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England is finally protecting the beavers that could save our failing rivers – if they’re permitted to be released into the wild

On Saturday 1 October, something remarkable happened. The Eurasian beaver was officially recognised as both a “native” and a “protected” species under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. In England, that means it is now illegal to deliberately kill, injure, or capture the world’s second largest rodent, or disturb their dams, lodges or burrows without a licence.

Essentially, the change is legislative wordplay, yet anyone with half an ear to the ground is heaving a sigh of relief. Instead of being classed as “no longer normally present” on the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, beavers are now “native”, placing them alongside the barn owl and the corncrake. Beavers in England join their Scottish cousins in the filing cabinet of animals under special protection – populations of which have been classified as European Protected Species (EPS) since 2019.

Sophie Pavelle is the communications coordinator for Beaver Trust. She is also an ambassador for the Wildlife Trusts, sits on the RSPB England advisory committee and is the author of Forget Me Not: Finding the forgotten species of climate-change Britain

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The Clean Energy Regulator has opened the second pilot window for market entities to exit their contractual arrangements with the government, as the issuance flow of Australian Carbon Credit Units steadies.

A carbon credit rating agency has given a major downgrading to a Cambodian REDD forest protection project, while nudging the scores of several other projects it had placed on watch.

A Europe-based investment platform joint venture has closed a fund after raising €2 billion ($1.94 bln) in what it described as the world’s first and largest pureplay clean hydrogen infrastructure fund to focus exclusively on the entire clean hydrogen supply chain.

Workers on urban fringe driving EVs would bring greater emissions cut as they’re more likely to drive larger, older cars on longer commutes

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Australian workers with long commutes should receive tax breaks for buying electric vehicles, according to a new report into the technology.

The recommendation was one of three policies proposed in a study from KPMG Australia that investigated the uptake of electric vehicles in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

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Future farmers should be energy traders as well as animal or crop growers, but Australia needs new policy settings to get there.

The post Farmers keen to embrace solar, but hamstrung by export limits appeared first on RenewEconomy.

CSIRO says its new Towards Net Zero Mission will invest an initial $90m into R&D to help Australia's hardest to abate sectors halve their emissions.

The post CSIRO pledges to halve emissions of “hardest to abate” sectors by 2035 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New Zealand has proposed a farm-level, split-gas approach to pricing agricultural emissions, and is seeking feedback on a consultation document as it searches for a way to bring down emissions in its biggest-emitting sector.

China is considering letting household rooftop solar power qualify to earn carbon credits that would be eligible for use in its national emissions trading scheme.

The solar component of Australia's largest wind and solar hybrid plant – to date – has started generating small amounts power.

The post Solar powers up at Australia’s biggest hybrid renewables park appeared first on RenewEconomy.

With federal Labor ruling out a ban on new fossil fuel projects, the Greens are likely to push for new Safeguard Mechanism Credits to be of high integrity.

The post Spotlight on integrity as consultation begins on Australia’s new emissions compliance market appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Scientists from Singapore have developed a low-cost “wind harvester” that can harness energy from wind as gentle as a light breeze.

The post Scientists develop “wind harvester” to generate power from a light breeze appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Scientists brought endangered species back from the brink by simply building more ponds.

Australia's Vast Solar is part of a US government-backed consortium trialing CSP technologies to combat industrial scale emissions in US factories.

The post Australian solar thermal technology wins US backing to cut industrial emissions appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A new generation of orchards born during lockdown is keeping old traditions alive.

A European conglomerate dived into the Australian market with plans to spend $100 million in the region setting up "one stop shops" in home electrification.

The post German start-up seizes home electrification opportunity in Australian takeover bid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New analysis shows the UK’s gas imports would be 13% lower if successive Conservative-led governments had not “cut the green crap” over the past decade.

The post UK’s gas imports would be 13 pct lower if it had not “cut the green crap” appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Japan and Sri Lanka on Monday signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to bring the South Asian nation into the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM).

Here are some of the top images in the global photography competition which attracted more than 100,000 entries from 196 different countries and territories. The competition is divided into six categories: people and nature, landscape, water, wildlife, climate, and plants and fungi

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As we accelerate towards a green future, will batteries or fuel cells power the world? The short answer is, we’ll need both.

The post Musk’s battery packs vs Forrest’s green hydrogen: Battle for the future will need both appeared first on RenewEconomy.