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Hydro Tasmania’s Hybrid Energy Solutions team has installed a 600 kilowatt solar array to complement the island’s existing 600kW wind turbine.

Greenpeace welcomes the announcement today by the Commonwealth Bank that the bank would distance itself from coal projects.

Network operator Ausnet says consumers will provide nearly half of their electricity needs, surpassing fossil fuels as the biggest supplier to the grid.

Singapore and Brazil are working together to bring two blue macaw species back from near-extinction.

Analysts say a test of the bank’s withdrawal from coal will come when Adani’s Abbot Point terminal comes up for refinancing

The Commonwealth Bank has told its shareholders to expect its support of the coal industry to decline as it helps finance the transition to a low-carbon economy, indicating the bank is unlikely to lend to new large coal projects.

Ahead of its AGM on Thursday, the bank posted the speech of its chairwoman, Catherine Livingstone, to the ASX. In it she said climate change poses both a business risk and a responsibility for the bank.

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Warilla Bowls and Recreation Club joins commercial solar boom, adding another 314kW to existing 100kW array to save $75,000 a year.

Driverless shuttle bus trial kicks off at La Trobe University's Bundoora campus, to test the use of autonomous vehicles as "last mile" transport solutions.

The IEA has recently published its new report Renewables 2017, which received maximum coverage around the world for its argument that solar PV is now growing faster than any other energy source.

A forecasting tool reveals which cities will be affected as different portions of the ice sheet melt, say scientists.

A forecasting tool reveals which cities will be affected as different portions of the ice sheet melt, say scientists.

The European leader in solar tracking continues international expansion to APAC region with a new subsidiary in Sydney.

To many people, island nations such as Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands are synonymous with climate catastrophe. But prophesies of doom aren't all that helpful. Jon Barnett, Professor, School of Geography, University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Peter Melchett of the Soil Association bemoans the power held by the chemical industry; Huw Jones writes that agricultural policy needs expert understanding, not just political opportunism; plus letters from Deb Nicholson, Graeme Taylor and Bruce Friedrich

It’s great that Michael Gove has accepted the overwhelming scientific evidence that neonicotinoids are killing bees, other insects and birds, although it is a sad commentary on how safety decisions on pesticides have been taken up to now (Plan bee – Britain to reverse opposition to ban on colony-killing pesticide, says Gove, 9 November). The fact is that the political and economic power of the chemical industry have had far more influence than the results of independent scientific research.

Michael Gove says that there “may be a case for going further” than the current temporary ban on three neonicotinoid sprays and their use on only some crops (The evidence points in one direction – we must ban neonicotinoids, 9 November). He is right – all neonicotinoids should be banned because research shows they are getting into wild flowers, turning what should be safe havens for bees and butterflies into potential killing fields. Research led by Professor David Goulson of Sussex University, part funded by the Soil Association, found that some wild flowers in the margins of crops on the edge of fields actually contained more neonicotinoids than the sprayed crop.
Peter Melchett
Policy director, Soil Association

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German chancellor, UN secretary general, Emmanuel Macron and others urge world’s leaders to succeed in their negotiations in Bonn

“Climate change is an issue determining our destiny as mankind – it will determine the wellbeing of all of us,” the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has told the world’s nations gathered at a climate summit.

The delegates heard a series of strong political messages on Wednesday, urging them to use the final two days of the summit to complete important work on putting the landmark 2015 Paris deal into action. Without this, the world faces a devastating 3C or more of global warming.

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French and UK governments say they will make up for any shortfall in funding for a global science body.

Vancouver-based UrtheCast contracts UK firm SSTL to build a series of satellites to image Earth every day.

Botanist and ecologist who aimed to increase our understanding of the plants and natural landscapes around us

Michael Proctor, who has died aged 88, was a leading botanist and ecologist who specialised in the study of natural vegetation and the British flora. His studies of rock roses and his scientific portraits of Malham Tarn, the Burren in western Ireland, and the bogs and oakwoods on Dartmoor are regarded as classics of postwar ecological research. With his lifelong friend Peter Yeo, he wrote two important, semi-popular books on the pollination of plants, The Pollination of Flowers (1973) and The Natural History of Pollination (1996). He was also a renowned plant photographer.

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Researchers in Queensland modify Cavendish bananas to protect them from devastating Panama disease fungus

A multibillion-dollar banana industry at risk of a deadly disease could be saved by genetic modification that created a line of bananas resistant to Fusarium wilt tropical race 4, also known as Panama disease.

Researchers at Queensland University of Technology genetically modified Cavendish bananas using a gene found in a south-east Asian banana subspecies that naturally displayed resistance.

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World governments have acknowledged for the first time that ‘first peoples’ can play a leadership role in protecting forests and limiting global warming

Indigenous groups claimed a victory at the UN climate talks in Bonn on Wednesday as governments acknowledged for the first time that they can play a leadership role in protecting forests and keeping global temperatures at a safe level.

Long marginalised and often criminalised in their home countries, the “first peoples” – as they often refer to themselves – also achieved breakthroughs in terms of official international recognition of their rights, autonomy and participation in negotiations.

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Government proposal to give tax relief for offshore oil would increase emissions and contradicts the nation’s progressive stance in Bonn

Brazil is planning a fire-sale of its oil resources before shrinking global carbon budgets push down demand and prices, environmental groups have warned.

The focus of concern is a government proposal for up to $300bn in tax relief to companies that develop offshore oilfields that opponents claim would use up 7% of humanity’s emission budget if global warming is to be kept below 2C.

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