Around The Web

The EU’s 27 member states agreed on Wednesday on a common position for the €40 billion Just Transition Fund (JTF) aimed at supporting the bloc’s coal dependent and energy-intensive regions, with negotiations to finalise the bill expected to begin after the summer break.

The European Commission is working on a legislative proposal to incentivise EU-wide GHG removals using nature-based solutions and plans to launch a certification scheme in 2023, a senior Commission official said on Wednesday.

Solar and battery project planned for NSW Riverina region put on fast-track in third tranche of state government’s Planning System Acceleration Program.

The post Yanco solar and big battery project fast-tracked by NSW government appeared first on RenewEconomy.

First section of Goldwind Australia's 312MW Moorabool wind farm in central-western Victoria completed, and first turbine of second section fully installed.

The post First section of massive Moorabool wind farm completed in Victoria appeared first on RenewEconomy.

If the government plots a green recovery from coronavirus, the benefits are endless. If it doesn’t, we’re screwed

Trillions of dollars will be invested by governments in reviving their economies over the next two or three years. If those dollars are well spent, ensuringlow-carbon, nature-restoring prosperity, we have a real chance of avoiding runaway climate change and ecosystem collapse. If they’re spent on taking us back to pre-coronavirus days, we’re screwed. The climate’s screwed. The planet’s screwed. And all future generations are screwed. It’s as simple – and as binary – as that.

Related: World health leaders urge green recovery from coronavirus crisis

Continue reading...

The exemption allows companies to bypass an EPA law meant to address widespread contamination from perflourinated chemicals

Federal regulators are crafting an exemption for polluters releasing harmful perfluorinated chemicals (PFAS) into the environment in a way that environmental advocates say circumvents a new law meant to address widespread contamination.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a rule Monday adding 172 PFAS chemicals to a list of those that are required to report when they release them into the air or water, or on land.

Continue reading...

Native Americans in New Mexico have held protests to demand that effigies glorifying conquistadors be removed

As a national debate swirls around statues of Confederate officials, a new battle is brewing in the western US over the fate of monuments glorifying the brutal Spanish conquest of the Americas.

They include effigies of Diego De Vargas, who ordered the execution of 70 Pueblo Indians and the enslavement of hundreds of women and children, and conquistador Juan De Oñate, who is known for ordering the massacre of 800 Acoma people and for the right feet of 24 captive Acoma warriors to be amputated.

Continue reading...

Labor party leader Anthony Albanese on Wednesday said he would seek to negotiate with the Coalition government a flexible energy policy ‘mechanism’ that could drive emission reductions, and that his party would support offsetting for CCS projects in return for continued financial support for the renewable energy sector.

Taken at face value, Anthony Albanese’s intervention throws a positive challenge to the government

Australia has been in the climate wars since late 2009 when Tony Abbott rolled Malcolm Turnbull and made the pursuit of no climate policy a hallmark of Australian conservative politics. It has been an all-out battle at many points, simmering conflict at others. Investor confidence has been one of the casualties.

Now it appears that the Labor party is offering a truce. The opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, offered the PM to “agree on an energy investment framework that will deliver the modernisation of our energy system”. Labor wants a “flexible and enduring” policy model that can adapt to different emissions targets and says it is agnostic about which policy instrument would deliver this.

Continue reading...

For the second year in a row, Risen Energy (Australia) has signed its largest distribution agreement with One Stop Warehouse.

The post Risen Energy (Australia) has signed a 150MW distribution agreement, its largest appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Morrison government called on to halt further job losses at CSIRO, after confirmation the agency's energy department will have its staff numbers slashed by almost 20%.

The post CSIRO energy department cuts slammed by union, with 40 jobs set to go appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Reputex says $30 carbon price needed for zero emissions target by 2050, but a price of $100 a tonne needed to bring that target forward by 10 years in line with 1.5°C goal.

The post Zero emissions target by 2050 will require $30 carbon price, more for 2040 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Box gum grassy woodlands are critically endangered. What's left often grows on farms, and farmers are helping to conserve them. Jacqui Stol, Senior Experimental Scientist, Ecologist, CSIRO Land and Water, CSIRO Annie Kelly, Senior Ecologist, Queensland Herbarium Suzanne Prober, Senior Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

We need strong campaigns to confront environmental collapse. Instead, we get weakness and complicity

Out of this horror comes hope. In the backwash of the pandemic’s first wave, we see the shingled ruins of the old economy, and the chance to construct a new one. As we rebuild our economic life, we should do it on green principles, averting a crisis many times greater than the coronavirus: climate breakdown and the collapse of our life-support systems.

This means no more fossil fuel-based infrastructure. Even existing infrastructure, according to climate scientists, could push us past crucial thresholds. It means an end to megaprojects whose main purpose is enriching construction companies.

Continue reading...

New Energy Solar says component failures at Beryl solar farm affected output, dividend cut as a result of this and other issues.

The post Component issues hit Beryl solar farm, New Energy Solar cuts dividend appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Exclusive: environment groups accuse Queensland authorities of being a ‘toothless tiger’, saying ‘paltry’ fines ‘an insult to communities and farmers’

Environmental groups say “paltry” fines handed to a coalmine in Queensland’s Darling Downs show that state authorities are unwilling to take action over even the most serious and repeated environmental breaches by miners.

Documents obtained under Queensland freedom of information laws by Guardian Australia show the New Acland coalmine in Queensland’s Darling Downs was caught violating noise limits 34 separate times in 10 weeks and was fined $9,461 by state authorities.

Continue reading...

Labor leader Anthony Albanese will embrace support for carbon capture projects, provided it doesn't see funding support redirected from renewables research.

The post Albanese set to deal on carbon capture if renewables funding protected appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Integrating green hydrogen in the production of steel and aluminium could value-add Australian resources, boosting export competitiveness.

The post Green steel and aluminium a must to maintain competitive Australian industry appeared first on RenewEconomy.

International Council on Clean Transportation chief Drew Kodjak on the need for the world’s car manufacturers to catch up with Tesla, and why Australia should - at the very least - introduce fuel economy standards.

The post Energy Insiders Podcast: Electric vehicles – Can the world catch up with Tesla? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

ARENA backs live test of high-accuracy solar and wind energy forecasting technology on Australia's most renewables-heavy grid, South Australia.

The post Australian solar and wind forecasting technology to be live tested on S.A. grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.