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Rooftop solar PV gorilla roars again, meets all demand in one state in holiday peak
As 2023 wrapped up, some new records were achieved in Australia’s energy transition, particularly in Victoria and South Australia, where rooftop PV met all state demand at one stage.
The post Rooftop solar PV gorilla roars again, meets all demand in one state in holiday peak appeared first on RenewEconomy.
John Howard killed emissions trading plan in 2003 after industry lobbying – cabinet papers
Cabinet papers reveal John Howard killed proposed emissions trading scheme in 2003 after meeting "industry" leaders. Even Joe "wind turbines are offensive" Hockey was on board.
The post John Howard killed emissions trading plan in 2003 after industry lobbying – cabinet papers appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Growing proportion of England’s flood defences in disrepair, analysis finds
Poor state of critical assets in many parts of country leaves thousands of homes and businesses more vulnerable to storms
Ministers have been told they will be “punished” by voters after analysis revealed the decline of vital flood defences across England.
The proportion of critical assets in disrepair has almost trebled in the West Midlands and the east of England since 2018, leaving thousands of homes and businesses more vulnerable to storms.
Continue reading...Great Ormond Street to look at home air pollution when diagnosing illnesses
Pioneering initiative to consider children’s addresses after coroner ruled air pollution a factor in death of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, nine
Doctors at Great Ormond Street are being encouraged to consider air pollution levels at their patients’ home addresses when assessing the causes of their illnesses, under an innovative pilot scheme.
Data showing the average annual air pollution rates at patients’ postcodes has been embedded in patients’ electronic files, so that clinicians can help families understand whether their child has been exposed to elevated risk.
Continue reading...Won’t my cat get bored if I keep it inside? Here's how to ensure it's happy
‘Amazing’: Queensland mum uses electric car to ‘save’ son’s life with dialysis during power outage
Kristy Holmes always knew she could use her electric car for ‘good things’, but when storms caused a blackout, it proved life-saving
An electric vehicle owner has used her car’s emergency power system to run her 11-year-old son’s lifesaving dialysis machine and another has ridden to the rescue of his neighbours after devastating storms cut power in south-east Queensland.
When the power went down following storms and flash flooding on Christmas Day, many residents immediately felt the consequences: electric gates did not work, septic tanks began to fill, air conditioners could not run and fridges began to warm as a heatwave followed.
Continue reading...Australia’s best agency photography for 2023 – in pictures
Protests, natural disasters and First Nations pride were among the memorable images from the past year taken by Australia’s wire agency photographers
Continue reading...Sunak under fire for ‘inexplicable’ failure to appoint new climate committee chief
Experts say prolonged delay in replacing chair signals that government does not take net zero policy seriously enough and is harming investment
Rishi Sunak has come under fierce attack from UK climate experts for his government’s failure over the past 18 months to appoint a new chair of the independent committee that advises ministers on emissions targets.
In a letter to the prime minister leaked to the Observer, the UK’s leading organisation working on the economic effects of global warming condemned the “excessive delay” in finding a replacement to previous chair Lord Deben.
Continue reading...Climate scientists hail 2023 as ‘beginning of the end’ for fossil fuel era
Cautious optimism among experts that emissions from energy use may have peaked as net zero mission intensifies
Global efforts to slow a runaway climate catastrophe may have reached a critical milestone in the last year with the peak of global carbon emissions from energy use, according to experts.
A growing number of climate analysts believe that 2023 may be recorded as the year in which annual emissions reached a pinnacle before the global fossil fuel economy begins a terminal decline.
Continue reading...Major US banks, hedge funds open new California cap-and-trade accounts in Q4
Wolves win against farmers as Swiss cull put on hold
Sewage spill monitors extend reach to cover all England
Producers, financial players amass V24 carbon allowances across WCI and RGGI markets
World will look back at 2023 as year ‘humanity exposed its inability to tackle climate crisis’, scientists warn
Disastrous events included flash flooding in Africa and wildfires in Europe and North America
The hottest year in recorded history casts doubts on humanity’s ability to deal with a climate crisis of its own making, senior scientists have said.
As historically high temperatures continued to be registered in many parts of the world in late December, the former Nasa scientist James Hansen told the Guardian that 2023 would be remembered as the moment when failures became apparent.
Continue reading...‘Jewel of Britain’s nature crown’: Plan to restore rainforest welcomed by campaigners
Conservationists say government strategy to recover England’s degraded temperate rainforest is a good start but want a target to double the area by 2050
Conservationists have praised the launch of a new government strategy to revive the remaining fragments of the vast temperate rainforests that were once “one of the jewels of Britain’s nature crown”.
Temperate rainforest, also known as Atlantic woodland or Celtic rainforest, once covered most of western Britain and Ireland. The archipelago’s wet, mild conditions are ideal for lichens, mosses and liverworts. But centuries of destruction have meant that only small, isolated pockets remain.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures: airborne deer, cuddling macaques and Gaza gazelles
The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
Continue reading...Feeding frenzies and resurgent glowworms among UK wildlife highlights in 2023
Conservationists celebrated findings but warned that species and habitats are in overall decline in Britain
Spectacular feeding frenzies of Atlantic bluefin tuna, surging numbers of glowworms, and a record-breaking breeding season for pied flycatchers are among the British wildlife highlights of 2023.
But conservationists warned that overall wildlife continued to decline, with one in six species at risk of extinction – and that wildlife was being challenged in new ways by global heating, disease and other destructive human activities.
Continue reading...Everything politicians tell you about immigration is wrong. This is how it actually works | Hein de Haas
Escaping poverty, violence and the climate crisis are factors, but the main driver is rich societies demanding cheap labour
We seem to be living in times of unprecedented mass migration. Images of people from Africa crammed into unseaworthy boats desperately trying to cross the Mediterranean, asylum seekers crossing the Channel into Britain, and “caravans” of migrants trying to reach the Mexico-US border all seem to confirm fears that global migration is spinning out of control.
A toxic combination of poverty, inequality, violence, oppression, climate breakdown and population growth appear to be pushing growing numbers of people from Africa, Asia and Latin America to embark upon desperate journeys to reach the shores of the wealthy west.
Hein de Haas is professor of sociology at the University of Amsterdam, and the author of How Migration Really Works
Continue reading...Cercarbono puts indicator species methodology out for consultation
South Australian shark attack: tributes flow for ‘talented and dearly loved’ teenage surfer
Khai Cowley, 15, was killed by a suspected great white shark off Ethel beach on the Yorke Peninsula
A teenage boy killed in a shark attack off the coast of South Australia has been remembered as a talented and dearly loved member of the surfing community.
The 15-year-old, identified by friends and a family member as Khai Cowley, was mauled by a suspected great white while surfing off the remote Ethel beach on the Yorke Peninsula west of Adelaide about 1.30pm on Thursday.
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