Around The Web

The Alberta government’s proposed output-based pricing system (OBPS) could penalise early movers and provide windfall profits to dirtier industrial firms in the Canadian province, while the uniform electricity sector standard would prove more ambitious than the benchmarks set by the federal ‘backstop’ programme, economists and analysts said.

New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will not finalise regulations to adopt the RGGI carbon market's post-2020 Model Rule updates this year, and its timeline to publish a draft proposal remains hazy, sources said.

A new study shows hundreds of different butterflies, bugs and flying insects are declining across Germany.

Artificial intelligence firm says its AI agents have achieved Grandmaster status at Starcraft 2.

Utilities SSE, Orsted, and Drax are urging the UK government to confirm it will uphold and extend carbon pricing domestically amid its efforts to exit the EU, in order to avoid undermining billions of pounds of clean energy investments in the country.

This series is funded, in part, through grants to theguardian.org by the following organisations

Continue reading...

I ended up incorporating him into my novel Carpentaria, where he now looms larger than life

• Vote for your favourite in the 2019 bird of the year poll

This is a story of Pirate, Australia’s proper number one rex regum et volucres, king of birds. As a fledging, so I was told, he was rescued in a relocation of sulphur-crested cockatoos from the vicinity of Tullamarine airport, so that he would not end up being a bird-strike victim caught up in a jet turbine of one of those long-haul international Boeing jetliners taking off at about 190mph to Hong Kong, London, Paris or wherever else these people carriers fly to on the planet.

This wild young cockatoo was taken to central Australia, where the skies would eventually be large enough for his freewheeling temperament to roam. Within days of arriving in Alice Springs he came to live with my family as a basically wild, and seemingly untameable, rebellious adolescent. He hated everyone and hissed like a mad white ghost whenever anyone went near his cage. Every day I talked to him, paid him many compliments for his extraordinary beauty, and gave him the name of Pirate. Somehow I managed to clean his cage with all the newspapers he ripped up without having my hand bitten off while he was going completely bananas, and then I brought him fresh gumtree foliage to beautify his home, which he destroyed along with the newspaper, and gave him saucers of cut-up fruit, vegetables, seed and water. In other words, he was the boss and I was his slave.

Continue reading...

The country will also no longer host next month's Apec trade summit, as mass protests continue.

In the UK’s first ‘plastic-free’ town, Penzance, there is consternation at the arrival of 150 artificial trees, amid suggestions that this is the most environmentally friendly option

Residents of Penzance, Cornwall, the UK’s first “plastic-free” town, were understandably piqued this week to find that 150 Christmas trees had been put up – every single one made of plastic.

Local business chiefs behind the move defended their decision to opt for fake trees for the community and insisted they were more sustainable than the fresh alternative – which would later have to be burned – and could be dusted off and reused for many years.

Continue reading...

Scientists are developing rapid-charging batteries that could be in use in a couple of years

New battery technology could give electric cars more than 200 miles of charge in as little as 10 minutes, according to new research.

Lithium ion batteries have had a dramatic impact because of their ability to store a large amount of energy in a small, compact battery and be recharged again and again. A trio of scientists were awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry for their contributions to the development of the batteries earlier this month.

Continue reading...

Chile has pulled out of hosting this year's COP25 UN climate talks, as well as next month's APEC Summit, President Sebastian Pinera announced on Wednesday, as a wave of violent riots continues to grip the country.

Firefighters in California have been battling wildfires across the state as winds are expected to pick up again. The Kincade fire in Sonoma county, in the north of the US state, had destroyed 124 homes and other structures by Tuesday morning and was threatening 90,000 structures. Crews were also working to control a fire near the Getty Museum in Los Angeles that had prompted evacuations on Monday

• California wildfires: fierce winds may spread blazes as millions lose power

Continue reading...

Democrats are favoured to win control of the Virginia state legislature amid increased party enthusiasm and support from moderates and independents ahead of next week’s general election that could enable the state to join the RGGI ETS, according to a new study published this week.

Crude oil oozes into the waters of Lake Maracaibo – a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea – yet fishermen still scratch a living on its blackened, sticky shores

All photographs by Rodrigo Abd/AP

Continue reading...

EUAs hit a one-week high above €26 early on Wednesday as supply prospects appeared tight on a rare auction-free day as the chances of a rapid resumption of UK selling faded. 

A new analysis of land heights suggests coastal regions are at greater risk of flooding.

She turned down the prize money and said "the climate movement does not need any more awards".

Awarding carbon credits to Safeguard Mechanism facilities that beat their baselines risks harming the integrity of Australia’s emission reductions and the nation’s carbon abatement industry, business group Carbon Market Institute said Wednesday.

Singapore-based venture AirCarbon has launched a blockchain-based exchange for trading of tokens to be backed by carbon credits eligible in the global aviation sector’s CORSIA offset scheme, the company said Wednesday.

The Federal Government announced today it will establish a $1 billion Grid Reliability Fund to improve the reliability and stability of the electricity network.