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West Cumbria Mining says Cumbria County Council's latest decision "cannot be justified".

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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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Green hydrogen costs are approaching a level where hydrogen-fuelled rail transport can be viable under existing post-pandemic recovery schemes with carbon pricing and other support given current price trends in the sector, bank analysts said in a report this week.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) holdings for regulated entities declined last week as the February ICE contract expired, while speculators kept positions relatively stable following the first WCI auction of the year, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.

The Canadian environment ministry on Friday published draft regulations to implement its federal GHG offset system, with an aim to finalise the programme and publish the first protocols by the end of the year. 

EUAs climbed above €39 on Friday as better-than-expected US jobs data lifted energy markets, swinging carbon to a weekly gain of almost 5% and again within sight of its record levels.

A summary of legislative and regulatory action on carbon pricing, clean fuel standards, and clean energy at the US subnational and federal level this week, including developments around a national clean electricity standard, a Washington state low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS), and an Hawaiian carbon tax study.

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.

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The best of the week’s wildlife pictures, including a peacock in flight, otters crossing the road and kittiwakes in Newcastle

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RGGI’s first auction of 2021 set an all-time high this week, but the quarterly sale still shocked traders by clearing far below the secondary market pricing level, according to results published Friday.

*PREMIUM LISTING (viewable by non-subscribers) – The International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP), an intergovernmental forum on emissions trading systems based in Berlin, is seeking to recruit a new Head of Secretariat. The selected candidate will be employed with the think tank and policy consultancy adelphi, which acts as host to the Secretariat. He/she will also play a leadership role in adelphi’s 14-analyst-strong carbon markets and pricing team.

Move follows eight gorillas testing positive for coronavirus at the zoo at the start of 2021

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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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Wisdom is believed to have had more than 30 chicks in her life so far, and several partners.

Environmental firm Veolia took the lion’s share of this week’s carbon credit issuances in Australia, while the government is piloting a scheme that will offer farmers additional revenue for biodiversity gains achieved through carbon offset projects.