Large companies will have to report their energy use, CO2 emissions and energy efficiency measures in their annual reports from next April under a new framework set out by the UK government. A previous reporting scheme, called the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, was deemed too complex for businesses and will be closed. The government said it wants businesses and industry to improve energy efficiency by at least 20% by 2030. The new rules will apply to all companies listed on the stock exchange, plus companies and limited liability partnerships with more than 250 employees. They will not apply if it impractical for companies to obtain and publish the data, or where directors believe it would be “seriously prejudicial” to the interests of the company, notes BusinessGreen. Claire Perry, the minister for energy and clean growth, said the government is “determined to help businesses improve their productivity and competitiveness”, reports the Telegraph. “This includes working together to unlock any potential energy and emission savings to help keep bills as low as possible and to support delivery of our ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets,” she said.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday eased rules for handling toxic coal ash from more than 400 US coal-fired power plants. The change pushes back the deadline to close ash dumps and gives state regulators more say in how they deal with the waste piles that result from burning coal for electricity. The rules had been brought in under President Obama in 2015. The EPA said the revision would give flexibility to utility companies and states and save around $30m in regulatory costs, reports Reuters. “Our actions mark a significant departure from the one-size-fits-all policies of the past,” said Andrew Wheeler, acting head of the agency and former lobbyist for coal companies. Environmental groups have strongly criticised the move, says The Hill. In a statement, the Natural Resources Defense Council accused Wheeler of “giving his former clients in the coal industry a pass on having to clean up their toxic waste.” Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that the US Department of Commerce has started an investigation into whether the country’s imports of uranium are a threat to national security, “opening a new front in its escalating series of disputes over international trade”. Domestic production of uranium has dropped from 49% to 5% of US demand since 1987, says The Hill. In related news, The Hill also reports that a federal appeals court has blocked a policy that sought to ignore a regulation limiting sales of trucks that environmental groups call “super-polluting.” The three-judge panel said the stay is intended “to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the emergency motion and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion.” The policy was issued in a memo by former EPA head Scott Pruitt on the day he resigned from the agency. And finally, E&E News reports that Republican congressman Carlos Curbelo has proposed a $23 carbon tax in a draft bill. The legislation would pause federal regulations on climate change in exchange for an escalating tax on CO2 emissions.

Scientists have announced an entirely-new era of geological history known as the Meghalayan Age. The classification by the International Union of Geological Sciences splits the Holocene into three distinct subsections: Greenlandian, Northgrippian and Meghalayan. The last of these – which continues to the present day – started around 4,200 years ago after a worldwide drought wiped out a significant portion of human civilisation. The decision appears to have ruled out an official classification for the Anthropocene Epoch, a proposed geological era that encompassed the advent of humankind and the impact that humans have had on the planet. Carbon Brief has an interactive timeline of the history of the idea of an Anthropocene.

Fossil fuel companies, airlines and utilities outspent environmental groups and the renewable energy industry 10 to 1 on lobbying related to climate change legislation between 2000 and 2016, according to a new analysis. The research, published in the journal Climatic Change, found that spending on federal lobbying aimed at climate issues topped $2bn over the period studied. The analysis shows that electric utilities spent the largest sums, followed by the oil, gas, and coal industries, and transportation sector, respectively, says DeSmogBlog. The companies do sometimes lobby in support of climate legislation, the lead author noted.

Britain is experiencing a “wind drought” that has slowed or halted the blades on turbines around the country, reports the New Scientist. July’s wind energy output so far is down 40% when compared to the same period last year. The cause is the unusually prolonged period of high pressure sitting over the UK summer, the Met Office says. In a statement, a spokesperson for the National Grid said: “Between 4th June and 15th July wind generation was around 30% lower compared to the same period last year. Electricity demand is low and we’re comfortable with the level of spare generation we have available”. The Mail Online also has the story. Elsewhere, the Times reports that it has been the driest start to summer in the UK since modern records began 57 years ago, according to the Met Office.

“Anyone who pays much attention to climate change knows the outlook is grim,” writes Roy Scranton, professor of English at the University of Notre Dame, in the New York Times. Adapting an essay from his book “We’re Doomed. Now What? Essays on War and Climate Change”, Scranton says “it’s not unreasonable to say that the challenge we face today is the greatest the human species has ever confronted. And anyone who pays much attention to politics can assume we’re almost certainly going to botch it”. “I cried two times when my daughter was born. First for joy…and second for sorrow”, Scranton says: “My partner and I had, in our selfishness, doomed our daughter to life on a dystopian planet, and I could see no way to shield her from the future.”

The rate of recovery of corals across the Great Barrier Reef following a disturbance has fallen by up to 84%, a new study suggests. From 1992-2010, Australia’s barrier reef has endured damage as a result of coral bleaching – which can occur when sea temperatures are abnormally high, outbreaks of predatory starfish and cyclones.”A combination of local management actions to reduce chronic disturbances and global action to limit the effect of climate change is urgently required to sustain GBR coral cover and diversity,” the researchers say.

The amount of livestock production tripled has tripled in China in less than 30 years, mainly through the growth of landless production systems and the use of monogastric livestock such as chickens and pigs, new research suggests. Looking to the future, the researchers say the study shows that there is a need “to increase production efficiency and environmental performance at system level, with coupling of crop-livestock production, whole chain manure management, and spatial planning as major components”.