Around The Web

Program that protects and restores environmentally sensitive land on private property stretched to breaking point, report warns

Queensland’s 4.4m hectare network of nature refuges is “stretched to breaking point” and badly under-resourced, a new report commissioned by an alliance of conservation groups warns.

The refuges are designed to protect and restore environmentally sensitive land on private property across Queensland. Landholders agree to dedicate part of their property as a private protected area, and in turn receive government support.

Continue reading...

The Inlandsis Fund has partnered with a US project developer to collaborate on a mine methane carbon offset initiative, marking the third such alliance announced by the Quebec-headquartered investment vehicle in the past month.

California’s Air Resources Board (ARB) this week issued another plenteous batch of offsets, with seven new projects accounting for the vast majority of the 4.72 million credits distributed.

Industry-leading effort to harness Australia’s booming behind-the-meter energy resource has begun in earnest this week, with GreenSync’s Decentralised Energy Exchange officially opening for business.

The post GreenSync opens exchange to harness rooftop solar and storage appeared first on RenewEconomy.

They said the government's "contemptuous dismissal" of the findings of the latest UN climate change report showed a disregard for the "future well-being of Australia and our immediate neighbours".

EU carbon prices gained for the second straight day on Wednesday, rebounding after prices failed to fall below €19 in early trade.

The New Caledonian birds have surprised scientists once again with remarkable problem-solving skills.

Evidence is ‘compelling’ that organophosphates increase risk of reduced IQs, memory and attention deficits, and autism for prenatal children

Evidence that an entire class of pesticides threatens the health of children and pregnant women is now so arresting that the substances should be banned, an expert panel of toxicologists has said.

Exposure to organophosphates (OPs) increases the risk of reduced IQs, memory and attention deficits, and autism for prenatal children, according to the paper, published in Plos Medicine.

Continue reading...

Despite years of collaboration in developing their low-carbon fuel standards (LCFS), California and Oregon regulators are not planning to link their markets in the near future, officials said on Tuesday.

Proposal passes 571-53, with Labour MEPs demanding UK mirror EU action after Brexit

The European parliament has overwhelmingly backed a wide-ranging ban on single-use plastics in an effort to tackle pollution in seas, fields and waterways.

Under the proposed directive, items such as plastic straws, cotton swabs, disposable plastic plates and cutlery would be banned by 2021, and 90% of plastic bottle recycled by 2025.

Continue reading...

A contagious, untreatable and often fatal virus is sweeping the global pig population – and future mutations could affect humans

ASF is a highly contagious viral pig disease. The most common symptoms of the virus in its acute form are a high temperature and loss of appetite; other symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea, and difficulty with breathing and standing. There is no treatment for the disease, some versions can have a 100% mortality rate in certain circumstances. It is not the same as swine flu.

Continue reading...

EU carbon prices will continue to experience massive volatility between now and December, experts predict, despite new information suggesting the market may be more balanced than previously thought.

Plastic items such as cutlery and straws would be banned in the EU under plans approved by MEPs.

The harpoon and axes were made from red deer antler by hunter-gatherers in Highlands in the Mesolithic period.

Finnish utility Fortum emitted 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 from its EU ETS-regulated facilities over the first nine months of 2018, up 6% year-on-year, it said in financial results on Wednesday.

Iran is tackling the potential water supply crisis exacerbated by climate change

On climate change, countries that may not be thought of as climate leaders are emerging at the front-lines on responding to climate change.

One great example is Iran.  I have the fortune of performing water-use research with a number of scientists in Iran.  And I can assure you they are thinking about, planning, and taking action to reduce the impacts of climate change and ecological destruction.

Continue reading...

New Zealand carbon allowances closed unchanged for the third consecutive on Wednesday and have been rangebound for almost three months as the market continues to await news on what the government will do with the price ceiling.

The idea of packaging and selling fresh air began as an internet joke, but has now taken off.

Planners are allowing edge-of-town housing estates where car travel is only option, researchers say.

Cap-and-trade programme data does not support an adjustment of future caps, and the proposed post-2020 price collars are aligned with legislative mandates, a senior Air Resources Board (ARB) official said at the Argus Carbon & Biofuels Summit.