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European carbon prices rocketed to their highest in 11 months on Wednesday, as traders said unabated buying by unidentified speculators continues in the face of bearish fundamentals, low liquidity, and a general lack of compliance player participation.

Astronomers have found a previously unseen type of object circling a distant star.

A New York-based energy retailer opened a CO2 Allowance Tracking System (COATS) account in the Northeast US RGGI carbon market this week, marking the fifth new account in the programme this year, according to public data.

Jamaica has increased the ambition of its GHG reduction commitment in a new economy-wide Paris Agreement NDC, while also signalling that it may use market mechanisms for either its own targets or to assist other countries.

Rise in harvesting could affect ability to combat climate crisis due to carbon absorption capacity reducing

Europe has lost a vastly increased area of forest to harvesting in recent years, data suggests, reducing the continent’s carbon absorption capacity and possibly indicating wider problems with the EU’s attempts to combat the climate crisis.

Many of the EU’s forests – which account for about 38% of its land surface area – are managed for timber production, and thus harvested regularly. But the loss of biomass increased by 69% in the period from 2016 to 2018, compared with the period from 2011 to 2015, according to satellite data. The area of forest harvested increased by 49% in the same comparison, published in the journal Nature Research.

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The paltry £5bn pledged bears no comparison to Roosevelt’s programme. Britain needs far more ambitious, green investment

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Prime minister Boris Johnson’s speech promised to “build, build, build” as he invoked the spirit of Franklin Roosevelt, but his plans fell far short of matching the US president’s legacy. The pandemic has shone a spotlight on Britain’s longstanding problems. Vital frontline services such as health and social care have been stripped bare, our weakened social security system has left millions without an adequate safety net, and the contributions of key workers have been underpaid and devalued. None of this was addressed in Boris Johnson’s speech.

Related: 'New deal' risks fuelling emissions and eroding building standards

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Critics say utilities borrowing to pay shareholders instead of improving infrastructure

• One man’s fight to get bathing water status for a stretch of river near Bath

English water companies have handed more than £2bn a year on average to shareholders since they were privatised three decades ago, according to analysis for the Guardian.

The payouts in dividends to shareholders of parent companies between 1991 and 2019 amount to £57bn – nearly half the sum they spent on maintaining and improving the country’s pipes and treatment plants in that period.

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Untreated effluent flowed into waterways for more than 1.5m hours, data shows

• England’s privatised water firms paid £57bn in dividends since 1991

Water companies in England discharged raw sewage into rivers on more than 200,000 occasions last year, according to data obtained by the Guardian.

The analysis reveals untreated human waste was released into streams and rivers for more than 1.5m hours in 2019.

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Firms including Anglian Water respond to data on their practices and policies

Thames Water: “We invested more than £1bn again in 2019-20, leading to a total of £15bn in the past 15 years, and we will continue to spend wisely on improving resilience, service and efficiency, as well as provide more support for customers in vulnerable circumstances.

“Our shareholders are in it for the long term and have not taken a dividend for three years to prioritise investment in improving service for customers and to protect the environment.”

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Botswana’s government is yet to test the remains of the dead animals in what has been described as a ‘conservation disaster’

More than 350 elephants have died in northern Botswana in a mysterious mass die-off described by scientists as a “conservation disaster”.

A cluster of elephant deaths was first reported in the Okavango Delta in early May, with 169 individuals dead by the end of the month. By mid June, the number had more than doubled, with 70% of the deaths clustered around waterholes, according to local sources who wish to remain anonymous.

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British firms fail to win leading roles in the expansion of the Copernicus Earth observation project.

Experts say further investigation of link is urgently required and may be relevant to managing pandemic

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Air pollution is likely to be increasing the number and severity of Covid-19 infections, according to the UK government’s expert advisers.

In a report published on Wednesday, the experts said further investigation of the link between dirty air and the coronavirus pandemic was “urgently required” and may be relevant to how the pandemic is managed.

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Solar-powered mini-grids can play a “critical role” in delivering universal electricity access across the globe, as they present smarter, cheaper options to main grid.

The post Solar mini-grids smarter, cheaper option for many global communities with no power appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Newsrooms should know: the disaster is here. It is raging now. Our job is to cover it with the urgency it deserves

To hear many journalists tell it, the spring of 2020 has brought a series of extraordinary revelations. Look at what the nation has learned: that our healthcare system was not remotely up to the challenge of a deadly pandemic. That our economic safety net was largely non-existent. That our vulnerability to disease and death was directly tied to our race and where we live. That our political leadership sowed misinformation that left people dead. That systemic racism and the killing of Black people by police is undiminished, despite decades of protest and so many Black lives lost.

Related: Democrats say they have a bold climate plan – but Republicans have other plans

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A Swedish study found twice as many people had protective T-cells as tested positive for antibodies.

Luxury car tax on low and zero emissions cars in Australia is quietly relaxed, giving EVs bigger break than fossil fuel cars for first time in decade.

The post Australia’s luxury car tax threshold quietly lifted for electric vehicles appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australia has amassed a total 430 million surplus Kyoto Protocol units, the government said Wednesday as the nation’s commitments under the treaty ended June 30, more than sufficient to prop up any shortfall in meeting its Paris Agreement targets.

The government says it wants to make immigration "easy and quick" for researchers and innovators.

Australia abandoned its moral obligations under Kyoto. By carrying our mistakes into the Paris deal, we risk firming our status as a global climate pariah. Penny van Oosterzee, Adjunct Associate Professor James Cook University and University Fellow Charles Darwin University, James Cook University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A new report published this week has shown how solar-powered mini-grids could play a “critical role” in delivering universal electricity access across the globe.

The post Solar mini-grids to play “critical role” in delivering universal electricity access appeared first on RenewEconomy.