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Scott Pruitt’s cancelled trip would have promoted ‘innovation deregulation’, emails released under FoI show

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The climate sceptic thinktank the Institute of Public Affairs was mooted as a co-host of an Australian visit by Donald Trump’s beleaguered Environment Protection Agency head, Scott Pruitt, which may have included discussion with local officials on whether environmental deals should be changed or cancelled.

Emails released to the US environment group the Sierra Club under freedom of information laws show that Matthew Freedman, a Washington consultant who describes himself as “a close personal friend” of the Australian environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, played a central role in organising Pruitt’s proposed August trip before it was cancelled when Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas gulf coast.

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Perdaman Group says WA commercial PV market is booming, as businesses seek to cut their exposure to grid electricity costs.

Vicinity to roll-out of more than 11MW of commercial solar in a $28m project that will include largest rooftop array and a major battery storage installation.

Indigenous community of Daly River officially running on solar only during day, after installation of 1MW PV and 2MWh lithium-ion battery system.

Extreme weather appears to be disrupting the lifecycle of bats, raising concern over their long-term future.

ACT consumers got a net payment in calendar 2017 from first two wind farms built to help meet its 100% renewables target. And with no subsidies.

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Norwegian scientists have developed a treatment that can turn arid desert sand into farmland soil.

The Climate Action Reserve’s revised grasslands protocol offers developers significant savings that could usher in a host of new US-based initiatives, experts said, as the project type’s profile rises.

North American carbon prices in the RGGI market increased slightly this week on the back of expectedly bullish emissions data, while WCI prices idled for another week ahead of the market’s second tripartite auction later this month.

A US$1.6 billion dollar dam in Sumatra threatens the recently discovered and desperately imperilled Tapanuli Orangutan. Bill Laurance, Distinguished Research Professor and Australian Laureate, James Cook University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

EU carbon prices fell for the third consecutive session on Thursday to end below €13 for the first time in almost two weeks.

A collective of scientists recommends that human ancestors be respected as individuals.

Vets who treated the seal, which had a deep neck wound, had "never seen anything as severe".

With a target to halve its huge carbon footprint, the race is on to find new technologies to green the world’s shipping fleet

Watch out for the return of the sailing ship.

After a commitment last month to cut greenhouse gas emissions from shipping by at least 50% by 2050, the race is on to find new technologies that can green the 50,000-strong global shipping fleet. Wind power is one of the options being discussed.

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The faster-than-expected expansion of renewables worldwide is helping to narrow the gap to Paris Agreement goals, despite some governments making little progress on climate action and the effects of US President Trump’s policies not yet taking hold, researchers said Thursday.

Potential to address network value streams and negotiate complexity and regulatory risk offers huge opportunity for any platform able to wrestle this dragon.

The market’s obsessions with financial details, rather than the big picture, is driving Musk to distraction. And that should be a cause for concern.

Macron's dressing down of Malcolm Turnbull on his lack of leadership on climate change underlines a disturbing point: Turnbull may not deny the science of climate change, but he does deny the need to act now, and the economic benefits of embracing renewables.

A breakthrough resolution on Rio Tinto’s climate stance has won strong backing at the company’s AGM. Is this the start of something?