Feed aggregator

Chase in Seychelles is first known example of hunting in wild by creature thought to be herbivore

A Seychelles giant tortoise, a species previously thought to be a strict herbivore, has been filmed chasing and eating a baby bird in a “horrifying and amazing” attack, with researchers stating it was the first documented example of deliberate hunting in the wild by the species.

The video, taken on Fregate Island in July 2020, shows a female giant tortoise slowly stalking a lesser noddy tern chick, snapping at it unsuccessfully before delivering a lethal bow by clamping its jaws directly around its head.

Continue reading...

Standardised voluntary emissions reduction (VER) values retraced from record highs on the spot and futures markets last week, as traders and project developers thought the swift rise in voluntary carbon market (VCM) prices over the late summer months was due for a step back.

Communities react with shock to news they are being considered as locations for underground facility

The long-running battle to build an underground nuclear waste facility in the north of England has run into fresh problems, as communities reacted with shock to the news that they were being considered as locations.

The north-east port town of Hartlepool is one of the sites in the frame as a potential site for a geological disposal facility (GDF), while a former gas terminal point at Theddlethorpe, near the Lincolnshire coast, is another. Cumbria, where much of the waste is stored above ground, is also being considered.

Continue reading...

California gasoline usage rose slightly in June as pandemic restrictions were removed, but the Golden State’s fuel demand stagnated against historic levels despite the month-on-month gains, according to federal data.

UN negotiators have resumed work on a plan to protect at least 30% of the world's land and oceans.

Concerns about lasting damage after influx of people, many of whom maybe ill-prepared to scale mountain

A conservation charity is urging visitors to “respect” one of the UK’s most beloved mountains amid growing concerns that a sharp increase in the number of walkers is causing lasting damage and too many people are trying to climb the peak without preparing properly.

The Snowdonia Society said Snowdon – Yr Wyddfa in Welsh – was being blighted by footpath erosion, littering and careless wild camping. The charity also said mountain rescue teams were having to save people who try to climb the 1,085-metre (3,560ft) peak in north Wales without the right equipment.

Continue reading...

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has handed out more than 150,000 new carbon credits, taking the nation’s total issuance above 99 million, while a study released Monday found the number of ASX200 companies that have set net zero targets almost tripled over the past year.

Protesters gather in Covent Garden while activists stage diversion march up Charing Cross Road

Extinction Rebellion protesters have blocked one of Covent Garden’s busiest junctions on the first day of the group’s latest wave of protests targeting London.

At about midday, activists from the group chained themselves together to block the roundabout at Long Acre as a van pulled up with a pink table structure. It was quickly assembled and hundreds of other activists streamed to the roundabout.

Continue reading...

Carbon prices rallied strongly on Monday morning amid firmer natural gas, as speculative buyers accumulated positions ahead of a key court decision on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Australia wants to kick off next year with a scheme that will award carbon units to industrial facilities under the Safeguard Mechanism that reduce their emissions intensity.

Climate-conscious individual choices are good – but not nearly enough to save the planet. More than personal virtue, we need collective action

Personal virtue is an eternally seductive goal in progressive movements, and the climate movement is no exception. People pop up all the time to boast of their domestic arrangements or chastise others for what they eat or how they get around. The very short counter-argument is that individual acts of thrift and abstinence won’t get us the huge distance we need to go in this decade. We need to exit the age of fossil fuels, reinvent our energy landscape, rethink how we do almost everything. We need collective action at every scale from local to global – and the good people already at work on all those levels need help in getting a city to commit to clean power or a state to stop fracking or a nation to end fossil-fuel subsidies. The revolution won’t happen by people staying home and being good.

But the oil companies would like you to think that’s how it works. It turns out that the concept of the “carbon footprint”, that popular measure of personal impact, was the brainchild of an advertising firm working for BP. As Mark Kaufman wrote this summer:

Continue reading...

Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) will include a carbon tax proposal in the ongoing revision of its greenhouse gas legislation, in the hope this will save Taiwanese exporters from impacts from the EU’s proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM).

Greenland’s conditions were once similar to those of a greenhouse. Volcanoes swelled the land, constricted seaways and gigatonnes of greenhouse gases were released into the atmosphere. Milo Barham, Senior Lecturer, Curtin University Jussi Hovikoski, Senior scientist, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Michael B.W. Fyhn, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Hypocrisy rules as we prepare to host Cop26 and Boris Johnson prepares to approve a new oilfield off Shetland

Just months before hosting the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, the UK government will decide whether to approve a massive new oilfield 75 miles north-west of Shetland. Boris Johnson has hinted at a likely go-ahead. The Cambo field, being developed by private-equity-owned Siccar Point and Shell, would produce 170m barrels of oil – oil the world cannot afford to burn.

The Cambo decision is the government’s first test since the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned against developing new oil and gas fields. In a landmark report this year, the IEA found that that already-operating fields will produce more oil and gas over the coming decades than can be consumed if global heating is limited to 1.5C.

Continue reading...

Acts of aggression likely because of ‘mistaken identity during sexual interactions’, researchers write

Highly venomous and sexually aroused sea snakes may attack human divers after confusing them with other snakes during breeding season, a new study suggests.

Related: Case of the mystery sea snakes: why are reptiles washing up on New Zealand’s shores?

Continue reading...

Empire Energy's path to securing a $21 million grant to drill for gas in the Beetaloo Basin started with a $4,500 Liberal Party fundraiser.

The post Timeline to gas grant: Empire paid $4,500 to attend Liberal fundraiser, before site visit appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Grattan calls for $10 billion industrial transformation future fund to start "bending the curve" on industry emissions.

The post Grattan calls for $10 billion fund to “bend the curve” on industry emissions appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Cutting edge battery storage technology designed to provide crucial grid services traditionally delivered by fossil fuel plants will be showcased in Tahiti.

The post Kokam battery to act as “virtual synchronous generator” in Tahiti, edge out diesel appeared first on RenewEconomy.

NSW government launches new platform to match-make renewable hydrogen producers and industry, sees "massive role" for new technology.

The post “Massive role:” NSW to play match-maker to bring renewable hydrogen to industry appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New Zealand will increase the cost containment reserve trigger level at NZU auctions from next year, while the emissions cap in the ETS will be lowered compared to previous plans from 2025, the government announced Monday.