Around The Web

Japan’s biggest utility reveals plans to develop up to 7GW of new renewable energy capacity, in effort to "gain the competitive advantage."

Tesla owner gives his EV its very own climate change makeover to start a conversation about global warming.

Australian Renewable Energy Agency backs pioneering project aiming to turn biosolids from sewage into crude oil.

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

The current hot conditions could become the new normal for British summers within 30 years, MPs say.

The Canadian government may relax industry production benchmarks under its output-based carbon pricing system (OBPS), which forms part of its backstop carbon pricing plan, as well as introduce a similar metric for the power sector, it said at a workshop on Wednesday.

UK offshore wind capacity set to double following govt announcement of competitive auction in May 2019, and every two years after that.

Polish adventurer drives Nissan LEAF 13,000km across Europe and Asia to dispel myths about range capabilities of electric vehicles.

Clean Energy Finance Corporation invests $150m in alternative asset manager Morrison & Co, to boost energy efficiency of key social and economic infrastructure assets.

Want to know why you've had weeks of sleepless nights? The BBC's Science editor looks at the cause of our numerous heatwaves.

A US Congressional subcommittee on Wednesday heard several experts testify on issues regarding the function and transparency of the biofuels credit market under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which has experienced significant market and policy volatility this year.

How can a policy that is designed to do something that will happen anyway causes prices to be any lower than they would be anyway?

California state regulator ARB distributed 94,800 compliance-grade offsets this week to livestock projects, while Quebec's environment ministry awarded 23,100 credits in the agency's second issuance this month.

The Ontario government on Wednesday introduced a bill to formally repeal the province’s cap-and-trade programme, earmarking compensation equivalent to a tiny fraction of the nearly C$3 billion raised through allowance sales and effectively establishing compliance obligations for the scheme's emitters.

The 2016 heatwave that caused mass bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef didn't just kill corals - it also significantly changed the makeup of fish communities that call these reefs home. Rick Stuart-Smith, Research Fellow, University of Tasmania Christopher Brown, Research Fellow, Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University Daniela Ceccarelli, Adjunct Senior Research, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University Graham Edgar, Senior Marine Ecologist, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The seafood industry is a major contributor to modern slavery. Trevor J Ward, Adjunct professor, University of Technology Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Victoria Gill takes a looks at four key moments in the search for life on the red planet.

Researchers say failures allowed logging of 25% of old growth forest despite extinction threat

Habitat for the critically endangered swift parrot is being “knowingly destroyed” by logging because of government failures to manage the species’ survival, according to research.

Matthew Webb and Dejan Stojanovic, two of the Eureka prize finalists from the Australian National University’s difficult bird research group, say governments have stalled on management plans that would protect known feeding and nesting habitat in Tasmania.

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Samantha Harding says Coca-Cola’s rewards-based recycling initiative only fuels more consumption, and Jean Glasberg calls for more water fountains

As Coca-Cola launches yet another heavily branded rewards-based initiative around recycling (Recyclers get half-price tickets for attractions, 25 July), it’s interesting to note that the global behemoth apparently still wonders whether deposit systems for bottles and cans increase recycling. Not only was it on a government working group that found that they do, but it runs many deposit systems around the world that see recycling rates as high as 98.5%.

As reward systems only fuel higher levels of consumption, the question is why would a company promote a solution to waste that actually creates more waste? The answer, predictably, is that the system only benefits itself and other big businesses, rather than being better for taxpayers or the environment.

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Christopher Graffius of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation responds to a country diary about a Welsh game shoot

Your country diary (14 July) on the Llechweddygarth shoot in Powys is wrong. There are no grey partridge on the shoot. The game is not “tossed into the backs of Land Rovers” but hung properly in accordance with the Code of Good Shooting Practice on a purpose-built game cart. The game is not “sent for landfill” but respectfully processed and sold by a local small food business.

There is no shooting in the churchyard of Pennant Melangell; the nearest gun is two football fields from the church and birds are driven away from the shrine.

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