Environment

Scientists at the James Hutton Institute are calling for hillwalkers to take part in a countrywide citizen science project to help create the first ever map of alpine soil biodiversity across Scotland’s highest peaks. Picture: Andrea Britton/JHI

High ambitions: How hillwalkers can help science – without donating body parts

Wood group have benefited from the deal

Experts call for crackdown over 'green' financial products after Wood deal

The UK Government has announced a threshold under which the additional windfall tax on oil and gas profits would be eliminated. Picture: PA.

Windfall tax to be eliminated if oil prices fall a little lower

Aldi has deployed a new laser deterrent system – which uses light beams to trick birds into thinking there is a predator in the vicinity, prompting them to flee – to stop seagulls nesting on the roof of its Bathgate distribution facility

How to stop seagulls pooing on solar panels and damaging buildings with ‘bombs’

A herring gull

Passions: How can we hate seagulls when they are just like us?

'The carbon intensity of the energy network is important, but so too is the energy efficiency of a data centre,' says the DataVita boss. Picture: contributed.

'Check your data centre is helping your journey to net zero, not hindering it'

Protesters from Ocean Rebellion demonstrate next to an oil platform on the banks of the river Tay, calling for a halt to plans to open the giant Rosebank oil field, off Shetland, which could yield up to 500 million barrels of oil. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Protesters act out dangers of drilling giant North Sea oil field

People take photos of the sun as smoke from the wildfires in Canada cause hazy conditions in New York City. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

‘The show must not go on’: Broadway shows cancelled due to wildfires in Canada

The deposit return scheme has been delayed until 2025. Image: Press Association.

Businesses call for compensation over deposit return scheme

Scottish Green Party co-leader Lorna Slater has been heading the decision on bracken herbicide permission (pic: Jane Barlow/PA)

'It could cost lives': Farmers reach tipping point over herbicide decision

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said the blaze, near Cannich, has now been contained, but crews would remain at the scene until it is “safe to leave” (pic: FLS)

Analysis: We can all do one thing to help prevent wildfires

Gamekeepers putting out a wildfire in the Highlands (pic: Scottish Gamekeepers Association)

What's the latest advice on how to manage Scottish moorlands with wildfire risk?

Scotland's DRS would save 160,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually in its proposed form, but would lose more than a quarter of these emissions savings if glass is removed from the scheme, according to figures from Zero Waste Scotland. Picture: Warren Media

Would the deposit return recycling scheme slash greenhouse gas emissions?

Beinn a' Ghlo and its three Munro summits, in Perthshire, is popular with walkers but ad hoc parking had led to environmental damage and littering. Picture: OATS

How a new car park will help protect Scottish mountains

Peatland restoration work is being scaled up at Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park in a bid to tackle climate change

For peat’s sake: Ramping up restoration in Scotland’s original national park

Steel recycling is currently a high-carbon activity, using plenty of fossil fuel.

Scotland has a unique opportunity to create a greener steel industry

Lorna Slater is the minister for green skills, circular economy and biodiversity. Picture: PA

Lorna Slater confirms deposit return plans scrapped in current form

Picture: Andy Buchanan - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Rosebank would still go ahead under Labour if given approval, says Anas Sarwar

An urgent meeting between the Scottish Government and CalMac has been called amid 'disappointment' over ferry company's communication (pic: National World)

Urgent meeting called with CalMac amid Scottish Government 'disappointment'

SSE – which is led by CEO Alistair Phillips-Davies (pictured) – had its fine reduced for settling the investigation early. Picture: contributed.

Perth-headquartered energy giant SSE fined £9.8m by Ofgem for overcharging

First Minister Humza Yousaf

Deposit return scheme: "Real possibility" scheme will be scrapped this week

Residents on South Uist have been protesting the latest CalMac ferry cancellation announcement (pic: Robert Kelly)

'Are we still paying for 1745?' South Uist fury over CalMac ferry chaos

The Conservatives are accusing the SNP and Labour of throwing the North East under a bus. Image: Press Association.

Tories accuse SNP and Labour of throwing the North East “under a bus”

Analysis of the Scottish Government's consultation on the proposed Land Reform Bill have been released (Katharine Hay/The Scotsman)

Land Reform consultation highlights little trust in Scottish Government

The projects promise to create new haulage routes away from busy villages, build passing places on narrow roads, upgrade existing fragile highways and promote the shipping of timber by sea. Picture: Creel Maritime Ltd

String of Scottish timber transport projects to benefit from £4m funding

Rebecca and her brother Tom when they were growing up at South Lodge (pic: Rebecca Smith)

Rural: The Lives of the Working Class Countryside review

The damage done by a wild fire at Tentsmuir (Pic: Forestry and Land Scotland)

Ranger assaulted for asking someone to put out campfire

There was so much smoke from a wildfire at Cannich, near Loch Ness, this week that it could be seen from space (Picture: Scottish Fire and Rescue Service)

Greens’ macho critics are aged toddlers clinging to Big Oil's comfort blanket

The fire at Cannich, which broke out several days ago, has been brought under control but firefighters remain on the scene. Picture: FLS

Highland wildfire under control but fire crews will stay until ‘safe to leave’

A red rockpool near the New Aberdour Caves on the Moray First Coast. PIC: SEPA.

'Red rockpools' warning issued with dog walkers told to stay away

Droughts like this one in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan, in 2021 can force people to leave their homes (Picture: Hoshang Hashimi/AFP via Getty Images)

Increasing heat is already a factor in human migration – new study

People need to have access to nature to be able to build up respect for it (Katharine Hay/The Scotsman)

People need access to nature to see it in order to build respect for it

Swedish climate activist and author Greta Thunberg, who made rose to fame when she began skipping school as a 15-year-old to protest each week against inaction on climate targets outside Sweden's parliament. Picture: Kim Jakobsen To

Climate activist Greta Thunberg to star at Edinburgh International Book Festival

Creel fishermen say the government should listen to them when drafting up HPMAs. Image: Press Association.

Creel fishers urge government to listen to them when drafting up HPMAs

Rockall sits 200 miles west of the Outer Hebrides and is where adventurer Cam Cameron plans to spend the next 60 days. PIC: Óglaigh na hÉireann/CC.

Three men land on Rockall as 60-day survival challenge begins

Wardie Bay, which lies just off Lower Granton Road, Edinburgh, has been designated bathing status by the Scottish Government (pic: Katharine Hay/The Scotsman)

Wild swimming: New designated bathing spot announced for Scotland

Smoke from the wildfire at Cannich, near Loch Ness, can now be seen from space. Picture: Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

Smoke from massive wildfire visible from space

Children meeting working dogs during the Estate that Educate open days. Picture: Kirk Norbury

Estates teach children about foraging, plucking game and shooting

International Beverage Holdings has invested heavily in a package of 'innovative green technology' at the distillery site on Speyside.

200-year-old whisky distillery that 'wasn’t built for efficiency' goes green

The first deals struck by the UK post-Brexit will come into force on Wednesday. Picture: AFP via Getty Images

Scotland’s producers deserve better than ‘rushed through’ UK trade deals

The dark-bordered beauty moth is just one of the invertebrate species at the centre of conservation work by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland

How 'breed and release' is keeping Scotland's wee bugs and beasties alive

Firefighters try to keep flames from burning home from spreading to a neighboring apartment complex as they battle the Camp Fire in 2018 in Paradise, California (Picture: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Legal action looms after 88 fossil fuel firms blamed for half of global warming

The photograph of the HMS Challenger research team who were based at 32 Queen Street, Edinburgh. The frame is made of wood taken from the ship's mast. PIC: NMS.

Rare photograph found in Edinburgh second-hand shop left to nation

The introduction of a deposit return scheme has turned into a constitutional argument.

Deposit return scheme argument exposes 'broken union', says Lorna Slater

Pro-independence MSPs have rallied round embattled Green minister Lorna Slater (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

UK Tories have played into hands of SNP and Lorna Slater over recycling scheme

Campers and walkers have been warned to avoid any naked flames to cut the risk of igniting 'tinder-dry' vegetation after a spring with very low rainfall

Wildfire warning as firefighters hurt in giant week-long blaze in the Highlands

Sam Heughan. Picture: John Devlin

Sam Heughan issues ‘call to action’ to young Scots on climate emergency

Mr Ward said Rottal is managed in a way to integrate both traditional land use and other business interests (pic: Graeme Hart/Perthshire Picture Agency)

Scottish estate owner appointed as new leader of landowner membership group

Scottish Conservative MSP Rachael Hamilton says Scottish local authorities should follow Cornwall Council's lead on source local motion (pic: Katharine Hay/The Scotsman)

Scottish councils should follow 'fantastic' Cornwall 'source local' model

Scots are set to bask in the UK's hottest spring day of 2023. with the mercury expected to hit 25C on Wednesday -- but there will be a geographical divide, with the west expected to be as much as 10C warmer than eastern coasts. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

Why this weekend is set to be so warm in Scotland as hottest day forecast

UK Labour says it will block new licences for developing oil and gas in the North Sea if it wins the next general election. Image: PA.

Scottish Labour says it will not impose 'cliff-edge' end to North Sea oil

The proposed Dal Riata distillery

The ongoing whisky renaissance in Campbeltown

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is expected to announce the party's net zero energy strategy during a visit to Scotland's oil and gas heartland in Aberdeen next month. Picture: Robert Perry/PA

Labour plan to ban new North Sea oil and gas branded ‘pie in the sky’

MarineFest, a five-day celebration of all things related to the sea, will kick off at the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick on World Ocean Day, 8 June. Festival-goers can also watch this year's nesting puffins using the centre's wildlife cams or take a boat trip to nearby islands. Picture: Nicol Nicolson

Festival to showcase Scotland’s seas and celebrate World Ocean Day

The area around Loch Maree, near Ullapool, pictured in 2009, is not usually subject to concerns about water scarcity (Picture: Getty Images)

Scotland has too little rain? In May?! – Scotsman comment

Members of the Knoydart Foundation outside the community pub (Knoydart Foundation)

Knoydart community reject government 4G mast plan as 'disproportionate'

Slater accuses UK Government of 'utter disregard for devolution' over DRS plan

Surveys on An Teallach show the impacts of heavy footfall from walkers and the increasingly extreme Scottish weather, which are speeding up erosion and causing damage to mountain habitats. Picture: OATS

Climate change, hillwalkers and Brexit take toll on Scottish mountains

First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf has been urged to appoint a junior minister to support the rural affairs portfolio (Andy Buchanan/PA)

Humza Yousaf urged to appoint extra help for 'immense' rural affairs portfolio

Rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon says there will be "no cliff edges" when it comes to financial support for farmers in Scotland (pic: PA)

'There will not be cliff edges when it comes to support for farmers'

Herring gulls are watching us and learning what's good to eat (Picture: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds made real? Herring gulls are watching us...

Projects like Berwick Bank Wind Farm can power a green revolution - Pic credit Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm Ltd

Ad Feature Scotland’s offshore wind power potential: podcast

Sam Petrie, Hayley Dorian and Naomi Brehm from the Wild Sea Women swimming group get ready for a dip in the sea at Seaburn beach in Sunderland -- the women have been taking part in a unique study which sought to identify biological changes in the body caused by exposure to cold water. Picture: David Wood

Scottish women sought for study into health benefits of cold-water plunge

The scheme, designed to offer young people the opportunity to train across the firm's supply chain, will be rolled out on all future consented onshore wind farms.

Vattenfall wind farm programme to create 50 Scottish apprenticeships

People wait at a road block as smoke rises from a wildfire near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, on May 6, 2016 (Picture: Cole Burston/AFP via Getty Images)

Wildfires are pushing peatlands towards terrifying climate change tipping point

A view overlooking Threave Nature Reserve where a 100 year project is underway to restore the land to its most natural state (pic: National Trust Scotland)

A closer look at a disused dairy turned wildlife haven

Dualling of the A9 road has been forefront of debate given recent deaths on the road. Picture: John Devlin

Scotland records deadliest year for road deaths since 2016

'As a Scottish-headquartered business, we are incredibly proud to be one of the biggest investors in Scotland,' says SSE boss Alistair Phillips Davies. Picture: Stuart Nicol.

SSE announces £40bn major injection in clean energy, creating thousands of jobs

The Scotsman Top Stories

The new transport minister will face calls to get a grip on the crisis in Scotland's ferry network

Humza Yousaf to appoint new transport minister at the start of next week

Angus Robertson, SNP MSP for Edinburgh Central, and Daniel Johnson, Labour MSP for Edinburgh Southern.

SNP and Labour MSPs unite against boundary changes to key Edinburgh seats

Scientists at the James Hutton Institute are calling for hillwalkers to take part in a countrywide citizen science project to help create the first ever map of alpine soil biodiversity across Scotland’s highest peaks. Picture: Andrea Britton/JHI

High ambitions: How hillwalkers can help science – without donating body parts