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Biodiversity credit markets risk distracting governments from their role in financing nature by taking up limited time and capacity, non-profit Campaign for Nature has claimed in a paper.

Swiss researchers have developed a net zero emission concrete process that relies on producing uniform carbon-rich pellets that can be easily incorporated into concrete aggregate, with potential to generate carbon removal credits in future.

EV sales are booming and longtime favourite makes and models are being ignored in favour of Tesla and BYD

Newcomer brands and luxury marques are dominating booming electric car sales as mainstream players struggle to match the pace of a fast-evolving EV market.

The top three selling electric vehicles in Australia in 2023 were from Tesla and BYD, between them accounting for two-thirds of the 87,217 electric cars sold, according to figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

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From the Amazon to Africa and south-east Asia, diversity among rainforest species follows the same rule, study shows

Just 2% of rainforest tree species account for 50% of the trees found in tropical forests across Africa, the Amazon and south-east Asia, a new study has found.

Mirroring patterns found elsewhere in the natural world, researchers have discovered that a few tree species dominate the world’s major rainforests, with thousands of rare species making up the rest.

Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features

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Bonaire citizens file formal legal challenge, as research shows part of island will be submerged by 2025

Eight people from the Caribbean island of Bonaire are suing the Netherlands, accusing it of violating their human rights by not doing enough to protect them from the climate crisis.

The group, with Greenpeace Netherlands, filed a formal legal challenge against the Dutch government in The Hague on Thursday, asking the district court to order it to cut its greenhouse emissions much more quickly and to help its most vulnerable territories adapt to the impact of the climate crisis.

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A Saudi Arabian climate technology company that has developed carbon-negative concrete has struck a deal with one of the country’s house builders to explore building a construction plant that could generate 1.3 million carbon credits a year.

European carbon moved in line with natural gas prices for much of Thursday morning, dropping early on with gas before breaking loose from the correlation later to set a new three-week low in a busier-than-normal session as energy markets were weaker across the board.

Support amongst the world’s largest asset managers for shareholder resolutions involving environmental and social (ES) issues has “catastrophically crashed”, according to a campaign group that promotes responsible investing.

The coming Saturday's presidential and parliamentary elections could reshape the direction of Taiwan's energy policy, given the lack of consensus among presidential candidates on whether to build more nuclear plants.

The world's biggest blue carbon project, based in Pakistan, is likely to have been slightly overcredited, and it is difficult to determine the actual amount of carbon involved in the project, according to a rating agency.

An environmental group has urged the government of South Korea to make substantial changes to a basic plan underpinning the next phase (2026-30) of the domestic carbon market, as the current calculation method for allocated carbon permits is considered too generous for emitters.

The same day the International Energy Agency said the world isn’t on track to meet its commitment to increase renewable energy capacity threefold by the end of the decade, Australia’s richest man announced plans for 14 gigawatts of new wind capacity.

Record levels of heat were absorbed last year by Earth’s seas, which have been warming year-on-year for the past decade

“Astounding” ocean temperatures in 2023 supercharged “freak” weather around the world as the climate crisis continued to intensify, new data has revealed.

The oceans absorb 90% of the heat trapped by the carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, making it the clearest indicator of global heating. Record levels of heat were taken up by the oceans in 2023, scientists said, and the data showed that for the past decade the oceans have been hotter every year than the year before.

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True, the Tories will accuse Keir Starmer of being spendthrift, but it’s better for the party to fight an election on its own terms

It’s official: 2023 was the hottest year since records began and by some distance. The Earth is now 1.48C warmer than it was before the dawn of the industrial age and rapidly approaching the target limit of 1.5C set by the international community in Paris in 2015.

The movers and shakers who will pitch up in Davos to attend next week’s World Economic Forum (WEF) are worried – as well they might be. The WEF’s global risks survey is unequivocal: in a highly dangerous world, the threat posed by the climate emergency is the one that gives most cause for concern in the long term.

Larry Elliott is the Guardian’s economics editor

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Industry data shows almost 190,000 installed last year as well as record number of heat pump installations

The number of households and businesses installing rooftop solar panels has reached its highest level in 12 years, while heat pump installations climbed to record highs in 2023, according to the industry’s official standards body.

The figures showed almost 190,000 rooftop solar installations were carried out last year, the highest level since the government slashed its subsidy scheme in late 2011.

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If the world is to meet the Paris target and the more recent Global Stocktake commitment, more work, largely policy-driven, will be needed to push up renewable energy generation, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Thursday.

IEA report says 50% growth last year keeps hope of achieving Cop28 climate target of tripling clean energy capacity

Global renewable energy capacity grew by the fastest pace recorded in the last 20 years in 2023, which could put the world within reach of meeting a key climate target by the end of the decade, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The world’s renewable energy grew by 50% last year to 510 gigawatts (GW) in 2023, the 22nd year in a row that renewable capacity additions set a new record, according to figures from the IEA.

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Winner says people can save water, help animals and free themselves from the tyranny of lawnmowing

It is not so much a lawn as a moonscape: pitted craters dug by bandicoots, exhausted tufts of withered yellow grass plucked by wallabies and pitiful plants shrivelled brown under the Australian sunshine.

But Kathleen Murray is the proud winner of the first World’s Ugliest Lawn competition after the Swedish contest to encourage water-saving, environmentally-friendly gardening went global.

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WA government says all of the containerised batteries are in place for the state's biggest battery, the 200MW four-hour (800MWh) Kwinana 2 project.

The post Key milestone for WA’s biggest battery, with all storage units installed appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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