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Exclusive: FoI documents reveal struggling systems were ‘clear candidates’ for protection but Sussan Ley ‘unlikely to support’ it

Struggling river and wetland systems in the Murray-Darling Basin were not assessed for listing as critically endangered after officials warned the Morrison government would not support protecting them.

Environment department staff said the two ecological communities were “clear candidates” for assessment for a critically endangered listing, documents released under freedom of information show. But the environment minister, Sussan Ley, was “unlikely to support” their inclusion on the 2019 list of species and habitats under consideration for protection, they told the threatened species scientific committee.

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JA Solar says its 500W PV module due for release in H2 2020 has set a new industry record for power output, surpassing 525W under standard testing conditions.

The post JA Solar joins race to deliver 500W-plus modules, claims new record appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Fluttering creatures of the night are also vital pollinators of plants and flowers, say scientists.

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

Hormone-fed beef and chlorine-washed chicken should remain banned in England. the government is warned.

California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) transacted at the WCI floor price on the secondary market for the first time since mid-March on Tuesday, with traders attributing the higher values to increased demand ahead of the Q2 auction.

Earth's has gone through major climate changes in the past. They happened on time scales of millions of years and triggered mass extinctions. Our emissions are changing the climate much faster. James Renwick, Professor, Physical Geography (climate science), Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Some species, including blue whales, spend little time at the surface. So despite their overwhelming size, they can be hard to find and tough to study. Grace Russell, PhD Candidate, Southern Cross University Daniele Cagnazzi, Researcher, Southern Cross University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Reducing emissions from Europe's non-ETS covered sectors, either by expanding the scope of the EU ETS or through a carbon tax, will be challenging but critical for Poland’s energy transformation in particular, experts said on Tuesday.

Finding could help solve mystery of where plastic goes after it leaks into the sea

Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of mismanaged waste could be blowing ashore on the ocean breeze every year, according to scientists who have discovered microplastics in sea spray.

The study, by researchers at the University of Strathclyde and the Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées at the University of Toulouse, found tiny plastic fragments in sea spray, suggesting they are being ejected by the sea in bubbles. The findings, published in the journal Plos One, cast doubt on the assumption that once in the ocean, plastic stays put, as well as on the widespread belief in the restorative power of sea breeze.

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In this latest episode of our Carbon Pulse Conversations podcast, we chat with Owen Hewlett, chief technical officer at The Gold Standard, which is one of the main certifiers of voluntary carbon market projects and an approved standard under the international CORSIA aviation offset scheme.

California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credit prices rose past the $200 mark on Tuesday for the first time since March, despite some participants cautioning the increase was not supported by market fundamentals.

The pandemic is a tough lesson in the workings of the natural world – and proves how vital a knowledge of ecology really is

Imagine mentioning William Shakespeare to a university graduate and discovering they had never heard of him. You would be incredulous. But it’s common and acceptable not to know what an arthropod is, or a vertebrate, or to be unable to explain the difference between an insect and spider. No one is embarrassed when a “well-educated” person cannot provide even a rough explanation of the greenhouse effect, the carbon cycle or the water cycle, or of how soils form.

All this is knowledge as basic as being aware that Shakespeare was a playwright. Yet ignorance of such earthy matters sometimes seems to be worn as a badge of sophistication. I love Shakespeare, and I believe the world would be a poorer and a sadder place without him. But we would survive. The issues about which most people live in ignorance are, by contrast, matters of life and death.

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EUAs bounced around the €19 level once again on Tuesday, maintaining their recent support in a market lacking technical direction.

California’s ETS floor price is on pace to rise less than 5% in 2021 as year-on-year inflation dipped in April amid the growing coronavirus pandemic sweeping across the US, according to federal data released on Tuesday.

European oil majors should provide greater clarity on the contribution that carbon offsets and CCS will make towards their voluntary climate goals amid doubts about global supply potential, according to a report commissioned by investors and published on Tuesday.

Exclusive: oil, coal and fracking companies in line to benefit from $750bn bond scheme

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Fossil fuel companies and coal-powered utilities in the US are set for a potential bonanza under federal government plans for a bond bailout, part of the rescue package for the coronavirus crisis.

At least 90 fossil fuel companies, many of them established giants such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and Koch Industries, stand to gain from the Federal Reserve’s coronavirus bond buyback programme, alongside more than 150 utilities including coal-heavy firms such as American Electric Power and Duke Energy, according to a new analysis.

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Utility CEZ reported a ticking over in its hedging during Q1 to ensure its hedging position all-but caught up with the previous year even as its coal-fired output fell away.

South Korean carbon allowances fell 8.2% in Tuesday trade to hit their lowest value since early January as the economic downturn brought on by the coronavirus continues to bite, casting doubt over the worth of banking permits to next year.

Australia has delayed by a year the transition to new emission baselines for companies covered by the Safeguard Mechanism as the ongoing coronavirus crisis is making it difficult for emitters to submit new baseline applications in time for the original deadline.