River Action bringing legal action against water regulator over who should foot bill for firms’ past failures to invest
Ofwat is unlawfully allowing water companies to charge customers twice to fund more than £100bn of investment to reduce sewage pollution, campaigners will allege in court on Tuesday.
Lawyers for River Action say the bill increases being allowed by Ofwat – which amount to an average of £123 a year per household – mean customers will be paying again for improvements to achieve environmental compliance that should have been funded from their previous bills.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/04/2025 - 00:01
11/03/2025 - 23:12
Rescued bats taken to RSPCA wildlife hospital in Brisbane’s south-west with injuries including ‘faces that were smashed and broken wings’
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When a severe hailstorm hit the tiny Queensland township of Esk on the weekend, it wasn’t just people ducking for cover.
Almost 120 flying foxes were injured, some critically, before being rescued by volunteers and admitted to the RSPCA wildlife hospital in Wacol, in Brisbane’s south-west.
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11/03/2025 - 20:43
Nature legislation should not cede such ‘significant powers’ to a minister even in ‘national interest’, thinktank says
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Political integrity experts have raised concerns about Labor’s proposed new nature laws, including a contentious new “national interest” exemption, as pressure mounts on the Albanese government to rethink major parts of the reform.
As debate on legislation to overhaul the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act resumes in the lower house on Tuesday, the Centre for Public Integrity has identified several “integrity risks” that threaten to undermine attempts to fix the broken system.
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11/03/2025 - 12:00
The climate crisis is causing the permafrost to melt in Alaska, forcing the village of Nunapitchuk to relocate
Children splash gleefully in the river as adults cast fishing lines or head into the Alaska tundra to hunt. It’s a scene that has characterized summer days for centuries among the Yup’ik people who have long lived in south-western Alaska, where the village of Nunapitchuk stands. But, with temperatures in Alaska warming nearly four times faster than most parts of the globe, that way of life is about to change.
Homes in Nunapitchuk have been sinking into the permafrost, and residents have decided their only choice is to move the entire village to higher ground.
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11/03/2025 - 10:00
New report on funding to slash carbon emissions finds startlingly low engagement with the people affected
Less than 3% of international aid to slash carbon emissions is supporting a “just transition” for workers and communities away from polluting industries, according to a new report.
Released one week before the start of major United Nations climate negotiations in Belém, Brazil, the analysis from the climate and development non-profit ActionAid warns that the world’s response to the climate crisis risks deepening inequality rather than addressing it.
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11/03/2025 - 09:00
The Nationals argue the 2050 emissions target is already causing financial pain and the rest of the world is walking away from it. Neither of these things is true
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After months of threatening, the junior Coalition partner has finally withdrawn its support for the national target of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
“We are pegging ourselves to what the rest of the world does,” the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, claimed on Monday.
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11/03/2025 - 06:30
Labor announces ‘solar sharer’ program for households in NSW, south-east Queensland and South Australia
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Australian households in three states will be promised access to at least three hours a day of free solar power, regardless of whether they have rooftop panels, the federal government has announced.
The “solar sharer” offer will be available to homes with smart meters – which is the majority of homes – in New South Wales, south-east Queensland and South Australia from July next year, with other areas to potentially follow in 2027.
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11/03/2025 - 01:17
Old Faithful, measuring more than 4 metres, rehomed to Sunshine Coast facility after removal from far north Queensland waterhole
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An “iconic” saltwater crocodile has been transported more than 1,600km to Australia Zoo – made famous by Steve Irwin – almost two months after its controversial removal from its far north Queensland habitat.
But while the Sunshine Coast zoo said it was proud to become the “forever home” of Old Faithful, as the crocodile that measures longer than 4 metres is known, traditional owners said they were “very upset” by the outcome, which conservationists describe as a “cover-up”.
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11/03/2025 - 01:00
Texas-based fossil fuel company financed Atlas Network in attempt to derail UN-led climate treaty process
Exxon funded rightwing thinktanks to spread climate change denial across Latin America, according to hundreds of previously unpublished documents that reveal a coordinated campaign to make the global south “less inclined” to support the UN-led climate treaty process.
The documents, which include copies of the actual cheques Exxon sent, consist of internal documents and years of correspondence between the Texas-based fossil fuel company and Atlas Network, a US-based coalition of more than 500 free-market thinktanks and other partners worldwide.
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11/03/2025 - 00:00
Researchers to investigate whether environmental factors may have affected female animal’s pigmentation
An amateur photographer in southern Spain has captured unprecedented images of a white Iberian lynx, prompting researchers to investigate whether environmental factors could be at play as wildlife watchers revelled in the rare sighting.
Ángel Hidalgo published the images on social media, describing the singular animal as the “white ghost of the Mediterranean forest”.
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