Around The Web

Kevin Rudd ran a successful scare ad against John Howard in 2007. While costs and attitudes have changed a little since then, some messages still resonate

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

During the 2007 federal election campaign, Labor ran a TV scare ad in Queensland about the then prime minister’s plan to introduce nuclear power.

“John Howard says a nuclear industry is a solution to climate change but he won’t say where the reactors should go,” the voiceover says, to golden waterfront scenes and a lazily twanging guitar. “He refuses to talk about a list of possible sites for reactors that includes Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Mackay, Townsville, the Sunshine Coast – even Bribie Island.”

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

WWF has announced it will take the Norwegian government to court over its decision to open up areas in the Arctic region for commercial seabed mineral activities.

Smaller secondary systems that create hailstorms and tornadoes pack a punch that is causing billions of dollars in damages

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration

The rising cost of homeowner’s insurance is now one of the most prominent symptoms of the climate crisis in the US. Major carriers such as State Farm and Allstate have pulled back from offering fire insurance in California, dropping thousands of homeowners from their books, and dozens of small insurance companies have collapsed or fled from Florida and Louisiana following recent large hurricanes.

Continue reading...

The High Integrity Forest (HIFOR) investment initiative backed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) released on Thursday its methodology to identify and issue units that could fit the nascent biodiversity credit market.

Nature tech solutions have the potential to reduce costs of biodiversity conservation and support the development of financing mechanisms such as voluntary biodiversity credits, though greater collaboration between private and public sectors is needed to scale the market, a report has said.

The High Court ruled that the Environment Agency and the UK government were implementing the law properly.

Imports have risen since Brexit despite brick producers saying UK can make enough for its own use

The UK is importing more of its bricks than ever and the carbon cost of each brick is rising, research has shown.

The UK is the number one country in the world for brick importation, according to data from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Observatory of Economic Complexity.

Continue reading...

A Nigerian government agency has invested in a domestic cookstoves manufacturing firm and a carbon offset project developer to increase production of cookstoves and to leverage the credit proceeds, the agency announced Thursday.

Verra has launched a public consultation on a methodology for afforestation, reforestation and revegetation, as well as a tweak to a second related methodology for the project activity, it announced Friday.

EU carbon prices eased back for the third successive session, though still remain on course for a strong weekly gain, with analysts pointing to a resumed correlation with gas, soft fundamentals, and an overall lack of clear market direction.

Display at Chelsea flower show highlights work in UK and US to bring orchid habitats back to health

Scientists are racing against the clock to save the world’s orchids by discovering the soil fungi they need to thrive, breeding them and then, in a first for conservation, transplanting them into orchid habitats.

Among the showy blooms at Chelsea flower show this week was a moss-covered exhibit, sprouting from which were the types of rare, native flowers one does not normally see at horticultural exhibits.

Continue reading...

The Council of EU member states voted Friday to adopt the bloc's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), requiring companies with a turnover of more than €450 million to observe human rights and environmental obligations along their entire supply chain or face fines of up to 5% of their global turnover.

A group of seven EU countries are presenting plans on Friday for greater use of recycled materials, biomass, and captured CO2 to replace fossil carbon in the chemical sector, arguing this will help restore the industry’s lost competitiveness.

Prices in China’s CO2 allowance market over the past week remained stable with healthier trading volumes, though the continued absence of policy updates is expected to limit the potential for price growth.

An Australian agri-tech company has developed beta soil organic carbon measurement models that it says can reduce the reliance on extensive physical soil sampling.

PFAS contamination recorded in groundwater on Angus Fire site in Bentham, and includes chemicals with known health impacts

A small North Yorkshire town has been found to have the highest concentration of “forever chemicals” in the UK, it can be revealed.

The market town of Bentham, which is home to 3,000 people and set on the banks of the River Wenning, is also home to the Angus International Safety Group – locally known as Angus Fire – which, since the 1970s, has been producing firefighting foams containing PFAS at a factory near the town centre.

Continue reading...

Conservation International has announced its intention to participate in the nature and biodiversity credit markets, outlining guardrails it will abide to, including refusing to sell units to fossil fuel companies and firms without zero deforestation targets.

The ruling could be a legal game-changer for small island nations that are trying to hold developed nations to account for the impacts of their greenhouse gas emissions. Clive Schofield, Professor, Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong Karen Scott, Professor in Law, University of Canterbury Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Australia has all the key ingredients to build a booming battery industry. We just need to find the right cooks and co-ordinate all of this frantic activity to get this big opportunity right. Glen Thomas Currie, Energy Systems Program Impact Manager, Climateworks, Monash University, Monash University Anna Malos, Climateworks Centre - Country Lead, Australia, Monash University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

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

Continue reading...