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Whitehaven coal mine firm seeks judicial review of council U-turn
Australia achieves record large solar energy output on Friday
Utility scale solar output its hits record level in Australia's main grid on Friday, although it was still just half that of rooftop solar on households and business.
The post Australia achieves record large solar energy output on Friday appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Revealed: why hundreds of thousands of tonnes of recycling are going up in smoke
Investigation questions eco-friendly claims of incineration industry
When it comes to planet-friendly habits, recycling is by far the UK’s most popular, with 87% of householders claiming they do so regularly, according to the Waste and Resources Action Programme. But an investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches into where our rubbish goes, and the role played by energy-from-waste incineration plants, has found that millions of tonnes of our carefully sorted empties are simply being burned after they’re collected.
Freedom of information requests reveal that, on average, 11% of rubbish collected for recycling is incinerated. In some areas the figures are far higher: 45% in Southend-on-Sea and 38% in Warwickshire.
Continue reading...The threat of inflation is not so imminent as No 11 would have us believe
While higher interest rates would add to the cost of financing the debt burden, central banks are unlikely to raise them soon
There was a warning after last week’s budget that Rishi Sunak’s recovery plans could be blown off course by a rise in inflation of such strength that it would force central banks to raise interest rates. A modest increase of just 1% in the interest paid on government debt would add between £20bn and £25bn to the cost of financing the UK’s debt and sink any hopes Sunak had of balancing day-to-day income and spending by 2026.
Sunak said as much in his budget speech, using the prospect of higher interest bills as a reason to ramp up taxes on households and businesses in the second half of the parliament.
Continue reading...Explainer: What is battery storage? And why is it coming to a grid near you?
What is battery storage? What can it do? And where will batteries be used in Australia over the next decade?
The post Explainer: What is battery storage? And why is it coming to a grid near you? appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Getting to net zero isn't all pain and expense - there are huge opportunities for Australia | Warren Entsch
The warming of the planet is not some arbitrary political concept one either subscribes to or doesn’t — it is a scientific reality that we have to deal with
Opponents of net zero emissions targets and the policies required to get there like to frame their arguments around the political ideology of climate change. Left versus right, cities versus regions and so on. But the warming of the planet is not some arbitrary political concept one either subscribes to or doesn’t — it is a scientific reality that we have to deal with.
Anyone with even the mildest interest in climate change and emissions policy has no doubt noticed the increasing pace at which the current landscape is shifting. International commitments to net zero emissions by 2050 are coming thick and fast in the lead up to the United Nations Climate Conference COP26 in Glasgow later this year. With this growing pace, Australia is fast becoming isolated as one of the few major advanced economies which has not yet committed to a scientifically compatible mid-century net zero emissions target.
Continue reading...Cows might fly: Ireland to jet calves to Europe to cut travel time
Expanding dairy herds have seen surplus male calves shipped to the continent for veal, but there is unease over welfare conditions
Irish authorities have announced plans to fly unweaned dairy calves from Ireland to other EU destinations from May, in an effort to address growing unease about the length of the journeys made by thousands of animals shipped each year to mainland Europe.
The Irish government has been subject to sustained scrutiny over live calf exports and the decision to experiment with flights, which will significantly cut travel time, comes as a European parliament committee of inquiry examines alleged failures across Europe in enforcing rules on protecting transported animals.
Continue reading...CP Daily: Friday March 5, 2021
Rail to help spur clean hydrogen boom, with potential to rival renewables -report
WCI emitters trim carbon positions as speculators keep length mostly stable at 50 mln
Canada releases draft regulations for federal carbon offset system
EU Market: EUAs lift above €39 as US jobs data spurs post-pandemic hopes
US Carbon Pricing and LCFS Roundup for week ending Mar. 5, 2021
The disaster movie playing in Australia's wild places – and solutions that could help hit pause
Across the country, catastrophes are unfolding as ecosystems collapse. But in a landmark study, scientists are pointing to green shoots of hope
They read like scenes from a disaster movie, vignettes of a natural world slipping into decay.
In the tropical wet rainforests of far north Queensland, outside Cairns, an estimated 23,000 spectacled flying foxes – one-third of Australia’s total population – drop dead from the trees over just two days.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
The best of the week’s wildlife pictures, including a peacock in flight, otters crossing the road and kittiwakes in Newcastle
Continue reading...RGGI Q1 auction eclipses all-time high but settles significantly under secondary market
*Head of Secretariat, International Carbon Action Partnership – Berlin
Great apes given Covid vaccines after outbreak at San Diego zoo
Move follows eight gorillas testing positive for coronavirus at the zoo at the start of 2021
Nine great apes have been given an experimental Covid-19 vaccine at San Diego zoo after an outbreak in a troop of gorillas there in January.
Five bonobos and four orangutans became the first great apes at an American zoo to receive jabs against the disease in January and February.
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