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California regulator ARB on Tuesday called for public feedback on strengthening the ambition of pre- and post-2030 GHG targets under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), while also floating a number of other changes to the transportation sector programme once the forthcoming Scoping Plan update is complete.

The US EPA on Tuesday proposed multi-year blending quotas under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that were in line with previously leaked volumes, though the agency also stated its intention to reject the dozens of remaining small refinery exemptions (SREs) under the federal biofuels programme.

AGL and Fortescue plan to transform Hunter coal plants into massive green hydrogen hub with wind, solar, storage and manufacturing.

The post AGL, Fortescue strike deal to turn Hunter coal plants into huge green hydrogen hub appeared first on RenewEconomy.

October electricity sector CO2 emissions under the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) dropped to their lowest level in six years despite gas generation rising month-on-month, according to data published Monday.

Critics say investing in carbon capture and storage means betting on technology that’s not yet proven to work at scale. Using liquid marbles could make a huge difference. Charith Rathnayaka, Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast Emilie Sauret, Professor, Queensland University of Technology Nam-Trung Nguyen, Professor and Director of Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, Griffith University Yuantong Gu, Professor, Mechanical Systems and Asset Management, Queensland University of Technology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Companies should consider buying more carbon allowances both as a hedge against future ETS price rises and also to use towards voluntary climate pledges, a conference heard on Tuesday.

Activist investor Elliott Management is right – if SSE wants to be the UK renewables champion it needs green heavyweights on board

Elliott Management’s open letters are improving. When the US activist hedge fund tried to take a pop at GlaxoSmithKline in the summer, it produced 17 pages of waffle that could have been condensed to a few sentences of substance. Tuesday’s 10-page blast at energy group SSE was tighter, scored a couple of solid hits and should make the newish chairman, Sir John Manzoni, realise the Perth-based firm is in a scrap.

That is not to say Elliott is right on every score, or even on its main demand that SSE should be split in two. Indeed, one of the activist’s points was plainly exaggerated – the idea that an “unequivocal message” was sent by the 4% fall in SSE’s share price on the day last month when the company unveiled its energy transition strategy alongside a delayed dividend cut.

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The EU's proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) needs fundamental design changes, including adding export rebates, a testing period, and extended coverage to scope 2 emissions, a conference heard Tuesday.

The P&P NBS Manager is in charge of enriching the Carbon Offset portfolio of EcoAct with Best-In-Class projects and qualitative environmental assets.

Two key EU parliamentarians were split over the likelihood of an intervention to try to curb prices in the EU ETS, a conference heard on Tuesday as prices hit new heights.

From whoops to purrs, snaps to grunts, and foghorns to laughs, a cacophony of bizarre fish songs have shown that a coral reef in Indonesia has returned rapidly to health.

Many of the noises had never been recorded before and the fish making these calls remain mysterious, despite the use of underwater speakers to try to “talk” to some of them

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In 1479 beetles were put on trial for ‘creeping secretly in the earth’

If you hold a Christmas beetle – small, brown, mechanical – in the palm of your hand, it moves as though under a spell. The spell commands it to keep walking, to burrow its surprisingly strong legs endlessly forwards, like the end of the year growing steadily nearer and just as steadily receding.

In Europe, Christmas beetles are called “cockchafers”. In the year 1478, they appeared in a French court to stand trial on the charge of having been sent by witches to destroy the laity’s crops (and jeopardise the church’s tithes).

Helen Sullivan’s Calcium-Magnesium, a collection of essays about science and the natural world, will be published in 2023.

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Blockade Australia says 26-year-old climate activist had been living in the car when she was arrested in Newcastle

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New South Wales police have sought to confiscate and auction a station wagon belonging to a young climate activist after it was seized during her arrest last month.

Activist group Blockade Australia says the car is the property of 26-year-old Sasha, who was arrested in the vehicle on 17 November. She was on a public road near the Port of Newcastle.

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The travel photography blog Capture the Atlas has published its annual northern lights photographer of the year collection with stunning images from 25 photographers. Coinciding with the northern lights season at the end of the year, it aims to share the beauty of this natural phenomenon

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Questions raised around claimed emissions reductions at massive Morrison government backed CCS project, that may increase fossil fuel use.

The post Doubts raised over emissions cuts at Santos CCS project receiving government subsidies appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Food and Agriculture Organization says most plastics are burned, buried or lost after use

The “disastrous” way in which plastic is used in farming across the world is threatening food safety and potentially human health, according to a report from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

It says soils contain more microplastic pollution than the oceans and that there is “irrefutable” evidence of the need for better management of the millions of tonnes of plastics used in the food and farming system each year.

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EUAs continued their unprecedented trajectory on Tuesday morning, adding more than €2.80 at one point as options hedging and speculative buying continued, while energy markets rose strongly amid colder temperatures across the EU.

Leaders say Adani Group, a major operator of coal mines, is responsible for land destruction

Indigenous leaders on the frontline of the climate crisis are calling on the Science Museum to cancel its sponsorship deal with a company they say is responsible for widespread destruction in their homelands.

Leaders from communities in Australia, India and Indonesia warned that the museum’s new agreement with Adani Green Energy, whose parent company Adani Group is a major operator of coal mines and coal-fired power stations, is legitimising its “destructive coal expansion activities”.

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This is not simply a rich versus poor countries divide: there are huge emitters in poor countries, and low emitters in rich countries

Let’s face it: our chances of staying under a 2C increase in global temperature are not looking good. If we continue business as usual, the world is on track to heat up by 3C at least by the end of this century. At current global emissions rates, the carbon budget that we have left if we are to stay under 1.5C will be depleted in six years. The paradox is that, globally, popular support for climate action has never been so strong. According to a recent United Nations poll, the vast majority of people around the world sees climate change as a global emergency. So, what have we got wrong so far?

There is a fundamental problem in contemporary discussion of climate policy: it rarely acknowledges inequality. Poorer households, which are low CO2 emitters, rightly anticipate that climate policies will limit their purchasing power. In return, policymakers fear a political backlash should they demand faster climate action. The problem with this vicious circle is that it has lost us a lot of time. The good news is that we can end it.

Lucas Chancel is co-director of the World Inequality Lab, an affiliate professor at Sciences Po, and the author of Unsustainable Inequalities: Social Justice and the Environment

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Department sources say emergency authorisation of neonicotinoid Cruiser SB likely to be announced

The UK government may be about to approve the use of a controversial bee-killing pesticide, wildlife groups fear.

Sources inside the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) say that, after pressure from the sugar beet industry, an emergency authorisation of the neonicotinoid Cruiser SB is likely to be announced in the coming weeks.

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