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The EU cannot backslide on ambition when reforming the bloc’s carbon market rules for intra-EU aviation as a result of a weakened global aviation offsetting system, a senior official said Thursday.

Exchange operator ICE will relocate its EU carbon allowance trading from its London-based hub to the Netherlands on June 7 due to Brexit-related limitations, it announced Thursday.

A computer program that can solve 1980s exploration games could help improve robot intelligence.

The European Commission has launched a year-long project assessing options to introduce an EU system for certifying carbon removals, inspired by existing carbon standards.

The California Compliance Offset Protocol Task Force (OPTF) pushed back Wednesday against criticism from two environmental and environmental justice (EJ) members who resigned this month, arguing the former appointees misrepresented the group’s charter and provided little input on behalf of their stakeholder constituencies in shaping the body’s final report.

A ‘confronting and sobering’ report details degradation of coral reefs, outback deserts, tropical savanna, Murray-Darling waterways, mangroves and forests

Leading scientists working across Australia and Antarctica have described 19 ecosystems that are collapsing due to the impact of humans and warned urgent action is required to prevent their complete loss.

A groundbreaking report – the result of work by 38 scientists from 29 universities and government agencies – details the degradation of coral reefs, arid outback deserts, tropical savanna, the waterways of the Murray-Darling Basin, mangroves in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and forests stretching from the rainforests of the far north to Gondwana-era conifers in Tasmania.

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Males use vocal trickery to fool females into thinking a threat is lurking, giving them time to sow their genetic seeds

Male lyrebirds in the throes of sexual union will mimic the sound of a distressed mob of other birds to fool their mate and stop her from escaping, new research from Australia has found.

The remarkable discovery was made after analysing audio and video of superb lyrebirds – a species known for extravagant dance routines and an ability to imitate the calls of more than 20 other species.

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Global study shows blazes diminish forest density and tree size, making woods likely to sequester less carbon

More fierce and frequent fires are reducing forest density and tree size and may damage forests’ ability to capture carbon in the future, according to a global study.

Although forest fires are naturally occurring phenomena and natural forests regenerate, global heating and human activity have caused the frequency and intensity of fires to rise. Wildfires burn 5% of the planet’s surface every year, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere equivalent to a fifth of our annual fossil fuel emissions.

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Decline in system underpinning Gulf Stream could lead to more extreme weather in Europe and higher sea levels on US east coast

The Atlantic Ocean circulation that underpins the Gulf Stream, the weather system that brings warm and mild weather to Europe, is at its weakest in more than a millennium, and climate breakdown is the probable cause, according to new data.

Further weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could result in more storms battering the UK, more intense winters and an increase in damaging heatwaves and droughts across Europe.

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UK utility Drax reported a 26% rise in its ETS-covered emissions for 2020, as the company drew down its coal stockpiles and prepares to withdraw from burning fossil fuels, the company said in its results on Thursday.

Livestock company still hopes to find a buyer for animals on board ship for two months, after rejection by Turkey and Libya

The manager of a ship that has spent months at sea with hundreds of cattle on board has accused Spanish officials of failing to answer his call for help and of threatening to kill all the livestock if the ship enters port.

The Karim Allah is one of two vessels that left from different ports in Spain before Christmas to deliver cargoes of young bulls, but were refused entry by various countries including Turkey and Libya, owing to suspected outbreaks of the bovine disease bluetongue onboard both ships.

The vessel is owned by Khalifeh Livestock Trading and managed by Talia Shipping Line, both based in Lebanon, while the cattle are owned by a third party. The ship took 895 male calves on board at the Spanish port of Cartagena in mid-December and sailed for Turkey.

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Scientists on the volcanic Greek island of Lesbos say they have found a rare fossilised tree.

Produced by successive volcanic eruptions, its vividly coloured fossilised trunks are witness to the explosions that buried much of Lesbos under lava and ash between 17 and 20 million years ago.

Stretching across almost all of the Greek island’s western peninsula, the petrified forest, a Unesco global geopark, is among the largest in the world.

• 'Unique' petrified tree up to 20m years old found intact in Lesbos

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Facilities covered by Australia’s National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) scheme saw a 3% year-on-year drop in their GHG output for FY2019-20, with utility AGL remaining the nation’s biggest emitter by far at more than twice the amount than the next on the list.

Water Act proposes massive injection of federal dollars as millions of people go without access to clean, safe, affordable water

Democratic lawmakers and advocates are urging Joe Biden to back legislation proposing unprecedented investment in America’s ailing water infrastructure amid the country’s worst crisis in decades that has left millions of people without access to clean, safe, affordable water.

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In a year, bitcoin uses around the same about of electricity as the entire country of Norway.

The digital currency is one that allows people to bypass banks and traditional payment methods. It is the most prominent among thousands of so-called cryptocurrencies and has been repeatedly reaching new records - but is it sustainable?

The Guardian’s UK technology editor Alex Hern examines how exactly bitcoin uses electricity and if the environmental cost is too high

• What is bitcoin and why are so many people looking to buy it?
  
• Cryptocurrencies rise in popularity in world’s conflict zones
  

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The 19th Century fossil hunter's achievements were often overlooked during her own lifetime.

Exclusive: Stuffed specimen was only proof of bird’s existence until discovery in rainforest last year

In the 1840s, a mystery bird was caught on an expedition to the East Indies. Charles Lucien Bonaparte, the nephew of Napoleon, described it to science and named it the black-browed babbler (Malacocincla perspicillata).

The species was never seen in the wild again, and a stuffed specimen featuring a bright yellow glass eye was the only proof of its existence. But now the black-browed babbler has been rediscovered in the rainforests of Borneo.

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Coal generators and oil and gas producers dominate latest list of Australia's largest emitters.

The post Coal giant AGL again tops list of Australia’s biggest emitters appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Spanish energy giant Iberdrola says it will have 95GW of wind and solar capacity by the end of the decade, and another 900MW in Australia by 2025.

The post Iberdrola to spend €150bn trebling its growing wind and solar empire appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Last year, renewables provided a whopping 60% of South Australia's electricity supplies. The remarkable progress came as national climate policy was gripped by paralysis – so how did it happen? Michael McGreevy, Research Associate, Flinders University Fran Baum, Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor, Foundation Director, Southgate Institute for Health, Society & Equity, Flinders University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.