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The summer bushfires you didn't hear about, and the invasive species fuelling them
EU Market: EUAs tumble towards €22 as energy, auction weigh
Bidder competition in German EUA auctions fiercens in 2018, while trading volumes jump
Gas strategy in the UK is wrongheaded | Letters
It is no surprise that the government’s strategy on fracking has been deemed unlawful (Fracking guidance illegally ignores climate change, 7 March). Gas may be more fuel efficient than coal when burnt, but shale gas is 95% methane, and methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. According to the IPCC it has a global warming potential (GWP) 85 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 20-year timeframe. Misleadingly, HMG have relied on an obsolete figure of 36 for the GWP of methane, dating back to 2013.
Methane levels plateaued in the late 1990s, but have started to increase again over the past decade and have now reached 1,900 parts per billion, against a pre-industrial level of 700. Fracking is the obvious culprit. Satellite data over the US has shown that methane leakage exceeds 5% of shale gas production, an observation that fits with more recent studies by Nasa showing that fossil fuels are the major contributor to the continuing rise in atmospheric methane.
Continue reading...Maine committee defeats carbon tax proposal, though other measures still in play
California advisory group to examine cap-and-trade surplus at April meeting
Martin Woodcock obituary
Amid the economic uncertainty of the mid 1970s not many people gave up a job in the City of London. But in 1974, Martin Woodcock did just that, swapping life as a stockbroker to become a freelance bird artist.
He never looked back. Martin, who has died aged 84, spent the rest of his distinguished career travelling through Asia and Africa to observe, draw and paint some of the world’s most elusive birds. His masterwork, which kept him busy for almost three decades, was the monumental, multivolume The Birds of Africa, for which he painted more than 200 colour plates.
Continue reading...YouTuber Jack Harries: 'Climate change protests were worth arrest'
Consultant/Senior Consultant, Sustainable Supply Chains, South Pole – London/Mexico City/Jakarta
Business Development Director – Benelux, South Pole – Amsterdam
Pathogens hitchhiking on plastics ‘could carry cholera from India to US’
Research finds ‘nurdles’ washed up on Scottish beaches tainted with E coli, with potentially far-reaching health implications
Dangerous sewage pathogens have been found “hitch-hiking” on plastic litter washed up on some of Scotland’s finest bathing beaches, raising concerns from scientists the phenomenon could have far-reaching implications for human health worldwide.
The findings, by the University of Stirling, have confirmed environmentalists’ fears that ubiquitous, persistent and tiny plastic beads, or “nurdles”, found on beaches and in rivers and seas around the world, act as rafts for harmful bacteria, transporting them from sewage outfalls and agricultural runoff to bathing waters and shellfish beds.
Continue reading...Judicial review of Heathrow airport third runway decision begins
High court to hear five challenges to plans for UK’s biggest aviation hub
Five judicial reviews challenging the legality of the government’s decision to allow a third runway at Heathrow airport have begun in the high court.
Protesters against the decision by the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, to approve the expansion demonstrated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday before the start of the hearing.
Continue reading...Consultants, REDD+, German Institute for Development Evaluation – Remotely and Bonn
South East Asia Analyst, The Carbon Trust – Singapore
UK grants emitters extension to 2018 EU ETS compliance deadline
Climate change: Pledge to cut emissions from dairy farms
Consultant, Qatar MRV system development, Global Green Growth Institute – Doha
Ban cars from idling near schools, says UK public health agency
Public Health England calls for raft of urgent measures to tackle air pollution
Cars should be banned from idling near schools and congestioncharges imposed across the UK as part of measures recommended by the government public health agency.
In a report on Monday, Public Health England (PHE) will warn that up to 40,000 people are dying each year from air pollution.
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