Heathrow third runway: public bill up to £10bn hidden, says Tory MP
Former transport minister Stephen Hammond urges government to ‘come clean’ over probable bill to taxpayers The true cost of Heathrow airport expansion to the taxpayer is not being divulged by the government, according to a Conservative former transport minister, who said ministers needed to “come clean” over the probable £5bn-£10bn public cost for road and […]
Climate change tipping points are not just symbolic | Letters
This symbolic threshold (Carbon dioxide levels bring climate change into a ‘new era’, 25 October) is one of many very real tipping points the world will experience on a path of climate change due to human effects. The tipping points we should also be paying attention to are the mass extinctions, global warming, melting ice […]
Heathrow expansion is good for business – but not for most of us | Brief letters
Benefit cuts | Third runway | Landlines | Charity shops | Football numbers Both Aditya Chakrabortty (Opinion, 26 October) and Ken Loach in his film I, Daniel Blake highlight the horrors created by the destruction of social security by austerity and bureaucracy. However, they are in danger of recreating the pernicious distinction between the deserving and undeserving […]
Quiet, sunny and views of the outdoors – is this America's most productive office?
Employees at Saint-Gobain’s North American headquarters say they feel healthier and more energetic in a new open-plan office focused on green design It sounds more like a day spa than an office: a mile of walking trails, a cafeteria serving locally grown food, views of nature from almost every room in the building – including […]
New projects boost Europe's attractiveness to renewables investors
Europe may be performing better in EY’s influential rankings, but the UK has fallen to its lowest position yet, reports BusinessGreen Earlier this year it was starting to look worryingly like Europe was slamming into reverse gear with its clean energy policy. In its biannual report on renewables investment, released in May, consultancy EY reported […]
Japan pleads with whaling watchdog to allow 'cultural' hunts
Countries including US, Europe, Australia vehemently oppose small hunts by coastal communities but Japan says are unjustly barred from a traditional food source Japan pleaded with the world’s whaling watchdog Wednesday to allow small hunts by coastal communities, arguing that for three decades these groups had been unjustly barred from a traditional source of food. […]
Oil drilling underway beneath Ecuador's Yasuní national park
Government claims oil extraction is causing minimal disturbance to the Unesco biosphere reserve in the Amazon Ecuador has confirmed that oil drilling has begun under the country’s Yasuní national park, one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. But the government claims that there has been only minimal disturbance to the Unesco biosphere reserve in the Amazon […]
Humans create carbon emissions which spawn Australia's extreme weather – report
State of the Climate report from CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology says human activities have driven ‘significant changes’ to Australia’s climate Carbon emissions from human activities have driven significant changes to the climate in Australia, including about 1C of warming and an increase in extreme hot days and fire weather, according to the latest State […]
Ken Wiwa obituary
Journalist, author and environmental campaigner who served as an adviser to three Nigerian presidents Ken Wiwa, who has died aged 47 after suffering a stroke, was a journalist and author, adviser to three Nigerian presidents and a campaigner for social and environmental justice. As the eldest son of the poet, human rights activist and author […]
Compostable and edible packaging: the companies waging war on plastic
A new generation of manufacturers and scientists is working to tackle the global plastic waste crisis head on Last year Ilana Taub’s startup prevented more than 50 tonnes of apples, bananas, blueberries and raspberries from going to landfill by creating snacks from surplus fruit. But, says the co-founder of Snact, they kept being asked the […]