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Labor ramps up calls for energy minister Angus Taylor to stand aside, as NSW police commissioner downplays significance of Morrison's 'intervention'.

The post Labor ramps up pressure on Taylor, the minister who wouldn’t be missed appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Extinction reconstruction with ancient DNA reveals humans were responsible for the demise of the giant, flightless great auk.

Alan Finkel's hydrogen strategy has raised concerns it could be a prop for brown coal. But if zero emissions is the target, it becomes a race between battery storage and electrolysers.

The post Shipping sunshine! Finkel launches race for clean hydrogen in an “electric planet” appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Investment bank Macquarie Group becomes the latest Australian bank to commit to purchasing 100% renewable electricity.

The post Macquarie Group commits to 100% renewable electricity by 2025 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A researcher who's worked for decades to improve the health of the Murray Darling Basin fears the coming months will be among the worst in history. Jamie Pittock, Professor, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

If you care about what the parties are promising to do about the environment, here are some key issues to watch for.

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

The Australian Energy Council (AEC) Board has appointed Brett Redman as its new Chair and Greg Everett as Deputy Chair.

The post Energy industry appoints new chair and deputy appeared first on RenewEconomy.

BloombergNEF founder Michael Liebreich on his horror of Australia’s bushfires, government indifference, and the huge opportunities for Australia in leading the world in “base-cost” renewables.

The post Energy Insiders Podcast: Australia should be world leader in “base-cost” renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Bottlenose dolphins found to have an even stronger right-side bias than humans

Dolphins, like humans, have a dominant right-hand side, according to research.

About 90% of humans are right-handed but we are not the only animals that show such preferences: gorillas tend to be right-handed, kangaroos are generally southpaws, and even cats have preferences for a particular side – although which is favoured appears to depend on their sex.

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Habitat of creature, sometimes known as Scotch halibut or woof in chip shops, has been depleted by trawling

In the north of England, Atlantic wolffish, Anarhichas lupus, is offered as fillets in fish and chip shops where it might be called Scotch halibut, Scarborough woof or simply woof. You are unlikely to have seen it whole since the fish has large teeth and an off-putting ferocious appearance that accounts for its common name. It can grow 1.5 metres (5ft) long. Its powerful jaws are used for crunching up shellfish, sea urchins and starfish. Despite the fearsome appearance wolffish are shy and will hide if approached by divers.

Unusually for fish, both male and female are conscientious parents, spending months guarding the patch of seabed containing their eggs against predators.

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The California-Quebec current vintage carbon auction settlement retraced from the Q3 clearing price, despite embattled utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) taking part in its first auction since declaring bankruptcy in January.

Globally, emissions from air travel account for only about 3% of the warming human activities are causing, but aviation affects our climate in a number of ways. Shaun Hendy, Professor of Physics, University of Auckland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A former US emissions trader for BP is liable for a $200,000 signing bonus after being fired within the first two years of employment, but questions still remain about whether the oil major terminated the position for cause, the US District Court of the Northern District of Illinois decided Monday.

Italian utility Enel published a new three-year business plan on Tuesday that aims to deepen its efforts to cut its global carbon footprint by shifting more funding to clean energy and networks.

The China Emissions Exchange in Guangzhou on Tuesday released rules for swap trades involving allowances from the Guangdong and EU carbon markets, as sources confirmed a trial deal had been executed between China Southern Airlines and a European company.

A coral reef restoration project on a tiny island off Kenya’s south-east coast is reaping dividends for local people

Three years ago, coral reef along the Kenyan coastline was almost totally destroyed in some areas. Rising surface sea temperatures had triggered devastating bleaching episodes for the fourth time in less than two decades, and with the whitening of coral came a dwindling of marine life. Overfishing only exacerbated the problem.

For coastal communities dependent on the sea for their livelihoods, the degradation of the coral reef and its effect on the marine ecosystem threatened to overturn an entire way of life. In some areas surveyed by the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), as much as 60-90% of coral was destroyed.

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EUAs fought back from an early dip towards €24 on Tuesday, with a weak auction only causing a brief pause in their intraday recovery.

Hans-Werner Sinn’s opinion piece on whether electric cars are as climate friendly as they seem generated a good deal of controversy. William Todts, executive director of Transport & Environment, gives his response

Hans-Werner Sinn is quite the character. This German economics professor’s writings range from the Greek crisis to migration, to German energy policy.

Recently he has discovered a new passion: electric vehicles. Back in April Sinn published a paper claiming electric cars were worse than diesel. The study was roundly criticised for being misleading. Even Germany’s largest carmaker VW felt compelled to publicly contradict the report days after its publication, giving a rare glimpse of its own lifecycle analysis based on company-specific data that shows Volkswagen EVs are better than their diesels.

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Running out of charge in an electric vehicle is no more likely than running out of petrol or diesel.

The post The death of range anxiety in electric vehicles appeared first on RenewEconomy.