Around The Web

Ministers consider doubling existing 5p levy and imposing it on even the smallest stores

Ministers have been considering rolling out the plastic bag levy to all shops and doubling it to 10p.

The prime minister was reportedly planning to announce the proposals next week as part of a series of measures designed to encourage the reuse of carrier bags and reduce the UK’s reliance on plastics, which are harmful to the environment.

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Scientists have found evidence that confirms turtles once lived without shells.

Few records were broken in 1976, but that famous summer is still remembered as the longest and driest heatwave

It went down in meteorological, social and cultural history as the long, hot summer of 1976. For those of us who lived through it, the three-month drought and associated heatwave conjure up memories of endless summer days, with blue skies and glorious heat.

Oddly, perhaps, few temperature records were broken that year – August 1990 and 2003 recorded higher peak readings. One difference, though, was that some of the hottest days were in June and July: 35.6C in Southampton, on 28 June, was the highest ever recorded in the UK for the month of June, while the highest overall temperature in summer 1976 was 35.9C in Cheltenham, on 3 July.

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Live sheep export licence cancelled, more drought funding announced, waiting lists grow for Q Fever vaccine.

Compliance in the final round of Mexico's cap-and-trade simulation dropped as unexpected "shocks" were introduced into the market, according to the final results published this week from the months-long exercise to prepare emitters for the country's real carbon market.

Yes, Antarctica has (and needs) a fire department. Megan Branson spent three seasons there as a fire-fighter/paramedic.

EUAs recovered from a brief dip below €20 on Friday to extend the previous session’s 10-year high, with another week of curtailed auctions looming and correction risks mounting.

We are currently recruiting for a Senior Energy & Climate Change Consultant to join our Sydney consulting team. This growing team provides a range of services to clients including environmental transaction advisory, management systems development and implementation, regulatory compliance programs and training.

WEC seeks a Climate and Clean Energy Policy Manager to advance policy and campaigns that reduce climate pollution in an equitable way to meet our 2035 emission limits, and ultimately strengthen these limits to meet the challenge of climate change.

Red avadavat birds, pink dolphins and a bamboo rat are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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Use of mechanical device to pull kelp plants from beds would destroy local ecosystem, say campaigners

A proposal to mechanically dredge kelp forests off the coast of Scotland has led to an outcry from conservationists, who say it would destroy local ecosystems.

Ayr-based company Marine Biopolymers has approached Marine Scotland to apply for a licence to use a comb-like device that pulls entire kelp plants from the bed. In order to inform the environmental appraisal required by Marine Scotland, Marine Biopolymers has published a report describing the potential environmental impacts to be researched further for a full assessment.

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Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China's regional pilot carbon markets this week.

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has issued over 825,000 carbon credits over the past two weeks, with energy firm EDL LFG earning over four-fifths of them from landfills and coal mine gas projects across the country.

New onshore wind and solar power generators can for the first time compete with existing thermal plants due to EUA prices climbing above €20 and higher fossil fuel prices, environmental campaigners said Friday.

Treasurer Scott Morrison on Friday ousted Malcolm Turnbull to become Australia’s new prime minister, a move likely to push climate change even further down the government’s agenda, but the defeat of right-winger Peter Dutton makes it less probable the nation will seek an exit from the Paris Agreement.

It’s been a bumper summer for the omnivorous pests – wasp expert Ben Aldiss explains how to stop your picnic getting ruined

It’s proving to be a bumper year for wasps but if it wasn’t for the long, hot summer numbers would have been considerably below average.

Hibernating Queen wasps require cold, dry conditions to successfully endure their six-month hibernation, followed by a prolonged spell of warm, dry weather in spring as they construct their nests and rear their first workers. Instead, much of the country received record rainfall, followed by ice, snow and very low temperatures.

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Permafrost ‘cement’ is evaporating, making rocks unstable and prone to collapse with many trails now deemed too dangerous to use

For the tourists thronging the streets and pavement cafes of Chamonix, the neck-craning view of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, is as dazzling as ever.

But the mountaineers who climb among the snowy peaks know that it is far from business as usual – due to a warming climate, the familiar landscape is rapidly changing.

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Both AGL and Origin are earning more than cost of capital, but so they should be at this point in the cycle.

The post AGL and Origin: Making a profit didn’t use to be a crime appeared first on RenewEconomy.

We’re past “trials”: storage is already providing reliability services in around 50 countries - it's time to get on with it.

The post 3 lessons to help Australia boost grid reliability & flexibility with storage appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The hydrogen economy has been touted for decades as a way to navigate the clean energy transition. Now a new CSIRO roadmap sets out how hydrogen power can become a major energy player. Sam Bruce, Manager, CSIRO Futures, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.