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Exclusive: As countries meet at key climate crisis meetings, Australia’s Chris Bowen says war underlines need to move away from fossil fuels
The fallout from the Iran war is driving countries to boost homegrown energy reliability and opens an opportunity for progress on clean generation at the next UN climate summit, says the lead negotiator at the talks.
Chris Bowen, the Australian climate change minister and new president of negotiations at the Cop31 conference in Turkey in November, said the energy market disruption should be seen as a global fossil fuel crisis – the second in four years, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – and it was having an acute impact in Asia.
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Early birds were like ‘T rex reincarnated’, says scientist who believes avian skulls offer insight into dinosaurs’ behaviour
T rex is often depicted as more brawn than brains, but now scientists are hoping to probe just what was going on inside its head, drawing on findings from another kind of dinosaur: birds.
Scientists have previously found some species of bird not only make and use tools, but are able to plan ahead and show basic forms of empathy – with laboratory tests suggesting emus can recognise other birds might have different experiences to themselves.
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Study of 1,300 campaigners finds arrests, fines and jail terms increase determination of activists to take direct action
The criminalisation of direct action climate protests in the UK is counterproductive and increases the determination of activists to undertake disruptive demonstrations, according to a study of 1,300 campaigners.
New findings suggest arrests, fines and lengthy prison sentences given to nonviolent climate protesters who have blocked roads or damaged buildings may actually radicalise them. The repression of protest could even be one driver of recent covert actions such as the cutting of internet cables, they said.
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Dartmoor: We went for a family walk on the moor, and I ended up seeing something really rare and special
It was a bright spring morning, and I had gone up to Dartmoor with my mum, my brother and my grandma for a walk in the fresh sunshine. My mum suggested that we go off the path to look at some bluebells and everyone agreed. It was beautiful. I could hear the birds singing and see the granite rocks sparkling.
My grandma and my brother walked away from us, and I went in the opposite direction towards some brambles by a slab of concrete that was catching the sun. And then I saw it – a large, black snake rearing up at me. We looked at each other for a second – it had black scales and faint zigzag patterns on its body.
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After a two-year wait, video of a young male crossing above a road gives hope that critically endangered species can survive habitat fragmentation
The critically endangered Sumatran orangutan has been filmed for the first time using a canopy bridge to cross a road.
In 2024, conservationists in the Pakpak Bharat district of North Sumatra in Indonesia built the bridge high over the Lagan-Pagindar road, which provides an essential route for local people but which became a barrier for animals.
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Scientists and economists will help countries develop plans to reduce dependence on oil, gas and coal
A panel of global experts has been launched to provide scientific input for countries that want to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and manage the growing risks of high oil prices, geopolitical conflict and extreme weather damage.
The initiative was announced on the opening day of a groundbreaking climate action meeting in Santa Marta, where the Colombian hosts set out a draft roadmap for their own national energy transition.
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Green groups say European Commission is ‘chief roadblock’ to its own plans, as report finds poor progress four years on
Harmful compounds in children’s nappies and toxic “forever chemicals” in everyday products are among 14 hazardous substance groups hit by lengthy delays to EU pollution controls, according to report findings described by scientists as “extremely frustrating”.
The European Commission sought to push broad categories of dangerous substances off the market with a “restrictions roadmap” in April 2022 that was hailed at the time as the largest-ever ban of toxic chemicals.
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A new knowledge-sharing project aims to ensure the survival of the migratory short-tailed shearwater
Short-tailed shearwaters used to blacken the skies on the south-west coast of Australia, so abundant were they in their coastal homes each Djilba season – the time in the calendar of the Noongar peoples between August and September, when days shift from blustery cold and wet winds to warmer weather.
In Wudjari Noongar, the language of the traditional owners of this place, they call Kepa Kurl, but which, since colonisation, has been called Esperance, the birds are called yowli. To other cultures, they are muttonbirds.
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The court sided with a Canadian hiker who deliberately challenged the order imposed to curb spread of wildfires
As wildfires raged across Nova Scotia last summer, the Canadian province made a simple plea to residents: stay away from the woods.
As the situation deteriorated, authorities turned the request into a prohibition: anyone caught hiking under the shade of the forest canopy faced a C$25,000 fine – a figure more than half the average worker’s yearly salary.
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Unhindered by critics who called the $114m project ‘a bridge to nowhere’, a gigantic throughway allowing animals to cross a busy freeway is close to completion
Atop a gigantic wildlife bridge in California this week, butterflies filled the air. A red-tailed hawk sailed above as a slight breeze ruffled the 6,000 native plants, including poppies and purple sage. You’d never guess that below the quiet expanse of rocks and plants, a 10-lane freeway ferries 400,000 cars each day.
When the project broke ground four years ago, enthusiasm was high. The wildlife crossing in northern Los Angeles county would be the largest of its kind in the world, providing safe passage for mountain lions, bobcats and lizards.
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