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Targeting $100/tonne costs for direct air capture (DAC) by mid-century does not represent a realistic or credible goal, a senior carbon capture expert told a conference Tuesday, adding that it may be more valuable for developers to outline 2030 price and volume goals and then evaluate how best to proceed.

State Farm will almost entirely stop issuing new policies in California – with climate-exacerbated wildfires and bad public policy a large reason why

State Farm, the country’s largest property insurer, announced this week that it will almost entirely stop issuing new policies in California, the country’s largest property insurance market. The reasons for forgoing all that new business are entirely economic. The company cited “historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance market”. Those things are owed largely to the wildfires engulfing bigger parts of the state in bigger chunks of the year.

California’s woes have a lot to do with the climate crisis, which fuels the hot, dry conditions that turn wooded hills into kindling. It’s also a political failure. Housing crises in the Golden State have pushed more and more people out of densely populated areas and into the so-called wildland-urban interface – places that are cheaper to live in, and more prone to burn. Wealthy homeowners in fire-prone enclaves are also reluctant to move, keen to keep rebuilding properties that keep getting destroyed.

Kate Aronoff is a staff writer at the New Republic and the author of Overheated: How Capitalism Broke the Planet – And How We Fight Back

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China's next step against a planned carbon border tax may hinge on discussions under the World Trade Organization (WTO) scheduled for this month, where the EU will have to defend the measure's legality, according to analysts.

Images from around the world taken on World Environment Day, an annual global event celebrated on 5 June to raise awareness, mobilise action and promote environmental sustainability

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Barring public access to beaches and other sites is not a model for development. Transparency and engagement are needed

Walk along a Caribbean beach, which may stretch for miles, and your stroll is guaranteed to be cut short by an angry hotel security guard. In recent years, the Caribbean has seen a worrying trend of governments readily selling off assets to foreign corporations and political financiers.

Prime real estate, protected land and valuable resources are being relinquished without consideration for long-term consequences. It raises questions about whether remnants of the colonial mindset still prevail in political ideologies and decision-making.

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An environmental group has taken the Australian federal government to court to seek a judicial review over the assessment of two coal mines in New South Wales, the group announced.

Leading scientists write to PM amid campaign against expansion of clean air zone in London

World-leading air pollution scientists have called on Rishi Sunak to distance himself from Conservative colleagues who are dismissing the facts on the serious health risks of toxic air.

In a letter, Prof Frank Kelly and 35 other prominent air pollution scientists call on the prime minister to tell his colleagues not to endorse “merchants of doubt” who “undermine the factual and truth foundations of life.”

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Controversial VNI West transmission project raises yet another red flag, this time over concerns the new preferred route will extend the life of NSW coal.

The post VNI West could give black coal plants a reason to “stay in the game,” analysis warns appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Energy Next will host 20+ presentations on topics from EV’s, microgrids, and energy storage to VPPs and hydrogen. Here's some you should not miss.

The post Energy Next: Talks you shouldn’t miss on the 2023 agenda appeared first on RenewEconomy.

CleanCo to switch from power purchase agreements to equity ownership with new funds to support another 2.3GW of wind and solar capacity.

The post CleanCo gets extra $500 million to develop 2.3GW of new wind and solar projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.

By far the fastest energy change in history is underway, with around 400 GW of new solar and wind capacity to be added in 2023. 

The post Graph of the Day: Solar is creating fastest energy change in history appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Delivery underway of massive Vestas wind turbine components for Enel Green Power's first Australian project at WA's Flat Rocks.

The post Concrete poured at Flat Rocks wind farm as turbine parts hit the road appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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Report finds energy users are paying dearly for the lack of contestability in Australia's transmission market, to the tune of $13 billion.

The post How smashing transmission monopoly could slash $13 billion from grid costs appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Our buildings and infrastructure can only become sustainable if the sector shares, leases, reuses, repairs, refurbishes and recycles materials and products. A new report maps out out how to get there. M. Reza Hosseini, Senior Lecturer in Construction, Deputy Director, Mediated Intelligence in Design (MInD) Research Lab, Deakin University Tuba Kocaturk, Deputy Head, School of Architecture & Built Environment, and Director, Mediated Intelligence in Design (MInD) Research Lab, Deakin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Solar experts call for better approach to sustainable solar, including “bespoke” technology to recycle panels and reuse their valuable components.

The post Why solar panels should be reused, and not shredded for bricks and concrete appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A global carbon fund has launched a new round of capital raising, seeking to raise $20 million by the end of the month as part of a broader effort to secure $200 million by mid-2024, it announced Tuesday.

Renters with nowhere to go. Home owners forced into mortgage stress. If our homes are damaged by floods or fires, it damages our health for years afterwards Ang Li, Research Fellow, NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Healthy Housing, Centre for Health Policy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne Mathew Toll, Research Associate, NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Healthy Housing, Centre for Health Policy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne Rebecca Bentley, Professor of Social Epidemiology and Director of the Centre of Research Excellence in Healthy Housing at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Researchers have proposed a solution for financing climate change mitigation by assigning financial responsibilities to nations based “rigorous ethical criteria”, and have calculated that through this approach the Global North would owe the Global South around $170 trillion.

Global asset managers are largely failing to align portfolios to net-zero pathways and are also mostly ignoring biodiversity risks, according to a report published Sunday that relied on a comprehensive sample of global data.