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Toxic pesticides used to eradicate grain-eating quelea may harm the country’s endangered raptors, say conservationists

A drive by the Kenyan government to kill up to 6 million red-billed quelea birds that have invaded farms will have unintended consequences for raptors and other wild species, experts have warned.

The continuing drought in the Horn of Africa has reduced the amount of native grass, whose seeds are queleas’ main food source, causing the birds to increasingly invade grain fields, putting 2,000 acres (800 hectares) of rice under threat. About 300 acres of rice fields have been destroyed by the birds.

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Financial institutions signed up to GFANZ initiative accused of acting as ‘climate arsonists’

Banks and finance institutions that have signed up to net zero pledges are still investing heavily in fossil fuels, research has shown, leading to accusations they are acting as “climate arsonists”.

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) initiative was launched by the former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, as one of the main UK achievements in hosting the Cop26 UN climate summit at Glasgow in 2021.

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Positive effects were stronger among those reporting the lowest annual household income, says Finnish study

Visits to parks, community gardens and other urban green spaces may lower city dwellers’ use of drugs for anxiety, insomnia, depression, high blood pressure, and asthma, research has found.

Researchers in Finland found that visiting such areas three to four times a week cuts people’s chances of turning to drugs for mental health problems or high blood pressure by a third, and for asthma by about a quarter.

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

Origin bidders ask for another week to crunch numbers of $18.4 billion offer amid gas price cap, accusations of gas industry bullying, and regulatory warnings.

The post Origin bid on hold as gas industry mulls price cap and is accused of being “bunch of bullies” appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Carbon market participants have discovered what the federal government's efforts to fight climate change will mean for them.

The post Carbon market reform might not be perfect policy, but it will be effective appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The industrial electricity and fuel efficiency (IEFE) methodology of generating carbon credits has been revoked from Australia’s Emission Reduction Fund, the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) announced Monday, and has been replaced by a new and improved version of the method.

AEMO says it connected 2.9GW of new capacity in 2022, mostly wind and solar, but will need to double that over next eight years to meet government renewable targets.

The post Australia connects 3GW of new capacity in 2022, must double that to reach renewable target appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Danish start-up plans to build six new factories to recycle end-of-life wind turbine blades.

The post Six factories planned to recycle end of life wind turbine blades in Europe appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The UK sets annual and instantaneous generation records for wind energy.

The post Wind generation smashes annual and instant records in blustery start to new year appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australian cities remain woefully unprepared for the more extreme weather we are already seeing with climate change. But some cities overseas stand out for having developed readymade solutions. Thami Croeser, Research Officer, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A Canadian carbon credit investment firm announced on Monday a joint venture with a former Conservative MP from Alberta, aiming to generate technology-based offsets in partnership with municipalities and the federal government.

Conservation organisation WWF launched a new free-access tool on Monday intended to help companies and investors better understand their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity.

EU competition chief  Margrethe Vestager and French officials have released similar strategies on how the EU should respond to the US green stimulus package, with beefed-up subsidies and continued relaxation of state aid rules for key energy transition sectors at the heart of the plans.

Both when disaster strikes and when climate change has more everyday impacts, community radio stations play a leading role in helping locals understand and adapt to the challenges they face. Bridget Backhaus, Senior Lecturer in Journalism and Media Studies, Griffith University Kerrie Foxwell-Norton, Associate Professor in Journalism, Media and Communication, Griffith University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

‘Cease and desist’ letter signed by over 650,000 people sent to oil and gas CEOs follows removal of Greta Thunberg from coal protest

Hundreds of thousands of young climate activists have said they will continue “protesting in the streets in huge numbers” against fossil fuels, a day after Greta Thunberg was removed by German police from a condemned village atop a massive coal deposit.

In a cease-and-desist letter to the CEOs of fossil fuel companies, youth campaigners accuse them of a “direct violation of our human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, your duties of care, as well as the rights of Indigenous people”.

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Standardised carbon credit prices slipped lower over the past week, particularly in nature-based contracts where the bearish trend was evident across the curve.

A major trader of global commodities has made a commitment to purchase 50,000 tonnes of carbon removals by 2030 as a founding member of the First Movers Commission, it said on Monday.

Scientists say phenomenon coupled with growing climate crisis likely to push global temperatures ‘off the chart’

The return of the El Niño climate phenomenon later this year will cause global temperatures to rise “off the chart” and deliver unprecedented heatwaves, scientists have warned.

Early forecasts suggest El Niño will return later in 2023, exacerbating extreme weather around the globe and making it “very likely” the world will exceed 1.5C of warming. The hottest year in recorded history, 2016, was driven by a major El Niño.

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The Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) advanced on its 13-point action programme on Monday, while revealing details on an already-secured $200 million in advance sales of carbon credits.