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Latest EV results welcomed as signal of growing demand and recovering economy but growth achieved off very low base

Australia has recorded the largest bump ever in electric vehicle imports over the first two months of the year but industry figures say the result is still not good enough.

Import figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday show the dollar value of electric vehicle (EV) imports has grown $104m to $125m in the first two months of 2021, representing an increase of 485% on figures recorded at the same time last year.

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Guardian Australia photographer Mike Bowers has spent the week documenting one of the state’s worst-hit areas, the mid-north coast. The deluge and its aftermath have been horrific, particularly for farmers. WARNING: this gallery contains images of dead animals

• Weather eases but major flooding still occurring across state
• ‘Couldn’t get out’: man who drowned in car stayed on the phone to emergency services for 40 minutes

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Tree felling is helping to restore an ancient ecosystem which can store even more carbon than trees do.

Proposed changes to the national energy market rules aims to prevent ‘traffic jams’ of electricity on sunny days

Australian households with rooftop solar panels could be charged for exporting electricity into the power grid at times when it is not needed under proposed changes to the national electricity market.

The recommendation is included in a draft deliberation by the Australian Energy Market Commission that is designed to prevent “traffic jams” of electricity at sunny times that could destabilise the network.

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A new report on the global supply of finance to fossil fuel companies shows Australia's big four banks are doing terribly.

The post Australia’s big four banks drag heels on fossil fuel finance: new report appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Ed Miliband says party would provide interest-free government loans for up to 1m households

Interest-free government loans should be made available to help up to a million households buy electric cars over the next two years, the shadow business secretary, Ed Miliband, is to argue.

In a speech on Thursday, Miliband will set out Labour’s plans for an “electric vehicle revolution” to promote a rapid increase in the take-up of electric cars as the UK moves towards net zero carbon.

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Moody’s Investor Services (MIS) will begin explicitly breaking out environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risk factors and listing them alongside credit ratings this year, panellists at a corporate governance event heard Wednesday.

Households may soon be taxed for solar exports sent back to the grid, but the rule maker promises this will eliminate current constraints on exports and make the system fairer.

The post Solar tax: Networks to charge households to export solar power to grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Voluntary emissions reduction (VER) generators are still facing disproportionate levels of scrutiny compared to the behaviours of corporate buyers, despite efforts of project proponents to work with communities and incorporate more social and economic goals, a REDD+ developer said Wednesday.

California Carbon Offset (CCO) issuances hit a four-month low this week as state regulator ARB doled out fewer than 200,000 new credits, according to data published Wednesday.

A proposed Quebec liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal may provide few long-term climate benefits if constructed, with declining future foreign demand potentially making the facility redundant, according to a government report published Wednesday.

Another surge in EUA prices risks Poland’s electricity supply if the EU fails to intervene, the country’s biggest power generator PGE warned on Wednesday as Polish and EU officials touted prospects for the bloc's recovery funds to clean the grid.

Toxicologist Jon Heylings speaks of his long-held concerns over paraquat, which is linked to thousands of deaths globally

‘A sip can kill’: did a chemical company misrepresent data to avoid making a safer product?

A scientist with one of the world’s largest chemical firms took the difficult decision to speak out publicly when “a new generation” of managers rejected concerns about a mass produced weedkiller that he had been expressing for decades.

Going public has been a “relief”, says toxicologist Jon Heylings. He worked for 28 years for Syngenta, formerly ICI, where his efforts focused on developing safer formulations of the herbicide paraquat. But in 1990 he began consistently raising internal concerns about the handling of what was one of the company’s bestselling products.

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A former Syngenta scientist alleges lives could have been saved with tweaks to the formulation of weedkiller paraquat

• Scientist tells of relief after speaking out over weedkiller fears

Around the world, the deadly dangers of a weedkiller called paraquat are well known. When working with the highly toxic herbicide, farmers and other users take care not to splash or spill even small amounts of the product, heeding regulatory warnings that just a tiny amount – if swallowed – will kill them.

Related: Revealed: Monsanto owner and US officials pressured Mexico to drop glyphosate ban

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We were supposed to have a 'climate election' in 2019. New research looked at attitudes to climate change in Australia, and may explain why that didn't pan out. Rebecca Colvin, Senior lecturer, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Frank Jotzo, Director, Centre for Climate and Energy Policy, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Rangers hope reintroduction of once eradicated species will help manage habitat and improve biodiversity

The beaver needed no encouragement. After a 500-mile road trip from the banks of a Scottish river to a hidden valley on the edge of England’s rolling South Downs, the sights and smells of a woodland pond were all it took.

As soon as his straw-lined travel crate was opened, the creature padded out, glided smoothly into the water and began a careful examination of his new home.

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Government of Scotland in line for windfall after lifting cap on maximum bids

The Scottish government is in line for a windfall of up to £860m from a forthcoming auction of Scottish seabed plots for windfarms, after lifting a cap on maximum bids following a runaway auction in England and Wales.

Crown Estate Scotland had planned to cap the amount developers could offer for a seabed lease at £10,000 per square kilometre, but under new rules the bidding will be allowed to swell to a maximum £100,000 per sq km.

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Scheme will not come into effect in England, Wales and Northern Ireland until at least six years after it was announced

A promised deposit return scheme for plastic bottles to cut marine pollution will not be in place in England, Wales and Northern Ireland until late 2024 at the earliest – six years after it was announced by the government as a key environmental policy.

Critics said the delay was “embarrassing” and not the sign of a government committed to tackling plastic pollution.

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A rare environment on Australia's Lord Howe Island has faced a complex battle for survival.

The potential of soils to slow climate change by soaking up carbon may be less than previously thought

The storage potential of one of the Earth’s biggest carbon sinks – soils – may have been overestimated, research shows. This could mean ecosystems on land soaking up less of humanity’s emissions than expected, and more rapid global heating.

Soils and the plants that grow in them absorb about a third of the carbon emissions that drive the climate crisis, partly limiting the impact of fossil-fuel burning. Rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere can increase plant growth and, until now, it was assumed carbon storage in soils would increase too.

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