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LCFS Market: California prices drop in wake of PG&E bankruptcy fears
Poland’s EUA-funded power price freeze leaves Brussels, market awaiting details
Brexit to slash farmland prices by up to a fifth, forecasts say
Decades-long boom in agricultural land prices will cease as EU subsidies are axed
Brexit will slice nearly one-fifth off the value of Britain’s commercial farms according to forecasters, bringing to an end the decades-long boom in agricultural land prices as EU subsidies are withdrawn.
Property experts Savills said farmland was likely to be the worst-hit sector in the entire UK residential and commercial property sector – faring even worse than shuttered high street shops – as common agricultural policy subsidies are withdrawn.
Continue reading...German EU carbon auctions expected to resume in February -Commission
Hedge fund boasts over 50% return on bullish EU carbon bet
Female penguins 'get stranded more because they travel further'
Longer journeys may exhaust females, say scientists tracking birds off South American coast
Every year, thousands of Magellanic penguins get stranded along the coast of South America – but puzzlingly, about 75% of those that get stuck are female. Now scientists say they have worked out what is behind the gender imbalance: the females migrate further north than males.
Magellanic penguins finish breeding in Patagonia in February, and during the subsequent winter months head north, reaching as far as Brazil, in search of anchovies. But every year thousands become stranded, with many airlifted to safety onboard military aircraft.
Continue reading...Incredible 'sea monster' skull revealed in 3D
EU Market: First EUA auction of MSR era prints underwhelming result
Jellyfish sting more than 5,000 holidaymakers on Queensland's coast
An invasion of bluebottles on Queensland’s Gold and Sunshine coasts led to thousands being treated
More than 5,000 people were stung by bluebottles on Queensland’s Gold and Sunshine coasts over the weekend as weather drove a wall of jellyfish onto the shore.
Conditions eased on Monday but remnants of the bluebottle armada (the correct term for a bunch of bluebottles) still dot the beaches and more than 200 people were treated for stings, mostly at the Sunshine Coast.
Continue reading...India scientists dismiss Einstein theories
Curious Kids: is it true dogs don't like to travel?
Messing about on the River Murray and a FIFO miner turns chicken farmer
The end of coffee: could Australia save the world's beans?
Climate change may devastate the globe’s major coffee-growing regions through extreme weather events – but Australia could be the solution
If a future of relentless fires, droughts, superstorms and rising sea levels makes you feel like you need a strong caffeinated beverage, there is some bad news: climate change is coming for the world’s coffee beans.
Greg Meenahan, the partnership director at the non-profit institute World Coffee Research, puts it this way: “Demand for coffee is expected to double by the year 2050 and, if nothing is done, more than half of the world’s suitable coffee land will be pushed into unsuitability due to climate change. Without research and development, the coffee sector will need up to 180m more bags of coffee in 2050 than we are likely to have.”
Continue reading...How the rhino horn trade could help protect wild rhinos
Outback regeneration at Bon Bon station reserve – a picture essay
The property is within the traditional lands of the Antakirinja Matu-Yankunytjatjara people and was bought 10 years ago by Bush Heritage
It’s day two of my visit and the suspense is killing me as we slowly walk towards the last of the pitfall traps we are checking that day. A plastic drum that has been buried in the ground with its rim at surface level is metres away, the small trap a form of passive collection used during ecology studies. As she steps over the small fenceline that draws the animals in, elation washes over Kate Taylor’s face – there’s a painted dragon, bright blue and green. One of two managers of Bon Bon station reserve in the Australian outback, she hasn’t seen one of these small lizards for years. She gently picks it up as it wraps its claws around her index finger. The lizard barely reaches her second knuckle. Its colours are so vibrant and it feels like we just won the lottery.
Continue reading...Senate crossbench gave renewables $23bn boost by thwarting Abbott's plan
Exclusive: Decisions by Labor and crossbench to save clean energy agencies encouraged investment, report says
The Senate’s decisions to stop Tony Abbott abolishing clean energy agencies helped create renewable energy projects worth $23.4bn, a new report says.
The Australia Institute says decisions taken by Labor and the crossbench between 2013 and 2015 to save the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) have now secured $7.8bn in public funding and investment for clean energy.
Continue reading...London nurseries to get air purifiers after toxic air concerns
Mayor Sadiq Khan says toddlers’ exposure to air pollution is ‘inexcusable’
A group of state-run nurseries in London are to be given air filtration systems as concern grows about the impact of the UK’s toxic air on some of the capital’s youngest and most vulnerable residents.
Five nurseries have been selected for the purifiers in the first wave, with 20 nurseries being audited to measure the extent of toddlers’ exposure to the potentially deadly particles from vehicles.
Continue reading...'Oh gosh!' Sushi king pays record price for bluefin tuna – video
A record $3.1m (£2.4m) has been paid for a giant bluefin tuna at Tokyo’s new fish market, which replaced the world-famous Tsukiji late last year. It was paid by sushi tycoon Kiyoshi Kimura, who runs the popular Sushi Zanmai chain
Winter birds thrill Norfolk wildlife photographers
London's ultra-low emission zone: good or bad idea?
Campaigners say it will cut pollution, but opponents claim it will hit poor people hardest
“I’m just really glad the ULEZ is coming. Children’s lungs can’t wait,” says Jemima Hartshorn, a Brixton resident who helped set up campaign group Mums For Lungs.
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