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Upbeat Tesla says it has turned the corner, and now aims to sell 20 million cars a year and become a giant distributed global utility, combining EVs, battery storage and solar.

The post Tesla shares soar as earnings stun doubters, aims for global domination appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The New Zealand government has backed down on plans to bring agriculture into its emissions trading scheme, agreeing instead to work with the sector to develop a separate carbon pricing mechanism for farmers by 2025.

Rok Rozman competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Now he has kayaked across six countries to help defend rivers against dams.

California regulator ARB granted under 89,000 offsets (CCOs) this week, marking its lowest weekly issuance since spring 2018, according to data released Wednesday.

Two ANU energy experts say Australia's overall emissions could fall over the next three years, thanks to wind and solar investments, and so much more could be done.

The post Solar, wind to drive Australia emissions lower, but so much more could be done appeared first on RenewEconomy.

House Democrats on Wednesday laid out evidence that the oil behemoth ExxonMobil had known since the 1970s about the potential for a climate crisis and intentionally sowed doubt about it. One of those testifying was Martin Hoffert, a scientist consultant for Exxon Research and Engineering in the 1980s. Responding to the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Hoffert testified that in 1982, Exxon scientists predicted how carbon dioxide levels would rise and heat the planet as humans burned more fossil fuels

• Exxon sowed doubt about climate crisis, House Democrats hear in testimony
  

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Lightsource BP to build its first solar plant in Australia, a 200MW facility in NSW that will supply cheap power to Snowy Hydro.

The post Lightsource BP secures finance for first 200MW solar plant in Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Prof Ian Shanks used his daughter's toy microscope to build a prototype for the device in the 1980s.

Singer Ellie Goulding spoke at the One Young World summit encouraging young people to stay positive.

Australia's renewables revolution proves that there's cause for hope in our emissions reduction goals. But we cannot rest on our laurels. Andrew Blakers, Professor of Engineering, Australian National University Matthew Stocks, Research Fellow, ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Forecast suggests rainforest could stop producing enough rain to sustain itself by 2021

Soaring deforestation coupled with the destructive policies of Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, could push the Amazon rainforest dangerously to an irreversible “tipping point” within two years, a prominent economist has said.

After this point the rainforest would stop producing enough rain to sustain itself and start slowly degrading into a drier savannah, releasing billions of tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, which would exacerbate global heating and disrupt weather across South America.

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US chemists have turned plastic into motor oil, but the scientific battle to break down the tide of plastic waste continues.

A shipment of Chinese antibiotics, headed for a Northern Ireland poultry farm, has sparked an investigation into food security

Retailers and the poultry industry have attempted to reassure consumers on the safety of chicken, after a seizure of Chinese antibiotics suspected to be destined for unregulated use on a poultry farm in Northern Ireland.

The County Tyrone farm suspected of trying to source the antibiotics is now at the centre of an investigation by the Northern Ireland Department of Health. It sends chickens to the processing company Moy Park, a major supplier to UK retailers including Tesco, Ocado and Sainsbury’s.

Investigators have not confirmed publicly whether this is an isolated incident or whether poultry containing antibiotic residues could have been entering the retail food chain for an extended period.

The antibiotic seized is believed to have been amoxicillin, which is approved for use as a veterinary medicine in the UK, but is supposed to be administered only under veterinary supervision. It may not be used as a growth promoter, a practice banned in the EU since 2006. The widespread use of antibiotics in farming is leading to the development of germs that are resistant to even the strongest antibiotics used in human health.

Food industry analysts said the financial incentives to use low doses of antibiotics as a way of boosting growth rates were enormous.

“If you administer growth-promoting antibiotics and get a 10% reduction in feed costs, that is a substantial boost to your profit margin. It’s also unfair competition to honest farmers and a risk to public health through the development of germs that are resistant to antibiotics,” said Erik Millstone, professor of science policy at the University of Sussex.

A spokesperson for the British Poultry Council, of which Moy Park is a member, said consumers could be reassured that antibiotic residues would not be present in chicken meat.

“The UK has an effective statutory veterinary residue surveillance scheme in accordance with EC legislation. There are strict regulations governing withdrawal period (how much time passes between when an animal is last treated with antibiotics and when it leaves the farm) that ensures that there are no residues in the meat,” said the spokesperson.

It is understood that steps have been taken to ensure that the chickens at the farm at the centre of the investigation will not enter the food chain. Moy Park also said in a statement that the poultry industry in Northern Ireland was subject to a testing programme by government vets. “All test results across our supply farms have been negative,” said a spokesperson.

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The company claims a quantum computer has surpassed conventional devices for the first time.

The US Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against California’s cap-and-trade programme, claiming the market is unconstitutional because it links to Canadian province Quebec, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Sixteen states and European commission had lobbied against planned guidance

The European parliament has vetoed a move by member states and the European commission to weaken EU rules protecting bee colonies from toxic pesticides.

MEPs blocked revised legislation that was said to ignore the risk to bee larvae from long-term exposure to chemicals, known as chronic toxicity.

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EUAs slipped towards €25 early on Wednesday as the Brexit process appeared to be heading for yet another extension that keeps UK emitters' ETS participation in doubt.

South Korea’s cabinet has approved a climate action plan that will see the CO2 cap in the emissions trading scheme drop faster over the next decade than previously planned.

The Guardian recently pledged to give the climate crisis the attention it demands. We believe it is important that our readers have a say in how the Guardian and the wider industry reports on the crisis, so we asked young people at the forefront of the fight to share their views

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A government-appointed panel examining ways to increase Australia’s supply of carbon credits has listed the possibility of awarding offsets to facilities in the Safeguard Mechanism that outperform their benchmarks as a potential option.