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Public comments on the project reopened after oil and gas company claimed economic benefits would be greater than thought

A decision on a controversial coal seam gas development at Narrabri, in north-west New South Wales, has been delayed after the company behind it lodged a last-minute submission suggesting it will have greater economic benefits than previously claimed.

The state independent planning commission announced on Friday it would reopen public comments on the $3.6bn project, proposed by the oil and gas company Santos, and push back a decision by four weeks, until 30 September.

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Leaked environment department document raises concerns about the regent honeyeater and forest and woodland ecosystems

Raising the wall of the Warragamba dam could affect half the remaining population of the critically endangered regent honeyeater and would put forest and woodland communities at risk of extinction, according to a summary of the environmental impact statement for the proposal, contained in a leaked federal environment department document.

The department found the New South Wales government had failed to properly assess how its proposal to raise the wall of the dam by 17 metres to mitigate flood risk in western Sydney would affect endangered wildlife.

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British Columbia’s carbon levy and Alberta’s former output-based pricing system failed to stimulate GHG abatement over their respective histories compared to the success of the EU ETS and the linked California-Quebec WCI cap-and-trade programme, a study has found.

Northeast US electricity consumption returned to historic levels over the past several months as warmer weather increased residential usage, likely curtailing the impact of COVID-19 on RGGI compliance obligations, according to grid data.

What better time than the UK’s hottest-ever week for ministers to commit to bold climate action?

The hottest week in the UK since records began offers further proof that our weather is changing. Climate change and global heating are not predictions, but facts of life that we must deal with now. Ten of the UK’s warmest-ever years have been since 2002, while the temperature of 36.4C recorded at Heathrow airport last week made it the hottest August day since 2003.

Links between climate and weather must always be made with caution. But scientists already have evidence that 2020’s record temperatures are the consequence of human-caused climate change. According to researchers, the heatwave in the Siberian Arctic between January and June, which caused permafrost to melt and buildings to collapse, was made at least 600 times more likely by greenhouse gas emissions. While this summer has seen no repeat of 2018’s devastating wildfires in Greece, which killed more than 80 people, records have been broken in the Middle East as well as Europe and 2020 is likely to be the hottest year globally on record. On 29 July Baghdad recorded a temperature high of 51.7C, leading to protests about electricity and goods shortages.

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Germany is set to hit its domestic 2020 GHG reduction target of 40% below 1990 levels this year, a study released on Friday found, as coronavirus restrictions limited output to bring the goal back within reach.

More than 900 EU ETS-covered installations in Germany face a liquidity squeeze following the launch of the national emissions trading system (nEHS) next year as the two schemes will impose a ‘double burden’ that may not be compensated until a year and a half later, an analysis has found.

Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China's regional pilot carbon markets this week.

EUAs fell below €25 early on Friday as wider markets sank on heightened prospects of a second European lockdown and power markets softened cooler weather forecasts.

Growers hope to avoid a third bad year but have already been hit by lockdown and a heatwave

The humble spud, staple of the British dinner table, has weathered storm, flood and lockdown, but farmers are on tenterhooks ahead of the crucial growing season for the key crop as the UK heatwave is followed by thunderstorms and deluges.

Farmers are desperate to avoid a repeat of last year, when good growing weather over the summer was followed by heavy rains in some areas from late September that left the ground too sodden to harvest for months, spelling disaster for many potato growers.

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Countryside and coastal custodians lament ‘different demographic’ of visitors leaving litter and endangering wildlife

Fires caused by portable barbecues, wild flowers being dug up, the disturbance of shorebirds, and an avalanche of rubbish. These are just some of the threats to Britain’s wild places as record numbers enjoy coastal and countryside “staycations”.

Beleaguered rangers complain that a new generation of holidaymakers are treating the countryside like a festival site, leaving behind tents, chairs and excrement, as well as endangering rare habitats and wildlife.

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One year after installing home solar and Tesla battery storage, I decided to do some analysis on how the system performed technically and financially. Here's what it found.

The post My home battery and rooftop solar system: How it performed in its first year appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New crop of "smart" plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that automatically switch to ‘electric-only’ in certain geo-fenced areas in cities will not be available in Australia.

The post Australia missing out on smartest plug-in hybrid EVs due to poor vehicle standards appeared first on RenewEconomy.

By 2100 the island nation could be submerged. As a representation of the looming future Giulia Piermartiri and Edoardo Delille projected tourists’ photos onto residents’ homes in a series for Festivals Images Vevey

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Brazil's Amazon rainforest has had its worst start to a fire season in a decade, with 10,136 blazes spotted in the first 10 days of August. The increase follows a similar rise in year-on-year figures from July 2019 to July 2020. The 'extraordinarily concerning' fires in 2019 caused an international crisis, and these new figures suggest this season could be much worse 

• Brazil experiences worst start to Amazon fire season for 10 years

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Chinese investment in Argentina’s hog industry would boost exports, but environmentalists fear risk of pandemic

A government-sponsored plan to turbocharge Argentina’s hog industry with Chinese capital is generating unprecedented resistance among its supposed beneficiaries – the Argentinian general public.

Nearly 400,000 people have signed petitions opposing the move. “We never had such a huge response before,” said environmental lawyer Enrique Viale, one of the group who banded together last month to challenge the government’s initiative. His petition currently has 200,000 signatures; another on change.org has almost 120,000 additional signatures, and three separate petitions on the same platform have clocked up another 55,000 between them.

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Blood-sucking maggots are bent on the deaths of these innocent creatures

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A blanket charge on rooftop solar exports from homes back to the grid branded as not needed and not fair.

The post Charging for rooftop solar exports “not needed and not fair” appeared first on RenewEconomy.

They're a familiar sight on forest walks and long drives, but tree ferns are more fascinating than you may have realised. Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Electricity prices fall to five year low, pushed down by record high wind and solar, but still Angus Taylor advocates for a gas-led recovery.

The post Coal power hits record low, but Taylor still can’t credit wind and solar for lower electricity prices appeared first on RenewEconomy.