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Results will shape EU climate and energy policy for next five years, with major ramifications for Germany, Europe, and the global effort to create a climate-friendly economy.

The post Stakes for energy and climate policy are high in EU elections appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Redflow wins "preferred supplier" status to NZ-based Soul Energy, in deal that could yield orders for hundreds of the Australian company's zinc bromine flow batteries.

The post Redflow lands potentially massive battery supply deal with Soul Energy appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Infigen says "firm renewables" cost between $55 to $67/MWh - well below the price of the current coal-dominated grid.

The post Infigen buys first gas plant to support more cheap renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

MacMines Austasia abandon plans, raising questions about basin’s viability as a source of Queensland employment

The backer of a massive coal proposal in the Galilee Basin, adjacent to Adani’s Carmichael mine site, has quietly abandoned its plans amid growing doubts about the long-term profitability of Australian thermal coal exports.

The ABC reported this morning that the proponents of the $7bn China Stone mine had withdrawn their application for a mining lease in March.

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Hanwha QCELLS takes leading solar panel market share in UK, and wants to emulate that success in the Australian market.

The post Q CELLS keen to repeat UK solar market success in Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The shock-waves from the Coalition election win are being felt beyond Australia’s shores. Nigel Morris reports back from Intersolar in Munich and why some big developers are changing their plans, and abandoning Queensland altogether.

The post Solar Insiders Podcast: Is Australia now un-investible for big solar? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

GOP members used a House hearing on endangered species to peddle the line that more carbon in the atmosphere is a good thing

The climate crisis has become a top issue among Democrats running for president. But many Republican lawmakers are still resistant to the science showing global heating is a serious, manmade problem.

When Democrats in control of the House scheduled a hearing for international scientists to explain their warnings that humans are critically wounding biodiversity on Wednesday, conservative members of Congress called on career climate science deniers to testify alongside them.

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

EUAs climbed by almost a euro on Wednesday to notch a third straight day of gains as next week’s auction dearth continued to lift sentiment while higher gas prices lent support.

Atmospheric observations pinpoint eastern China as the source of rise in ozone-destroying chemicals.

California regulator ARB this week awarded some 777,000 California Carbon Offsets (CCOs) across the forestry, ozone-depleting substances, and livestock protocols. 

A mysterious rise in banned CFC-11 is used in polyurethane foams that insulate buildings and refrigerators, but its production was supposed to have been phased out by 2010 under the Montreal Protocol.

For several years, emissions of CFCs have been rising, in apparent defiance of a global ban in place since 2010. A new global detective effort has traced the source to two eastern Chinese provinces. Paul Krummel, Research Group Leader, CSIRO Bronwyn Dunse, Climate Science Centre, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, CSIRO Nada Derek, Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, CSIRO Paul Fraser, Honorary Fellow, CSIRO Paul Steele, Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The May California-Quebec current vintage auction sold out at the highest level in the programme's history, but the price marked a double-digit discount to the secondary market that has been driven by an influx of speculative interest in recent months, according to results released Wednesday.

Aquaculture network in Victoria, maintained over 6,600 years, faces final step in recognition process

A 6,600-year-old, highly sophisticated aquaculture system developed by the Gunditjmara people will be formally considered for a place on the Unesco world heritage list and, if successful, would become the first Australian site listed exclusively for its Aboriginal cultural value.

Known as the Budj Bim cultural landscape, the site in south-west Victoria is home to a long dormant volcano, which was the source of the Tyrendarra lava flow.

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Dr Robin Russell-Jones and Geraint Davies MP on the harmful effects of diesel exhaust, and Christine Benning on why we need a cheap electric car for all, not Tesla’s Model 3

The harmful effects of air pollution during early life deserve greater attention (Air pollution damages ‘every organ in the body’, 18 May). Ongoing research in the US has reported that exposure during pregnancy to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a constituent of diesel exhaust, is linked to developmental delay at three years, an IQ reduction of 4-5 points at five years, increased anxiety, depression and inattention at six to seven years, a reduction in surface white matter in the brain at eight years, and delayed self-regulatory behaviour which became most significant at 11 years. These data are “preliminary” only in the sense that they have not yet been replicated. Benzo-a-pyrene (BaP) is the only PAH routinely monitored by the EU. Due to the rapid growth in the sale of diesel vehicles since 2000, levels of BaP at traffic-monitoring sites has increased by 52%.

These findings have huge implications for public health, educational attainment and the high level of mental health problems currently afflicting schoolchildren in the UK. It is beyond belief that the government’s only response is a vague commitment to halve the number of people exposed to levels above the WHO limit for small particulates by 2025. This is not even a target; it is an aspiration that is legally unenforceable.
Dr Robin Russell-Jones Scientific adviser, Geraint Davies MP Chair, all-party parliamentary group on air pollution

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British Steel has entered compulsory liquidation, putting one of the UK’s biggest emitters at risk of closure and throwing into doubt the government’s ability to recover a £120 million loan given for EU ETS compliance weeks earlier.

Birds brooding three eggs due to hatch in June are part of a rewilding project

White storks nesting on top of an ancient oak tree could become the first wild pair to successfully breed in Britain for hundreds of years.

The enormous birds are brooding three eggs on the rewilded Knepp estate, in Sussex, as part of a project to reintroduce the species to south-east England.

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Billions of euros spent on supporting climate-intensive meat and dairy farms, which have shown no drop in emissions since 2010

The EU is disregarding the climate emergency by continuing to give out billions of euros in subsidies to climate-intensive livestock farms at the same time as promising to cut emissions, say campaigners.

Under the Paris climate agreement, the EU and its member states have committed to reduce emissions in the European Union by at least 40% by 2030. The EU’s farming sector has shown no decline in emissions since 2010, with meat and dairy estimated to be responsible for 12-17% of total greenhouse gas emissions.

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UK workers must move to nine-hour week if carbon levels do not change, says thinktank

People across Europe will need to work drastically fewer hours to avoid disastrous climate heating unless there is a radical decarbonising of the economy, according to a new study.

The research, from thinktank Autonomy, shows that workers in the UK would need to move to nine-hour weeks to keep the country on track to avoid more than 2C of heating at current carbon intensity levels. Similar reductions were found to be necessary in Sweden and Germany.

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