Around The Web

A new report found the seafood contains an alarming amount of plastic – and in fact no sea creature is immune. It’s as if the ocean is wreaking its revenge

Shellfish are the natural filter systems of our seas, mechanisms of purity. So, to discover in a report released on World Oceans Day that mussels bought from UK supermarkets were infested with microplastic seems like a final irony in the terrible story of the plasticisation of the sea. According to the study by the University of Hull and Brunel University London, 70 particles of microplastic were found in every 100 grams of mussels.

There’s a vital disconnection here – highlighted by the bottled water you drink to wash down your moules-frites, and the fact that 89% of ocean trash comes from single-use plastic. No sea is immune from this plague, nor any ocean creature, from the modest mussel or zooplankton to the great whales.

Continue reading...

EU ETS carbon allowances need to reach €28 to incentivise utilities to switch from burning coal to cleaner gas on a large scale and in turn generate substantial emission reductions, an analyst said Friday.

Readers look at past battles over the third runway and its likely future impact

The battle to construct a third runway has been going on for much longer than your estimate of 31 years (Editorial, 6 June). It first gained government approval as long ago as 1946 but was abandoned by the incoming government in 1952. Since then there have been further attempts and in 2009 it once again gained parliamentary approval. This was overturned by the coalition government one year later when David Cameron declared: “No ifs, no buts, no third runway.” This might have been the end of the matter but the ‘aviation mafia’ is nothing if not persistent and never gives up.
Philip Sherwood
Author, Heathrow: 2000 Years of History, Harlington, Middlesex

• There is one vital element of the Heathrow runway debate that has not been aired this time (again) and is surely the central point. In the 1970s, an energy study warned us of the finite nature of oil-based transport. According to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in 2016, there are 1.3tn barrels of proven oil reserves left in the world’s major fields, which at present rates of consumption should last 40 years. So if it takes 20-30 years to build the third runway, that means just 10 years of use. And that does not take into account current population expansion rates and the likelihood of greater demand on oil reserves over the next 30 years. A third runway at Heathrow is utterly futile and pointless. Air travel in its current form is dying. We need new solutions, new energy sources – not tired out old arguments.
Nigel Cubbage
Merstham, Surrey

Continue reading...

The number of projects that have been deregistered from the CDM has doubled, according to UNFCCC data.

The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

Continue reading...

Scientists warn material including strands of underwear could be found in the seafood.

Foraging wood ducks, an adder taking a dip and a fearless baby rabbit are among this week’s pick on images from the natural world

Continue reading...

Nasa says organic matter suggests there might have been life on the planet.

Scientists say more work is needed to understand the health effects of consuming the seafood.

Below is a table of the closing prices, ranges and volumes for China's regional pilot carbon markets this week. All prices are in RMB, and volumes in tonnes of CO2e. Data sourced from local exchanges.

Activists to escalate action in opposition to environmental impact of proposed expansion

Activists opposed to the government’s Heathrow expansion plans have vowed to escalate their protests in the coming weeks to avoid what they say would be an “environmental catastrophe”.

The warning follows a week of direct action in which eight people have been arrested as environmental opposition to the a third runway proposal grows.

Continue reading...

New offset issuances in Australia this week fell to 102,300 as most eyes were focused on the seventh ERF auction, which closed Thursday.

Australian airline Qantas and carbon project developer GreenCollar Group have partnered up to generate and market credits from projects that cut greenhouse gas emissions and help the threatened Great Barrier Reef.

South Korean CO2 permits lost another 2.25% on Friday to hit their lowest levels since January even as volumes remained far above average levels as emitters race to meet the June 30 compliance deadline.

Scheme will cover North and South Circular roads, as well as capital’s centre, in 2021

Sadiq Khan has unveiled details of his plan to introduce an “ultra-low emission zone” covering a huge swath of London in the next few years.

The scheme, which will see the most polluting vehicles charged for entering the centre of the capital from April next year, will be extended to the North Circular and South Circular roads in 2021.

Continue reading...

Over 300,000 local forest carbon offsets were sold in an auction on the China Emissions Exchange in Guangzhou Thursday at 37% above the price floor, but marginally below the daily secondary-market closing price for allowances.

A recent Citizens’ Assembly ballot shows that there is a huge public appetite for strong action on emissions

Last week the Irish Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that Ireland will miss its 2020 international emissions target by a wide margin. The goal is 20% cuts on 2005 levels; in reality we’re on track for 1%.

Continue reading...

UK "green steel" billioinaire Sanjeev Gupta has unveiled a stunning, landmark agreement to provide cheap solar power to five major South Australian companies, promising to slash their electricity costs by up to 50 per cent.

New Zealand on Friday issued a public consultation paper aimed at improving the emissions trading scheme’s workability for forest-owners, plugging a loophole that has inadvertently encouraged foresters to avoid replanting for four years after harvest.

By the end of June, most of Australia’s major supermarkets will have stopped handing out single-use plastic bags.

Woolworths, Coles, and the Queensland and Western Australian governments are all phasing out lightweight plastic shopping bags, potentially preventing billions of bags from finding their way into landfill or oceans.

But what is and isn’t being phased out? What are the alternatives, and how effective will the policy be? 

Continue reading...