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Australia needs a carbon price for its electricity sector to ensure continued emission cuts, though the sector could deliver much deeper reductions at only modest cost to consumers, Origin Energy said Wednesday.

Guardian Australia editor says we can be a superpower of the post-carbon world economy if we set aside the self-defeating culture war

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Australia’s climate “debate” has been bogged in a culture war for decades. What should be a straightforward discussion of scientific fact and possible responses has instead become a mire of misinformation and denial that has paralysed policy, clogged investment, increased power prices and delayed change.

National greenhouse gas emissions have risen every year since soon after the abolition of the carbon price in 2014, yet the prime minister stands on the international stage and insists Australia is “doing our bit on climate change and we reject any suggestion to the contrary”.

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The Guardian US editor explains how one of the big surprises in moving to America has been the media’s approach to the climate crisis. Here’s how the Guardian hopes to ignite the conversation here – with support from you

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In the 18 months I’ve lived in America, as editor of the Guardian’s US edition, this country has been hit by a string of natural disasters.

Related: How do we rein in the fossil fuel industry? Here are eight ideas

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The Guardian’s editor-in-chief explains why support from our readers is crucial in enabling us to produce fearless, independent reporting that addresses the climate emergency

• Read the Guardian’s climate pledge

At the Guardian we believe the climate crisis is the most urgent issue of our times. And we know that Guardian readers are equally passionate about the need for governments, businesses and individuals to take immediate action to avoid a catastrophe for humanity and for the natural world.

Today the Guardian is making a pledge to our readers that we will play our part, both in our journalism and in our own organisation, to address the climate emergency. We hope this underlines to you the Guardian’s deep commitment to quality environmental journalism, rooted in scientific fact.

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Today, we are making a public pledge to ourselves and our readers, that we are committed to taking responsibility for our role - both journalistically and institutionally - on how to impact the climate crisis we are facing.

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European Environment Agency found levels of fine particulate matter stalled after decades of reductions

Little progress has been made on tackling air quality in Europe, new research shows, despite public outcry in many countries and increasing awareness of the health impacts of pollution.

Levels of the dangerous fine particulate matter known as PM2.5, which can lodge deep in the lungs and pass into the bloodstream, appear to have reached a plateau across Europe, after more than a decade of gradual reductions. The results come from the European Environment Agency’s Air Quality in Europe 2019 report, published on Wednesday, which collates data taken from thousands of monitoring stations in 2017.

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Sparked by an unexpected rockfall, researchers placed sensors on the mountain to monitor the site.

Hailing from the Chinese province of Qinghai, Yongqing Bao has won the prestigious wildlife photographer of the year 2019 title for his image The Moment, which frames the standoff between a Tibetan fox and a marmot. A powerful frame of both humour and horror, it captures the drama and intensity of nature.

The images will go on display at the Natural History Museum in London from 18 October, before touring internationally

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16 October 1913: A switch to cooking by gas instead of coal prevents tons of soot each day being discharged into the atmosphere

There are now in use in Manchester over 100,000 gas stoves. Fixed in the kitchens and sculleries of suburban Manchester, they are preventing the discharge of something like ten tons of soot a day into our atmosphere. The price of gas has recently been reduced from 2s. 3d. to 2, if the bill be paid in good time. In Sheffield it is 1s. 6d., and it might be nearer 1s. 6d. than 2 in Manchester but that the Gas Committee have to contribute £50,000 a year in relief of rates.

The Smoke Abatement League and their friends regard this as a tax on those Manchester citizens who are public-spirited enough – or sensible enough – to cook by gas instead of coal. In the annual report of the Manchester branch of the League, figures are given for two manufacturing firms, one of which has a bad chimney and the other a good one. The firm with a bad chimney uses 60 tons of coal a week at 13s. a ton to produce a given result. The firm with a good one gets the same result, with 30 tons of coal at 11s. The engines are the same in both cases, and the firm with the bad chimney pays £39 a week for coal, the firm with a good one, £16. 10.

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At All Energy 2019, on stand NN139 RFI is excited to launch exclusive new solutions and value-added services for the solar industry.

The post RFI launches new Solar Comms Solutions, Value-added Services and more at All Energy appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Origin Energy board faces fiery shareholders focused on NT fracking and sees coal-fired Eraring power station as valuable even under a 1.5-degree target.

The post Origin grilled over NT fracking plans, insists on track for 1.5°C scenario appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Mojo signs long term PPA with Suntech for construction of small solar farm in north-east Victoria, with more deals to come.

The post Mojo Power signs long term contract for new solar farm in Victoria appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The first figures emerge demonstrating that Brexit uncertainty has adversely affected UK research.

Western Power unveils network of the future, where thousands of regional customers are taken off grid and given renewables and storage, saving money and boosting reliability.

The post Why network operators will take thousands of customers off the grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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From 2021, many of Germany’s pioneer wind turbines, solar PV installations and biogas plants will stop receiving fixed feed-in tariffs. What happens next?

The post Coming of age: How will Germany’s renewable energy pioneers fare in the free market? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The population first ravaged by commercial whalers in the 1900s is almost back to where it was.

Wilderness Society releases damning economic assessment of Narrabri CSG project that suggests it will do little to address the Australian gas price crisis

The post Narrabri CSG project dammed as “fairy-tale” that won’t cut gas prices appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Researchers notice whales’ unusual feeding behaviour in south-east Alaska

Humpback whales have been captured on film herding shoals of fish into their cavernous mouths with their oversized pectoral fins.

Marine biologists recorded the extraordinary feeding behaviour for the first time off the coast of Alaska, where the whales lurk around salmon hatcheries that release juvenile fish into the sea.

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Plastic is clogging up our landfills, our oceans and our bodies. Ken in Brisbane asks "Will there be a substitute for plastic anytime soon? Surely there's a Nobel Prize for this (and another way to clean up the tonnes of plastic currently polluting the oceans)." ABC Science reporter Suzannah Lyons has been looking into this.