Feed aggregator

The government rejects holding an inquiry into plans for a coal mine, meaning it can progress.

The Northeast RGGI cap-and-trade scheme has shifted Q1 auction volume for the programme's upcoming five-year surplus bank adjustment, with more than 18 million allowances withheld from quarterly sales, according to a Carbon Pulse analysis.

The Trump administration pushes ahead with first oil lease sales in an Arctic wildlife refuge.

Workers on farms supplying world’s biggest meat firms allegedly paid £8 a day and housed in shacks with no toilets or running water

Brazilian companies and slaughterhouses, including the world’s largest meat producer JBS, sourced cattle from supplier farms that made use of workers kept in slavery-like conditions, according to a new report.

Workers on cattle farms supplying slaughterhouses earned as little as £8 a day and lived in improvised shacks with no bathrooms, toilets, running water or kitchens, according to a report from Brazilian investigative agency Repórter Brasil.

Since 1995, the report said, 55,000 Brazilian workers have been rescued by government inspectors from “situations similar to slavery”. While the number of investigations has fallen in recent years – 118 workers were freed in 2018, compared with 1,045 a decade earlier – that does not mean the situation has improved, just that inspections have been reduced, it noted.

Continue reading...

What do eclipses look like on Mars? Nasa rovers see the planet's moons pass in front of the Sun.

Setting a carbon border tax on imports is the preferred option among respondents to a key consultation on the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), the results of which are meant to inform the European Commission’s design and implementation of the measure.

Swiss-based commodities trader Trafigura set its first emissions reduction target on Wednesday, aiming to cut its scope 1 and 2 emissions by at least 30% under 2020 levels by the end of its 2023 financial year.

Volunteers led the rescue effort to save the young 11ft-long stranded orca in Orkney.

Researchers find invasive felines hunt with greater intensity, in broader environments and in greater numbers than equivalent native marsupial predator

Australia’s wildlife are at least 20 times more likely to come across a deadly feral cat than one of the country’s native predators, according to a new study.

Invasive cats, which kill billions of native animals each year, form a triple threat, the study finds, by hunting with greater intensity, in broader environments and in greater numbers than an equivalent native marsupial predator – the spotted-tailed quoll.

Continue reading...

As climate risks continue to rise, the government is considering the idea of subsidising north Queensland homeowners

Is it fair that young men pay more for car insurance than older women, or that we make young healthy people buy private health insurance to keep the price of health insurance low for older customers? How about the fact that those who live in far-north Queensland are paying far more for home and contents insurance than those in the southern states?

While there’s no right answer to those questions, there is a wrong person to ask: namely, an economist.

Continue reading...

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

The palm cockatoo is thought to be the only bird to use tools musically to attract a mate.

Mediterranean study finds subtidal populations of cockles, whelks and other species have collapsed by 90%

The world’s most devastating climate-driven loss of ocean life has been reported in the eastern Mediterranean, one of the fastest warming places on Earth.

Native mollusc populations along the coast of Israel have collapsed by about 90% in recent decades because they cannot tolerate the increasingly hot water, according to a new study, which raises concerns about the wider ecosystem and neighbouring regions.

Continue reading...

Most countries have missed a year-end deadline to update and enhance their GHG reduction commitments as the Paris Agreement took effect on Jan. 1, putting more focus on the need for greater climate ambition from large emitters this year to help close the gap to achieving the pact’s temperature goals.

A federal court granted California and WCI, Inc. a filing extension on Monday in a US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit challenging the Golden State’s cap-and-trade linkage with Quebec, pushing the timeline of the case well into President-elect Joe Biden’s tenure. 

Massachusetts sold all 1.6 million allowances for its in-state Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) cap-and-trade programme last month, with permit prices in the power sector scheme continuing to slide downward, according to an auction report.

EUAs dropped below €33 on Tuesday, giving back much of the previous session's record-setting gains after breaching technical support and amid pressure from weaker energy prices.

Australia's invertebrates have an ancient lineage and a fascinating evolution. Get up close with macrophotography to discover tiny, unique animals you've probably never seen before. Nick Porch, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Earth Science, Deakin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

E3G is looking to recruit two roles to support the UK COP26 Presidency Energy Transition Council. The roles will also provide practical support and expertise to E3G’s broader efforts on energy transition, working with governments, civil society, philanthropy, and the private sector.

US biofuel credit (RIN) prices under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) set a fresh three-year high this week on a lack of sellers and as a federal administration under President-elect Joe Biden (D) gets set to take office later this month.