Feed aggregator

Germany and Italy are on course to miss their climate goals in sectors excluded from the EU ETS, by such a large gap that they would eat up the entire available surplus of annual emissions allocations (AEAs) left for other countries, according to a report released on Thursday.

A certifier has validated a new methodology for net CO2 removals (CDR) using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), in what may provide a boost to the development of the nascent market.

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) released Thursday joint guidelines to support companies in their nature-related disclosures, highlighting the alignment between the two frameworks.

Landmark judgment says planning bodies must account for burning of extracted fuel when considering site proposals

The climate impact of burning coal, oil and gas must be taken into account when deciding whether to approve projects, the supreme court in London has ruled.

The landmark judgment, handed down on Thursday, sets an important precedent on whether the “inevitable” future greenhouse gas emissions of a fossil fuel project should be considered.

Continue reading...

European carbon prices resumed their close formation with natural gas prices on Thursday morning, with EU ETS levels tracking the ebb and flow of the TTF market as it reacted to news that Russian LNG transshipments through Europe will be banned, potentially adding to regional supply, while UK Allowances prices were "absolutely smashed" amid a surge of aggressive selling.

The Organisation for Biodiversity Certificates (OBC) has launched a survey to gather views on the claims that companies can make when buying biodiversity credits, as the organisation expects more clarity will have a significant impact on corporate demand.

Swiss bank UBS has invested in impact data and analytics provider GIST Impact to back its expansion, with a focus on bolstering support for nature-related corporate disclosures among companies and investors.

The private sector-led Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) has named its first CEO.

Europe’s carbon market sends a stronger decarbonisation signal than Washington's subsidy-laden Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), an analyst told US television network CNBC Thursday, outlining an EUA price forecast of as high as €130 per tonne by 2028.

The animal, which is still categorised as ‘vulnerable’, has been the subject of a 20-year conservation programme

Less than a quarter of a century after the Iberian lynx was feared to be only a whisker away from extinction, populations of the animal have recovered enough across Spain and Portugal for it to be moved from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the global red list of threatened species.

The change in status, announced on Thursday by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN), is the result of a two-decade-long effort from a coalition of partners including the EU and regional and national governments in Spain and Portugal, as well as wildlife NGOs and local people.

Continue reading...

This government had many climate failures, but its 2014 boost to green energy made the UK an offshore wind superpower

As day-trippers to the British seaside enjoy fish and chips and a bracing paddle, they may notice, as they gaze out to sea, one of the great hidden legacies of this Conservative government: offshore wind power. Turning steadily in the breeze, the vast array of offshore and onshore turbinesaround Great Britain provide about a quarter of our electricity needs, with no carbon emissions and at a cost below imported gas or nuclear generation. They are a national success story. We have the second biggest offshore turbine fleet in the world, behind only China.

The Tory government effectively banned onshore wind turbines in 2015. But at the same time, the growth in offshore wind can be traced back to a 2014 decision to establish a new support mechanism for low-carbon generation. Called “contracts for difference”, it guarantees a set price for units of electricity. If the market price falls below the set price, the generator receives a top-up payment. If the market price rises above the set price, the generator pays back the difference.

Rebecca Willis is professor of energy and climate governance at Lancaster University

Continue reading...

Supreme Court has ruled Surrey Council should have considered climate change impacts of new oil wells.

Using green hydrogen instead of natural gas to decarbonise Australia's established ammonia production sector provides a doorway to unlock the country's hydrogen ambitions, and tax credits offered by the government in its latest budget could be the key, analysis published Thursday said.

Labor MPs tweet Simpsons jokes about nuclear policy after Dutton earlier conceded research found people ‘didn’t want a Springfield’ in their back yard

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Three-eyed koalas, Peter Dutton masquerading as Snow White in a “seven nukes” fairytale, and an arsenal of Simpsons gags to boot.

The Coalition is objecting about what they say are “juvenile” online memes from government MPs attacking its nuclear policy, as Labor MPs mount a social media attack on the opposition’s controversial and uncosted nuclear proposal.

Continue reading...

Just Stop Oil activists have sprayed two jets with orange paint at a private airfield in Stansted where they say Taylor Swift's plane landed before her shows at Wembley stadium. The group said on X: 'Private jet users are responsible for up to 40x as much carbon emissions compared with a commercial flight'. The previous day, Just Stop Oil protesters sprayed Stonehenge with orange powder paint before the summer solstice

• Stonehenge sprayed with orange powder paint by Just Stop Oil activists

Continue reading...

Researchers find extreme heat four times more likely than at turn of millennium and urge reduction in fossil fuels

The deadly heatwave that scorched large swaths of Mexico, Central America and the southern US in recent weeks was made 35 times more likely due to human-induced global heating, according to research by leading climate scientists from World Weather Attribution (WWA).

Tens of millions of people have endured dangerous day – and nighttime temperatures as a heat dome engulfed Mexico – a large and lingering zone of high pressure that stretched north to Texas, Arizona and Nevada, and south over Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

Continue reading...

A California-headquartered agri-tech firm seeks to reduce methane emissions from rice farming in India and is preparing its first batch of projects on the east coast of the South Asian nation, the company's co-founders told Carbon Pulse.

An Australian carbon project developer has had its cookstove project in Papua New Guinea registered by Verra, but will receive roughly half the volume of credits it initially expected due to using an updated methodology, a fact the company's CEO said he welcomed. 

Oil and gas major Santos is “confident” it has enough Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) for its Barossa LNG project to meet its compliance obligations under the Safeguard Mechanism.

Only two countries provide fair amount to compensate lower-income nations for biodiversity loss, with most paying less than half what they should, says ODI

The UK, Canada, New Zealand, Italy and Spain are among the rich countries contributing less than half their fair share of nature finance to poor countries, a new report has found.

Developed nations have agreed to collectively contribute a minimum of $20bn annually for nature restoration in low and middle-income countries by 2025. This money is in addition to the $100bn agreed for climate finance.

Continue reading...