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AGL has completed construction of a 2.12MW solar plant in Whyalla that will help lower cost for a Santos oil and gas processing facility.

The post AGL completes solar farm for Santos oil and processing in Whyalla appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The biggest global study into attitudes on immunisation reveals confidence is low in some regions.

Oil firms are said to have known for decades of the link between burning fossil fuels and climate breakdown. Author Bill McKibben describes how industry lobbying created a 30-year barrier to tackling the crisis. Plus: John Stewart on his campaign to stop the third runway at Heathrow

Before 1988, climate change was a subject confined to the realm of academic journals. That all changed when the scientist James Hansen told Congress that global heating was caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as a result of the burning of fossil fuels.

That moment caught the imagination of the journalist Bill McKibben, who has written and campaigned on climate breakdown ever since. And it has been reported that fossil fuel companies, such as ExxonMobil, were making links between the burning of oil and rising sea levels as early as the 1970s. But instead of making their findings public, the industry colluded to cast doubt over the science.

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The federal government claims that Australia's rising emissions are offset by savings around the globe when Australian gas exports replace other fossil fuels. But the numbers don't stack up like that. Frank Jotzo, Director, Centre for Climate Economics and Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Salim Mazouz, Research Manager, Crawford School of Public Policy; and Director at EcoPerspectives, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Francis Gurahoo planned to sell the birds for $3,000 each for use in singing competitions, officials say

A 39-year-old man has been caught allegedly trying to smuggle nearly three dozen live finches through John F Kennedy Airport in New York in order to sell them for singing competitions.

Francis Gurahoo was arrested on Sunday after arriving on a flight from Georgetown, Guyana. Prosecutors said customs officials found 34 live birds in his carry-on luggage hidden inside individual plastic hair curlers.

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Morrison adds coal lobbyist who provided infamous lump of coal to his advisory team, cementing the links between the government and the Minerals Council.

The post Lobbyist who provided Morrison’s lump of coal joins PM’s advisory team appeared first on RenewEconomy.

YouTuber Simone Giertz has created the tradie's dream by converting her Tesla Model 3 into the world's first Tesla ute.

The post From Tesla to Truckla: watch a Tesla Model 3 get turned into a ute appeared first on RenewEconomy.

From Bermuda and the Azores to Ireland and France, large numbers of shoes are washing ashore.

The second big battery in South Australia, which can do things the Tesla big battery cannot, releases its first performance report.

The post South Australia’s “other” big battery is earning money, and keeping the lights on appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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

A 50-year-old mystery has been solved by scientists who identified the teeth of ancient Arctic hyenas.

Victoria government details cautious, coordinated roll-out of home solar and batteries rebates, as the Solar Homes scheme prepares to reopen in full in July.

The post Home solar, battery quotas revealed as Victoria prepares to reopen subsidy appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The UK is in pole position to host next year's key climate meeting after agreeing a partnership with main rival Italy.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will partner with outside consultants to model the economic effects of implementing a cap-and-trade programme, likely extending the timeline on whether to advance a green group-backed petition until at least 2020, an environmental source told Carbon Pulse.

Gathering aimed at keeping global heating close to 1.5C will be most significant since Paris

The UK is to host a critical global summit on the climate crisis at the end of 2020, at which the world’s 190 nations must commit to deep cuts in emissions.

It will be the most significant UN climate summit since the Paris deal was struck in 2015, when countries made pledges to curb emissions. But these pledges would only keep global heating to a 3C rise, which would bring devastating heatwaves and extreme weather.

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At least four more countries have announced their support for an EU net zero 2050 emissions target, bringing the bloc closer to agreement on an initiative that could lead to a more ambitious ETS cap next decade.

EU carbon prices inched up on Tuesday after a strong auction lifted sentiment, but prices remained rangebound near €25.

Loss of wildlife | Maternity leave for MPs | Women’s World Cup | Splitting infinitives | Entertainment

Please could Theresa May, now freed of Brexit, include an urgent response to the rapid loss of wildlife (A new language needed for the climate crisis, 17 June) to her action list before she leaves? The Knepp estate wilding project (Report, 21 May) has seen a fast and encouraging reversal of loss of wildlife.
Elaine Steane
Oxford

• I am sitting in my garden enjoying the evening sunshine, a rare occasion this summer, when I realise something is wrong. No birds in the sky. No swallows. No housemartins. No swifts. Where are they? This is quite scary. We are in the middle of June; the skies should be full of birds on the wing. Is this global warming, overhunting or pesticides killing off their food supply? Whatever the reason, I hope it is a temporary glitch and that next year will see their return.
Tina Baker
Chudleigh Knighton, Devon

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A climate scientist has captured the reality of sea ice loss in Greenland in a viral picture.

• Ice blocks frozen solid for thousands of years destabilized
• ‘The climate is now warmer than at any time in last 5,000 years’

Permafrost at outposts in the Canadian Arctic is thawing 70 years earlier than predicted, an expedition has discovered, in the latest sign that the global climate crisis is accelerating even faster than scientists had feared.

A team from the University of Alaska Fairbanks said they were astounded by how quickly a succession of unusually hot summers had destabilised the upper layers of giant subterranean ice blocks that had been frozen solid for millennia.

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