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Blockade Australia says 26-year-old climate activist had been living in the car when she was arrested in Newcastle

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New South Wales police have sought to confiscate and auction a station wagon belonging to a young climate activist after it was seized during her arrest last month.

Activist group Blockade Australia says the car is the property of 26-year-old Sasha, who was arrested in the vehicle on 17 November. She was on a public road near the Port of Newcastle.

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The travel photography blog Capture the Atlas has published its annual northern lights photographer of the year collection with stunning images from 25 photographers. Coinciding with the northern lights season at the end of the year, it aims to share the beauty of this natural phenomenon

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Questions raised around claimed emissions reductions at massive Morrison government backed CCS project, that may increase fossil fuel use.

The post Doubts raised over emissions cuts at Santos CCS project receiving government subsidies appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Food and Agriculture Organization says most plastics are burned, buried or lost after use

The “disastrous” way in which plastic is used in farming across the world is threatening food safety and potentially human health, according to a report from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

It says soils contain more microplastic pollution than the oceans and that there is “irrefutable” evidence of the need for better management of the millions of tonnes of plastics used in the food and farming system each year.

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EUAs continued their unprecedented trajectory on Tuesday morning, adding more than €2.80 at one point as options hedging and speculative buying continued, while energy markets rose strongly amid colder temperatures across the EU.

Leaders say Adani Group, a major operator of coal mines, is responsible for land destruction

Indigenous leaders on the frontline of the climate crisis are calling on the Science Museum to cancel its sponsorship deal with a company they say is responsible for widespread destruction in their homelands.

Leaders from communities in Australia, India and Indonesia warned that the museum’s new agreement with Adani Green Energy, whose parent company Adani Group is a major operator of coal mines and coal-fired power stations, is legitimising its “destructive coal expansion activities”.

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This is not simply a rich versus poor countries divide: there are huge emitters in poor countries, and low emitters in rich countries

Let’s face it: our chances of staying under a 2C increase in global temperature are not looking good. If we continue business as usual, the world is on track to heat up by 3C at least by the end of this century. At current global emissions rates, the carbon budget that we have left if we are to stay under 1.5C will be depleted in six years. The paradox is that, globally, popular support for climate action has never been so strong. According to a recent United Nations poll, the vast majority of people around the world sees climate change as a global emergency. So, what have we got wrong so far?

There is a fundamental problem in contemporary discussion of climate policy: it rarely acknowledges inequality. Poorer households, which are low CO2 emitters, rightly anticipate that climate policies will limit their purchasing power. In return, policymakers fear a political backlash should they demand faster climate action. The problem with this vicious circle is that it has lost us a lot of time. The good news is that we can end it.

Lucas Chancel is co-director of the World Inequality Lab, an affiliate professor at Sciences Po, and the author of Unsustainable Inequalities: Social Justice and the Environment

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Department sources say emergency authorisation of neonicotinoid Cruiser SB likely to be announced

The UK government may be about to approve the use of a controversial bee-killing pesticide, wildlife groups fear.

Sources inside the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) say that, after pressure from the sugar beet industry, an emergency authorisation of the neonicotinoid Cruiser SB is likely to be announced in the coming weeks.

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Airbus will lead the construction of the Ariel observatory which will study 1,000 distant worlds.

US oil and gas major ExxonMobil will target net zero GHG operational emissions by 2030 from its operated assets in the US Permian basin, a prolific oil and gas-producing region in Texas and New Mexico, the company has announced.

Climate Change Committee says Holyrood administration cannot show how it will cut CO2 by 75%

There is an “acute risk” that Scotland will miss its targets to heavily cut carbon emissions because government policies are too vague and weak, an influential advisory body has warned.

The Climate Change Committee, which advises all the UK’s governments on climate policies, said the Scottish government was currently unable to prove how it would hit its ambitious promise to cut CO2 emissions by 75% by the end of the decade.

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Businesses, unions and green groups say ministers must ensure all policies are compatible with climate targets

Boris Johnson should set up a new cross-government initiative on reaching net-zero emissions, and subject all government policies to tests to ensure they are compatible with the climate target, businesses, unions and green campaigners have said.

Ministers should review current policies in the next few months and use the result to present a new national plan on the climate crisis before the next UN climate meeting in November 2022, the leaders urged. The UK retains the presidency of the UN climate talks until then, having hosted the Cop26 climate summit last month.

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Australia’s Bluescope has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with oil major Shell to explore renewable hydrogen projects in the state of New South Wales, the company announced on Tuesday.

AEMO outlines tender timeline for the wind, solar and storage that will replace NSW's ageing coal fleet.

The post AEMO sets out tender timeline for NSW’s rapid transition from coal to renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Greg Hunt is best known as Australia’s health minister. But before that he spent years thinking about mechanisms to get emissions down – and if elected, Labor plans to road test the one he introduced. Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Western Australia’s Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill 2021 is set to become law. But the new legislation states one elected official will decide whether heritage sites are destroyed for development. Joe Dortch, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, The University of Western Australia Anne Poelina, Adjunct Professor and Senior Research Fellow, University of Notre Dame Australia Jo Thomson, PhD student, The University of Western Australia Kado Muir, Chair of National Native Title Council and Ngalia Cultural Leader, Indigenous Knowledge Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

I will always be grateful to have benefited from his sage advice and example of standing up for what you believe in

Peter Cundall is known to most Australians as a lovable gardening guru but to those of us who have fought for decades for the protection of Tasmania’s environment, he was so much more. He had a deep love of nature and was not only a champion of Tasmania’s wilderness, magnificent native forests, rivers and farmlands, he was also an outspoken champion of local people fighting for the places they love against what he saw as the state’s endemic crony capitalism.

I first heard him speak at the Crotty Road protest in 1983 during the campaign against the Franklin Dam, and again at the protests against the logging of the Lemonthyme. He was a great communicator: passionate, direct, warm, funny and fierce – leaving people inspired and ready to take action. Unlike many in the public eye, he had the courage of his convictions and was prepared to use his TV celebrity status to boost environmental campaigns.

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

An Australian start-up will deploy its innovative hydrogen-to-heat technology, potentially paving the way for the decarbonisation of food production.

The post Australian start-up to test hydrogen-to-heat catalyst in first real-world pilot appeared first on RenewEconomy.

MPower says success of network battery trial with Endeavour Energy paves way to add "grid-forming" batteries across portfolio of small solar farms.

The post MPower to add batteries across network of 5MW solar farms after success of trial appeared first on RenewEconomy.