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A New Zealand electricity company has announced it will close its gas and trading platform later this year after consulting with staff and being unable to find an interested party to acquire them.

The chair of New Zealand’s Climate Change Commission (CCC), Rod Carr, has confirmed he will retire from his role at the end of his term later this year, the government has announced.

CSIRO says solar is easily the cheapest form of power generation, but ARENA says it could be much, much cheaper by the end of the decade.

The post Australia’s ultra cost solar goal could change everything about the grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) last week revealed the entities chosen to spearhead its BRL 450-million ($87.5-mln) Amazon forest restoration programme.

Exclusive: Independent testing of recycled soil fill for sale finds two of four samples would not meet legislated thresholds, and one contained asbestos

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Asbestos has been found in recycled soil fill for sale in New South Wales landscape and garden stores, more than a decade after investigators first raised concerns about contamination.

Guardian Australia bought four products at Sydney landscape supply shops and had samples analysed by accredited private laboratories.

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Persistent cloud cover poses a substantial challenge for remote sensing technologies that require clear skies to accurately map land covers and measure forest biomass, according to a climate data analytics firm.

Chris Bowen accuses Opposition leader Peter Dutton of avoiding some of the electorates flagged as possible sites for nuclear power plants.

The post Bowen accuses Dutton of dodging proposed nuclear sites appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Cut free from the constraints of reporting, a story can take its own shape, can lead you down rabbit holes you’d never expected

During my nearly 40 years as a journalist, the climate crisis has been a constant, creeping refrain – from the first greenhouse conference in the late 1980s and the first IPCC report in the early 90s. There was the Hawke governments’ plan to cut emissions by 20% below 1988 levels by 2005, and the subsequent walking back of that plan.

Then on through the decades of bitter political division and debate and policy failures; the proposal for an Emissions Trading Scheme under John Howard; Kevin Rudd’s “great moral challenge of our generation”; the ill-fated Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, the Gillard ETS, the relentless campaign against it by Tony Abbott and the wasted decade of what’s become known as the “Climate Wars” that followed.

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As demand for sustainable housing grows, architects go back to basics to future-proof homes for a changing climate

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“Energy efficient”, “carbon neutral” and “net zero” are buzzwords we hear more and more as we face the impact of climate change. But do we think about them enough in building?

Globally, a move towards sustainable housing is growing. In Europe, efforts to move to greener homes hope to combat rising energy costs and be better for the planet. But 40% of global carbon dioxide emissions still come from the real estate sector.

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Thousands of children could die after court backs campaign group over GM crop in Philippines, scientists warn

Scientists have warned that a court decision to block the growing of the genetically modified (GM) crop golden rice in the Philippines could have catastrophic consequences. Tens of thousands of children could die in the wake of the ruling, they argue.

The Philippines had become the first country – in 2021 – to approve the commercial cultivation of golden rice, which was developed to combat vitamin-A deficiency, a major cause of disability and death among children in many parts of the world.

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Exclusive: after cryptosporidium outbreak in Devon, residents in south-east London report stomach cramps and diarrhoea

Thames Water has sent samples of water for lab testing after dozens of people reported becoming unwell with stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea in south-east London.

Earlier this month, unsafe drinking water led to more than 100 cases of a waterborne disease in Devon, with people asked to boil their water because of contamination fears.

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Small islands like ours face an uncertain future. We can adapt – but climate finance that we badly need must be unlocked

• Mohamed Muizzu is the president of the Maldives

For the Maldives, the existential threat of the climate crisis, particularly sea level rise, has been a reality we have grappled with for decades. In 1989, recognising the urgency of our situation, with our islands standing just one metre above sea level, we brought this issue to the global stage for the first time.

This early recognition of our vulnerability sparked a national transformation as we embarked on proactive climate resilience and adaptation measures. Thirty-five years later, has the rest of the world truly been listening? If you look at how the world’s reaction to the climate crisis is funded, the answer is clearly “no”.

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Online payments firm Stripe is launching a fellowship programme aimed at accelerating global demand for carbon removals.

Demonstrators gathered outside Paris meetings of energy giant and Amundi, with some forcing their way into fund manager’s tower block

The head of TotalEnergies has told shareholders that new oilfields have to be developed to meet global demand, as the annual meetings of the French energy giant and one of its biggest shareholders were picketed by climate activists.

Police said they detained 173 people among hundreds who gathered outside the Paris headquarters of Amundi, one of the world’s biggest investment managers and a major TotalEnergies shareholder.

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A partial repeal of climate-related tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), alongside a carbon fee, brings the US closer to achieving its Paris Agreement targets than an expansion of IRA measures alone, and could additionally generate over $2 trillion, according to a working paper modelling climate policy reform to follow the November US elections.

The carbon sequestration capabilities of saltmarshes in the UK and northwest Europe may have been significantly overestimated compared to global averages, according to new research.

A Canadian tech firm has launched an initiative to develop a voluntary carbon credit protocol specifically for grid-scale battery storage.

A plant picked for its beautiful flowers then wiped out in the UK mainland makes a dramatic return.

The province of British Columbia and the Kwiakah First Nation on Friday announced the creation of the Macinuxw Special Forest Management Area, a new conservation and regenerative forestry zone within the southern Great Bear Rainforest.

Both emitters and speculators added to their net holdings of California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) and RGGI Allowances (RGAs), while the latter group continued to shorten their net position in Washington Carbon Allowances (WCAs), according to weekly data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).