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The European Parliament gave its formal approval on Tuesday to three bills forming part of the bloc's Fit for 55 climate policy package that were provisionally agreed last year in trilogue negotiations. 

A Finnish start-up specialising in AI-powered tracking of forest carbon storage has announced Tuesday a €1.4 million fundraise for international expansion.

The Norwegian Environment Agency has assessed the potential for industrial carbon removal in the country, saying in a research note released Monday that a s0-called "reverse fee" mechanism combined with voluntary carbon market sales of credits could help boost growth in the sector.

Biden promised no more drilling on federal lands, ‘period, period’. This week he approved the massive Willow project

The Willow project is an act of terrorism against the climate, and the Biden administration has just approved it. This massive oil-drilling project in the wilderness of northern Alaska goes against science and the administration’s many assurances that it cares about climate and agrees that we must make a swift transition away from fossil fuel. Like the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, Joe Biden seems to think that if we do some good things for the climate we can also do some very bad things and somehow it will all even out.

To make that magical thinking more obvious and to try to smooth over broad opposition, the US federal government also just coughed up some protections against drilling in the Arctic Ocean and elsewhere in the National Petroleum Reserve (and only approved three of the five drilling sites for ConocoPhillips’ invasion of this wilderness). Of course, this is like saying, “We’re going to kill your mother but we’re sending guards to protect your grandmother.” It doesn’t make your mom less dead. With climate you’re dealing with physics and math before you’re dealing with morality. All the carbon and methane emissions count, and they need to decrease rapidly in this decade. As Bill McKibben likes to say, you can’t bargain with physics.

Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. Her most recent books are Recollections of My Nonexistence and Orwell’s Roses

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Transition finance is likely to become China’s priority in developing green finance compared to other policy instruments, given a heightened focus on post-COVID economic recovery and energy security, a report has found.

Private sector interest in biodiversity is growing rapidly after the success at COP15 and the emergence of a voluntary nature credit market, but a study released this week warned that private finance won’t be a silver bullet for the biodiversity crisis as private capital injected into the field so far has come with certain limitations and preferences.

The price going for carbon credits from a REDD+ project in Papua New Guinea has nosedived following an investigation by an Australian news programme, as the project’s developer told media they were “exploring its options” in terms of how to respond.

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

On the one hand, there are some pretty neat features of the legislation. On the other, Safeguard has some eerie parallels to the subprime mortgage crisis.

The post Safeguard Mechanism: The good, the bad and the downright ugly appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Federal energy minister seeks to downplay power price fears, and provides some nuggets to feed the gas industry chooks.

The post Bowen plays down power price fears, fans flames of hope and hype from gas lobby appeared first on RenewEconomy.

WA renewable hydrogen project reaches critical milestone, securing more than its needed supply of water for stage one of the project.

The post Remote renewable hydrogen project reaches critical milestone with water supply deal appeared first on RenewEconomy.

EnergyAustralia shifts to a new, more future focused billing and data platform for its zero upfront cost solar and battery offering, Solar Home Bundle.

The post EnergyAustralia finds smarter platform for zero down home solar and battery offering appeared first on RenewEconomy.

NSW is launching a new tender - likely for a big battery - focused on the "firming" gap created by the planned retirement of Australia's biggest coal generator.

The post Another big battery wanted to help replace Australia’s biggest coal generator appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Jacinda Ardern called climate change the ‘nuclear-free moment’ of her generation. Her replacement doesn’t seem so sure

Chris Hipkins loves to cycle.

New Zealand’s newish prime minister, who stepped into the job after Jacinda Ardern’s shock resignation earlier this year, has been pedalling the 30km from his home in Upper Hutt to parliament for years. It’s not a particularly safe route, with many sections where Hipkins would be riding right alongside 100kmh traffic. It’s this kind of danger that stops cycle commuting from being particularly mainstream – just 2% commuted by bike at the last census – but this is far from a political priority for Hipkins. He loves to cycle, but the main thing he wants to do is win.

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Numbers of migratory swans are on the rise, giving hope that declines in nature can be reversed.

They are carrying out detailed assessments of why so many buildings collapsed.

Almost 4,000 Australian plant species have never been photographed in the field, particularly in remote corners of the country. Without a proper record, they could die out without us even knowing. Thomas Mesaglio, PhD candidate, UNSW Sydney Hervé Sauquet, Senior Research Scientist, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney and Adjunct Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney Will Cornwell, Associate Professor in Ecology and Evolution, UNSW Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Australian carbon accounting outfit teams with Schneider Electric to create software that allows businesses to track their full carbon footprint.

The post New carbon accounting tool takes aim at elusive Scope 3 emissions appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A Paris-based hedge fund on Monday announced an equity investment into a new platform that will generate carbon removal credits from soil-based climate practices.

RGGI Allowance (RGA) values held steady over the majority of the week and immediately after member states published the March auction result, but briefly collapsed to near six-month lows on Monday as traders went risk-off following the recent collapse of two US-based financial institutions.