Blue & Green Daily: Monday 28 April headlines

Blue & Green Daily finds and summarises the top sustainability stories around the web every morning. We start with our own picks from Blue & Green Tomorrow.

Wildlife Trusts sets out ‘greener vision’ for HS2

US unprepared for Arctic oil spill, study warns

Boris Johnson announces London local energy scheme

RBS bonuses blocked by government

Green deal failing despite ‘breathtaking spending’

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28 April headlines

Energy companies ‘to reap £2bn windfall’ from green levies deal

Britain’s biggest energy suppliers could pocket a £2 billion windfall over the next three years after the government miscalculated a deal to cut green levies, new research claims. Households face overpaying £23 a year for an energy efficiency scheme, unless suppliers cut bills or are made to use the money to install more installation, analysis suggests. Telegraph.

Agreement reached on deep sea mining

Plans to open the world’s first mine in the deep ocean have moved significantly closer to becoming a reality. The controversial project aims to extract ores of copper, gold and other valuable metals from a depth of 1,500m. Environmental campaigners say mining the ocean floor will prove devastating, causing lasting damage to marine life. BBC.

Boycott Morocco plea to UK tourists over Western Sahara ‘abuses’

It has been described as the conflict the Arab spring forgot, the last colony in Africa and a human rights scandal. Now British holidaymakers are being urged to respond to the situation in Western Sahara by boycotting its occupier, Morocco, as a destination. Guardian.

Food price alert as experts warn of new El Nino

Experts are warning of the probable return this summer of the El Nino weather cycle, bringing with it the usual climatic extremes of drought and floods across some of the world’s most fertile food-producing basins. Occurring every five to ten years, El Nino usually means higher wholesale food prices for a range of staples and bullish agriculture commodity markets. Telegraph.

US and China lift climate change hopes with new phase of talks

China and the US have begun an ambitious new phase of talks on curbing their carbon dioxide emissions that observers say is the most promising development in nearly 20 years of climate change negotiations. A lack of the co-ordination between the two superpowers, whose combined emissions nearly match the rest of the world’s put together, has helped torpedo previous rounds of international climate talks. Financial Times.

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Interesting picks

EU must address energy needs of eastern members – Financial Times

Stephen Fitzpatrick: taking on the big six energy firms – BBC

Should wind power in the UK be scaled back? – Guardian

Why would anyone quit the City for social finance? – Guardian

Photo: Sanja gjenero via Freeimages