Latest environment news
Cyclone Nathan lashes far north Queensland coast
Jorge Branco 1:40 PM Destructive core of cyclone, packing wind gusts of up to 230km/h, made landfall between just before 4am.
Baird pledges $100m for native species protection
James Robertson 2:34 AM The Baird government has pledged $100 million to protect the state's threatened plants and animals if it wins office at next week's state election.
Arctic sea ice shrinks to its smallest on record
7:56 AM Arctic sea ice this year is the smallest in winter since satellite records began in 1979, in a new sign of long-term climate change, US data showed on Thursday
Foley promises CSG ban in Pilliga
Labor leader Luke Foley says he will permanently ban coal seam gas in the Pilliga Forest in the state's north west if he wins the March 28 election.
Obama orders big cuts in US government greenhouse gas emissions
JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS 8:14 AM President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Thursday to set new goals for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of federal agencies, his latest use of his executive authority to address the root causes of climate change and press private companies and foreign governments to follow suit.
Amazon rainforest soaking up almost a third less carbon in past decade
Lucy Cormack The Amazon rainforest has long been a vital sink for the world’s greenhouse gases, but new research shows the amount of carbon absorbed by the Amazon’s trees has dropped by almost one-third in the last 10 years.
China boosts solar goal for 2015 as it fights pollution
Bloomberg News China will push this year to install almost 2 1/2 times as much solar capacity as the US added in 2014 in a race to clear its increasingly polluted air.
Thirty years of warming: the heat really is on
Peter Hannam Last month capped 30 years in which average monthly temperatures worldwide have been warmer than the average for the 20th century.
Sci-tech
Meet the 'Carolina butcher', the giant crocodile that walked on its hind legs
Rachel Feltman 1:48 AM At 2.7 metres long, with blade-like teeth and walking on its hind legs, Carnufex carolinensis - which translates as "Carolina butcher" - roamed North America 230 million years ago.
Climate future: fewer but more intense cyclones
Peter Hannam 1:17 AM A warming world means oceans will have more energy to tap for cyclones but the frequency - for Australia at least - may decrease.
'I'll never forget the sound'
Josh Dye 12:34 AM In the midst of Cyclone Pam, it's the roaring, howling sound Bev Norman remembers the most.
Cyclone Nathan strengthens with 'hot towers' as it heads towards coast
Peter Hannam Cyclone Nathan is closing in on the north Queensland coast, with US space agency NASA identifying “hot towers” at its core as a signal that the storm is intensifying.
Quolls should replace domestic cats: Senator Leyonhjelm
Tom Decent Quolls should replace domestic cats in Australian households.
Eclipse switching off solar panels to test Europe's power grids
The eclipse due to bring most of Europe into deep shadows on Friday morning will put an unprecedented strain on the region's electricity grid, turning off thousands of solar panels essential to power supply and rocking electricity markets. The moon will cross in front of the sun, blocking about 80 per cent of its light across Europe from 8 am to 11 am London time. In Germany, the eclipse will briefly turn off thousands of panels, which provide about 40 per cent of the nation's power on the most sunny days.
AGL tops list of big carbon emitters, ACF report finds
Peter Hannam and Lisa Cox AGL has emerged as Australia's biggest greenhouse gas emitter by far after its purchase of NSW assets added to its fleet of brown coal-fired power stations in Victoria.
Amazon rainforest soaking up less carbon as trees die young, study finds
The Amazon rainforest's ability to soak up greenhouse gases from the air has fallen sharply, possibly because climate change and droughts mean more trees are dying, an international team of scientists said on Wednesday.
Malabar Headland spared from developers
Leesha McKenny A stretch of one of Sydney's last undeveloped headlands has been saved from sell off less than two months after revelations the site was being sized up for thousands of apartments.
Stokes downplays cable logging threat
Peter Hannam The Baird government is likely to take a dim view of any proposal to trial controversial cable logging on steep slopes on the state’s North Coast, according to Environment Minister Rob Stokes.
Aurora australis flares across Australian and New Zealand skies
Lucy Cormack A geomagnetic storm put on a brilliant show for skywatchers on Tuesday evening.
Pacific nations to highlight Cyclone Pam in climate talks
Pacific Islands devastated by Cyclone Pam at the weekend will be using the disaster to drive home the need for a globally funded insurance pool to aid in the recovery from such events when they attend climate-change talks in Paris later this year.
Monster stingray could be a record-beater
Elahe Izadi The creature, caught in Thailand, may help scientists unravel mysteries of this elusive animal.
Adani's environmental track record to be challenged in Federal Court
Lisa Cox Environmental violations in India by mining giant Adani will be the subject of a Federal Court case challenging the company's development of Australia's largest coal project.
Cyclone Pam lifts chance of El Nino this year
Peter Hannam Cyclone Pam’s impact may not be restricted to devastating the island nation of Vanuatu – it may also have boosted the likelihood of an El Nino event for later this year, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
Labor launches 'bold' environment policy
Nicole Hasham NSW Labor would spend $150 million creating new national parks, install low-energy lighting in the state’s hospitals and establish a new body to improve degraded rivers, under what leader Luke Foley says is the most comprehensive environment policy ever released in Australia.
Warming seas undermining giant Antarctic glacier
Andrew Darby A warming ocean is pouring through newly discovered rivers under the largest glacier in East Antarctica, confirming this sleeping giant of climate change is awakening.
Vanuatu president begs world to help rebuild, blames climate change, after Cyclone Pam
Claudine Wery The official death toll rises to 28, with many more feared dead, as the country slowly picks up the pieces amid apocalyptic scenes.
Three CSG licences cancelled in Sydney water catchment
Peter Hannam The Baird government has cancelled three coal seam gas exploration licences in the Sydney water catchment region after a $600,000 buyback from Apex Energy.
Woodside Petroleum forced to shut Pluto LNG plant as rig comes adrift
Angela Macdonald-Smith Woodside Petroleum has closed its $15 billion Pluto LNG plant for safety reasons after a drilling rig drifted close to offshore gas flowlines.
Government rejects solar panels gift for Kirribilli House
Lisa Cox It was a present intended for the Prime Minister's residence in Sydney. But a government decision to reject a gift of a set of solar panels for Kirribilli House has seen it come under fire for its attitude toward renewable energy.
Is it time for a category-6 cyclone rating?
Peter Hannam The unusual strength of Cyclone Pam, which devastated Vanuatu over the weekend, could enliven debate about the need for a category 6 reading for storms to reflect their increasing severity.
