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A carbon removals buyers’ club has struck a $53 mln multi-year offtake deal with a San Francisco-based startup, agreeing to buy 112,000 tonnes worth from stored waste biomass between 2024 and 2030.

Italian authorities are continuing rescue operations across the flood-hit northern Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Footage recorded by the Italian coastguard showed helicopters rescuing people from their roofs, including a pregnant woman and an elderly couple. At least nine people have been killed by the floods and almost 5,000 evacuated from their homes

• Devastating floods in Italy claim lives and leave thousands homeless

• Lewis Hamilton backs decision to scrap flood-hit Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

• People call for help as extreme floods engulf houses and roads in Italy – video

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The UK’s plans to bolster carbon capture and storage (CCS) took a step closer on Thursday after the government offered 12 companies a total of 20 operating licences with the potential to bury around 30 million tonnes of CO2 a year, or nearly 10% of the country’s current emissions.

European carbon moved in a narrow range on Thursday, with prices changing little by midday as many offices were closed to observe a public holiday, while UK allowances extended Wednesday's gains after the latest fortnightly auction cleared at a record high.

Activists plan to keep holding firms to account as some suggest it is customers who should be compensated

• English water companies offer apology and £10bn investment for sewage spills

Across the country this weekend campaigners will paddle out on their local rivers or beaches to warn water companies they will not put up with another summer of sewage pollution.

No doubt they will be buoyed up by the high-profile mea culpa trumpeted by privatised water companies on Thursday, along with a promise to treble their existing investment in pipes, water treatment works and water storage to £10bn over the next 10 years.

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Founded by Paul Nicklen, Cristina Mittermeier and Chase Teron, 100 for the Ocean unites 100 world-class photographers selected for their talents and contributions to conservation. From 1 to 31 May 2023, a sale offers an opportunity to purchase photographs with profits going to under-funded and under-recognised ocean-focused NGOs voted for by photographers. The top-voted NGOs so far include: Whale Guardians, Coast First Nations, and Por el Mar

“The UN is telling us that in order to fulfil the promise of protecting the ocean under Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life Underwater, we need about $170 billion. We hope to shine a spotlight on the ocean and why we need to protect the largest ecosystem on our planet, the one ecosystem that allows life on earth to exist.” Cristina Mittermeier

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Nuclear capacity must triple by 2050 if the world is to remain within the upper 2C warming limit of the Paris Agreement, a report has calculated, with the cost of scaling the technology seen as the largest hurdle.

Ballooning cost of cleaning up toxic PFAS contamination at military sites places service members and civilians at risk

The cost of cleaning up toxic PFAS “forever chemical” contamination around hundreds of US military installations is ballooning, but Congress and the Pentagon are failing to keep pace, a development that is leaving service members and civilians indefinitely at risk, a new analysis finds.

The estimated total cost for remediating about 50 contaminated military sites has soared to $31bn , up by $3.7bn from 2016 to 2021, the last year the Department of Defense provided estimates. But its requested cleanup budget increased just $400m over the same period, according to the new report by Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit that tracks the military’s PFAS pollution.

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A weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

Queensland to offer most generous payments to landowners hosting new transmission lines, and will also pay close neighbours in an Australian first.

The post Landowners set for huge windfall as Queensland accelerates its SuperGrid transition appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The research help us understand how El Niño and La Niña will change as the world warms in the future. Wenju Cai, Chief Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere, CSIRO, CSIRO Agus Santoso, Senior Research Associate, UNSW Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Scientists say greenhouse gases have already affected climate patterns in the Pacific that could lead to more severe weather, floods and heatwaves

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Global heating has likely intensified a climate pattern in the Pacific since the 1960s that has driven extreme droughts, floods and heatwaves around the globe, according to a new study.

The scientists said they had shown for the first time that greenhouse gas emissions were likely already making El Niños and La Niñas more severe.

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A carbon marketplace has signed a long-term offtake agreement with a biochar technology firm to secure removal units in a bid to scale the nascent market, they said in a release Thursday.

Public-private collaboration and sustainable financing through biodiversity and carbon markets can help improve the situation for South Africa’s vast network of provincial nature reserves that are increasingly failing, a recent study has found.

Australia’s Climate Change Authority (CCA) has begun consulting on developing the country’s 2035 emissions reduction target, its climate advice to government, and reviews on the country’s emissions reporting and carbon farming rules, releasing an issue paper Thursday on the key themes it will consider.

A new partnership announced Thursday will structure and help finance large-scale conservation and restoration projects in biodiversity-rich landscapes with a view to generate nature-based environmental credits.

The Conversation’s climate podcast Fear & Wonder delves into the lives and work of the world’s leading climate experts. Benjamin Clark, Executive Producer, Fear and Wonder, The Conversation Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Utilities in England pledge a £10bn upgrade of sewage systems, which will have a "modest" impact on bills.

Singapore and Bhutan have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a framework to allow the trading of correspondingly adjusted Article 6 carbon credits by the end of the year, as a way to help the two countries achieve their climate goals.

Andy McCarthy reflects on his journey from a garage-based start-up to the CEO of RACV solar. Plus Queensland does it again.

The post Solar Insiders Podcast: From coal valley outsider to solar trailblazer appeared first on RenewEconomy.