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A century after Walter Mittelholzer’s famous aerial mission, scientists repeat his journey to shed light on the impact of global heating

In 1919, the Swiss pilot and photographer Walter Mittelholzer flew over Mont Blanc in a biplane photographing the alpine landscape. A century on, scientists have recreated his images to show the impact of global heating on the mountain’s glaciers.

Dr Kieran Baxter and Dr Alice Watterson from the University of Dundee used a process called monoplotting to work out the precise locations from which Mittelholzer had taken his photographs. They returned to the spot in a helicopter and lined up their cameras using the alpine peaks as their guide.

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The climate policy has become an article of faith within Labor, and among many supporters. It's also a policy that in the election split voters Labor needed, attracting some but driving away others. Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Poland’s former Environment Minister Jan Szyszko died on Wednesday at the age of 75, the government announced.

UK and US politicians pledge to rein in big oil in light of Guardian climate crisis investigation

• Half a century of dither and denial – a climate crisis timeline
• Why we need political action to tackle the oil, coal and gas companies - video explainer

Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic have pledged to crack down on fossil fuel companies in light of the Guardian’s investigation revealing that the world’s leading fossil fuel giants are linked to more than a third of carbon emissions in the modern era.

Bernie Sanders, leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, and the UK Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said they would take measures to rein in big oil corporations to protect the public and prevent the worst impacts of climate breakdown.

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Demonstrators stage sitting protest in attempt to close down airport

Dozens of Extinction Rebellion protesters have staged a sit-down protest at an entrance to London City airport.

Protesters chanted “fly today, gone tomorrow” as they sat at the exit of the airport’s Docklands Light Railway station, blocked by a line of police from entering the airport, just after 9am.

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Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator issued over 460,000 carbon credits this week, surpassing 12 million offsets in 2019 as vegetation and waste projects continue to dominate the programme.

Victoria government backed project will trial CSIRO EV charging technology that maximises the use of rooftop solar generation, and minimises demand from the grid.

The post Victoria, Nissan trial CSIRO smart solar EV charging technology appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A microgrid comprising 1.2MW solar, 3.2MWh battery storage to go ahead soon on Lord Howe Island, two years after a controversial wind turbine ban brought the project to a halt.

The post Lord Howe Island to get solar and battery microgrid, no wind turbines appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Was Scott Morrison right to suggest that EVs would ruin the long weekend? We decided to find out with our electric Kona.

The post Recharging the Australian long weekend with an electric Kona appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A lot went wrong for the federal Labor Party on election night, but many believe an overly-ambitious and poorly explained climate change policy played a big role in their shock defeat. The party has flagged that its emissions reduction targets are up for review.

Climate change has been one of the most polarising issues in modern Australian politics for more than a decade, and there's little sign of a truce on the horizon. But it's an issue some MPs are eager to forge a better consensus on.

Disability advocates are calling on the activist group known as Extinction Rebellion to consider the rights of people with disabilities. Some politicians have called for harsher punishments to protesters, and say this week's demonstrations are doing the cause more harm than good.

Spoiler alert: No. And energy minister Angus Taylor clearly hasn’t been paying attention to the history of our electricity infrastructure.

The post Has Australia ‘over-invested’ in renewable energy? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Energy minister Angus Taylor appears to be on a one man mission to fulfil the destiny wished of him by his supporters - to stop wind and solar in their tracks.

The post Is Angus Taylor on a one-man mission to stop wind and solar? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

‘A leopard doesn’t change its spots,’ says activist investor group, dismissing plan as effort to play for time

The Minerals Council has announced it will develop a “climate action plan” amid increasing pressure on its biggest members, BHP and Rio Tinto, to quit the industry body over its position on global heating.

In a statement posted on the Minerals Council website this week, the chief executive, Tania Constable, said the plan would be released next year and would “support strong and innovative action by Australia’s world-leading minerals sector to address human-induced climate change.

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ACCC's Rod Sims says costs of network over-investment and solar subsidies should be pushed onto taxpayers to bring electricity prices down.

The post ACCC new push to end rooftop solar subsidies appears to get support from Taylor appeared first on RenewEconomy.

EnergyAustralia's Catherine Tanna says that decarbonisation of the energy sector is inevitable and calls for 'tribalism' to stop.

The post EnergyAustralia calls for “unity” to enable “inevitable” transition to renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Final bids for fifth stage of world's biggest solar park in Dubai reportedly attract record low solar PV prices of under $US17/MWh.

The post Solar PV prices fall to record lows in tender for 900MW solar park in Dubai appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Sungrow has signed a contract to supply its fully integrated Energy Storage System (ESS) ST4200KWh-2000 to a 15MW/32MWh project in Massachusetts.

The post Sungrow to supply energy storage systems for a 15MW/32MWh storage portfolio in the U.S. appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Magistrate says bail conditions preventing the former senator from attending Extinction Rebellion events were not necessary

Former Greens senator Scott Ludlam has had bail conditions – that banned him from associating with Extinction Rebellion climate change protests – dismissed by a judge following his arrest at a protest earlier this week.

The strict conditions had been labelled “absurd” by civil liberties campaigners and prevented Ludlam from appearing in court on Thursday, due to restrictions on coming to the Sydney CBD.

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