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Everyone’s aware how natural gas prices are up by more than 400% this year due to reduced Russian supplies, tight LNG markets, low EU storages, and the onset of winter demand. And of course since gas is a primary fuel for power generation, there’s been a knock-on effect there too. So you might be forgiven if you find it confusing that a number of EU member states think that suspending the EU ETS and reforming the market is a sure-fire way to deal with these gas and power prices.

Newly published building policy said to be a ‘missed opportunity’ to help the UK reach net zero by 2030

The government’s new building regulations were supposed to be the blueprint for carbon-neutral homes, helping the country reach net zero by 2030, but instead are a step backwards, industry experts have said.

The government policy, published on Wednesday and due to be introduced by 2025, has mandated a 30% carbon cut in all new buildings and a 27% cut in others. The new rules will come into force in June in England, with a transition period to allow for planning applications that are in progress at the time.

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The EU ETS-financed Modernisation Fund has disbursed a total of €898.43 million to fund eight countries since it was launched this year, the European Commission said on Thursday, with only Latvia and Slovakia yet to benefit from the cash pot.

Carcasses found in four provinces, including one pregnant female, with nine arrests made

Poachers have killed 24 rhinos in South Africa during the first two weeks of December after a lull in killings during the Covid pandemic.

On Tuesday, the South African environment ministry said carcasses had been discovered in four provinces across the country since the beginning of the month, with seven rhinos found dead in Kruger national park, six in KwaZulu-Natal and seven in Mpumalanga. Four, including a pregnant female, were shot dead by poachers at a game reserve in the Western Cape last week while a fifth is being treated for gunshot wounds.

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Sainsbury’s is one of six European supermarkets to stop selling some or all beef products from South American country

Sainsbury’s and five other European supermarkets have announced they will stop selling some or all beef products originating in Brazil because of concerns over links to deforestation in the Amazon rainforest and other ecologically important areas.

Sainsbury’s, along with Lidl Netherlands and others, took action after research into “cattle laundering” involving the meat conglomerate JBS. According to the news organisation Repórter Brasil, the company allegedly indirectly sourced cattle from illegally deforested areas.

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Canada is currently examining a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) as it sets it sights on a domestic carbon price of C$170/tonne by 2030, but experts say this level is not at all reflective of what should be charged for emissions at the border.

EU leaders are readying a deal on Thursday to task the European Commission to strengthen its supervision of the bloc’s ETS, ceding to some of Poland's longstanding demands as an unprecedented surge in the cost of carbon fuels concerns about anticompetitive behaviour.

People from Britain or Ireland may have reached the remote Faroe Islands before the Vikings.

'Body count' study gives first estimate of animals killed in wildfires in Brazil's Pantanal wetland.

Young Friends of the Earth group in flood-hit Pontypridd accuse borough council of ‘sitting in the flames’

Most youngsters chosen to receive a good citizen award would probably have welcomed the recognition and dutifully attended the ceremony and photocall with the local mayor.

But members of Young Friends of the Earth in the south Wales town of Pontypridd, who have been campaigning for changes to address the climate emergency, weren’t having any of it.

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Excessive speculation in the EU ETS could destabilise the market, with improved data availability, better monitoring of financial players, and a dedicated regulatory body needed to avoid “serious” disruption, a report has warned.

EUAs were relatively rangebound in early Thursday trading as the market waited for news from Brussels, where EU leaders are discussing how to react to high energy costs and Poland is expected to propose intervention in the EU ETS.

Latest edition of one of world’s largest and longest nature surveys counts 95,306 birds, third lowest tally in almost four decades of tracking

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Consecutive wet years have boosted breeding colonies of waterbirds in eastern Australia but not enough yet to increase total bird numbers, according to the latest edition of one of the world’s largest and longest nature surveys.

Researchers on the annual survey, now in its 39th year, flew 38,360km – or almost enough to circumnavigate the globe – to track the abundance in more than 2,000 wetlands of about 50 bird species, from Queensland down to Victoria.

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China’s carbon price and trading volumes rose again on Thursday as emitters that failed to meet Wednesday’s initial compliance deadline continued to chase supply.

UK-based trading software company Trayport has hosted a first trade in voluntary emissions reductions (VERs) on its Joule system ahead of the launch of a dedicated VCM trading platform, the company said Thursday.

The Australian start up that achieved a new benchmark for solar cell efficiency has notched up another major new milestone, with production of its first full-size solar panel.

The post SunDrive, backed by Cannon-Brookes, produces first panel with record-busting solar cell appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Proposals published on Defra website would change way ‘substances of very high concern’ are dealt with

The government is planning to water down the regulatory requirements on key chemicals, in what experts fear could be the first move to a weaker post-Brexit safety regime for potentially toxic substances.

Proposals published last week without fanfare on a government website set out some of the intended new rules for the new post-Brexit national chemicals regulator. The proposals would change the way “substances of very high concern” – which include potential toxins and carcinogens, and chemicals that persist for a long time in the environment – are dealt with.

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Florida Power and Light completes work on "world’s largest" solar-powered battery, the 409MW/900MWh Manatee Solar Energy Center.

The post World’s largest solar-powered battery – 900MWh – unveiled in Florida appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Environment groups claim decision will allow power station on Central Coast to continue to contribute to respiratory illnesses in children

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The New South Wales environmental regulator has granted the Vales Point power station on the Central Coast another five-year exemption from state air-quality regulations.

Environment groups claim the decision will see the power station continue to contribute to respiratory illnesses in children.

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Andrew Forrest's Fortescue Future Industries to investigate the conversion of New Zealand oil refinery to green hydrogen production.

The post Fortescue may convert NZ oil refinery to green hydrogen production facility appeared first on RenewEconomy.