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The cavalier way in which the latest U-turn has been presented reveals a government and a PM scrabbling for survival

After all the turmoil of recent years, you might think British politics had lost its capacity to shock. But a week in which some of the angriest voices raised against this week’s shameful climbdown on net zero come not just from passionate greens, but from car manufacturers and the energy industry? Now we really are through the looking-glass.

What happened this week was the most surreal opening to a long election campaign – for that’s surely what it was – I can recall. For the leader of the erstwhile party of business to water down climate policy and still somehow contrive to end up getting furiously attacked for it by Big Auto is surprising enough. Managing simultaneously to leave Boris Johnson claiming the moral high ground and Liz Truss looking relevant, given she had just called for such a retreat, is something else.

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AEMC sets in motion one of the most important reforms to the Australian energy market in decades, factoring emissions reduction into rule making and decision making.

The post A final blow to fossil fuels? Environment embedded in grid rules appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Exclusive: wildfires, once rare in the UK, more than doubled last year to nearly 24,000 with devastating effects on wildlife habitats

Wildfires recorded by UK fire brigades surged in 2022 amid extreme heat and droughts, new figures show, as a growing number of fire services invest in new equipment to deal with the rising fire risk due to climate change.

Figures obtained by the Guardian under Freedom of Information Act requests show the number of wildfires recorded by fire brigades in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland more than doubled last year, reaching 23,699 in 2022, compared with 9,307 the year before.

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The dirty industries that dominate politics deceive us into accepting dangerous pollutants such as ammonia as part of life

There are some things we rightly find intolerable, such as the possession of poorly trained, aggressive dogs. There are other things, whose impacts are many thousands of times worse, that we decide just to live with. What makes the difference? Visibility is one reason: a photo of a large dog with bared teeth triggers primal fear. Ubiquity is another: the more widespread the problem, the more we normalise it. Split incentives is another: what if we are simultaneously both perpetrators and victims? But I think the most important factor is lobbying power.

There is no corporate lobby behind the sale, let alone poor training, of American bully XLs. But there are powerful corporate lobbies behind the air pollution devastating many people’s health. Oil corporations don’t want to lose their market. Car firms want to sell existing designs for as long as possible. Even the manufacturers of wood-burning stoves run a small, but surprisingly effective, persuasion operation.

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IEA says firms are announcing more projects but waiting for government support before investing

The global push for clean hydrogen is being held back by rising costs and “lagging” policy support from governments, a report has found.

Announcements of low-emission hydrogen projects are rapidly expanding but developers are waiting for government support before investing in them, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The report found hydrogen made through processes that are clean or less polluting account for less than 1% of the gas’s total production and use.

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CleanCo is looking for another 400 megawatts (MW) of storage and energy generation technologies for the former coal power plant site at Swanbank.

The post CleanCo seeks 400MW of “innovative” storage and generation at Swanbank appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Gas will remain an important part of Indonesia’s energy mix as it moves to a lower emissions economy and the nation is actively looking to expand gas infrastructure, a minister said Friday. 

The second of 22 shipments has arrived in Geelong with the first delivery of turbine blades for the 1.3GW Golden Plains wind farm.

The post Enormous Golden Plains wind turbine blades land in Geelong appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A handful of dust from an asteroid streaming through space could tell Nasa how life on Earth began.

Katherine Woodthorpe, from the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, on why Australia should fast-track its net zero ambitions. Plus: The nuclear debate and renewable records.

The post Energy Insiders Podcast: Net Zero by 2035 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering joins calls for government to be more ambitious with its energy targets – net zero by 2035.

The post “Move faster:” Engineers join call to fast-track Australia’s net zero target to 2035 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

It’s time to act on decarbonisation as quickly as humanly possible. Here's how.

The post Net zero by 2050? Too late. Australia must aim for 2035 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Gas infrastructure company Australian Pipeline Association (APA) Group has joined a growing list of companies signalling their reliance on Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) to meet their emission liabilities under the reformed Safeguard Mechanism.

Global efforts to cut emissions fall well short of what’s needed to avoid dangerous warming. It’s becoming essential to develop carbon-removal strategies to get to net zero. Christian Turney, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Research, University of Technology Sydney Lennart Bach, Associate Professor, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania Philip Boyd, Professor of Marine Science, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

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

Any potential mandate for corresponding adjustments in the voluntary carbon market will depress activity in the space, though alterations to host country emissions inventories can still be useful in some instances, a conference heard Thursday.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices reached a new record high following the announcement of state regulator ARB’s upcoming cap-and-trade rulemaking workshop, though were unable to sustain this gain, while Washington Carbon Allowances (WCA) moved downward amid continued hesitancy to participate in the market.

California gasoline sales in June nearly equalled year-ago levels as diesel consumption fell, continuing the trend of the state’s cap-and-trade covered transportation sector GHG output trailing historic levels through the first half of 2023, according to state data published Wednesday.

Negative media coverage continued to dominate discussions during a carbon conference in New York held this week, as stakeholders in the voluntary market reacted to fresh reports from a newspaper that has persistently criticised corporate credit use, with fears of reputational risk threatening to further depress buying activity.

A company founded by two forest carbon veterans has closed $11.5 million in funding from a Singapore-based investor to help develop projects in Southeast Asia.