Green politicians describe plan as ‘a historic attack on Norwegian nature’
The Norwegian parliament has voted to open up protected rivers to hydropower plants, prompting fury from conservation groups who fear for the fate of fish and other wildlife.
The bill allows power plants bigger than 1MW to be built in protected waterways if the societal benefit is “significant” and the environmental consequences “acceptable”. It was voted through on Thursday as part of measures to improve flood and landslide protection.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
02/13/2025 - 12:15
Exclusive: Future of further projects uncertain after Rosebank and Jackdaw licences were found to have been unlawfully granted
Thirteen more oil and gas licences could be cancelled as ministers decide new guidance for fossil fuel extraction after a landmark court case, the Guardian has learned.
The admission that many more licences may ultimately be unlawful comes on the back of cabinet tensions over the future of two major oil and gas fields – Rosebank and Jackdaw – whose licences were last month found to have been unlawfully granted.
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02/13/2025 - 09:40
Exclusive: Rupert Lowe recently fitted panels on his farm, it emerges, as Reform claims renewables are more expensive
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The Reform MP Rupert Lowe installed solar panels on his farm to save money on energy bills, despite his party pledging to tax solar energy and claiming renewables are more expensive.
The Nigel Farage-led party has been accused of hypocrisy as Lowe also runs a company that installs batteries for renewables projects, which has described solar energy as a good way to reduce electricity bills.
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02/13/2025 - 09:00
Banana prices expected to rise in the short term, while cost of sugar should remain stable despite damage to cane crops
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Australians can expect banana shortages and price hikes as the cleanup begins in flood-ravaged north Queensland, which grows almost 94% of Australia’s banana crop, growers say.
But the good news, for consumers at least, is that any banana dramas playing out on supermarket shelves over coming days will be linked to transport disruption, rather than widespread crop destruction – meaning the price and availability of one of the country’s favourite fruits should soon return to normal.
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02/13/2025 - 08:47
Scientists say more-frequent hotter temperatures in west African region are part of reason for reduced harvests and price rises
The climate crisis drove weeks of high temperatures in the west African region responsible for about 70% of global cacao production, hitting harvests and probably causing further record chocolate prices, researchers have said.
Farmers in the region have struggled with heat, disease and unusual rainfall in recent years, which have contributed to falling production.
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02/13/2025 - 07:39
Geneticist who discovered hotspots of illnesses in Scottish islands calls for redirection of community benefit funds
A leading geneticist has called for the profits from windfarms to be used for the mass screening of Scottish islanders at risk of rare cancers and blood disorders.
Prof Jim Wilson, who leads a Viking DNA project that has discovered hotspots of rare disorders in Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles, said that money could prove vital in identifying people who need life-saving treatments.
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A ‘recipe for extinction’: can the US’s envied nature protections survive Trump and his ‘God squad’?
02/13/2025 - 07:00
Fears grow for endangered species as the US president sets about dismantling basic laws to protect them to make way for oil and gas drilling
Donald Trump has already begun dismantling parts of the envied US endangered species protections in his quest to boost oil and gas drilling, in part using a panel with an ominous name: the God squad.
A slew of early actions by the Trump administration has set about throwing open more land and waters for the fossil fuel industry, triggering the reversal of regulations that strengthen the Endangered Species Act, the country’s landmark 1973 conservation bill, including a rule that protects migratory birds from unintentional killing.
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02/13/2025 - 06:00
Suppressants a ‘major’ source of toxic pollution that causes heavy-metal levels to spike in the environment
The US federal government and chemical makers have long concealed the contents of pink wildfire suppressants widely spread by firefighting aircraft to contain blazes, but new test results provide alarming answers – the substances are rife with cadmium, arsenic, chromium and other toxic heavy metals.
The suppressants are a “major” source of toxic pollution that causes heavy-metal levels to spike in the environment, and the products themselves contain metal levels up to 3,000 times above drinking water limits, the peer-reviewed research found.
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02/13/2025 - 01:00
Call for means-tested grants or loans to cover upfront costs that prevent poorer households from benefiting
Poorer households could cut their energy bills by a quarter if solar panels were installed on their rooftops, a report has found.
However, the upfront costs mean that those who stand to benefit most from decreased energy bills are prevented from getting panels installed, according to the Resolution Foundation thinktank.
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02/13/2025 - 01:00
Bogs and swamps are a colossal carbon store but their continued destruction would blow climate change targets
The world’s peatlands are “dangerously underprotected” despite the colossal amount of climate-heating carbon dioxide already being emitted due to their destruction, a study has warned.
Peatlands occupy just 3% of all land, but contain more carbon than all of the world’s forests. However, farmers and miners are draining the peatlands, releasing so much CO2 that if they were a country, they would be the fourth biggest polluter in the world after China, the US and India.
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