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Portfolio selection rules on evaluating risk used to pick 50 reefs as ‘arks’ best able to survive climate crisis and revive coral elsewhere

A Nobel prize-winning economic theory used by investors is showing early signs of helping save threatened coral reefs, scientists say.

Researchers at Australia’s University of Queensland used modern portfolio theory (MPT), a mathematical framework developed by the economist Harry Markowitz in the 1950s to help risk-averse investors maximise returns, to identify the 50 reefs or coral sanctuaries around the world that are most likely to survive the climate crisis and be able to repopulate other reefs, if other threats are absent.

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Brash piles provide safety from predators and place to breed for animal now hailed as ‘ecosystem engineer’

Symbol of Easter and scourge of Mr McGregor, the rabbit may be the cute hero of children’s books but its rapid reproduction has traditionally made it a pest for farmers and gardeners.

Now, however, with British rabbit populations are being decimated by disease, the humble bunny is being hailed as an “ecosystem engineer” and landowners encouraged to create innovative “rabbit hotels” to revive its numbers.

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In a taste of things to come, a secret Office of National Assessment report worried the ‘carbon dioxide problem’ would hurt the nation’s coal industry

The report was stamped CONFIDENTIAL twice on each page, with the customary warning it should “not be released to any other government except Britain, Canada, NZ and US”.

About 40 years ago this week, the spooks at Australia’s intelligence agency, the Office of National Assessments (ONA), delivered the 17-page report to prime minister Malcolm Fraser.

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When Cousin Greg was disinherited by his grandfather in favour of the environmental group, inquiries about such legacies soared

In one bewildering and painful scene in the hit TV drama Succession, Cousin Greg sees his future of ease and wealth turn to dust. His grandfather, Ewan, announces he is giving away his entire fortune to Greenpeace, depriving Greg of his inheritance.

Now Greenpeace is hoping to benefit in real life as well as in the fictional world of the media conglomerate Waystar Royco. Thousands of people have looked into leaving money to the environmental group since the darkly comic storyline about Cousin Greg losing his inheritance and then threatening to sue the organisation was broadcast. More than 22,000 people have accessed online advice about making donations in their wills to Greenpeace. The group’s legacy webpage has also seen a tenfold surge in traffic since the episode was first broadcast earlier this month.

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Wind and solar smash records again in South Australia, reaching 135 per cent of local demand and more than 108 per cent average over past 48 hours.

The post Wind and solar grab world record 135 pct share of state demand, 108 pct over two days appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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The European Parliament's cross-party trade committee is seeking changes to the EU's proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) that could substantially lower costs faced by US emitters, according to a draft report published this week.

Expert says claims that EVs will ‘end the weekend can be put to bed’ by new figures

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Australian electric vehicle drivers are on average driving further than people with petrol vehicles as infrastructure improves, new statistics show.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics for the first time looked at how electric vehicle drivers use their cars and found that in the 12 months to 30 June 2020 they had travelled 69 million km.

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Scientists have carefully collected spawn bundles by moonlight in a bid to help save the reef

It’s nearing 10pm, and Dr Kate Quigley is still waiting. Using red lights to minimise disruption to the animals’ behaviour, she is inspecting corals.

Quigley, who studies reef restoration at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, is looking for “little red dots all over the surface”. A pimply appearance is a hallmark sign that a coral is about to spawn, releasing sperm and eggs in bundles resembling small bubbles.

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Researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science are hoping to breed corals that are more resilient to extreme heat events. The researchers collected hundreds of coral samples from the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef that have survived three mass bleaching events since 2016. The samples have to be collected before they spawn which occurs only once a year, several days after a full moon in spring. They then hope to breed these samples with corals from the southern part of the reef which are less heat tolerant

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• Great Barrier Reef’s future dealt blow as study finds only 2% escaped coral bleaching

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A voluntary measure to reduce shipping's black carbon emissions in the Arctic was adopted at the UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO) negotiations on Friday, a move welcomed by green groups as a modest step while other climate decisions for the sector were deferred. 

The incoming German cabinet is laying out plans to compensate its citizens for higher energy prices, in a move designed to enhance the acceptability of carbon pricing on consumer-facing sectors while safeguarding social justice.

The UK ETS will face its first regulatory test at the start of December as the market’s Cost Containment Mechanism (CCM) will be triggered this month, though sources are fairly divided as to if and how the government will ultimately intervene.

Material Focus says tech superseded by purchases on Black Friday and beyond can be donated or recycled

Black Friday and pre-Christmas spending sprees will create an e-waste mountain as 5m unwanted electrical items are binned or put in storage in Britain, a campaign group has warned.

The end-of-November sales event triggers the commercial run-up to Christmas and is followed days later by the Cyber Monday e-commerce frenzy, with retailers offering cut-price deals on a range of goods from mobile phones to laptops and smart speakers.

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Beneath the public discord about BLM, the climate and feminism, there is surprising consensus about how the world should be

Today’s widely accepted narrative is that we live in historically divided times. Voters are routinely described as “polarised”, while analysts compete to identify the essential schism of the age, whether this is metropolitan versus traditionalist, people versus democracy or anywheres versus somewheres.

For a third year running, however, the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project supports a different interpretation: that extreme views are given greater visibility by social media, which in turn creates an especially dynamic climate of opinion – in that, for example, it can change quickly – but one whose underlying forces are defined more by cohesion than division. Released annually by the Guardian, the Globalism Project is an international survey and the largest of its kind on the public relationship with globalisation, produced by YouGov in partnership with academics at Cambridge University. Its findings have consistently challenged popular stereotypes of public opinion in this so-called polarised age.

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Scientists are combing Ireland’s west coast for seaweed to feed to farm animals after research showed it could stop them belching out so much climate-heating methane

• Photographs by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

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EUAs gave up all of Thursday's gains in the opening minutes of Friday's session as traders reacted in line with sharply lower energy markets to reports of a new Covid-19 variant emerging in South Africa.

Offset standard manager Verra has disassociated itself from an offset-backed blockchain venture that has driven the retirement millions of its VCS units in recent weeks, but also said it would seek to work with market participants to find solutions.

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including sparring polar bears, hungry hedgehogs and a green cat

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Review of safety studies shows vast majority do not meet international standards for scientific validity

Only two out of a group of 11 industry studies given to European regulators in support of the re-approval of the main ingredient in Roundup herbicide are scientifically “reliable”, according to a new analysis of corporate-backed studies on the chemical glyphosate.

Glyphosate is the world’s most widely used herbicide and is not only the main ingredient in Roundup herbicide but also in hundreds of other products. It is extensively used by farmers in growing common food crops.

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