Ocean waste, air pollution and Madagascar's vanilla wars – green news roundup

Plastic bag floating over reef in the ocean, Costa Rica. Photograph: mattpaul/Getty Images/RooM RF

Environment news

• IEA accused of undermining global shift from fossil fuels
  
• Drop in plastic bags littering British seas linked to introduction of 5p charge
  
• Air pollution: UK government’s failed legal battles cost taxpayers £500,000
  
• Shell threatened with legal action over climate change contributions
• Underwater melting of Antarctic ice far greater than thought, study finds
  
• EPA announces easing of car and truck emissions standards
• UK to tighten laws on ‘abhorrent’ ivory trade
• Scottish gamekeeper banned over alleged goshawk persecution
• Swansea tidal lagoon project faces job cuts and downsizing

In depth

Madagascar’s vanilla wars. Photograph: Jonathan Watts for the Guardian

• Murray-Darling: when the river runs dry
• When nature says ‘Enough!’: the river that appeared overnight in Argentina
• Only revolutionary new laws can stop Brexit harming the environment
• Madagascar’s vanilla wars: prized spice drives death and deforestation
• Scientists examine threats to food security if we meet the Paris climate targets | John Abraham

Multimedia

• Underwater with Sri Lanka’s sperm whales – in pictures
  
• The dramatic melting of Arctic icebergs – in pictures
  
• The week in wildlife – in pictures

And finally ...

• Climate change threatens rare British orchid that tricks bees into mating