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Scientists studying the birds in Antarctica have found they snooze for 11 hours a day without falling deeply asleep

Spending your nights sleeping for just four seconds at a time might sound like a form of torture, but not for chinstrap penguins, which fall asleep thousands of times a day, new research finds.

Scientists studying the birds on King George Island in Antarctica found they nod off more than 10,000 times a day, allowing them to keep a constant eye on their nests, protecting eggs and chicks from predators. In total, the birds manage 11 hours of snoozing a day – without ever slipping into uninterrupted sleep.

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Corporate climate goal assessor SBTi is resuming its plans for a climate goal template for oil and gas companies, more than 18 months after barring the big emitting firms from making submissions.

A new process of making sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from sewage could be an important feedstock for the growing market for green aviation fuel, particularly in population-dense areas, with potential to also produce biochar that can generate carbon credits.

A methodology for protecting US forests at risk from other land uses like real estate, mining, and agriculture has been announced by carbon credit registry in collaboration with a forest carbon firm.

Plans are underway to create a series of linked REDD projects that will cover 1.8 million hectares of designated national parks in Tanzania, and generate correspondingly-adjusted carbon credits under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

A Denver-headquartered carbon credit exchange company will close due to a failure to secure funding, its CEO announced in a LinkedIn post this week.

COP28 president Sultan al-Jaber pulled off an unexpected victory securing long-awaited climate disaster help.

A twice-weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

A voluntary nature credit development framework led by Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) has been launched by Pollination Foundation.

Delegates adopted a new climate loss and damage fund at the first day of the two-week COP28 UN climate negotiations on Monday, a move that immediately led several governments to announce contributions.

Canadian environmental non-profits advocated for fossil fuel phase-out language in a panel Thursday at COP28 in Dubai as the federal environment ministry is soon expected to announce a cap on emissions from oil and gas.

A court has ordered the German government to set up a climate action plan to adequately tackle emissions in the traffic and construction sectors, adding to Berlin's recent climate policy woes.

The publishing of draft legislation on the UK’s biodiversity net gain (BNG) framework has been broadly welcomed, but its planning permission proposals have triggered concerns about "serious risks" among ecologists.

Independent carbon credit certification bodies and the EU’s own carbon removal certification efforts are likely to coexist in the removals market once the EU methodologies are issued, experts said during a webinar on Thursday, though this is not likely to occur before 2026.

Exclusive: Climate groups say projected amount is 10 times greater than estimates of Australia’s remaining fair ‘carbon budget’ if global heating is to be limited to 1.5C

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The Australian government will face decisions on whether to greenlight 30 fossil fuel developments, mostly to export coal or gas, that together could result in more than 20bn tonnes of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere.

Climate groups have calculated the potential total climate pollution from fossil fuel developments currently submitted for environmental approval. Including emissions released both during production and when the fossil fuel was ultimately burned for energy – often in overseas power plants – they found the developments could lead to an additional 22bn tonnes of CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere.

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The government deserves credit for a fall in electricity emissions but large parts of industry and farming are still emitting the same as they were in 2005

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The wonks call it climate Christmas – the dump of Australian climate change information from the federal government that happens shortly before the end of the parliamentary year, and just as the annual UN climate summit kicks off.

It’s impossible to get across it all in one brief sitting, so this is by necessity a first look only, but the hundreds of pages of data published in five documents on Thursday tell us a lot about where Australia is up to on the climate crisis, and where it is heading.

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An open letter signed by multiple environmental groups has urged signatories to the UN Paris Agreement to protect countries against what they describe as "landgrabs" from carbon project developers.

Border collie Jessie sniffs out elusive species last seen in 1937 among dunes of South Africa

An elusive, iridescent golden mole not recorded since before the second world war has been rediscovered “swimming” in the sand near the coastal town of Port Nolloth in north-west South Africa.

The De Winton’s golden mole (Cryptochloris wintoni), previously feared extinct, lives in underground burrows and had not been seen since 1937. It gets its “golden” name from oily secretions that lubricate its fur so it can “swim” through sand dunes. This means it does not create conventional tunnels, making it all the harder to detect.

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European carbon prices were firmer in Thursday morning trade despite an early effort to test the recent low, as traders appeared to be switching focus to the options market with the December contract having just two weeks left till expiry, while energy markets rose for the first time in five days.

A consortium of groups and organisations in Scotland on Thursday announced an investment plan for a new restoration project that in part will rely on a partnership with a nature fintech platform that recently won a contract with the government to develop a biodiversity credit system.