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China’s environment ministry on Thursday said it will soon release for public consultation the plan for post-2020 emissions allowance allocation, a long-awaited regulatory document for market participants.

Research suggests visits to places with birdlife could be prescribed by doctors to improve mental wellbeing

One swallow may not make a summer but seeing or hearing birds does improve mental wellbeing, researchers have found.

The study, led by academics from King’s College London, also found that everyday encounters with birds boosted the mood of people with depression, as well as the general population.

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One of the world’s biggest car manufacturers has teamed up with a leading carbon solutions provider to join the voluntary carbon market, opening a major call for submissions to develop offset projects and to buy credits from existing ones. 

Working in Antarctica is a wildlife enthusiast’s dream, but seeing the reality of the climate disaster up close will be brutal

Antarctica holds an almost mythical appeal. Detached from the rest of the world, its beauty is unique. It is a continent that has never seen a war, and where testing military capabilities is strictly forbidden. It is, as the Antarctic Treaty reminds us, “a natural reserve devoted to peace and science”.

And this impressive wilderness is the place I will be calling home for the next five months, as I embark on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work for the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) at Port Lockroy, Antarctica. As a conservation biologist, I’m drawn to Antarctica for lots of reasons, not least my interest in the major role it plays in our climate system, and the opportunity to monitor the gentoo penguin colony that calls Port Lockroy home.

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Rooftop solar reaches new milestone, meeting all domestic network demand in South Australia for the seventh time this month, and for the longest period.

The post Rooftop solar meets all local network demand in South Australia for more than five hours appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Energy bills are set to rise - and rise again. The government’s efforts so far have done very little. Time for a stronger approach. Samantha Hepburn, Professor, Deakin Law School, Deakin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission fines Tlou Energy for misleading statements about green credentials

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The corporate regulator has issued its first penalty for greenwashing, fining Australian company Tlou Energy $53,280.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) said Tlou, which was developing power projects in parts of Africa, had paid the total for four infringements for making alleged false or misleading sustainability-related statements to the ASX in October last year.

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Issuance of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) has crept up this week, while airline Qantas announced it would invest in GreenCollar reef credits and an energy company was fined A$53,000 ($34,000) by the market authority over greenwashing statements.

Agreement between two of the largest supermarket chains in the US could also make prices increase

The proposed $24.6bn merger of Kroger and Albertsons could have dramatic consequences for customers, including higher prices for groceries and more food deserts, experts say.

The agreement between two of the largest supermarket chains in the US – which own brands such as Ralphs, Mariano’s, Fred Meyer, Safeway and Vons – would give the combined company control of nearly one-fifth of the US grocery market, with about 5,000 stores across 48 states. If the deal is approved by regulators, it is expected to close in 2024.

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Experts say crude oil pipeline from Uganda to Tanzania will produce 25 times host nations’ combined annual emissions

An oil pipeline under construction in east Africa will produce vast amounts of carbon dioxide, according to new analysis. The project will result in 379m tonnes of climate-heating pollution, according to an expert assessment, more than 25 times the combined annual emissions of Uganda and Tanzania, the host nations.

The East African crude oil pipeline (EACOP) will transport oil drilled in a biodiverse national park in Uganda more than 870 miles to a port in Tanzania for export. The main backers of the multibillion dollar project are the French oil company TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).

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The current global energy crisis can prove to be a historic turning point towards a cleaner energy future, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has stated, as the Paris-based energy watchdog projected for the first time that global demand for each of the fossil fuels will either peak or plateau across all the scenarios in its latest annual World Energy Outlook (WEO) released on Thursday.

The extra cash will help the CEFC lead financing and investment in the Rewiring the Nation program.

The post CEFC gets $8.6 billion in new funding to connect renewables to the grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Andrew Forrest sees quick pay-back from dumping fossil fuels, and urges the world to follow.

The post Forrest sees quick payback from dumping fossil fuels, as he touts first green mine appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Japan plans to gradually increase domestic carbon prices over the next decade to help drive deeper emissions reductions and raise funds for decarbonisation, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said, according to local media reports.

Gas prices are rapidly coming down, but the long term doesn't look good as wind and solar continue to beat gas on price.

The post Gas writes its own death sentence with plants 10 times the price of new renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

An Australian-based financial company has raised A$55 million ($35 mln) to go towards nature-based carbon credit projects and the roll-out of its data and analytics platforms.

With effective regulation, Australia’s offshore wind industry can be a leader in ecologically sustainable development.

The post Australia could lead the world in offshore wind, but risks to marine life remain poorly regulated appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Latest finding adds to theory that animals, including humans, naturally arrange things in a certain order, even without being able to count

Bees order numbers in increasing size from left to right, a study has shown for the first time, supporting the much-debated theory that this direction is inherent in all animals including humans.

Western research has found that even before children learn to count, they start organising growing quantities from left to right in what has been called the “mental number line”.

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Two Korean environmental and consumer rights groups have filed legal complaints over claims made by a major industrial conglomerate that the use of offsets from a controversial South American forestry project makes its engine oil product ‘carbon neutral’.

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