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Margaret Storey loves the natural world and a tree in her backyard has been a source of joy for years, until it burnt down. What she discovered in its ashes gave her unexpected inspiration.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world..

How super is a super coral? And what are they super at? Protecting our coral reefs means we need to find out. Emma F Camp, DECRA & UTS Chancellor's Research Fellow, Climate Change Cluster, Future Reefs Research Programe, University of Technology Sydney David Suggett, Associate Professor in Marine Biology, University of Technology Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices declined this week following the publication of the August WCI auction results, while RGGI allowance (RGAs) found additional support on thin volume ahead of the programme’s quarterly sale next week.

Bolsonaro issues decree banning fires for 60 days amid fears loggers and land grabbers targeted remote areas during blazes

Fires have been reported in protected indigenous reserves of the Brazilian Amazon, raising fears that loggers and land grabbers have targeted these remote areas during the dramatic surge in blazes across the world’s biggest rainforest.

Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has been widely criticised for failing to respond quickly to the crisis, issued a decree on Thursday banning fires in the Amazon for 60 days – a move environmentalists described as largely symbolic.

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The generation that has benefited most from fossil fuels must start paying the price, argues Daniel Scharf

The principle of restorative justice (Glasgow University to pay £20m in slavery reparations, 24 August) also applies to the issue of climate change. I am of a generation that has profited hugely (knowingly or not) from the careless use of fossil fuels. Reports on the Amazon fires just serve to emphasise the urgent need to take action to eliminate carbon emissions and absorb carbon already in the atmosphere.

Reparations in this case are due to the younger and future generations and should start with us “silver rebels” sharply curtailing our emissions and joining with Extinction Rebellion in the collective (international) efforts to eliminate emissions in the next decade, through which many of us elderly hope to live. The “silver rebels” might have less to lose if arrested in the cause. The Guardian’s daily carbon counter will show us how we are all doing.
Daniel Scharf
Abingdon, Oxfordshire

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Orkney Distillery aims to be the first producer powered by hydrogen and renewable energy

A craft distillery in Scotland could become the greenest gin and whisky producer in the world as part of the government’s plans to cut industrial climate emissions.

The Orkney Distillery has secured a slice of the government’s £390m fund to help develop low-carbon technologies that could reduce carbon emissions from industry. It hopes to use the funds to become the first gin distillery in the world to run on hydrogen made from renewable energy rather than liquid petroleum gas.

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Washington state’s Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA) will not take final action on a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) for the four-county region until early 2020, a delay of several months from its original timeline.

EPA will reverse standards to install controls to curb leaks of methane, a potent pollutant contributing to the climate crisis

The Trump administration is rolling back requirements that oil and gas drillers correct leaks of methane – a potent heat-trapping pollutant contributing to the climate crisis.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced the proposal Thursday, against the wishes of some major oil companies.

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California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credit prices rose to $200 on Wednesday, hitting an eight-month high and matching the programme’s record price levels on what some attributed to short covering.

The next US space agency robot to explore the Red Planet will carry a small helicopter with it.

Switzerland raised its long-term climate ambition on Thursday, setting a 2050 net zero emission target and keeping its aim of using international credits to meet some portion of that goal.

Getting to the roots of FMNR: Phillip meets the man who re-forested 6 million hectares of barren African land without planting a single tree.

As the government considers nuclear energy again, could it be a cover for a push for nuclear weapons as well?

EUAs dipped below €26 early on Thursday amid a bearish energy complex and as traders grow increasingly wary of taking long positions ahead of next week's resumption of full-sized auctions.

The 60-day ban comes as a leading environmentalist warns "the worst of the fire is yet to come".

Marina Migunova spotted the islands in photos showing a shrinking Arctic glacier.

‘Leaders know that more eyes are on them, much more pressure is on them,’ says Swedish activist in Guardian interview

Unprecedented pressure exerted by young activists will push world leaders to address the unfolding climate crisis, even with a recalcitrant US under Donald Trump, Greta Thunberg has told the Guardian.

Thunberg, the teenager whose school climate strikes have ignited a global youth-led movement, said that her journey to New York on a solar-powered yacht was symbolic of the lengths young people will take to confront the climate crisis.

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After four years of leading volunteer beach cleans in the west of Wales, Alan Cookson is quitting because of the insurmountable plastic problem around Britain’s coastlines. We join him as he leads his last beach clean to find out why he believes we need to change our approach in the fight against plastic pollution

'Like mopping up a flood': throwing in the towel over beach plastic pollution

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Hydrogen could replace fossil fuels in the steel-making process and help decarbonise the sector globally almost completely by 2050 with a carbon price of around $35-50, a report said Thursday.