across the ocean surface in the Arctic during...

Remarks by head of trade authority come amid fears UK firms could be undercut ‘to extinction’The head of Britain’s post-Brexit trade watchdog has said it is ready to follow Brussels in launching an investigation into Chinese companies flooding the market for electric cars, but the government has not asked it to do so.Oliver Griffiths, the chief executive of the UK’s Trade Remedies Authority (TRA),...

Dueling petitions raise concerns over interior department’s five-year plans to offer drilling leases in Gulf of MexicoOil and gas companies and environmental groups on Monday filed dueling legal challenges to the Biden administration’s five-year plan to offer drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico.The petitions to a US appeals court come four months after the interior department unveiled a congressionally-mandated plan for offshore leasing...

Upturned and largely submerged vessel of unknown origin is leaking hydrocarbon off south-west coast or TobagoTrinidad and Tobago’s prime minister has said that a large oil spill near the twin-island nation has caused a “national emergency” and vowed that the government will spare no expense to help rehabilitate the island’s beaches.Oil from the spill has coated numerous beaches on Tobago’s south-west coast, and the...

Housebuilders and campaigners warn of cold, damp homes and UK missing legally binding targetsLabour’s slashing of proposed spending on home insulation will leave millions of people on low incomes in cold, damp homes and could prevent the UK meeting its legally binding carbon targets, campaigners and housebuilders have warned.The Federation of Master Builders criticised the drastic scaling back of Labour’s low-carbon policies, announced by...

Weather system brings heavy rainfall, strong winds and mudslides. Elsewhere, Nova Scotia declares state of emergencyDuring the first week of February two storms hit California in quick succession, both featuring intense precipitation thanks to the “pineapple express” atmospheric river.Atmospheric rivers are long narrow channels of very moist air that flow through the atmosphere, transporting impressive amounts of water vapour that eventually fall as heavy...

Experts say the endangered insect numbers fell by 59% this year, blaming pesticide use and climate change for the reductionThe number of endangered monarch butterflies at their wintering areas in Mexico has dropped by 59% this year to the second lowest level since record keeping began, experts said, blaming pesticide use and climate change.The annual butterfly count doesn’t calculate the individual number of butterflies,...

‘Huge disconnect’ between employers’ public ambitions on diversity and their actions, say workersWorkers at environmental charities have said bold words on inclusion are not being matched with action, as research shows the sector still lags far behind others in racial diversity.Only about one in 20 workers in the environmental charity sector identified as an ethnic minority last year, according to a survey of organisations,...

Environment minister says ‘overwhelming majority’ oppose offshore mining and proposed reforms reflect these concerns Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe controversial Pep-11 project would be killed off along with all offshore gas and mineral exploration projects in waters off New South Wales under new laws proposed by the state government.Penny Sharpe, the NSW environment minister, on Monday...

This blog is now closedCalifornia is grappling with another round of strong storms this week and the dangerous potential for flash flooding, landslides, and furious winds expected to come with them.Much like last year, when record rainfall lashed the state, the storms are attributed to atmospheric rivers (ARs), systems that have long played a role in California’s precipitation levels – both for good and...

Coalition-led scare campaign predicted for plan to place yearly cap on emissions for new cars sold in AustraliaFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe Albanese government has unveiled its long-awaited plan for fuel efficiency standards for new cars while highlighting potential savings of $1,000 a year and predicting a Coalition-led...

Wilson’s Promontory beach is the first Victorian site to top Tourism Australia’s list, which celebrates coastal spotsGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastIt’s not the famous sands of Bondi, the surf mecca of Bells, or the pristine white stretches along the Great Barrier Reef – but Squeaky beach in Victoria has been named the best in Australia.Named for...

People in affected areas say they are still waiting for government help after more than 300 deaths and widespread devastationTens of thousands of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are living in temporary accommodation and waiting for government help after the country experienced its worst flooding in six decades.More than 300 people have died and 280,000 households in more than half the...

At least 80 pairs recorded in 2023 after species began breeding again in 1979, having disappeared from UK in 16th centuryBritain’s tallest bird, the spectacular, wetland-loving crane bred in higher numbers last summer than at any point since they disappeared from the UK in the 16th century.At least 80 pairs of cranes were recorded in 2023, up from the previous high of 72 two...

A year ago on 3 February a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in a small village on the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania. A few days after the derailment, officials decided to vent and burn the chemicals it was carrying to prevent an explosion.Those still living in East Palestine and the surrounding communities have been told the air they breathe is safe, but many...

Country may be the first to do so, amid increasing concerns about the health and environmental risks posed by the virtually indestructible chemicalsNew Zealand is banning so-called “forever chemicals” in cosmetics from 2026, in what could be the first example of a country doing so.The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) said it has banned the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in cosmetics to...

‘Baffled’ MPs express alarm at ‘captain’s call’ while premier Jacinta Allan says cabinet followed ‘normal process’ in a ‘consensus decision’Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastSome Victorian Labor MPs were “shocked and disappointed” by the decision to continue to allow duck hunting in the state, despite a recommendation from a government-initiated inquiry.After a marathon three-hour meeting on Monday,...

Tens of millions have been spent on human-made defences over the years, but the impact of the climate crisis means flooding is inevitableWhen Jo Bloom saw the monitoring station on the River Severn above Shrewsbury register water levels of 6.5 metres as Storm Henk struck in early January, she began preparing for the worst. Bloom, who runs the Bewdley Flood Group, a local initiative...

Experts call for review after two sets of water samples from the Darling-Baaka River reported by the state’s top scientific bodies contained different resultsSign up for the Rural Network email newsletterJoin the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the communityExperts are calling for more sensitive water-quality testing in the Darling-Baaka River amid concerns that pesticides could be contributing to poor conditions,...