Around The Web

Given long-term forecasts for growing urban populations and an increasingly variable climate, local authorities will have to think about how best to encourage people to conserve water. Julia Talbot-Jones, Lecturer, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Sophie O'Brien, Research Analyst, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Suzie Greenhalgh, Portfolio Leader (Society, Culture & Policy), Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Ross Garnaut's Sunshot Energy plans renewable energy industrial park in Queensland in what could be a template to revive fortunes of rural Australia.

The post Garnaut’s Sunshot to create Australia’s first renewable energy industrial park appeared first on RenewEconomy.

An offset project subject to invalidation earlier this year would be unable to receive additional credits unless the developer could show the agency that the regulatory non-compliance issues had been resolved, according to emails obtained by Carbon Pulse.

Part of a giant rocket that will send humans back to the Moon has undergone a critical test.

A new carbon budget report shows Australia's government is pouring money into all the wrong places.

The post New carbon budget report reveals the vast danger of a gas-fired recovery appeared first on RenewEconomy.

More than ten electric car models will enter the Australian auto market in 2021, giving drivers who are looking to switch to clean transport a little more choice.

The post EV calendar: The new electric car models coming to Australia in 2021 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The EU's Phase 4 (2021-30) carbon allowance auctions will start in late Jan. 2021, the European Commission announced late Monday, with the delay in new supply somewhat shorter than anticipated.

Four members of the US Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI) on Monday endorsed a final Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to implement a fuel sector cap-and-programme in 2023, with eight other members agreeing to continue to collaborate on the regional effort. 

World faces huge wildlife losses by 2050 unless what and how food is produced changes

The global food system is on course to drive rapid and widespread ecological damage with almost 90% of land animals set to lose some of their habitat by 2050, new research has found.

A study published in the journal Nature Sustainability shows that unless the food industry is rapidly transformed, changing what people eat and how it is produced, the world faces widespread biodiversity loss in the coming decades.

Continue reading...

California electricity sector emissions rose for the third consecutive month as higher demand and more carbon-emitting sources pushed year-to-date CO2 output even with last year, according to California Independent System Operator (CAISO) data.

EUAs tumbled below €30 early on Monday as financial markets buckled on fears about a mutating coronavirus strain, even as US lawmakers struck a long-awaited stimulus deal.

Environmentalist groups say the pipeline, intended to funnel gas from Pennsylvania to north Brooklyn, is an example of environmental racism

Pati Rodriguez grew up in Bushwick, a historically industrial, predominantly Hispanic neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. She has worked as a community organizer for years, and at 38, she knows the neighborhood inside and out. So she was surprised last year to learn about a natural gas pipeline being built a block away from her daughter’s school, more than two years after its construction had begun.

Rodriguez says she learned about the Metropolitan Reliability Infrastructure (MRI) project – more often referred to as the North Brooklyn pipeline by local activists – from the anti-fracking advocacy group Sane Energy Project, which for the last year has held neighborhood meetings to raise awareness of the construction.

Continue reading...

This year was the most challenging and extraordinary year for news. Our journalists worked tirelessly throughout 2020, from the very start of the year with the Australian bushfires, through the struggle for Hong Kong, the Harvey Weinstein verdict to the death of George Floyd, and the dramatic and divisive US presidential election. But of course, the Covid-19 pandemic was the dominant global story of the year. The Guardian's coverage sought to foreground the science and the latest data, hold the government and the scientific establishment to account and expose incompetence, and bring empathy and humanity to the stories of the victims. Here are some of the highlights of our journalism over that time.

• Show your support for the Guardian’s powerful, open, independent journalism in 2020 and the years ahead

Continue reading...

Australia's Clean Energy Regulator has issued 320,000 carbon credits in its latest awards round, while also extending baseline determinations for dozens of facilities due to COVID-19 interruptions.

A powerful French book punctures the myth that countries in the global south are largely responsible for habitat destruction

To prevent future pandemics, we must stop deforestation and end the illegal wildlife trade. Do you agree? Of course you do, because what’s not to like? The buck stops with the evil other. The question is, will doing those things solve the problem? And the answer is, probably not. They will help, but there’s another, potentially bigger problem closer to home: the global north’s use of natural resources, especially its reliance on livestock.

The story that epidemics are punishment for upsetting the natural order of things is not new. But it’s a peculiarly modern, postcolonial twist on it to imagine that the source of that upset is somewhere far away from most of us – to wit, the parts of the world that were forested, until recently, and that conveniently coincide with the poorer bits. And it turns out that this narrative may be interfering with our attempts to protect ourselves from novel diseases, as well as with efforts to tackle climate change and the erosion of biodiversity.

Continue reading...

We are inviting suitably experienced and skilled entities to submit a partnering proposal to establish a product stewardship scheme for photovoltaic (solar) systems.

A 30MW "shovel-ready" solar project in north-east Victoria has been sold and will begin construction soon.

The post Wangaratta solar farm sold, paving way for construction appeared first on RenewEconomy.

AGL slashes profit guidance by $80-$100 million while confirming details of a fire that has taken out a unit of Liddell power station.

The post AGL slashes profit guidance after Liddell fire leaves $25 million damage bill appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A Liberal-aligned think tank has called on the Morrison government to consider paying ageing coal plants to close early.

The post Australia should hold auction to hasten coal closures, says conservative think tank appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Tilt Renewables says Dundonnell cleared to move to next level of production, lifting output to 295MW and using all 80 turbines.

The post Dundonnell wind farm approved to move to near full output appeared first on RenewEconomy.