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The 27-nation EU’s heads of state and government on Tuesday failed to reach an agreement over the fate of national emissions reduction targets for sectors outside the bloc’s carbon market in a debate meant to provide guidance to the European Commission’s upcoming climate package.

EU carbon prices gained as much as a euro early Tuesday but fell back towards €52 following one of the weakest auctions of the year, while UK Allowance prices tested their recently record highs.

Renewables are getting cheaper, but fossil fuels are still more lucrative. To reach net zero, we’ll need radical intervention

Last week, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the world’s leading energy authority, laid bare the scale of the challenge in keeping the world on track to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050: a massive acceleration in renewable energy development and, starkly, no new oil, gas or coal development. None.

For as long as coal remained cheapest, the IEA consistently predicted that it would continue to be the dominant energy source in electricity generation. Now that renewables, and solar in particular, generate electricity as cheaply – and often cheaper – than hydrocarbons, the IEA considers a rapid energy transition more achievable. It finds encouragement in the cost of the respective energy types: in economic terms, the IEA’s is a “cost-centric” worldview.

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Shutting Turów lignite mine would cause thousands of job losses, says development minister

Poland’s government has defied an injunction by the top European Union court that ordered the immediate closure of a major brown coalmine, with officials saying it would shake the nation’s energy system and lead to the loss of thousands of jobs.

The country’s development minister, Jarosław Gowin, said Poland would not shut the lignite mine in Turów, on the border with Germany and the Czech Republic, but instead was engaged in “very intensive diplomatic and law-related efforts” to secure undisturbed operation of the mine and connected power plant that generates 7% of Poland‘s energy.

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Increasing blanket of mucus-like substance in water threatens coral and fishing industry

When seen from above, it looks like a brush of beige swirled across the dark blue waters of the Sea of Marmara. Up close, it resembles a creamy, gelatinous blanket of quicksand. Now scientists are warning that the substance, known as sea snot, is on the rise as a result of global heating.

The gloopy, mucus-like substance had not been recorded in Turkish waters before 2007. It is created as a result of prolonged warm temperatures and calm weather and in areas with abundant nutrients in the water.

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New bill will enforce fines on UK-based companies that fail to cut links to illegally deforested land

Trade associations representing leading food suppliers have questioned the need for new regulations to protect forests overseas, which will come before parliament in the environment bill on Wednesday.

The much-delayed bill will contain provisions to force UK-based companies to examine their supply chains in depth and ensure that they are free of links to land illegally deforested overseas.

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Emissions from projects and companies backed by the City are nearly double those of the UK

The amount of CO2 production financed by Britain’s banks and asset managers is nearly double the UK’s annual carbon emissions, according to a new report.

The study, published by environmental campaign groups Greenpeace and WWF, shows the City provided loans and investments for projects and companies that emitted 805m tonnes of CO2 in 2019. That is 1.8 times the UK’s own annual net emissions for the same year, which totalled 455m tonnes when discounting aviation and shipping, sectors that the UK government also does not include in its emissions calculations.

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Almost 400,000 homes and business lost power across Queensland following reports of an explosion at the Callide coal-fired power station.

The post Coal plant “explosion” triggers widespread blackouts across Queensland appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Study of Henderson Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands finds plastic acts as an insulator, making sand hotter and leading to more female turtle offspring

Accumulated plastic debris on the beaches of two remote island groups increased local maximum temperatures by nearly 2.5C, new research has found.

A study of Henderson Island in the South Pacific and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, a remote territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean, found that plastic pollution acts as an insulator, increasing the temperature of the underlying sand.

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Taylor now says wind and solar boom has been "excellent news", but is pushing for a new market mechanism that could protect coal and gas.

The post Taylor pushes for “physical” capacity market in latest thrust for fossil fuels appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Conservationists thrilled at the sighting of the wild predator, last seen in the country in the 1980s

“It was a huge surprise,” said Sebastián Di Martino, director of conservation at Fundación Rewilding Argentina. “I was incredulous. An incredible feeling of so much happiness. I didn’t know if I should try to follow it or rush back to our station to tell the others.”

The cause of the excitement was the sighting, last week, of a wild giant river otter – an animal feared extinct in the country due to habitat loss and hunting – on the Bermejo River in Impenetrable national park, in north-east Argentina’s Chaco province. The last sighting of a giant otter in the wild in Argentina was in the 1980s. On the Bermejo, none have been seen for more than a century.

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Japan to use ammonia to co-fire a 1GW coal plant in trial that could lead to development of Australia's biggest wind and solar project.

The post Japan to use ammonia at coal plant in boost for Australia’s biggest wind and solar project appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australian Energy Market Operator underlines need for rapid upgrade to nagional grid and market systems, warning Australia is hurtling towards 100% renewables.

The post We need grid ready for 100 pct renewables now, not in a few decades: AEMO appeared first on RenewEconomy.

RenewEconomy has launched a Big Battery Storage Map of Australia, highlighting all the major battery storage projects in the country.

The post RenewEconomy unveils Big Battery Storage Map of Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Labor moves to cancel out Taylor's new ARENA regulations, as department officials confirm they could extend to funding gas projects.

The post Labor tries to block new regulations pushing ARENA into fossil fuels appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Court hears Coalition made a ‘legal error’ in how it approved plans for miner to pump 12.5bn litres a year from a Queensland river

A key approval for Adani’s Carmichael coal project has been overturned by the federal court, which ruled the federal government made a “legal error” in the way it assessed and approved plans for the miner to pump 12.5bn litres of water a year from a Queensland river.

The court case – brought by the Australian Conservation Foundation – challenged the government’s decision not to apply the “water trigger” to its assessment of Adani’s North Galilee Water Scheme.

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HIP unveiled ambitious plans to build 10GW of offshore wind to help power UK after it shutters its last coal plant and first generation nuclear.

The post Huge 10GW of offshore wind capacity near Iceland to help power UK appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Jemena calls for a dedicated renewable gas target to underpin hydrogen transition and defend that status of gas infrastructure such as pipelines.

The post Gas industry wants dedicated “renewable gas target” to support hydrogen appeared first on RenewEconomy.

If UK banks and investors were a country, they would be among world's leading emitters.