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Possums on Maria Island expanded beyond usual habitat and had become ‘pretty significant predator’

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The introduction of Tasmanian devils to Maria Island halved the population of brushtail possums, according to new research that suggests restoring top predators to ecosystems could help limit the number of overabundant prey.

In 2012, the carnivorous marsupials were introduced to the island off the east coast of Tasmania to create a geographically isolated insurance population free from devil facial tumour disease.

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A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

British Columbia will implement a cap on oil and gas emissions to ensure the province hits its GHG reduction target for the sector, and will also consider how credit trading may work under the system, the Canadian province announced Tuesday.

More aggressive GHG reduction targets and a simple process for California-Quebec market traders to open accounts resulted in the Washington cap-and-invest programme seeing a steep clearing price at its inaugural auction last month, an analyst said Tuesday.

Only one standards body operating in the voluntary carbon market (VCM) has a viable grievance mechanism offered to communities affected by climate projects, according to a review published Tuesday.

Carbon credit buyers have been drawn to clean cookstove projects for their extensively touted benefits in improving the health of millions of some of the world's poorest people, but observers warn that the sector bears many of the same over-crediting risks as forest protection programmes.

An academic study has claimed cookstove projects are more than six times over-credited, reigniting criticism of the voluntary carbon market that is still dousing the flames from January’s damning reports of hot air in the REDD+ avoided deforestation sector.

The collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) could spark fresh enthusiasm for publicly-funded green banks that help propel nascent clean technology firms, with these types of set-ups continuing to evolve globally and due shortly to get a foothold in the US.

Climate change is adding energy to the atmosphere and the oceans. This in turn fuels more intense storms and heavy rainfall. James Renwick, Professor, Physical Geography (climate science), Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

As a leader of Carbon Demand, your goal is to build the strategy and deliver monetization pathways of our solution for permanent verifiable carbon removal. Building a portfolio strategy for a variety of offtake pathways will be a critical first initiative, but developing other mechanisms to enable project finance and/or hybrid financial vehicles with partners, financial institutions and investors will also be a large part of the role.

The EU will seek guidance from its national environment ministers on the European Commission’s proposal to set up a certification framework for carbon removals, as they will convene in Brussels on Thursday.

Study shows high ozone levels make males emit fewer pheromones to attract females, which may lead to population decline

Air pollution is making it harder for fruit flies to mate because females cannot easily recognise a male’s scent, a study has found.

Female fruit flies select their mates for reproduction through the scent of their pheromones, but ozone pollution can disrupt the male’s ability to emit their characteristic odour, researchers have found. This means contaminated air can pose a threat to how successfully fruit flies and other insects reproduce, and could lead to population decline.

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A new scientific approach to calculating the carbon saving of avoided deforestation projects hopes to bolster confidence in REDD+ following claims of widespread over-crediting of the voluntary carbon market sector.

The European Parliament adopted a more ambitious line on the bloc's proposed revision of Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) on Tuesday, backing the earlier position of its industry committee (ITRE). 

Extraordinary new limits introduced to require municipal utilities to remove six PFAS compounds from drinking water

The US Environmental Protection Agency has taken the extraordinary step of setting legal drinking water limits for six of the most studied and toxic PFAS compounds, known commonly as “forever chemicals”, that are at the center of an ongoing environmental crisis.

The new limits mark the first time in 26 years that the EPA has set legal limits for a contaminant in drinking water. Municipal utilities will be required to remove the compounds from drinking water, which could set off a wave of lawsuits directed at PFAS polluters, including the US military and chemical producers like 3M, DuPont and Chemours.

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Manuel Paez Terán’s family release results of independent autopsy after protester fatally shot by Georgia law enforcement

An environmental activist who was fatally shot in a confrontation with Georgia law enforcement in January was sitting cross-legged with their hands in the air at the time, the protester’s family said as they released results of an autopsy they commissioned.

The family of Manuel Paez Terán held a news conference in Decatur to announce the findings and said they were filing an open-records lawsuit seeking to force Atlanta police to release more evidence about the 18 January killing of Paez Terán, who went by the name Tortuguita and used the pronoun they.

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The natural climatic pattern of La Niña is over after three consecutive years.

The European Commission presented its proposal to reform the bloc’s electricity market on Tuesday, putting the main focus on boosting renewable development and protecting consumers but presenting no significant overhauls of the current power market structure.

European carbon prices extended their steep losses for a second day, falling through all the immediate technical targets as the daily auction saw the lowest demand in six months and traders reported further "risk-off" selling, while energy markets also dropped sharply.

The UK government should establish a domestic regulator for the carbon offset market to help incentivise capital flows into nature protection and restoration, according to one of the nation’s leading pension funds.