Around The Web

Without Japanese public funding, Australia’s LNG boom would have slowed Wesley Morgan, Research Fellow, Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Exeter University study has origins in 1950 discovery by ornithologists who ‘chanced upon a spectacle’

It is a weird and wonderful sight: millions of migratory insects funnelling through a single narrow pass high in the Pyrenees, looking like a dark flying carpet and emitting a low, deep hum.

A team of scientists from a British university that has been studying the phenomenon for the last four years has now concluded that more than 17 million insects fly each year through the 30 metre-wide Puerto de Bujaruelo on the border of France and Spain.

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A Montreal-based fund that develops carbon offsets announced Tuesday a request for proposal (RFP) for its first project in Quebec at the Carbon Forward North America conference.

Canada’s C$15 billion ($10.9 bln) public investment vehicle will purchase up to 200,000 credits per annum over 15 years at an initial fixed price from an Alberta carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, but an expert criticised the bespoke nature of federal offtake agreements thus far as insufficient to meeting climate goals.

A US-based agricultural offset project developer announced Tuesday credit generation for large-scale sustainable rice cultivation, which it said was the first of its kind in the country.

Negotiations on setting a new global climate finance goal have been pushed out to later this year without a clear path for progress ahead, as national diplomats reached an impasse at the mid-year UN climate talks in Bonn on Tuesday.

Here’s how to reduce heat-related health risks during major sporting events, from the Summer Olympics to test cricket. Athletes, officials, spectators and volunteers all need to take responsibility. Hannah Mason, Research assistant in Public Health, Medical, and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University Amy Peden, NHMRC Research Fellow, School of Population Health & co-founder UNSW Beach Safety Research Group, UNSW Sydney Anthony Leicht, Professor in Exercise Science, James Cook University Jemma King, Lecturer, Public Health, James Cook University Richard Franklin, Professor of Public Health, James Cook University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Scientists say atmospheric levels of damaging gases peaked five years ahead of projections, as substances phased out

International efforts to protect the ozone layer have been a “huge global success”, scientists have said, after revealing that damaging gases in the atmosphere were declining faster than expected.

The Montreal protocol, signed in 1987, aimed to phase out ozone-depleting substances found primarily in refrigeration, air conditioning and aerosol sprays.

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Verra’s consolidated methodology for REDD+ could still see voluntary carbon project developers use inside knowledge to cherry pick forests that are unlikely to be chopped down, because they have been overlooked in the jurisdictional maps used to assess the risk of deforestation, warns a new academic paper.

Conservationists criticise ‘disappointing’ and ‘dangerous’ move to allow harpooning of fin whales after curbs last year

Iceland has granted a licence to Europe’s last whaling company to kill more than 100 animals this year, despite hopes the practice might have been halted after concerns about cruelty led to a temporary suspension last year.

Animal rights groups described the news as “deeply disappointing” and “dangerous”.

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Kenya, a regional frontrunner in the voluntary market (VCM), has announced plans to facilitate carbon project development on flower farms to mitigate emissions and increase foreign exchange earnings for the country, according to local media.

The increasing disclosure requirements placed on companies under the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) from next year will help to inform investment decision making and level the playing field in terms of what companies disclose, a sustainability executive said at a conference today.

Coal and gas-fired power plant owners say interim target an important step to net zero by 2050

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The owners of Australian coal and gas-fired power plants have joined the country’s leading business groups in saying the Coalition should keep Labor’s 2030 climate target if it wins the next election.

The Australian Energy Council, which represents electricity companies and gas wholesalers and retailers, the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Industry Group said maintaining an interim target – legislated as a 43% cut compared with 2005 levels – was an important step in getting to net zero emissions by mid-century.

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European plastics producers are looking to the inclusion of waste incineration in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) for further impetus to boost recycling and cut emissions - but incinerators worry they will bear the brunt of the new carbon costs. 

A firm providing insurance to buyers of voluntary carbon credits, offering payouts for non-delivery either in cash or in kind, has added over a dozen new project developers to its supplier pool.

In the run-up to July's general election, the Guardian video team is touring the UK looking at the issues that matter to voters. After swimmers and rowers fell sick from sewage discharges into the River Thames we went to the seat of Henley and Thame to see how environmental concerns rank for voters in a seat that has been Conservative for more than 100 years

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Microsoft has continued to ramp up its voluntary removal purchases as part of its plan to become carbon negative by 2030, adding nearly 1 million nature-based units to its portfolio as part of a deal announced Tuesday.

The first company from an emerging economy, and only the second overall, has announced a Platinum Claim under the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI), which certifies ‘high-integrity’ statements about corporate use of carbon credits to address residual emissions.

Carbon stored through biochar may remain in the soil or certain materials for decades, centuries, or even millennia, making it a valid option for the upcoming EU certification methodology if stricter rules apply, according to a study.

Halting overfishing can make a huge difference in tackling climate change, as the practice poses significant threats to the ocean's ability to store CO2 and preserve ecosystems, a study released on Tuesday has shown.