Feed aggregator

‘Sunak now wants all the badgers dead,’ says ecological consultant Tom Langton

The government has U-turned on its plans to phase out the badger cull, with proposals to exterminate the vast majority of some local populations across much of south-west and central England.

Ministers plan to introduce controversial targeted culling, also known as “epidemiological culling” or “epi-culling”, whereby populations of badgers can be reduced to almost zero in some areas where cattle are deemed to be at high risk of contracting bovine TB (bTB).

Continue reading...

Impact on ecosystems must be predicted before technology is used, US atmospheric science agency chief says

Scientists must work urgently on predicting the effects of climate geoengineering, the chief of the US atmospheric science agency has said, as the technology is likely to be needed, at least in part.

Richard Spinrad, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said the government-backed body was estimating the effects of some of the likely techniques for geoengineering, including those involving the oceans.

Continue reading...

A group of researchers in Singapore have developed a methodology to measure carbon stored in bogs using satellite data, which may serve as a foundation for successful restoration of damaged peatlands, they said Thursday.

EVs represent about 1% of light vehicles in Australia – but Electric Vehicle Council warns there is ‘more work to be done’ to reach 2050 emissions targets

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Electric vehicles are “no longer a novelty” and their uptake in Australia is booming, with the industry recording a 120% rise in sales over the past year, according to a new report on the industry.

There are now more than 180,000 EVs on Australian roads, with 98,436 of those bought last year, the Australian Electric Vehicle Industry Recap 2023 found.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Testing commissioned by Mamavation blog found high levels of a marker of PFAS in nine of 11 baggies tested

Most of the nation’s plastic sandwich baggies contain toxic PFAS “forever chemicals”, an analysis suggests, raising questions about the products’ safety in the US.

Testing of 11 types of baggies made by major producers showed high levels of a marker of PFAS in nine.

Continue reading...

Allowing governments access to a portion of the credits from carbon projects they host, and giving communities greater exposure to markets, would help Article 6 to get off the ground, according to a project developer.

European carbon prices stalled on Thursday morning amid a wider decline in volatility, with the benchmark moving in their narrowest range for a month on robust volume as traders awaited new developments.

Global conglomerate Unilever has partnered with UK nature intelligence firm NatureMetrics to harness environmental DNA (eDNA) technologies in a bid to drive regenerative farming practices across its supply chain.

India is betting on a newly introduced carbon trading framework in the agriculture sector to help it cut large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, but its track record has been questioned and the structure of the nation’s farming sector means those who might need carbon credit revenue the most could miss out.

A group of companies and organisations with ties to the forestry sector have teamed up to lay the foundations for a Swedish market for voluntary biodiversity credits.

RWE saw emissions from electricity production fall by a large margin last year, due to a slump in ETS-covered coal and gas burn brought on by weak power demand, it said in annual results on Thursday, as the company's CEO also pointed out that additional EUA sales introduced by Brussels were now creating a "downward spiral" for prices in the bloc's carbon market.

A major trading firm in South Korea has decided to deepen its engagement in the voluntary market, with plans to sell carbon credits it earned from a hydropower plant in Indonesia, local media reported Thursday.

One of Japan's largest non-life insurance companies has launched a special product that aims to support the creation of domestically issued carbon credits.

If Australia is serious about cutting emissions and supporting carbon capture and storage (CCS), the government should do more than improve legislation and back industry via an infrastructure build, a Perth energy conference heard this week.

Retail investors want funds and pension plans to take an active role in addressing climate change, according to a survey of 5,000 stakeholders conducted by a climate think tank and a strategy consultancy firm.

Fancy a plate of fangers and mash? Some researchers say python farms on a commercial scale could provide sustainable alternative protein

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Dr Daniel Natusch has eaten python in almost every way imaginable.

“I’ve had it barbecued. I’ve had it in satay skewers. I’ve had it in curries. I’ve had it with Indigenous people in the wilds of the Malaysian jungle,” he said.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

A proposal by China that snubs a carbon pricing mechanism to reduce emissions from the shipping sector in favour of a marine fuel standard is emerging as one of the frontrunner options to be discussed at a key UN meeting next week.

Project developer GreenCollar Group, which last year launched its own biodiversity credit scheme, has issued over 50,000 NaturePlus units to one of its own restoration projects, the second batch of units generated under the framework.

Location, extent and strength of recent freshwater events suggest an unusually warm and dry summer over southern Europe this year

Long-range weather predictions are notoriously difficult, but a new paper in the journal Weather and Climate Dynamics suggests that the melt rate of the Greenland ice sheet can predict the next summer’s weather in Europe.

The chain of events is complex and other factors may interfere. But according to Dr Marilena Oltmanns of the UK National Oceanography Centre, lead author of the study, it goes roughly as follows:

Continue reading...

We scanned the tree canopy with lasers and found birds much prefer the branches of big old trees. Stanislav Roudavski, Senior Lecturer in Digital Architectural Design, The University of Melbourne Alex Holland, Researcher at Deep Design Lab and PhD Candidate at Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne Jason Thompson, Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne Philip Gibbons, Professor, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.