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Seven landowners join forces to create largest lowland heathland nature reserve in UK

It is a rich, complex landscape, a mosaic of heaths, woods, mires, reed beds, salt marsh and dunes that are home to a myriad of flora and fauna from rare birds, butterflies and bats to carnivorous plants.

Seven landowners have now joined forces to created what is being billed as the UK’s first “super national nature reserve” (NNR) on Purbeck Heaths in Dorset.

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Winner beats stiff competition from Croatian gingko tree, Portuguese chestnut and English oak

A lonely pine tree believed by superstitious locals to act as sentinel over a flooded Czech village has been chosen as Europe’s tree of the year, beating stiff competition from a Croatian gingko tree, a Portuguese chestnut and an English oak.

The Guardian of the Flooded Village has grown for 350 years on a rocky height near the village of Chudobin, said locally to play host to a devil that sat under it at night, playing the violin and warding off intruders – though in reality the eerie sounds are more likely to have come from the strong winds blowing over the valley.

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California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) traded underneath the current WCI floor price for the first time in nearly three years on Tuesday, as participants continued to see the growing coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic turmoil as bearish drivers on the joint cap-and-trade programme.

California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) prices dropped markedly on Monday, finally succumbing to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and changes in the global economy.

EUAs fell over 8.5% to a fresh 16-month low below €18 on Tuesday as the first auction failure of the year spurred selling, even as wider financial markets held relatively steady following Monday's coronavirus-fuelled crash.

Climate change: It's Back to Nature on Britain's holiday coast

The EU ETS should be "scrapped" from next year to help keep EU economies afloat amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Polish deputy minister for state assets said on Tuesday, as other eastern EU countries called for work on the EU’s Green Deal to also be halted. 

One of the most bullish analyst teams covering the EU carbon market have once again cut their price forecasts for EUAs, this time due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Exchange EEX on Tuesday cancelled its Common Auction platform sale of 2.7 million spot EUAs due to lack of bids, as secondary prices continued to tumble on the coronavirus-fuelled sell-off.

Lung damage from dirty air may worsen infections, but isolation measures improving air quality

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The health damage inflicted on people by long-standing air pollution in cities is likely to increase the death rate from coronavirus infections, experts have said.

Dirty air is known to cause lung and heart damage and is responsible for at least 8m early deaths a year. This underlying health damage means respiratory infections, such as coronavirus, may well have a more serious impact on city dwellers and those exposed to toxic fumes, than on others.

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New Zealand carbon allowances on Tuesday fell below the NZ$25 fixed price option for the first time since Dec. 19, as traders in need of cash added to supply.

Germany’s carbon emissions have fallen sharply in 2019 for the third year in a row, bringing the country closer to climate targets it had already written off.

The post Steep emissions plunge puts Germany’s original 2020 climate target back in sight appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A subsidiary of New Zealand’s state-owned grid company has added domestic carbon allowances to its listed products, it announced Tuesday.

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

Bloomberg New Energy Finance says hit to demand as Coronavirus takes hold could make 2020 the "first down year for solar capacity addition" in several decades.

The post Coronavirus could deliver first global solar market contraction since 1980s, says BNEF appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Climate Director will hone and implement a strategic program of work that builds on TNC’s growing role as a leader in tackling climate change.

Victorian Andrews government to allow onshore gas exploration, but will permanently ban CSG and fracking. Environmental groups and the Greens label it "disaster capitalism".

The post Victoria lifts moratorium on onshore gas, but permanently bans fracking appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Huge Dundonnell wind farm begins output in Victoria, one of the few large scale wind and solar projects to connect on schedule.

The post Huge Dundonnell wind farm begins production in Victoria appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Disaster averted as main rule maker backs off on controversial rule change that would have erected more barriers to wind and solar projects.

The post AEMC backs off on COGATI rule change, relief for solar and wind sector appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Independent Zali Steggall to defer presentation of federal Climate Change Bill from next Monday to a later date, as Parliament focuses on its response to COVID-19.

The post Zali Steggall holds fire on zero emissions climate bill amid Coronavirus chaos appeared first on RenewEconomy.