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European carbon prices retreated on Tuesday, giving back most of the previous day's gains as oil prices eased and the market awaits news regarding French nuclear plant closures.

Greens and conservationists warn it will be used by the Liberal National party to attack state Labor environment rules

The Senate has approved a Liberal-backed inquiry into whether farming and poor water quality harm the Great Barrier Reef, interpreted as a bid to debate the claims of the controversial scientist Peter Ridd and discredit Queensland laws to protect the reef.

The Greens and marine conservationists have warned the inquiry – due to report in October 2020 – will be used by the Queensland Liberal National party to attack the state Labor government, which is seeking land management changes and will be up for re-election in the same month.

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The Federal Government looks increasingly likely to legislate the big stick it plans to use to force energy retailers to lower their prices.

China on Tuesday laid out its position ahead of next week’s climate summit in New York, pledging a 100% commitment to the Paris Agreement but stopping short of promising to increase its own ambitions.

New website asks Australians to record sightings of insect that is main food source of the mountain pygmy possum

Every spring, 4.4 billion bogong moths migrate up to 1,000km to the alpine regions of Victoria and New South Wales ahead of the summer heat.

But for the past two years, the number of moths that have made the journey to those areas from breeding grounds in Queensland, NSW and western Victoria has crashed to almost undetectable levels and scientists are turning to the community for help.

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A steel plant in Taranto moves to tackle pollution, but locals say it is too little, too late.

Second-round September offer of 3,250 rooftop solar rebates taken up in little more than a quarter of an hour.

The post Victoria solar demand still sizzling: another 3,250 rebates gone in 20 minutes appeared first on RenewEconomy.

NT Government owned utility says it faces an 'existential risk' from increased solar uptake. Can a big battery save it?

The post Is this Australia’s first utility to acknowledge death by solar? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Committee calls for ministers to spell out how supplies can be protected from climate crisis

About a fifth of the fresh food the UK imports comes from areas threatened with climate chaos, putting people’s health and diets at risk, MPs have found.

The environmental audit committee called on ministers to set out a clear plan for how the UK’s food supplies could be protected from the climate emergency and to publish information on how food may be affected by Brexit.

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Planting any tree is more important than planting a particular tree when it comes to removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Sebastian Leuzinger, Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

'Even though it is slow, the pace is picking up and the debate is shifting,' 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg tells a rapturous audience at George Washington University. Thunberg pioneered the Fridays for Future school climate strikes in August last year by staging a solo protest outside the Swedish parliament. The movement has since grown around the world. The next mass protest is on 20 September. 'Activism works', she says, before concluding: 'See you on the street!'

• Are you taking part? Share you story

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17 September 1957: As well as commercial poachers, the crofter who wants ‘one for the pot’ is just as likely to be the victim

“Wha’ll gang a poachin’ tae Kergord wi’ me?” is the challenging refrain of a comic song, sung to the tune of Waltzing Matilda, popular at village hall concerts in Shetland. Hear an audience of young Shetlanders taking up this refrain and you may assume that they are no less willing than their forebears to encroach on a laird’s preserves. But times have changed and, like the Cornish pastime of shipwrecking, the Shetland sport of netting the burns joins the list of anti-social nocturnal activities.

Related: Eerie silence falls on Shetland cliffs that once echoed to seabirds’ cries

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Global fossil fuel divestment movement tops US$11 trillion as campaigners place further pressure on investors to respond to climate emergency.

The post Global divestment movement hits $11 trillion, pushes for more – and faster appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Criminals threaten and attack government officials, forest defenders and indigenous people, Human Rights Watch finds

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is a lucrative business largely driven by criminal networks that threaten and attack government officials, forest defenders and indigenous people who try to stop them, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.

Rainforest Mafias concludes that Brazil’s failure to police these gangs threatens its abilities to meet its commitments under the Paris climate deal – such as eliminating illegal deforestation by 2030. It was published a week before the UN Climate Action Summit.

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Victoria government planning amendment introduced to ensure large-scale solar projects choose appropriate locations on grid, have minimal environmental or social impacts.

The post Victoria locks in new solar farm planning guidelines appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Could a glowing red sunset really foretell the next morning's weather?

The climate crisis has now grown so severe that the actions of denialists have turned predatory: they are now an immediate threat to our children.

The post Why ‘predatory’ climate deniers are a threat to our children appeared first on RenewEconomy.

DNA from historical museum specimens may help save the giant salamander from extinction in the wild.

Dozens of students say they were "traumatised" by investigations that left them feeling unsafe on campus.

Why is there a shortage of the precious gas and how is it affecting firms?