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Exclusive: Environment Agency warned about ‘forever chemicals' 20 years before it started to regulate them

The Environment Agency was warned about the “chronic threat” that firefighting foams containing PFAS “forever chemicals” pose to the environment in 2003, 20 years before it started the process of regulating the chemicals, it can be revealed.

In a 200-page report obtained by the Ends Report via a freedom of information request and shared with the Guardian, consultants commissioned by the Environment Agency conducted an environmental review of firefighting foams with a “particular emphasis on their fluorosurfactant content”.

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There are still many unknowns about what will be required of farmers under an agricultural bill passed by the Scottish government in June, including on the incentives for woodland creation and peatland restoration, a trade body representative told a webinar on Wednesday.

The European Commission expects to formalise its Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) regulation by the end of this year, giving it the legal basis on which to set certification methodologies for the first batch of removal techniques next year, a Brussels official confirmed on Wednesday.

A clean cooking project developer has sold all of its carbon credits of a vintage through 2024 at $35 per tonne, its CEO told an event Wednesday, in a sign that demand for 'high-quality' units is there for the voluntary market.

A UK survey on corporate net zero progress found that 73% of respondents consider achieving net zero a medium- or high-priority over the next year, only 65% have committed to the 2050 target, and just 48% have set net zero goals to be met within the next decade.

Australia has released a consultation paper for entrants to the wide scale battery industry and value chain the nation hopes to build in a bid to further its ambitions as a renewable energy and battery superpower while reducing emissions.

Total investments in the natural capital asset class could rise to $1 trillion or more over the next two decades, on the back of revenues from outputs including biodiversity markets, investor New Forests has said.

Drax is looking to the UK government to begin discussions soon on a contract to support the company’s incoming bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) project, to ensure that the plant can contribute to the country’s goal for clean power by 2030, a Drax official said on Wednesday.

A Brazilian carbon developer and two organisations working with Indigenous communities are piloting a biodiversity credit project in the Amazon state, with two European companies interested in purchasing units after COP16, Carbon Pulse has learned.

The European Commission has announced fresh funding for a research project that explores the impact of the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on neighbouring countries.

European carbon prices rallied on Wednesday morning as weekly positioning data showed that investment funds more than doubled their net short positions last week, triggering a rally as traders looked to test the conviction of bearish bets.

South Korea’s latest monthly CO2 permit auction was oversubscribed with the clearing price still below the 10,000 won ($7.43) benchmark, while the price outlook may remain bleak in the absence of policy updates. 

The EU needs a lot more renewable and low-carbon electricity and it needs it "ASAP", according to Paul Voss, director general of industry association Europe Aluminium, adding to a growing chorus of voices calling for lower energy prices to boost the bloc's competitiveness.

I do not think it is a leap to see our exploitive relationship with Earth as part of a centuries-long war against the environment

Standing on the edge of Utah’s terminal Great Salt Lake is to witness the religion of over-water consumption in the desert. Our thirst is greater than this inland sea can bare as it is disappearing in the shadows of climate chaos, extreme heat and a megadrought not seen in 2,500 years. Twelve million migrating birds depend on this water body for food, rest and breeding. Flocks of Wilson’s phalaropes, small and handsome shorebirds, spin in saline waters creating water columns alive with brine shrimp and flies and resulting in a feeding frenzy. American avocets and black-necked stilts stand stoically in the shallows. Thousands of ducks are sprinkled on the lake like pepper. Water and sky merge as one. There is no horizon. All appears well in this serene landscape of pastel blues animated by birds. It is not.

The health of the Great Salt Lake is only as strong as the health of the human community that surrounds it. And vice versa. If the 2 million people living within the Great Salt Lake watershed with Salt Lake City at its center do not mobilize to put more water in the lake, the death of the Great Salt Lake will be their own. This will also be the demise of millions of migrating birds.

Terry Tempest Williams is a writer, naturalist and activist

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I do not think it is a leap to see our exploitive relationship with Earth as part of a centuries-long war against the environment

Standing on the edge of Utah’s terminal Great Salt Lake is to witness the religion of over water-consumption in the desert. Our inland sea is disappearing in climate chaos evidenced by extreme heat and a megadrought not seen in 2,500 years. Ten million migrating birds depend on this water body for food, rest and breeding. Flocks of Wilson’s phalaropes, small and handsome shorebirds, spin in saline waters creating water columns alive with brine shrimp and flies and resulting in a feeding frenzy. American avocets and black-necked stilts stand stoically in the shallows. Thousands of ducks are sprinkled on the lake like pepper. Water and sky merge as one. There is no horizon. All appears well in this serene landscape of pastel blues animated by birds. It is not.

The health of the Great Salt Lake is only as strong as the health of the human community that surrounds it. And vice versa. If the 2 million people living within the Great Salt Lake watershed with Salt Lake City at its center do not mobilize to put more water in the lake, the death of the Great Salt Lake will be their own. This will also be the demise of millions of migrating birds.

Terry Tempest Williams is a writer, naturalist and activist

Continue reading...

Carbon pricing is gaining momentum in developing nations despite political and economic risks, according to a report published by the World Bank Wednesday.

Global trading house CME Group has provided details of its Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) futures contract, adding to the sole such offering currently available in the market, from the Australian Securities Exchange.

Chinese regulators have announced rules that can clarify the boundaries of the country's green electricity and national carbon offset markets, a move designed to help avoid double counting of environmental attributes.

The Australian government has ringfenced over A$215 million ($143 mln) to ramp up efforts in nature restoration and native species protection, it announced Wednesday.

A Paris-headquartered carbon crediting platform has opened a new modular biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) methodology for public consultation, the company announced on Wednesday.