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There is alarm at the speed that stony coral tissue loss disease is killing the Caribbean reef.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

Impact of increase in shrubs and grasses not yet known but scientists say it could increase flooding in the region

Shrubs and grasses are springing up around Mount Everest and across the Himalayas, one of the most rapidly heating regions of the planet.

Related: 1.9 billion people at risk from mountain water shortages, study shows

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Utah Republicans have included funding in the state’s upcoming budget for a lawsuit challenging the legality of California’s cap-and-trade programme and emissions performance standard, but final approval is still months away, a government spokesperson told Carbon Pulse.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices surged to begin the new year on higher demand from speculators, while RGGI allowances (RGAs) inched up on thin volume.

As a CCTRS Team Leader you will provide essential leadership to a team of officers and technical leads in order to drive and deliver our work through regular change. Whether that be a change in your team's responsibilities across the different schemes we manage, or changes to how the schemes themselves are administered.

World’s largest investor signs up to Climate Action 100+ after criticism from activists

BlackRock, the world’s largest investor, has joined an influential pressure group calling for the biggest polluters to reduce their emissions, after criticisms that it was undermining action addressing the climate crisis.

The US investment firm has signed up to Climate Action 100+, a group of investors managing assets worth more than $35tn (£27tn), that pressures fossil fuel producers and other companies responsible for two-thirds of annual global industrial emissions to show how they will reduce carbon dioxide pollution.

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Slovenia-based trading house Belektron has hired a former utility emissions trader to set up a new desk in Berlin.

Daniel Pryor of the Adam Smith Institute, David E Hanke, Georgina Ferry and Prof Mick Watson respond to an article by George Monbiot claiming that lab-grown food will end farming and save the planet

It’s encouraging to find agreement across the political divide on the potential of new technologies to combat climate change, reduce animal suffering and supplant massive agricultural subsidies. The Adam Smith Institute recently released a paper on the topic that made many of the same points as George Monbiot (Lab-grown food will end farming – and save the planet, Journal, 8 January).

One overlooked benefit of lab-grown food is that it may help the UK tackle the crisis in housing affordability. As farming is superseded by precision fermentation, the significant amount of land currently used for livestock farming (including parts of the green belt) will be freed up for development in places that people actually want to live.

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Five species and five subspecies found in Indonesia in the largest discovery of its kind in more than a century

Ten new songbird species and subspecies have been identified on a trio of previously under-explored Indonesian islands in the largest discovery of its kind in more than a century, according to a new study.

Hidden away on the remote Wallacean islands of Taliabu, Peleng and Batudaka, close to where British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace independently developed the theory of evolution to Charles Darwin, five new bird species and five subspecies were detected during a six-week expedition to the area, off the coast of Sulawesi.

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The horror of the last weeks and months are a compressed version of the last 30 years in bushfire and climate politics. Marc Hudson, Researcher on sociomaterial transformations, social movements, Keele University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Chicken and hormone-fed beef bans will continue post-Brexit, the environment secretary says.

Another California-registered offset project is aiming to transfer to the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), according to public filings, adding to a recent trend as stakeholders seek higher prices in the complementary market-based scheme.

Plan would help Trump administration advance projects held up over global heating concerns such as the Keystone XL oil pipeline

The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled a plan to speed permitting for major infrastructure projects such as oil pipelines, including dropping consideration of their potential impact on the climate crisis.

The plan, released by the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), would help the administration advance big energy projects such as the Keystone XL oil pipeline that had been tied up over concerns about their effect on global heating.

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Main purpose of job: To coordinate British High Commission work to combat Climate Change, including diplomatic action to support delivery of the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) in December 2020.

The successful candidate will provide advice and analysis on Ukraine’s energy and climate change policies and opportunities for the UK to support reform in these areas. He/she will manage Embassy projects relating to the energy sector and climate change (up to £500,000 per year), including recommending areas for Embassy activity, liaison with project implementers, input into project design and monitoring.

We are currently looking for a Policy Officer: COP26 Climate Change Conference to coordinate the France Network’s efforts to support delivery of the UK-Italy hosted 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) in November 2020.

The jobholder will work to promote a more ambitious commitment to cut greenhouse gases by Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand (CLMT) in the context of COP26. The work will be more heavily focused on Thailand (about 70% of the jobholder’s time) as a major emitter.

The first core stage for Nasa's "mega-rocket", the SLS, has left its factory in New Orleans.

EUAs lifted above €24 early on Thursday after a stronger auction and as the energy complex lifted following a fresh rocket attack Iraq.