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New energy policies are urgently needed to put countries on the path to net zero greenhouse gas emissions, the world’s leading energy economist has warned, as economies are rapidly gearing up for a return to fossil fuel use instead of forging a green recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.Most of the world’s biggest ec...

The fast growth of plant-based alternatives to animal products could mean Europe and North America will reach “peak meat” by 2025, at which point consumption of conventional meat starts to fall, according to a report.The study also forecasts that plant-based meats will match regular meat on price by 2023 and that ni...

Billions of unwanted male chicks are slaughtered by the farming industry. Now a startup claims to have found a surprising solution to the problemThe eggs we eat have a hidden cost. About 7bn male chicks are killed worldwide every year to produce them. Farmers need to replenish their supply of egg-laying hens but, by nature, half the chicks that hatch are male and growing...

Sales increase 43% globally in 2020 as plunging battery costs mean the cars will soon be the cheapest vehicles to buy Electric vehicles are close to the “tipping point” of rapid mass adoption thanks to the plummeting cost of batteries, experts say.Global sales rose 43% in 2020, but even faster growth is anticipated when continuing falls in battery prices bring the price of electric...

Felix Böck started small but has built up a business that transforms the utensils into everything from new dining tables to staircasesThe idea was born over trays of sushi. Felix Böck, then a PhD student at Canada’s University of British Columbia, was venting his frustration over the scant interest in his proposal to use waste wood from demolition and construction sites. How, he wondered,...

In an age when people rarely know their neighbours, a ‘buy nothing’ group is one way to acquaint yourself with those living on your streetWe all have things we don’t need. For Canberra resident Zoe Bowman, it is melon ballers.“Someone asked for a melon baller to make some melon balls for a kid’s party, and I looked in the drawer and I had three,”...

A Sydney council has been criticised for inspecting recycling bins and tagging those that don’t comply with rulesAn eastern Sydney council has come under fire for a program in which staff inspect residents’ garbage bins and leave notes with information on how they can better recycle.In Australia, where all household recycling is collected in one bin, contamination is a huge problem, when a few...

‘They’re so damn reliable’, says veteran mechanic Craig Salmon. In the second Green Recovery feature, we look at what’s stopping Australia from embracing EVsCraig Salmon rattles off the benefits of electric cars with the swagger of a veteran car mechanic and the zeal of someone who is watching a profound historic change play out on his workshop floor. Related: This builder used to be...

Testing facility for zero-emissions four-passenger electric aircraft expected to be built in Narromine within the yearThe New South Wales government has awarded almost $1m from a regional grants fund to a company developing what deputy premier John Barilaro describes as an electric flying car.Andrew Moore, the chief executive of start-up AMSL Aero, says the company is building what is better described as an electric...

Carlsberg and Coca-Cola back pioneering project to make ‘all-plant’ drinks bottlesBeer and soft drinks could soon be sipped from “all-plant” bottles under new plans to turn sustainably grown crops into plastic in partnership with major beverage makers.A biochemicals company in the Netherlands hopes to kickstart investment in a pioneering project that hopes to make plastics from plant sugars rather than fossil fuels. Continue reading...

With only one in 400 cups recycled, and even those barely ‘green’, the hunt is on for an alternativeBritain gets through 2.5 billion of them every year, and the number is set to increase. But despite a growing clamour for coffee chains to make their cups more environment-friendly, the vast majority are used only once, which critics say is a considerable waste of natural...

Finding will come as boost to governments seeking to move to net zero carbon emissionsElectric vehicles produce less carbon dioxide than petrol cars across the vast majority of the globe – contrary to the claims of some detractors, who have alleged that the CO2 emitted in the production of electricity and their manufacture outweighs the benefits.The finding is a boost to governments, including the...

The boss of the electric carmaker has a $50bn pay package ready to roll if the firm hits a $100bn valuationOne of the options on a fully loaded Tesla is “ludicrous mode”, a setting offering a 0-60mph acceleration time of 2.8 seconds for drivers who find its “insane mode” too sedate.To some investors, that’s similar to chief executive Elon Musk’s bonus package: if the...

Mini, Vauxhall Corsa and Fiat 5oo will join rapidly expanding European EV marketEurope’s carmakers are gearing up to make 2020 the year of the electric car, according to automotive analysts, with a wave of new models launching as the world’s biggest manufacturers scramble to lower the carbon dioxide emissions of their products.Previous electric models have mostly been targeted at niche markets, but 2020 will...

The Garbage Cafe in Ambikapur, India, is helping to tackle the country’s plastic waste problem – and their novel idea is catching onOn bad days, when his employer made some excuse for not paying him his paltry daily wage, Ram Yadav’s main meal used to be dry chapatis, with salt and raw onion for flavour. Sometimes he just went hungry. For a ragpicker like...

Network bans passengers from using their own cups because of risk to catering staffIrish Rail bills itself as part of a solution to the climate crisis and pollution, saying clean transport can help avert global warming, rising sea levels and famine.But don’t try using your own reusable coffee cup on one of its trains. Ireland’s national railway network has banned passengers from using their...

In the shadow of South Africa’s car industry, making use of discarded parts is a way of life – so Port Elizabeth’s Kevin Kimwelle makes a virtue of itTell us: how have South African cities changed in the 25 years after apartheid?“You’re lucky you arrived on a Monday,” says architect Kevin Kimwelle as we drive through the twisting back streets of Port Elizabeth. “The...

Europe’s manufacturers face $250m-a-year hit as rising demand drives up priceThe battle to reduce Europe’s plastic waste could become a quarter of a billion dollars more expensive every year as the cost of recycled plastic soars.In recent months, the price of recycled plastic flakes, used to make goods from soft drink bottles to glitter, has become more expensive than virgin plastic for the first...