Feed aggregator

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

Submarines controlled by artificial intelligence are being designed to take on military missions.

An environmental group has asked the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) to reject utility Dominion Energy’s proposal to recover RGGI allowance costs due to the lack of a least-cost analysis or a prudent procurement strategy, according to documents filed this week.

Regulated entities in the Northeast US RGGI cap-and-trade programme shed carbon permit holdings after the March auction settled far below the secondary market allowance price at the time, a report published Thursday showed.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices rose to near all-time highs this week amid a flurry of speculative activity before the Q2 WCI auction, while RGGI allowances also rose on the secondary market on relatively thin demand.

Queensland government partly funds grid upgrade it says will support Kaban wind and battery hub snubbed at last minute by federal Coalition.

The post Queensland steps in to back wind and battery plant vetoed by Keith Pitt appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Why is Australia's government trying to transform clean energy agencies into fossil funding bodies? It marks a major global power shift.

The post How Australia’s government is trying to create fossil funding agencies appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The NSW government has secured an extremely toxic bait to try to end the mouse plague. But there are safer alternatives. Robert Davis, Senior Lecturer in Wildlife Ecology, Edith Cowan University Bill Bateman, Associate professor, Curtin University Damian Lettoof, PhD Candidate, Curtin University Maggie J. Watson, Lecturer in Ornithology, Ecology, Conservation and Parasitology, Charles Sturt University Michael Lohr, Adjunct Lecturer, Edith Cowan University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

In order to avoid fungibility becoming a race to the bottom, the voluntary carbon market needs tools that recognise the variation in carbon returns and enables the creation of products that capture this variation, according to Sebastien Cross of BeZero Carbon.

While carbon removals will play a role in mitigating climate change, we cannot afford to take our focus away from the urgent objective of avoiding emitting in the first place, write Sarah Leugers and Owen Hewlett of Gold Standard.

Conservation watchdog given boost after decade of funding cuts that left it at ‘crisis point’

Natural England, the government’s conservation watchdog, is to receive a 47% increase in government funding this year as its role expands to support a “green recovery” and provide environmental scrutiny of the government’s controversial “Project Speed”.

The dramatic funding increase is a boost for wildlife protection and monitoring after a decade of deep cuts which left the agency at “crisis point” and its chairman, Tony Juniper, admitting that it would struggle to reverse declines in biodiversity.

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Scientists predict migration of the megabats, mostly found in eastern and northern Australia, could have significant effects on Tasmania’s ecosystems

Fruit bats may migrate as far south as Tasmania in the future as a result of extreme weather events linked to the climate crisis, new modelling suggests.

University of Tasmania scientists predicted the grey-headed flying fox could take “climate refuge” in the southernmost state in coming decades if greenhouse gas emissions continued on their current trajectory.

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A ‘just add water’ approach is unlikely to be successful, with better monitoring of species needed to target environmental watering

Trillions of litres of water released into the Murray-Darling Basin to benefit the environment has failed to increase the populations of threatened species, according to new research.

In a damning assessment of the monitoring of eight threatened species, the research from Australian National University scientists says the public reporting of the benefits of environmental watering was fragmentary and not backed by evidence.

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EUAs rose more than €3 on Thursday, clawing back almost half of the 12% losses of the previous two sessions as traders bought on what they expect to a brief dip in a still-bullish market.

Head of Australian agricultural firm predicts sales surge as UK farmers warn they will struggle to compete

Australia’s biggest cattle farmer has predicted that the nation’s beef exports to the UK could rise as much as tenfold if the two countries strike a free-trade deal.

Boris Johnson is determined to push through a free-trade deal with Australia, despite warnings from the National Farmers’ Union over the “irreversible damage” such a deal would do to UK agriculture. It was discussed by ministers at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

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Czech utility CEZ presented its climate strategy on Thursday, setting the intention to reduce its share of coal-fired generation to just over a tenth of its generation mix in line with recent output falls.

US biofuel credit (RIN) values only slightly dropped on Thursday morning following a report that the EPA will keep Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) biofuel volumes steady for the next two years.

Initiative just one of several after Overton parish council declared a climate emergency in 2019

A Hampshire village has launched a scheme to replace all disposable cups in their village with a reusable mug that will be free for users with a simple £1 deposit.

The Overton cup will be available in all the shops and cafes along Overton’s high street, including the greengrocer, “who does a lovely soup from his leftover vegetables”, according to Alison Zarecky, chair of Sustainable Overton. Customers pay their deposit (plus another £1 if they want a lid, which are non-returnable) and then return the cup once it’s been used to any deposit point in the village.

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Federal energy and emissions reduction minister says he will not drive an electric vehicle.

The post Angus Taylor: “I’m not driving an electric car” appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Native shorebirds and caribou among species at risk as survival strategies are upended

A drastic drop in caribou and shorebird populations is a reflection of the dire changes unfolding on the Arctic tundra, according to a new report from the Arctic Council.

The terrestrial Arctic spans approximately 2.7m sq miles (7m sq km), marked by extreme cold, drought, strong winds and seasonal darkness. Species living in this environment have adapted to thrive in the harsh conditions. But the climate crisis has upended such survival strategies, according to the State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity report, published by the council’s Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (Caff) working group.

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