The Carmichael coal mine is a proposed project in theGalilee Basin of Queensland, Australia, which could become one ofthe world’s biggest sources of carbon dioxide emissions. We take alook at the controversial project and how a rare lizard might proveto be an unlikely stumbling block to the mine.

Patience with the political system appears to be wearingthin as residents near Lancashire’s Fylde coast come to terms withthe government’s unveiling last week of a new fracking fast-trackpolicy. The measures would strip local authorities of the right todecide fracking applications unless they approve them swiftly. Toone resident, the government intervention is nothing less than asubversion of democracy: “They are actually changing the laws tosuit themselves, to suit the industry and the lobbyists.

One of the stars of the Edinburgh International Festival hascondemned its organisers for accepting sponsorship from BP. ActorSimon McBurney urged the festival to take responsibility and refusefinancial support from companies who were damaging the environment.McBurney was speaking during a demonstration by BP or not BP, whostaged a day of “guerilla theatre” at various points aroundEdinburgh, including within the festival headquarters,reports The National. BP has supported thefestival for more than 30 years, but the size of the donations areunknown, it says.

Saudi Arabia is burning through its foreign reserves at anunprecedented rate as it struggles to cope with oil pricesplummeting to below $50 a barrel last week, and the soaring costsof waging war in both Yemen and Syria. Venezuela and Nigeria facebankruptcy, and there are fears that the collapse in the oil pricecould trigger a seismic shift in the global balance of power.A separate piecetakes a closer lookat how the “glut of black gold” is affecting countries worldwide.

Households in England are expected to learn within dayswhether their areas have been earmarked for possible fracking. Thegovernment is expected to announce the names of companies who havebeen awarded exploration licences covering an area roughly 1,000square miles, with a further 100 further licences spanning an extra5,000 square miles to be announced in a second batch later thisyear.

Four and a half years after the Fukushima disaster, and asJapan tentatively restarts nuclear power elsewhere, the legalchallenges are mounting for the crippled plant’s operator. Theyinclude a judge’s forced disclosure of a 2008 internal documentprepared for managers at Tokyo Electric Power Co warning of a needfor precautions against an unprecedented nuclear catastrophe. AsJapan fires up nuclear power again, The Conversationaskscan it ever be safe enough?

Tony Abbott is a climate change “villain” who is repeatingthe slogans used by the coal industry in the US, according tobestselling author and social activist Naomi Klein. Klein, who isheading to Australia for a series of public events, said the levelof inaction on climate change in Australia was only matched by hernative Canada. She tells she tells Guardian Australia, “In Canada Ican’t tell where the oil industry ends and the government beginsand in Australia the same is true when it comes to coal.”

With the latest analysis from the International EnergyAgency showing that oil production capacity continues to risedespite the sharp fall in prices, Nick Butler asks is Saudi Arabiaready to admit that its strategy of over-production designed toforce other producers out of the market has failed? A change ofpolicy would probably mean a change of leadership, he concludes,and almost certainly the departure of the deputy crown prince.

A new study investigates the causes of the major drought insoutheast Brazil in 2014. Researchers identified a link betweenwarm ocean temperatures in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean and lowrainfall totals. The study also finds that large high pressure”blocking” weather systems channelled dry air towards the region,while funnelling moisture from the Amazon towards Paraguay,northern Argentina and other parts of Brazil.

Northern Spain could see up to 3.7 fewer days of snowfallper decade through the first half of this century, a new studysuggests. Using 13 regional climate models, researchers estimatedsnowfall days under a scenario where global emissions are reducedto a moderate level. The results show increasing temperatures asthe principal cause of the decrease in snowfall. Earlier researchhas shown a significant decreasing trend in snowfall days in theregion over the last 40 years, the study notes.