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Investigation into Verra carbon standard finds most are ‘phantom credits’ and may worsen global heating

• ‘Nowhere else to go’: Alto Mayo, Peru, at centre of conservation row
• Greenwashing or a net zero necessity? Scientists on carbon offsetting
• Carbon offsets flawed but we are in a climate emergency

The forest carbon offsets approved by the world’s leading provider and used by Disney, Shell, Gucci and other big corporations are largely worthless and could make global heating worse, according to a new investigation.

The research into Verra, the world’s leading carbon standard for the rapidly growing $2bn (£1.6bn) voluntary offsets market, has found that, based on analysis of a significant percentage of the projects, more than 90% of their rainforest offset credits – among the most commonly used by companies – are likely to be “phantom credits” and do not represent genuine carbon reductions.

Only a handful of Verra’s rainforest projects showed evidence of deforestation reductions, according to two studies, with further analysis indicating that 94% of the credits had no benefit to the climate.

The threat to forests had been overstated by about 400% on average for Verra projects, according to analysis of a 2022 University of Cambridge study.

Gucci, Salesforce, BHP, Shell, easyJet, Leon and the band Pearl Jam were among dozens of companies and organisations that have bought rainforest offsets approved by Verra for environmental claims.

Human rights issues are a serious concern in at least one of the offsetting projects. The Guardian visited a flagship project in Peru, and was shown videos that residents said showed their homes being cut down with chainsaws and ropes by park guards and police. They spoke of forced evictions and tensions with park authorities.

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EUAs jumped to a six-day high on Wednesday morning, repeating the pattern of the previous session amid rising gas and power prices and as participants suggested the market was roiled by a short squeeze.

The EU must toughen a law regulating the bloc's building stock to ensure overall climate goals are met, business and investor groups urged this week even as legislators are set to include the sector in a new carbon market.

Experts in biodiversity finance speaking at a meeting of the Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation (CPIC) expressed optimism that the global biodiversity framework agreed at COP15 would help to channel steady flows of private finance into conservation and restoration as well as scaling the nascent crediting market.

I recently moved from a gas stove to an induction range, and I love it. Other Americans probably will, too

Of all the political issues I assumed would come to the fore in 2023, gas stoves were not on my bingo card. And yet Americans’ right to cook on an open gas flame has turned into a red-hot culture war issue. Conservatives are gearing up for a War of the Cooktops – and unfortunately, some Democrats aren’t helping.

Some five decades’ worth of studies have found that gas stoves are hazardous to human health, with a recent one suggesting that gas stoves in US homes may be to blame for nearly 13% of childhood asthma cases. Gas stoves are bad for the environment, too, powered as they are by fossil fuels.

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Scientists say yields from crops fertilised with recycled human waste rival those produced by organic methods

Using fertilisers derived from human faeces and urine can be as productive as conventional organic ones, with no risk of transmitting disease, according to new research.

It may seem unappetising, but humans have been using human waste as a fertiliser for thousands of years because it contains the key nutrients that plants need to grow, including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Ploughing human excrement – conventionally flushed down our toilets and into the sewage system – back into the soil creates a more sustainable farming system without significant drops in yield, the researchers found.

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In relationships, controlling and coercive behaviour is now a criminal offence. In British politics, it is glorified

Don’t let them talk to you about freedom. This government is stripping out fundamental liberties with the speed and determination you would expect in the aftermath of a military coup. Knowing that their days in office are numbered, the Conservatives seem to be snuffing out democracy as quickly as they can.

Even before the latest amendment, the public order bill was the most repressive legislation of the modern era, potentially criminalising all meaningful protest. If Rishi Sunak’s new proposal is passed, protests can be stopped before they begin on the grounds that they might be “disruptive”. Disruptive protest was redefined by last year’s Police Act to include noise. Now the definition is being further extended to incorporate “slow marching”. This Minority Report amendment puts us on the wrong side of the law before we even raise our hands in objection.

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Automatic warning system activated to issue flood alerts during industrial action by staff on Wednesday

Flood-prone areas in England will be relying on automated back-up systems for flood alerts and warnings on Wednesday, as Environment Agency (EA) workers strike over pay.

Systems that would normally be monitored by experienced staff, some of whom have been left relying on food banks as a result of the cost of living crisis, will be put on autopilot during the industrial action, after weeks of working to rule failed to bring the government to the negotiating table.

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The United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has signed two deals, one involving a pilot project to mineralise CO2 in rock formations, and the other to create new markets for hydrogen and promote global clean energy value chains, at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, the Gulf state's national oil company announced on Tuesday.

High court in Japan agreed defendants could not have predicted the massive tsunami that crippled the power plant and triggered a nuclear meltdown

Three former executives from the company that operates the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have had their not-guilty verdicts upheld by a court in Japan, dealing a blow to campaigners demanding the firm take legal responsibility for the disaster in March 2011.

The Tokyo high court on Wednesday cleared Tsunehisa Katsumata, the former chairman of Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), along with former vice-presidents Ichiro Takekuro and Sakae Muto, of professional negligence resulting in death.

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Study also says eating one serving of fish with PFAS could be equivalent to drinking contaminated water every day for a month

Wild caught, freshwater fish in the United States are far more contaminated with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” than those commercially caught in oceans, and the highest levels are found in fish from the Great Lakes, a new analysis of federal data suggests.

The peer-reviewed study by public health advocate Environmental Working Group (EWG) also found eating one serving of US freshwater fish contaminated with median PFAS levels could be equivalent to drinking highly contaminated water every day for a month.

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The price for Australian Carbon Credit Units have soared by nearly 9% in the week following the release of the government’s final consultation of its Safeguard Mechanism framework, while the Clean Energy Regulator has made its first credit issuance for the new year.

The Australian government has named a former boss of NZ utility Contact Energy and long time executive at Origin Energy to lead its crisis-hit Snowy Hydro.

The post Bowen announces new CEO of crisis-hit Snowy Hydro appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The fossil-fuel induced energy crisis of 2022 has sparked the biggest ever jump in new construction starts for wind, solar and storage projects.

The post Fossil fuel crisis prompts biggest ever switch to renewables and storage in 2022 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Some solar farms are losing half of their output due to grid congestion, as renewable cop the brunt of curtailment and markets fail to provide correct signals to storage.

The post Solar farm output cut by half as renewables cop brunt of grid congestion appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Queensland researchers train artificial intelligence to trawl recordings and help confirm presence of elusive eastern bristlebird

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The fact the eastern bristlebird had not been seen nor heard in south-east Queensland since its Gondwana rainforest home was ravaged in the black summer bushfires of 2019/20 was, in some ways, unsurprising.

For one, there are thought to have been fewer than 40 individual birds in its northern population.

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CEO of one of the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturers believes that turbines are big enough and that the main challenge is to increase output.

The post Wind energy CEO says turbines are big enough for now appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The latest Bureau of Meteorology forecast offers relief from record rain and floods brought about by La Niña. A longer-term outlook for El Niño is still up in the air – but its arrival would be disastrous. Andrew King, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

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US-based developer enters Australian market with eyes on wind, solar and storage projects.

The post Bluestar enters Australian wind, solar and storage market after $US100m capital raise appeared first on RenewEconomy.