Feed aggregator
PREVIEW: WCI Q3 auction settlement expectations hover around front-month CCAs, setting new record
FEATURE: Occupy movement – UK strives to unlock tenanted land for nature-based revenue generation
Gabon seals first debt-for-nature swap on mainland Africa, focus on oceans
Euro Markets: Midday Update
Korean shipping firms may face $3 bln cost burden under carbon pricing schemes -research
Water companies are playing dirty over sewage. That’s why 20 million of us are taking them to court | Carolyn Roberts
People have had enough. Our historic class action could be the start of desperately needed change in the water industry
In England and Wales, anger about the state of our rivers and beaches is vast. Open-water swimmers, fishers and canoeists describe navigating through filthy liquid covered in brown scum. Social media posts show disturbing pictures of bankside tree roots and sewer outfalls festooned with the tatty remains of toilet paper and tampons. Blankets of silt and algae mask the previously pristine spawning grounds of salmon. Many people report that their local streams are cloudy, stinking and virtually bereft of fish and aquatic plants, whereas they used to be sparkling waters full of life. Clearly, all is not well in the aquatic environment.
That’s why, for the first time in English law, I have begun legal action with the support of Leigh Day against six of the largest water companies, on behalf of more than 20 million householders. If we win, the compensation could be more than £800m, which would result in about £40 or £50 being paid back per household. Our case is this: we hope to prove that the water companies have been underreporting the number of pollution incidents and overcharging customers as a result. To top it off, rather than reinvesting their substantial revenues, these companies have paid out handsome dividends to shareholders and attractive bonuses to senior staff. During the financial year 2021-22, the main water companies in the UK paid out almost £966m in dividends.
Carolyn Roberts is a water and environment consultant and emeritus professor at Gresham College, London
Continue reading...China thermal power growth continues to outpace total power output, economic pessimism persists
UK land management firm to develop biodiversity uplift fund
My melodramatic fear of rats has made me a laughing stock | Zoe Williams
Family and friends delight in telling me tall tales about rodents and now my unfortunate phobia has been passed on to my children
While I couldn’t spontaneously name them, I feel sure there were good qualities I wanted to pass on to my children. But all I’ve managed to transmit is a violent fear of rodents, and even that, to only one of them. I didn’t realise how successful I’d been until a couple of years ago, when we saw a mouse in my son’s bedroom. I screamed; he screamed. I jumped on the bed; he jumped on a chair – but it was a revolving one, so he started spinning round, screaming, and I screamed more. Mr Z ran in expecting an intruder, though I notice he didn’t bring anything to use as a weapon. As much as I reviled it, I felt a bit sorry for the mouse. It was all so ultra.
Consequent to this very noisy, melodramatic phobia, it pleases my associates to tell me stories about mice and rats, which, generally speaking, aren’t true. My brother-in-law told me that, if they have a rat problem on a building site, they contain all the rats in a zone where the only food source is each other, until finally they have one giant rat, and they shoot it in the head. It stalks my dreams, this mutant rat cannibal, even though it makes no sense. On holiday, my friend told me there was a rat in the kitchen, and while I could recognise this at 50 paces as the title of a popular song, I nevertheless believed that there was also a real rat, in the kitchen.
Continue reading...Biofuel test exceeds new shipping emissions reduction standards by over 20%
State-owned insurer launches China’s first biodiversity insurance policy
Vestas 15MW turbine breaks 24-hour wind power generation record
A new 15MW offshore wind turbine prototype built by Danish manufacturer Vestas has set a new world record for most power output generated over 24 hours.
The post Vestas 15MW turbine breaks 24-hour wind power generation record appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Research reveals who's been hit hardest by global warming in their lifetime - and the answer may surprise you
Shortage of experts and low pay ‘major barriers to UK’s net zero future’
Lack of funding and staff limit climate sector’s impact on conservation and net zero efforts, say workers
Staff shortages, a lack of specialist personnel and low pay are major barriers to achieving net zero, according to workers in the UK environment sector.
The trade union Prospect, many members of which work in the climate and environment sector, received more than 500 responses to a survey on workplace trends.
Continue reading...Urban trees in spotlight on Woodland Trust’s annual award shortlist
Candidates include an oak in Exeter that survived the blitz and a walnut in a car park in Perth
Urban trees that provide vital food and shelter for wildlife in towns and cities take a starring role on the Woodland Trust tree of the year shortlist.
They include a holm oak in Exeter that survived the blitz and another oak in Surrey that Queen Elizabeth I reputedly had a picnic under.
Continue reading...Australia to launch CBAM review
Concrete foundations could host breakthrough for supercapacitor energy storage
MIT researchers say supercapacitor breakthrough means that concrete foundations to a house, or a roadway, could play host to a revolution in energy storage.
The post Concrete foundations could host breakthrough for supercapacitor energy storage appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Senate inquiry nixes nukes. Here’s why
A Senate committee has rejected nuclear power for Australia. A dissenting report by Coalition Senators puts forward some spurious arguments in favour of SMRs.
The post Senate inquiry nixes nukes. Here’s why appeared first on RenewEconomy.
The traps laid by the fossil gas industry for uninformed households
Given all the evidence that shows gas is dangerous, hazardous and expensive, why would anyone consciously choose gas for their new home?
The post The traps laid by the fossil gas industry for uninformed households appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Bowen says Coalition attack on CSIRO and AEMO is wrong and “unbecoming”
Bowen rejects Coalition and Murdoch media attacks on CSIRO and AEMO, and accusations they had produced "Labor reports", even though they were first published under Coalition.
The post Bowen says Coalition attack on CSIRO and AEMO is wrong and “unbecoming” appeared first on RenewEconomy.