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Green groups fear coronavirus lockdown has weakened environmental protections

An “armada” of more than 100 fishing vessels are illegally plundering south Atlantic waters close to Argentina, environmental groups say, raising concerns that the coronavirus lockdown has weakened already fragile marine protections.

The incursion of the ships, mostly from east Asia, appears to have been carried out by stealth. The vessels waited until nightfall, shut down satellite tracking systems in coordination and then moved into the squid-rich waters of Argentina’s exclusive economic zone, Greenpeace said.

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Mediterranean sediments are shown to have up to 1.9 million tiny plastic pieces per square metre.

An Australian power system dominated by renewables by 2030-40 will deliver reliable and affordable electricity, as long as regulator and policy makers come to the party and create clear investment signals.

The post Deep dive: Why “step change” to high renewables grid will deliver low cost, reliable grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The federal government is spending $94 million to buy cheap oil. Instead, Australia should use the money to manufacture our own energy. Elizabeth Thurbon, Scientia Fellow and Associate Professor in International Relations / International Political Economy, UNSW Hao Tan, Associate professor, University of Newcastle John Mathews, Professor Emeritus, Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University Sung-Young Kim, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Modern History, Politics & International Relations, Macquarie University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The space agency announces the companies that will develop landers to return astronauts to the Moon.

WCI market participants traded California Carbon Offsets (CCOs) without any invalidation risk on ICE for only the second time ever on Thursday, representing the first transaction in over a year for the sparsely-used contract.

EUAs sank below €20 to a two-week low on Thursday, with traders attributing the fall to month-end profit-taking following and the end of the annual compliance cycle.

US space agency satellites follow the melting trends in Antarctica and Greenland over 16 years.

Currents act as conveyor belts that concentrate microplastics in hotspots, study suggests

Scientists have discovered microplastics in greater quantities than ever before on the seabed, and gathered clues as to how ocean currents and deep-sea circulation have carried them there.

Microplastics – tiny pieces of plastic less than 5mm in size – are likely to accumulate most densely on the ocean floor in areas that are also biodiversity hotspots, intensifying the damage they may do to marine ecosystems, according to the research.

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More than half of Woodside’s investors support shareholder motion to set targets in line with Paris climate agreement

The increasing pressure on the Australian gas industry to do more to deal with the climate crisis has been underlined by more than 50% of Woodside Petroleum shareholders calling on the company to set science-based greenhouse gas targets.

Slightly more than half of Woodside investors who gave a view supported a motion that it set targets in line with the goals of the Paris climate agreement to cut both its own emissions and the “scope 3” emissions released by consumers of its products, many of them in Asia.

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Lawmakers from the European Parliament’s environment committee will on Monday debate its position on the bloc’s Just Transition Fund (JTF), though the draft opinion submitted by the eurosceptic Czech MEP directing the effort has considerably softened the proposal’s tone.

Planned sale of land to fossil fuel, mining and and timber concerns mirrors rollback of Obama-era pollution regulations

The Trump administration has ratcheted up its efforts amid the coronavirus pandemic to overhaul and overturn Obama-era environmental regulations and increase industry access to public lands.

The secretary of the interior, David Bernhardt, has sped efforts to drill, mine and cut timber on fragile western landscapes. Meanwhile, the EPA, headed by the former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, has weakened critical environmental laws and announced in March that it would cease oversight of the nation’s polluters during the Covid-19 crisis.

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Countermeasures to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic such as complete lockdowns in a number of countries are causing unprecedented drops in global energy demand and will likely drive an 8% fall in worldwide greenhouse gas emissions this year, the International Energy Agency said Thursday.

Solar buy-back scheme from Smart Commercial Solar and Clear Sky Solar Investments offers an economic leg-up to companies struggling through the Covid-19 crisis.

The post Australia’s great solar buy-back: Business offered 6-month break from power bills appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australian researcher and reef guide Jacinta Shackleton is now one of the few people to have ever seen the rare and endangered ornate eagle ray. Shackleton was conducting research near Lady Elliot Island on the Great Barrier Reef when she saw the ray, something she said was an 'unforgettable and emotional experience'. With little more than 50 sightings recorded worldwide, divers have dubbed the ray ’the unicorn of the sea’

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Guardian investigation finds workers stranded on ships without pay, as port closures and travel bans in the Covid-19 pandemic block repatriation

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While most cruise ship passengers have now made it back to land, another crisis has been growing – with no safe haven in sight.

Around the world, more than 100,000 crew workers are still trapped on cruise ships, at least 50 of which have Covid-19 infections, a Guardian investigation has found. They are shut out of ports and banned from air travel that would allow them to return to their homes.

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Australian bats are getting unfairly targeted. Here’s why we should be giving them a fair go instead. Pia Lentini, Research Fellow, School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne Alison Peel, Senior Research Fellow in Wildlife Disease Ecology, Griffith University Hume Field, Science and Policy Advisor for China & Southeast Asia, EcoHealth Alliance | Honorary Professor, School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland Justin Welbergen, President of the Australasian Bat Society | Associate Professor of Animal Ecology, Western Sydney University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Tesla has quietly announced a milestone on the home battery storage front, with the installation of its 100,000th Powerwall notched up in Q1 of 2020.

The post Tesla installs 100,000th Powerwall home battery, sees “inflection” in storage market appeared first on RenewEconomy.

AEMO wants new inverters to enable rooftop solar to be visible, and switched off if necessary, as PV penetration heads to 50% of grid demand.

The post AEMO wants better inverters, and ability to shut down rooftop solar, as penetration grows to 50% appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Study into effects of coronavirus curbs also finds less asthma and preterm births

The improvement in air quality over the past month of the coronavirus lockdown has led to 11,000 fewer deaths from pollution in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, a study has revealed.

Sharp falls in road traffic and industrial emissions have also resulted in 1.3m fewer days of work absence, 6,000 fewer children developing asthma, 1,900 avoided emergency room visits and 600 fewer preterm births, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

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