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EU Market: EUAs pull back after hitting fresh record of €32.50, as more investors enter market
Chang'e-5 Moon mission has landed, China says
Air pollution verdict shines political light on UK's invisible killer
Analysis: death of Ella Kissi-Debrah means MPs can no longer ignore dangers of dirty air
Air pollution is the invisible killer, unseen but also unacknowledged on the death certificates of the 40,000 people it sends to an early grave in the UK every year. But on Wednesday, for the first time, the lethal impact of toxic air was given a name and a face – Ella Kissi-Debrah, a nine-year-old girl from south London.
Politicians have been told for many years that dirty air kills but have ducked the decisions needed amid the noisy honking of the motoring lobby. The coroner’s conclusion that air pollution was a cause of Ella’s death means those politicians can no longer pretend that illegal levels of pollution are a victimless crime.
Continue reading...Washington governor restarts pursuit of cap-and-trade, LCFS programmes
Court refers climate lawyer to attorney general over Heathrow runway breach
Tim Crosland faces investigation after breaking embargo on airport expansion judgment
The UK’s supreme court will refer a lawyer who broke the embargo on its ruling on Heathrow airport to the attorney general and the Bar Standards Board for investigation.
Tim Crosland, the director of environmental charity Plan B Earth, received the ruling in advance as one of the parties involved in the case, and published his reaction on Tuesday, the day before the judgment was delivered.
Continue reading...Cash for cages? Japan probes alleged bribery from chicken industry
Investigation launched into alleged donation to close ally of Japanese PM after resistance to ending use of cramped cages for egg-laying hens
Japan’s decision to resist international pressure to improve conditions for egg-laying chickens is under scrutiny after allegations of bribery involving a former agriculture minister.
Takamori Yoshikawa, a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP) who served as agriculture minister from October 2018 to September 2019, is alleged to have accepted ¥5m (£36,000) in undeclared donations from a former representative of a leading egg producer in Hiroshima prefecture, western Japan.
Continue reading...Capella delivers super sharp satellite radar pictures
Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah: Air pollution a factor in girl's death, inquest finds
Government-commissioned report clears ground for Taiwan carbon tax
East Africa fears second wave - of locust swarms
BP acquires majority stake in US offset developer Finite Carbon
Solar Insiders Podcast: The biggest solar stories of 2020
In the last episode of the year, we take a look at the biggest solar stories of 2020.
The post Solar Insiders Podcast: The biggest solar stories of 2020 appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Supreme Court lifts ban on Heathrow third runway
Top UK court overturns block on Heathrow's third runway
Earlier ruling said expansion plan was illegal as government had not considered its climate commitments
The supreme court has overturned a February judgment that a third runway at Heathrow airport was illegal. It means the project can now seek planning permission, but the ultimate completion of the runway remains uncertain.
The supreme court ruling marks the latest twist in years of legal and political wrangling over the climate impact and economic benefits of expanding the airport. The decision in February was seen as historic by environmental campaigners, as it was the first significant ruling in the world to be based on the Paris climate agreement, and related cases were subsequently brought against plans to build more roads and gas-fired power plants in the UK.
Continue reading...Call for energy giant AGL to face criminal charges over coal ash spill
Conservationists allege company has breached its environmental licence 52 times at its NSW Bayswater power station site in the past five years
Australia’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, AGL, will pay a $1m penalty for a coal ash spill at a creek in the Hunter region of New South Wales, but environmentalists say the company should have faced criminal prosecution.
The incident occurred at the Bayswater power station near Muswellbrook in September 2019 when a pipeline transporting fly ash – a waste product from burning coal – burst, causing 1,440 cubic metres of hazardous slurry to leak into the dry bed of Bayswater Creek.
Continue reading...Mountain hares at risk as winter coats fail to camouflage in snowless Scottish Highlands
Mountain hares in Scotland failing to adapt to climate change, leaving them more vulnerable to predators
When snow begins to fall, mountain hares melt into the landscape by shedding their dark fur and becoming a brilliant – but camouflaged – white.
But mountain hares in Scotland are failing to adapt to a dramatic increase in snowless days, with their white fur on dark mountainsides leaving them newly visible to potential predators.
Continue reading...“We should do whatever Morrison says:” Fitzgibbon calls on Labor to capitulate on climate
Joel Fitzgibbon adds pressure on Mark Butler to be moved shadow climate and energy portfolios, calls on Labor to adopt Morrison's climate policies.
The post “We should do whatever Morrison says:” Fitzgibbon calls on Labor to capitulate on climate appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Senior carbon trader leaves NZ energy firm
'We're getting Europe's waste?' US hit by plastic debris lost from UK ship
Environmentalists question why waste washing up on Maine coast was being imported from Northern Ireland for energy production
Brightly coloured plastic debris from the UK has been washing up along the coast of Maine in the US after a shipment bound for incineration fell into the sea.
The plastic debris, part of a 10,000-tonne consignment from Re-Gen Waste, a company based in Newry, Northern Ireland, has infuriated environmentalists and locals surprised to learn that the north-eastern state of Maine is importing plastic from almost 3,000 miles away.
Continue reading...German researchers pip Australian lab to set new next-gen solar panel efficiency record
A German research team sets a new solar conversion efficiency record using two different types of solar energy technologies sandwiched together.
The post German researchers pip Australian lab to set new next-gen solar panel efficiency record appeared first on RenewEconomy.