Albanese government has already telegraphed budget will include $566m over 10 years to map Australia’s soil and seabed for gasfield exploration and $100m to speed up environmental approvals Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has attempted to head off a caucus backlash against the Albanese government’s future gas strategy by promising there “won’t be any new money” for the plan in next week’s budget. The resources minister, Madeleine King, released the government’s gas ro ..read more

Coconut biodiesel offers a cheaper alternative to fuel imports and scientists in the Pacific country are looking at how to use it more widely On Karkar island in Papua New Guinea, hundreds of coconut trees stand tall, stretching far into the distance. Decades ago, the fruit was a lucrative export but over the years it has become less prized on international markets. Now, the small island off the north coast of the country, is putting coconuts to another use ..read more

Move suggests homes will rely on electricity for low-carbon heating well into the future A third pilot project to test the use of hydrogen heating in homes has been shelved by the UK government in the clearest sign to date that households will rely on electricity for low-carbon heating in the coming decades. The government said it would shelve plans to develop a “hydrogen town” to test whether hydrogen could help to heat homes at scale before taking a final decision after 2026 ..read more

Fighting spirit helped us achieve the Paris accords in 2015 – and we need it now the world is on course to overshoot 1.5C • ‘Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair • Christiana Figueres was the head of the UN climate change convention from 2010 to 2016 “Hopeless and broken”: that is how a top scientist interviewed by the Guardian described feeling as she and hundreds of other climate experts shared harrowing predictions of the future of the planet this week. I resonate with her feelings of despair. Even as the former head of the UN climate change convention ..read more

Trump promised to 20 executives at Mar-a-Lago dinner to increase oil drilling and reverse pollution rules among other pitches Donald Trump dangled a brazen “deal” in front of some of the top US oil bosses last month, proposing that they give him $1bn for his White House re-election campaign and vowing that once back in office he would instantly tear up Joe Biden’s environmental regulations and prevent any new ones, according to a bombshell new report. According to the Washington Post, the former US president made his jaw-dropping pitch, which the paper described as “remarkably blunt and transa ..read more

Resource minister Madeleine King released the party’s future gas strategy which says new sources will be needed ‘to 2050 and beyond’ Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is facing an internal revolt with Labor backbenchers pushing back against the government’s support for new gas production. Five inner-city MPs have criticised the government’s gas strategy, arguing it will overshadow progress on clean energy. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup ..read more

If passed, the groundbreaking measure could be a model for other states to hold fossil fuel companies liable Vermont is poised to pass a groundbreaking measure forcing major polluting companies to help pay for damages caused by the climate crisis, in a move being closely watched by other states including New York and California. Modeled after the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program, which forces companies to pay for toxic waste cleanup, the climate superfund bill would charge major fossil fuel companies doing business within the state billions of dollars for their past emission ..read more

The plan announced on Thursday offers the gas industry – and Western Australia in particular – everything it could want Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast The bottom line of the “future gas strategy” isn’t what it might mean for the government’s political fortunes, despite what Labor pollsters and political commentators might argue. It’s this: the gas industry, one of Australia’s biggest greenhouse gas polluters, is getting what it wants. What it wants, in simple terms, is government approval to make multibillion-dollar investments in new gas reservoirs ..read more

The discovery of these underwater hot springs in 1977 solved the mystery of how life first began on Earth, but it was locating the world’s most famous shipwreck that made me a celebrity The mid-ocean ridge is where the Earth creates its outer skin. It’s called the boundary of creation. We knew there was life on the bottom of the ocean but not entire ecosystems supporting large animals until our expedition went down there in 1977. First, we sent down an unmanned vehicle called Angus, which was essentially a camera system and strobe lights within a two-tonne steel cage. It was going down in the ..read more

Chris O’Shea, CEO of Centrica, says mandatory installation programme would cut cost of creating a smart grid The boss of British Gas has called for households to face mandatory smart meter installations weeks after government figures showed that almost 4m meters are not working. Chris O’Shea, the chief executive of the British Gas owner Centrica, told a committee of MPs that smart meters should be installed in all homes through a “street by street” programme, in order to cut the costs of creating a smart grid ..read more