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The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

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The Queensland government on Friday permanently banned carbon capture and storage (CCS) anywhere in the state above its vast Great Artesian Basin (GAB) to protect a water source vital to its agricultural industry. 

A record-breaking heatwave hit Delhi this week, hot on the heels of heat in Asia and Africa. Australians take note, we are not safe here. We need to prepare for heat to hit us just as hard. Liz Hanna, Honorary Associate Professor in Environmental Health, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The Net Zero Economy Authority will have a broad remit to support the net zero transition. Here are some pointers on how it could go about it, based on an assessment of best practice Frank Jotzo, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy and Head of Energy, Institute for Climate Energy and Disaster Solutions, Australian National University Llewelyn Hughes, Professor of Public Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Rebecca Colvin, Associate professor, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

We examine the key trends that commentators agree will be at the forefront of discussions about developments in the energy sector in 2024 and beyond.

The post Webinar: Net zero after the energy crisis appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Negative scientific and press reports on the efficacy of carbon credit projects has led to a ‘direct pullback in buyer investment’

The market for carbon offsets shrank dramatically last year, falling from $1.9bn (£1.5bn) in 2022 to $723m in 2023, a new report has found. The drop came after a series of scientific and media reports found many offsetting schemes do nothing to mitigate the climate crisis and biodiversity loss.

The research by Ecosystem Marketplace, a nonprofit initiative that collects data about the carbon market from brokers and traders, found the market had shrunk 61%.

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Campaigners suspect block on new applications for at least two years was imposed to limit burden on water firms

The government has suspended all applications for bathing water status in waterways, delaying the cleanup of rivers and coastal waters for at least two years.

River campaigners fear the block on new applications to create bathing water areas, which are regularly tested for water quality, has been introduced to stop water companies facing huge resource implications to tackle poor water quality in new bathing areas.

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For many on Ghoramara, the general election is about the climate crisis and survival. The island, 150km south of Kolkata and named the ‘sinking island’ by the media, has lost nearly half its area to soil erosion in the past two decades and could disappear if a solution is not found.

As voters across India cast their ballots on issues ranging from the cost of living to jobs and religion, politicians trying to win votes in Ghoramara need to put the climate crisis to the fore as the island’s dwindling population fight to save their homes from the sea amid rising water levels and increasingly fierce storms

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Australia's long-awaited integrated farm land management (IFLM) method  has been released for consultation amid plans to submit a draft version to the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee (ERAC) by the end of the year.

DNV's Peerapat Vithayasrichare discusses the Asean super grid idea. Plus: Is it time to rethink long term storage needs?

The post Energy Insiders Podcast: Asean super grid, and a question over storage appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Meeting WHO guidelines would avoid many cases of diseases and save the NHS millions, research shows

A study has revealed that cleaning up the air in the West Midlands could prevent the early deaths of about 2,000 people a year.

If the region were to meet World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for air pollution, it could also avoid 2,000 new asthma cases, 770 new cases of heart disease, 170 new lung cancers and 650 strokes annually, the study found.

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Indonesia is set to end its current moratorium on post-2020 carbon credit issuances by the end of the year, according to a source close to the matter, with new supply expected to flow in the first quarter of 2025.

Australia's wind "drought" broken in spectacular style by a new record output. But modelling shows scaled up renewables would still have met most demand.

The post New wind output record breaks drought that posed most challenging week for renewable model appeared first on RenewEconomy.

China’s national carbon market saw allowance prices over the past week fall to a one-month low, as the lack of policy clarity on the current compliance cycle continues to drain available supply as well as demand.

A 20-year energy deal combining diversified renewables and demand response secures future for NZ smelter, and offers a template for what's possible in Australia.

The post Giant aluminium smelter seals future with groundbreaking “reverse battery” and renewables deal appeared first on RenewEconomy.

5B has revealed its first US order and largest single contract yet is for a project in hurricane-prone Puerto Rico.

The post Australian solar innovator says its biggest order yet is headed for hurricane territory appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Latest assessment of SMR technology indicates they will take much longer to build than their advocates claim, and at much higher costs. 

The post Memo to Peter Dutton: New study shows SMRs too costly, too slow, too risky appeared first on RenewEconomy.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices gradually edged higher through a busy week of both Q2 WCI auction results and a cap-and-trade workshop, while Washington Carbon Allowance (WCA) prices also increased with a pick up in weekly transacted volumes.

This extraordinary discovery was made by chance, during one man’s birthday stroll on the mountains of Colorado.

Nearly 10 years after network "gold plating" was pinpointed as a major contributor to bloated power prices in Australia, experts are warning that it will happen again unless urgent reforms are made.

The post History repeating itself: Urgent reform needed to prevent new round of grid gold plating appeared first on RenewEconomy.