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Conceptual still-life photographer Ted Humble-Smith celebrates 50 years of world-beating technology.

Report says Boris Johnson’s lack of climate leadership risks missing target and embarrassing UK at Cop26

• Road to net zero: what the Committee on Climate Change recommends
  

The UK is falling behind on its target to cut greenhouse gas emissions and risks a surge in carbon emissions as lockdown eases, the government’s climate advisers warn.

Ministers must act fast if the UK is to avoid a massive rebound in carbon emissions after the coronavirus crisis eases, Lord Deben, chair of the committee on climate change (CCC), which published its progress report to parliament on Thursday, said. By setting up new schemes to insulate homes, raise carbon taxes, switch to electric vehicles and improve broadband, the government could spur a green recovery to create jobs and cut emissions permanently.

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The government adviser publishes its progress report today. Here are the areas it says require urgent attention

• Act fast to stop UK carbon emission rebound, climate advisers urge

The government’s statutory adviser, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), publishes its progress report on Thursday on efforts to cut emissions. This is what it says needs to happen urgently if the UK is to reach its target of hitting net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

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WWF Australia says after new analysis that federal department is failing to enforce environmental laws

More than a million hectares of threatened species’ habitat was cleared for agriculture in New South Wales and Queensland without referral to the federal environment department for assessment, according to new analysis by WWF Australia.

Data for land-clearing in both states suggests the department is failing to ensure developers and farming operations are following environmental laws, according to the analysis.

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Bipartisan Congressional legislation to help farmers and landowners participate in voluntary carbon markets could aid a sector that has recently experienced economic turmoil through trade wars and declining margins, agriculture groups and other stakeholders said Wednesday.

California granted more than 1.9 million new compliance offsets this week as the bulk of the credits went to a Washington-based forestry project on tribal lands, according to data published by regulator ARB on Wednesday.

German investors want the government to more than double the starting price for the country’s domestic carbon tax for transport and heating, which is due to launch next year.

EUA prices set a new four-month high on Wednesday despite heavy selling in other markets and experts warning that carbon is due a similar correction.

A Wisconsin-based compliance offset project violated state regulations after a waste storage facility leaked into the groundwater and caused contamination, according to documents published this month.

Small bird can forage more efficiently when Antarctic sea ice is sparse, research finds

Adélie penguin populations could boom in coming years, according to research revealing the small birds find it easier to forage when sea ice is sparse around continental Antarctica.

While sea ice extent has increased in the Antarctic over recent decades, in the past few years it has fallen dramatically – a matter of deep concern in the scientific community.

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The job losses will be equivalent to the entire local coal industry if the renewable energy target is not replaced

Up to 11,000 renewable energy workers are expected to lose their jobs over the next two years under current government policies, according to a university analysis.

If correct, the loss of jobs would be equivalent to the abolition of the domestic-focused coal industry, which employs a little more than 10,000 people in mining thermal coal for local use and running Australia’s coal-fired power plants.

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The EU’s 27 member states agreed on Wednesday on a common position for the €40 billion Just Transition Fund (JTF) aimed at supporting the bloc’s coal dependent and energy-intensive regions, with negotiations to finalise the bill expected to begin after the summer break.

The European Commission is working on a legislative proposal to incentivise EU-wide GHG removals using nature-based solutions and plans to launch a certification scheme in 2023, a senior Commission official said on Wednesday.

Solar and battery project planned for NSW Riverina region put on fast-track in third tranche of state government’s Planning System Acceleration Program.

The post Yanco solar and big battery project fast-tracked by NSW government appeared first on RenewEconomy.

First section of Goldwind Australia's 312MW Moorabool wind farm in central-western Victoria completed, and first turbine of second section fully installed.

The post First section of massive Moorabool wind farm completed in Victoria appeared first on RenewEconomy.

If the government plots a green recovery from coronavirus, the benefits are endless. If it doesn’t, we’re screwed

Trillions of dollars will be invested by governments in reviving their economies over the next two or three years. If those dollars are well spent, ensuringlow-carbon, nature-restoring prosperity, we have a real chance of avoiding runaway climate change and ecosystem collapse. If they’re spent on taking us back to pre-coronavirus days, we’re screwed. The climate’s screwed. The planet’s screwed. And all future generations are screwed. It’s as simple – and as binary – as that.

Related: World health leaders urge green recovery from coronavirus crisis

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The exemption allows companies to bypass an EPA law meant to address widespread contamination from perflourinated chemicals

Federal regulators are crafting an exemption for polluters releasing harmful perfluorinated chemicals (PFAS) into the environment in a way that environmental advocates say circumvents a new law meant to address widespread contamination.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a rule Monday adding 172 PFAS chemicals to a list of those that are required to report when they release them into the air or water, or on land.

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Native Americans in New Mexico have held protests to demand that effigies glorifying conquistadors be removed

As a national debate swirls around statues of Confederate officials, a new battle is brewing in the western US over the fate of monuments glorifying the brutal Spanish conquest of the Americas.

They include effigies of Diego De Vargas, who ordered the execution of 70 Pueblo Indians and the enslavement of hundreds of women and children, and conquistador Juan De Oñate, who is known for ordering the massacre of 800 Acoma people and for the right feet of 24 captive Acoma warriors to be amputated.

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Labor party leader Anthony Albanese on Wednesday said he would seek to negotiate with the Coalition government a flexible energy policy ‘mechanism’ that could drive emission reductions, and that his party would support offsetting for CCS projects in return for continued financial support for the renewable energy sector.

Taken at face value, Anthony Albanese’s intervention throws a positive challenge to the government

Australia has been in the climate wars since late 2009 when Tony Abbott rolled Malcolm Turnbull and made the pursuit of no climate policy a hallmark of Australian conservative politics. It has been an all-out battle at many points, simmering conflict at others. Investor confidence has been one of the casualties.

Now it appears that the Labor party is offering a truce. The opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, offered the PM to “agree on an energy investment framework that will deliver the modernisation of our energy system”. Labor wants a “flexible and enduring” policy model that can adapt to different emissions targets and says it is agnostic about which policy instrument would deliver this.

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