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Scientist Brad Lister returned to Puerto Rican rainforest after 35 years to find 98% of ground insects had vanished

“We knew that something was amiss in the first couple days,” said Brad Lister. “We were driving into the forest and at the same time both Andres and I said: ‘Where are all the birds?’ There was nothing.”

His return to the Luquillo rainforest in Puerto Rico after 35 years was to reveal an appalling discovery. The insect population that once provided plentiful food for birds throughout the mountainous national park had collapsed. On the ground, 98% had gone. Up in the leafy canopy, 80% had vanished. The most likely culprit by far is global warming.

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Proposed revised rules include a change that would allow oil companies to select third party companies to evaluate the safety of their equipment

The Trump administration is expected to give BP and other big oil companies more power to self-regulate their offshore drilling operations, years after investigators found that lax regulatory oversight was one of the leading culprits behind the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, the worst environmental catastrophe in US history.

The move to relax new rules that were put in place by the Obama administration after the BP disaster, which killed 11 workers, spewed 4m barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and cost BP $65bn, comes as the White House is seeking to open offshore oil and gas drilling to the vast majority of US coastal waters, including in the Arctic.

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Australia's record-breaking solar uptake, and the "duck curve" effect it is having on the NEM, will cause the “next major inflection” in the energy market, Morgan Stanley warns, and likely sooner than investors and industry players are expecting.

The post Duck! Solar charge puts energy market transition on the fast-track appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Citizens are urging governments to more clearly communicate how they are both imposing carbon pricing and spending the resulting revenues, as rising emissions costs begin to test public resolve.

The Bioenergy Australia board appointed Dr John Hewson as a Director and on 9 January 2019 has elected Dr John Hewson as new Chair, replacing outgoing chair Clean Energy Finance Corporations Chief Investment Officer Paul McCartney whose term as chair concluded.   

The post John Hewson appointed as chair of Bioenergy Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The worm is starting to turn, as wind and solar power become widely acknowledged as the forthcoming mainstream suppliers of energy into the NEM. But can governments and regulators keep pace?

The post Know your NEM: Looking forward, after looking back appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Terregra Renewables has appointed Balance Utility Solutions as the EPC contractor for the 5MW Mobilong Solar Farm.

The post Terregra appoints Balance as solar EPC contractor appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Texas electric utility announces winning bids for its 2017 request for proposals, including a total of 200MW of utility-scale solar and 100MW of battery storage.

The post El Paso announces 200MW of solar, 100MW of energy storage appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Hawaii utility announces seven grid-scale solar-plus-storage projects to add approximately 262MW of solar energy and 1,048MWh of energy storage to the islands.

The post Hawaiian electric submits plans for seven solar-plus storage projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.

300MW solar and battery-ready Mannum Solar Farm set to be built by Canadian Solar, help power Mid-Murray region agribusinesses, including major wine maker Pernod Ricard.

The post Canadian Solar buys up S.A. solar farm, confirms PPA with Flow Power appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Public confidence in the institutions in charge of the Murray Darling Basin has plummeted – with good reason. Jason Alexandra, PhD candidate, RMIT University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

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As part of the Corporate Risks and Opportunities team within the Consultancy & Services unit, you will focus on the delivery of high quality consultancy advice on climate change mitigation solutions to the corporate sector, and be responsible for the management of small project teams.

As a Senior Consultant Sustainable Cities and Regions, you will focus on the successful and efficient implementation of our mandates and the delivery of high quality consultancy reports, as well as programme management of projects on climate change mitigation solutions.

In this role you will be part of our Portfolio Management team, responsible for overseeing and developing business for the sales of carbon credits for the voluntary market.

In this role, you will be part of the Projects and Portfolio Team, responsible for defining, taking ownership and monitoring South Pole’s sourcing policies, strategies and activities, as well as managing the sourcing team.

The Inter-American Development Bank seeks a climate change finance consultant to coordinate the technical revision of climate change finance programs/project proposals for the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) and other major providers of concessional climate finance.

NRDC is seeking a Climate Advisor to work with the City of Portland as part of the American Cities Climate Challenge (ACCC).

The City of Tacoma is looking for a CAISO analyst to optimize and track transactions with the California ISO (CAISO) in the Day-Ahead and Hourly markets as well as with any future implementation of the Western EIM. The role will also be responsible for maintain's the carbon compliance obligation for the utility.

New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) is aiming to draft regulations for the post-2020 RGGI Model Rule by the end of Q1, a regulatory source said.