Feed aggregator

EUA prices at record levels above €90 are unlikely to face a political backlash, trigger market intervention, or even cause most big-emitting industries much hardship, a conference heard on Wednesday from three analysts, who nonetheless expected ongoing carbon market volatility.

Green hydrogen is likely to get a major boost in the US if the Build Back Better (BBB) bill clears Congress, with new benefits for both climate and labour, though experts say demand-side policy is still lacking.

The director general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Wednesday reiterated her assertion for developing a global price on carbon, noting ongoing collaboration on the issue with other international bodies as a way to curb policy fragmentation and trade frictions.

Specialist reporters are important, but climate coverage can no longer be left to them. Here’s what New Zealand journalists say about why climate should be part of every newsroom and every beat. Áine Kelly-Costello, University of Gothenburg Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Climate change threatens the crucial storage of carbon in Aussie forests. Victoria’s national parks alone store almost 1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Tom Fairman, Future Fire Risk Analyst, The University of Melbourne Craig Nitschke, Associate Professor - Forest and Landscape Dynamics, The University of Melbourne Lauren Bennett, Associate Professor - Ecosystem Sciences and Forest Carbon, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

AEMO sets out a "must-do" list to fill in knowledge gaps of how to manage a grid heading for "uncharted operating conditions."

The post “Urgent and extensive:” AEMO updates must-do list as grid charges to 100% renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A new Australian company called Nexsphere unveils plans to build an "over-the-horizon" wind farm of up to 1GW off the coast of north-east Tasmania.

The post Nexsphere to build huge “over the horizon” offshore wind farm in Tasmania appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Climate change is happening, and businesses know it. So why don’t company reports show it?

Last week, Shell walked away from 170 million barrels of oil off the coast of Shetland, declaring the “economic case for investment” too weak. As might be expected with such a politically sensitive venture, there has been much speculation about what other factors might have been at play, whether pressure from Nicola Sturgeon or from Whitehall. But let’s try another question: how did Shell ever decide that there was an economic case? After all, the energy giant does not deny that its entire business will have to change. It advertises its “target to become a net zero emissions” company by 2050, publishes a “sustainability report” and partners with environmental organisations around the world. Yet little of this environmental awareness shows up in the hard numbers.

The company’s latest accounts features this disclaimer: “Shell’s operating plans, outlooks, budgets and pricing assumptions do not reflect our net zero emissions target.” In other words: whatever the oil giant says is not what it thinks.

Continue reading...

Farmers and rural business owners call for stricter rules and enforcement

Fly-tipping incidents in England increased last year, with household waste accounting for by far the biggest proportion of the problem, which has been worsened by the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

From March 2020 to March 2021 in England, 1.13m fly-tipping incidents were dealt with by local authorities, an increase of 16% on the 980,000 reported in the previous year, according to data released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on Wednesday. Higher numbers of incidents were reached in 2007-09, but the way the data is collated has changed, so direct comparisons with years before 2018 are not possible.

Continue reading...

MeaTech 3D created the 4oz steak using 3D printing with real bovine cells that mature into muscle and fat

The largest lab-grown steak yet produced has been unveiled by the Israeli company MeaTech 3D, weighing in at nearly 4oz (110 grams).

The steak is composed of real muscle and fat cells, derived from tissue samples taken from a cow. Living bovine stem cells were incorporated into “bio-inks” that were then placed in the company’s 3D printer to produce the steak. It was then matured in an incubator, in which the stem cells differentiated into fat and muscle cells.

Continue reading...

Senior EU Parliamentarians want shipping to be phased in to the bloc's ETS more quickly than proposed, the MEPs said this week as a study outlined the stiff challenge to decarbonise the sector. 

Firm illegally discharged about 360,000 litres of raw sewage from Worcestershire treatment plants in 2018

Water company Severn Trent has been fined £1.5m by a court for illegal sewage discharges from its wastewater treatment plants.

The firm was fined for discharges from four sewage treatment works in Worcestershire between February and August 2018, the Environment Agency said.

Continue reading...

A major international trading house has added a former Shell employee to strengthen its carbon trading and originator desk in Singapore.

Allowing only correspondingly adjusted carbon credits to offset direct emissions was one of the ideas put forward by the Japanese government as a committee heavy in participants from the fossil fuels and finance sectors on Wednesday began work on designing “appropriate” use of offsets.

EUAs neared the €90 mark on Wednesday morning as financial and speculative traders continued to push the market higher, while energy markets posted robust gains as gas storage withdrawals continued at a faster pace.

South Korea on Wednesday sold around 80% of the carbon allowances on offer at its monthly auction, with government officials setting the clearing price below the lowest bid at a 6% discount to the secondary market.

Outages hit Ireland and parts of UK after severe winds, rain and snow sweep in from Atlantic

Almost 60,000 homes in Ireland and 1,000 properties in Scotland have been left without power after Storm Barra swept in from the Atlantic bringing severe winds, rain and snow.

The latest outages came days after the final homes in Britain were reconnected after Storm Arwen, which caused “catastrophic damage” to electricity networks mainly in north-east Scotland, affecting 135,000 properties.

Continue reading...

China’s central government on Wednesday released guidelines urging local authorities to establish pilot trading markets for bamboo-backed carbon offsets.

The spot price for Australian carbon credits rose to yet another record high on Wednesday, while the Clean Energy Regulator’s latest issuance rounds included a batch of more than 50,000 units to one of the country’s superannuation funds.

Australian LNG player Woodside will spend $5 billion in “emerging new energy markets” by 2030 as it seeks to position the oil and gas company to support the decarbonisation goals of its customers, CEO Meg O’Neill announced in an investor update on Wednesday.