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Hyundai launches Ioniq range, including first battery EV under $50,000, while the EV crowd show off their wares at a V8 festival in Newcastle.

The post The Driven Podcast: Ioniq launch and selling EVs to V8 crowd appeared first on RenewEconomy.

‘Strike 4 Climate Action’ will involve students in capital cities and 20 regional centres such as Ballarat and Newcastle

Thousands of schoolchildren across the nation plan to walk out of class to demand federal government action on climate change.

The ‘Strike 4 Climate Action’, inspired by 15-year-old Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg, will involve children in capital cities and 20 regional centres such as Ballarat and Newcastle.

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A Hawaii climate commission this week urged lawmakers to enact a carbon tax to help the state curb its transportation emissions, despite the legislature failing to pass an CO2 pricing bill earlier this year.

The BBC's Vineet Khare visited the controversial Carmichael project by Indian energy giant Adani.

California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) saw little price movement this week despite a surge of volume after the Thanksgiving holiday, while RGGI allowances (RGAs) continue to see limited activity ahead of the final auction for 2018.

Public climate finance from developed to developing countries totalled $56.7 billion in 2017, marking a 17% rise over the previous year and a 44% increase on 2013, according to data compiled by the OECD on Thursday.

New report says Australia is heading to a 78 per cent renewables share by 2030 on current trajectories, and any smaller targets would lead to a huge slump in investment and jobs.

The post Forget 50% – Australia on track to reach 78% renewables grid by 2030 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A year ago, the world's largest lithium-ion battery began dispatching power to South Australia's grid. It has been a remarkable success but there are some concerns that have so far escaped scrutiny Aleesha Rodriguez, Phd Student, Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Is it remotely feasible to remove 12 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air?

Use of tropical plywood from Malaysia and Indonesia risks destruction of orangutan habitat, say NGOs

Wood from threatened south-east Asian rainforests has been used to build venues for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, according to complaints filed with organisers.

At least 134,000 large sheets of tropical plywood from Malaysia and Indonesia have been used as concrete moulds to build stadiums, causing what campaigners say is irreversible harm to precious biodiversity reserves.

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WWF rates Australia a zero due to the absence of biodiversity measures in our Paris climate change commitments

Australia has been named as one of the worst performers among a group of 100 nations due to the absence of biodiversity measures in our climate change commitments, according to a new report by WWF.

The report, published this week during the conference of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Egypt, examines whether climate commitments from countries under the Paris agreement also offer benefits for nature and biodiversity.

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‘As far as we know, [the spectacled flying fox] has never suffered heat deaths before,’ ecologist says

Thousands of threatened flying foxes have dropped dead due to heat stress brought on by extreme temperatures in far north Queensland this week.

Conservationists and wildlife volunteers estimate more than 4,000 have perished this week during the record heatwave, which has seen temperatures in Cairns reach all-time highs of 42.6C.

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Leah Kennedy is an artist and photographer based in Perth who has spent the past year taking aerial photos for a series called Salis. ‘Salis is latin for salt,’ she says. ‘There is a duality to salt it has both negative and positive connotations.’ The abstract beauty of the images is in stark contrast to the huge environmental problems that salinisation causes.

More images from the Salis body of work can be found here

• Look after the soil, save the Earth: farming in Australia’s unrelenting climate

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Delegates at UN biodiversity conference turn to Beijing to avoid point of no return

China must play a leading role if the world is to draw up a new and more effective strategy to halt the collapse of life on Earth, according to senior delegates at the close of this week’s UN biodiversity conference.

With the US absent, Europe distracted and Brazil tilting away from global cooperation, the onus has shifted towards Beijing, the diplomats said after two weeks of slow-moving talks on how to maintain the natural infrastructure on which humanity depends.

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But many people still don’t agree with the consensus science that shows humans are the dominant cause of climate change

Americans, including Republicans, are becoming more convinced that climate change is causing extreme weather and sea-level rise, according to a new poll from Monmouth University.

Nearly two-thirds of Republicans, 64%, now think climate change is happening, compared to 49% three years ago. And more of the general population, 78% compared to 70% three years ago, acknowledge climate change.

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European carbon rose on Thursday on the back of the day’s auction result and a stronger energy complex.

World running out of time to combat climate change, warns meteorological organisation

Global temperatures have continued to rise in the past 10 months, with 2018 expected to be the fourth warmest year on record.

Average temperatures around the world so far this year were nearly 1C (33.8F) above pre-industrial levels. Extreme weather has affected all continents, while the melting of sea ice and glaciers and rises in sea levels continue. The past four years have been the hottest on record, and the 20 warmest have occurred in the past 22 years.

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Twenty of the warmest years on record have been in the past 22 years, say the World Meteorological Organization.

China has developed almost 100 forest carbon projects that will generate offset credits for the national emissions trading scheme, with a view to expanding the portfolio further, according to a government report.

The Indian energy giant Adani has announced it is ready to begin construction on the Carmichael mine and rail project in central Queensland.