If Europe’s 300 coal plants run to the end of their natural lifespans, the bloc will “vastly overshoot” its Paris climate pledge, according to new research. The report from non-profit research outfit, Climate Analytics, says emissions from coal will need to be phased out completely in the next 15 years in order to meet targets, adding that the 11 planned and announced plants would raise EU emissions to almost twice the levels required to keep warming to the Paris agreement’s long term temperature goal. While some countries, including the UK, have a planned coal phase out date of 2030 already in place, the biggest political obstacles are in Germany and Poland, notes Climate Home, which are collectively responsible for more than half of EU coal emissions. The EU’s lead negotiator has indicated that a 95% emissions cut would be needed by 2050 to cap warming at 1.5C, significantly higher than the 80% pledged in Paris, notes the Guardian. Carbon Pulse has more on the report, which is set to feed into a review of the EU’s Paris targets next year.

Work has restarted on the controversial Dakota Access crude oil pipeline in North Dakota, according to Energy Transfer Partners, the company leading the $3.8bn project. The US Army Corps of Engineers granted a crucial permit, known as an “easement”, following an order last month from President Trump that work on the final section of the pipeline should get underway. Energy Transfer says it expects to have the pipeline in service by the end of June, having received all the federal authorisations it needs “to proceed expeditiously”. The pipeline, which will be able to carry up to 570,000 barrels of crude per day, faces further legal challenges and protests because of the long term implications for greenhouse gas emissions and the risks of spills. New court action is expected from the Native American Standing Rock tribe on the grounds that the pipeline violates their treaty rights, reports The Hill though New Scientist says legal experts suggest the tribe faces long odds in convincing any court to halt work on the pipeline.

Wind power expanded so much in 2016 that it is now the largest source of renewable electricity capacity in the United States and the fourth-largest energy source overall, according to new research. The American Wind Energy Association said wind energy grew at its second-fastest pace ever during the last three months of 2016, exceeding the generating capacity of hydroelectric power for the first time. While wind power has more than tripled in capacity since 2008, there has been little market interest in building more big hydroelectric generating stations, says The New York Times.

Time could be running out for a species of penguin being driven to extinction, reports MailOnline. Research conducted by University of Exeter suggests endangered African penguins are in peril, with the dual impact of climate change and fishing forcing young birds to fish in waters with little to feed on. Dr Richard Sherley from the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter and lead author on the study, told MailOnline that “rapid shifts caused by climate change and fishing mean these signs can now lead them to places where these fish, the penguins’ main prey, are scarce”. The study used satellite trackers on 54 juvenile penguins from eight colonies covering the species’ breeding and feeding grounds off the coast of Namibia. The Independent also covers the new research. Carbon Brief talks to scientists about the significance of the study, which is the first to show climate change’s role in setting up these so called “ecological traps”.

Authorities have confirmed there is no risk of contamination from an explosion that occurred at EDF’s Flamanville nuclear plant in northern France on Thursday. The blast in the engine room in the non-nuclear zone was caused by a fire in the turbine hall but “immediately mastered” by emergency services, causing no casualties or cause for concern about the safety of the installations, EDF said yesterday. The incident comes amid industry turmoil, says Ars Technica, with public opinion and economics challenging the popularity of nuclear energy in Europe.

Dr Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s climate research, reflects on the fallout from the Mail on Sunday’s botched “expose” on climate science last weekend, which contained false accusations of misconduct by US scientists. It’s a familiar pattern of events, he says, that despite a healthy amount of debunking “refuting the initial specific claims and demolishing the wilder extrapolations”, none of the responses have the narrative power of the original meme, despite being far more accurate. He adds: “The next stages are easy to predict as well – the issues of ‘process’ will be lost in the noise, the fake overreaction will dominate the wider conversation and become an alternative fact to be regurgitated in twitter threads and blog comments for years…no papers will be redacted, no science will change, and the actual point (one presumes) of the ‘process’ complaint (to encourage better archiving practices) gets set back because it’s associated with such obvious nonsense.”

A new paper reviews recent public perception studies on hydraulic fracturing in the US and Canada. Overall, the 58 studies report mixed levels of awareness of shale operations, the researchers say, tending toward higher awareness in areas with existing development. Individuals tend to have negative associations with the term ‘fracking,’ the study finds, but views vary on whether the benefits of shale development outweigh risks. The perceived benefits tend to be economic (e.g., job creation and boosts to local economies), while the risks are more commonly environmental and/or social (e.g., impacts on water and increased traffic).

Declines in spring mountain snowpack, summer soil moisture, and vegetation moisture across western mountain ranges in the US will increase the risk of wildfires, a new study says. Climate projections for this century suggest that decreasing snowfall and earlier spring snowmelt will reduce the snow season for many of the mountain ranges in the region. Combined with warmer, drier summers, this will leave forested areas drier and more susceptible to fires, the researchers say.