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Prince Charles urges businesses to sign Terra Carta pledge to put planet first
Magna Carta-style project aims to raise £7bn to ‘bring prosperity into harmony with nature’
Prince Charles is urging businesses to invest in the health of the planet and people at the launch of a sustainable finance charter backed by several international institutions.
Evoking the history of Magna Carta, the Prince of Wales is launching the Terra Carta – the Earth charter – that will ask signatories to agree to almost 100 actions to become more sustainable by 2030.
Continue reading...All at sea: half a million seafarers stranded by the pandemic – in pictures
Up to 400,000 seafarers have been trapped on board cargo ships during the Covid pandemic, some for more than 18 months
• Chosen from among 3,000 images submitted to a photography competition run by ITF Seafarers’ Trust
Continue reading...China expects carbon market trading platform to go live mid-year
Baby shark! Newborn megalodons larger than humans, scientists say
Creatures that patrolled the oceans 3m years ago were about two metres long at birth, researchers find
Enormous megatooth sharks, or megalodons, which patrolled the world’s oceans more than three million years ago, gave birth to babies larger than most adult humans, scientists say.
Researchers made the unsettling discovery when they X-rayed the vertebra of a fossilised megalodon and found that it must have been about two metres (6.5 ft) long when it was born.
Continue reading...Rooftop solar market ends tricky 2020 by smashing records, surpassing 13GW total capacity
Australia's rooftop solar market ends a challenging 2020 stronger than ever, setting a new installation record.
The post Rooftop solar market ends tricky 2020 by smashing records, surpassing 13GW total capacity appeared first on RenewEconomy.
How Australia can phase out coal power while maintaining energy security
The end of coal-fired generation in Australia is inevitable, but its demise doesn't need to come at the risk of energy security.
The post How Australia can phase out coal power while maintaining energy security appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Terra Carta: Prince Charles asks companies to join 'Earth charter'
Cities could get more than 4°C hotter by 2100. To keep cool in Australia, we urgently need a national planning policy
Stronger national planning policies, incorporating climate change considerations, key to keeping cities safe and cool, researchers say.
The post Cities could get more than 4°C hotter by 2100. To keep cool in Australia, we urgently need a national planning policy appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Garden Island Microgrid up and running after connection upgrade
Carnegie's Garden Island microgrid back up and running after upgrades.
The post Garden Island Microgrid up and running after connection upgrade appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Open platform VPP retailer, Discover Energy, offers 45c solar FIT
Discover Energy has responded to the competitive solar and battery feed-in tariffs currently on offer in the Australian VPP market with a game-changing proposition of their own: 45c solar feed-in-tariffs.
The post Open platform VPP retailer, Discover Energy, offers 45c solar FIT appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Neoen plans massive 500MW big battery west of Sydney
Planning documents reveal Neoen's plans for the Great Western Battery, "unlike any device" currently operating in New South Wales.
The post Neoen plans massive 500MW big battery west of Sydney appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Covid vaccine: How does a vaccine get approved?
Just add water: when the rain comes, the boom starts for Australian birds | Mick Roderick
These birds have adapted to be guided by conditions, not season. It is wonderful to witness
Many people think that budgerigars are only found in cages. More people think that they are blue. The truth couldn’t be farther away on both accounts. These flamboyant but diminutive lime-green parrots are the quintessential example of having freedom to roam, which is exactly what they do in the vast island continent of Australia. They occur naturally nowhere else in the world. And if you live in New South Wales and want to see them for yourself without having to venture into the central deserts, now is the time.
The Australian environment is known for its “boom-bust” cycle of nature, largely based on the vagaries of inland rainfall. Whereas other continents experience more predictable climate and rainfall patterns, Australia’s climate is far more irregular. Hence when the rains do come at the end of a prolonged dry (bust) period, the boom starts.
Continue reading...Shareholders push HSBC to cut exposure to fossil fuels
Europe’s second-largest financier of fossil fuels faces a vote to ramp up its climate commitments
HSBC could be forced to slash its exposure to fossil fuels – starting with coal – from next year, after an influential group of investors filed a shareholder vote urging the bank to ramp up its climate commitments.
Fifteen pension and investment funds are pushing HSBC to reduce the loans and underwriting services offered to clients which rely heavily on fossil fuels within a timeline consistent with Paris climate goals.
Continue reading...Wild deer set to wreak havoc in UK woodlands as venison demand plunges
Unmanaged animals from Britain’s largest herds for 1,000 years are no longer needed with restaurants in lockdown
Unmanaged wild deer herds could soon pose a threat to woodlands and important wildlife habitats in Britain because the commercial market for venison has collapsed during the pandemic.
Many in the game industry as well as conservationists fear too few deer are being culled to keep the estimated two-million-strong wild herd, the largest for 1,000 years, at a sustainable size.
Continue reading...Coronavirus: Virus provides leaps in scientific understanding
How South African police are tackling pangolin smugglers
Pesticide believed to kill bees is authorised for use in England
Farmers ‘relieved’ as country joins 10 others in allowing emergency use of chemical banned in EU
A pesticide believed to kill bees has been authorised for use in England despite an European Union-wide ban two years ago, the government has announced.
Following lobbying from the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) and British Sugar, a product containing neonicotinoid thiamethoxam was sanctioned for emergency use on sugar beet seeds this year because of the threat posed by a virus.
Continue reading...Capitol attackers have long threatened violence in rural American west
Three Percenters and the Oath Keepers have threatened federal employees and institutions that steward public lands
When the full story of the 6 January storming of the US Capitol building is told, historians will have to make sense of what might seem an odd footnote. The two most prominent rightwing militia groups that participated in the mob onslaught on Congress – the Three Percenters, based in Idaho, and the Oath Keepers, based in Nevada – cut their teeth in obscure corners of the American west, where for close to a decade they have threatened violence against federal employees and institutions that steward the nation’s public lands.
Related: 'It was just a free-for-all': my day photographing the Capitol attack
Continue reading...Cross-party bloc of MPs back action on sewage discharge into rivers
Private member’s bill seeks to ensure water firms do more to clean up their act on untreated waste
More than 100 MPs from across different parties are supporting a parliamentary bid to stop water companies discharging untreated sewage into rivers.
Philip Dunne, the Conservative chair of the environmental audit committee, is seeking in a private member’s bill to place a duty on water companies to ensure untreated sewage is not discharged into rivers and inland waterways.
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