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Insect-destroying fungi ‘may represent the next frontier for drug discovery’

Two new fungi species that infect flies and eject spores out of a large hole in the insect’s abdomen “like small rockets” have been discovered in Denmark.

The new species, Strongwellsea tigrinae and Strongwellsea acerosa, are host-specific and rely on two species of Danish fly – Coenosia tigrina and Coenosia testacea, according to researchers at the University of Copenhagen.

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The US Congress will include bipartisan energy-related proposals to reduce potent HFC gases and incentivise research and deployment of energy efficiency and CCUS in a $1.4 trillion government funding package set for release as early as Tuesday, according to numerous media reports.

Environment Agency urges people in flood zones to plan ahead as Met Office forecasts wet January and February

The next couple of months are likely to be wetter than normal in the UK, experts have warned, raising the prospect of flooding.

The Environment Agency’s executive director of operations, John Curtin, said teams around the country were prepared for dealing with floods this winter in a Covid-safe way.

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Coronavirus closures will put millions of pounds worth of festive food at risk, firms warn

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Fresh festive food worth millions of pounds – including whole turkeys, lobsters and truffles – could be heading for the bin as restaurants and bars in London and parts of the south-east move into tier 3 coronavirus restrictions from midnight.

Under the tough new rules in England, hospitality venues have been ordered to close their doors – and cancel lucrative Christmas bookings – although they are allowed to offer limited takeaway food and delivery boxes.

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The organisation has applied to overhaul the current pay scheme which sees some workers earning as little as $3 an hour

Unions have mounted a legal push for casual fruit pickers to be paid a minimum of $25 an hour, putting an end to farmers paying as little as $3 an hour under piece rate arrangements.

The Australian Workers’ Union on Tuesday afternoon applied to the industrial umpire, the Fair Work Commission, to change the Horticulture Award to introduce a minimum pay rate.

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Angus Taylor seems to be wilfully ignoring Australia’s huge transport emissions problem

The announcement this week by energy minister Angus Taylor that he’s putting together a major package to prop up oil refineries to preserve dirty fuel supplies to one of the dirtiest car fleets on the planet simply beggars belief.

This week, we’ve seen king tides and storms hitting the country’s eastern coastline, changing the face of much-loved Aussie beaches, which were already feeling the effects of rising sea levels. This time last year, the country was on fire. In 2020 our Great Barrier reef was bleached for the third time in five years, the most widespread event ever. We just had the warmest spring ever, 2C above average, which would have been “virtually impossible” without our greenhouse gas emissions.

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Beijing is aiming to control rain and snow across half the country. But it is the reason it wants to do this that is really frightening

Remember when Donald Trump wanted to nuke hurricanes so they didn’t hit the US? Everyone laughed uproariously, but Trump’s warped little mind was actually on to something. You may not be able to bomb hurricanes into oblivion, but you can shoot things into the atmosphere in order to change the weather. It’s a process known as cloud seeding and a number of countries, including the UK and the US, have been experimenting with it for decades.

There hasn’t been a huge amount of mainstream attention paid to cloud seeding or other forms of geoengineering, but now is the time to sit up and take notice: China has massively ramped up its efforts to control the weather, a move that should alarm us all.

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A Virginia generator opened a RGGI account this week ahead of the state’s entrance in the Northeast US emissions trading scheme next month, joining at least two other entities from the jurisdiction.

The EU will not rush to introduce a carbon removals certification system because it wants to minimise the potential for errors, a senior European Commission official said Tuesday.

At least six new or expanded mines could be built as a new conservative provincial government aims to increase coal production for export

With the price of Western Canadian oil languishing around $35 a barrel and Canadian oil sands companies hemorrhaging both workers and money, the province of Alberta sees its future in another fossil fuel: coal.

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UK utility Drax has struck a deal to sell four gas power plants to energy trader Vitol, shedding its carbon allowance demand and intending to focus on its biomass-based route to negative emissions.

None of Australia's largest resources companies have a plan to transition to producing zero carbon products, a ClimateWorks report had found.

The post Australia’s miners have no plan to transition to zero emissions products appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Ten thousand years of undisturbed nature will soon be open to the highest bidder, starting at $25 an acre

Language is everything.

Those who argue for oil drilling in the Arctic national wildlife refuge, a place of stunning wild beauty in far north-east Alaska, seldom call it what it is – a refuge.

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The EU's emissions trading registry will be temporarily suspended at the turn of the year to allow for technical maintenance and a software upgrade, the European Commission announced Tuesday, adding that it has wiped an undisclosed amount of personal data from the ETS transaction log.

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator issued well over 500,000 new carbon credits over the past week and a half, according to data released on Tuesday that showed the units were awarded to 41 projects. 

Scientists in Japan open the Hayabusa-2 space capsule that landed just over a week ago.

Year-end demand from state-owned power companies pushed KAUs up by 10% on Tuesday with more upside expected in the next couple of weeks, according to market participants.

South Korea is shifting from a BAU-based 2030 emissions reduction target to an absolute one, though without promising deeper cuts, it confirmed on Tuesday while laying out priorities for where the effort will be made.

Rewilding Britain charity says natural dispersal of seeds is cost-effective and boosts biodiversity

Allowing trees and woodland to regenerate through the natural dispersal of seeds should become the default way to restore Britain’s forest cover, according to a new report.

Natural regeneration brings the most benefits for biodiversity, is cost-effective and may sequester more carbon than previously thought, argues Rewilding Britain.

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Rare discovery of reef cooled by channels formed during creation of Kilimanjaro is ‘something to hope for’, say scientists

Scientists have discovered a climate crisis refuge for coral reefs off the coast of Kenya and Tanzania, where species are thriving despite warming events that have killed their neighbours.

The coral sanctuary is a wildlife hotspot, teeming with spinner dolphins and boasting rare species, including prehistoric fish and dugongs. Researchers believe its location in a cool spot in the ocean is helping to protect it and the surrounding marine life from the harmful effects of the climate crisis.

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