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How can Britain be committed to net zero when it’s about to drill for millions more barrels of oil? | Greg Muttitt
Hypocrisy rules as we prepare to host Cop26 and Boris Johnson prepares to approve a new oilfield off Shetland
Just months before hosting the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, the UK government will decide whether to approve a massive new oilfield 75 miles north-west of Shetland. Boris Johnson has hinted at a likely go-ahead. The Cambo field, being developed by private-equity-owned Siccar Point and Shell, would produce 170m barrels of oil – oil the world cannot afford to burn.
The Cambo decision is the government’s first test since the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned against developing new oil and gas fields. In a landmark report this year, the IEA found that that already-operating fields will produce more oil and gas over the coming decades than can be consumed if global heating is limited to 1.5C.
Continue reading...Venomous sea snakes may attack divers during mating season, study suggests
Acts of aggression likely because of ‘mistaken identity during sexual interactions’, researchers write
Highly venomous and sexually aroused sea snakes may attack human divers after confusing them with other snakes during breeding season, a new study suggests.
Related: Case of the mystery sea snakes: why are reptiles washing up on New Zealand’s shores?
Continue reading...Timeline to gas grant: Empire paid $4,500 to attend Liberal fundraiser, before site visit
Empire Energy's path to securing a $21 million grant to drill for gas in the Beetaloo Basin started with a $4,500 Liberal Party fundraiser.
The post Timeline to gas grant: Empire paid $4,500 to attend Liberal fundraiser, before site visit appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Grattan calls for $10 billion fund to “bend the curve” on industry emissions
Grattan calls for $10 billion industrial transformation future fund to start "bending the curve" on industry emissions.
The post Grattan calls for $10 billion fund to “bend the curve” on industry emissions appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Kokam battery to act as “virtual synchronous generator” in Tahiti, edge out diesel
Cutting edge battery storage technology designed to provide crucial grid services traditionally delivered by fossil fuel plants will be showcased in Tahiti.
The post Kokam battery to act as “virtual synchronous generator” in Tahiti, edge out diesel appeared first on RenewEconomy.
“Massive role:” NSW to play match-maker to bring renewable hydrogen to industry
NSW government launches new platform to match-make renewable hydrogen producers and industry, sees "massive role" for new technology.
The post “Massive role:” NSW to play match-maker to bring renewable hydrogen to industry appeared first on RenewEconomy.
New Zealand to raise ETS price ceiling
“It’s ridiculous:” Lack of leadership leaves Australia starved of capital for energy transition
Leading investment group says Australia is being starved of capital for the energy transition, and the regulatory bodies do not appear to know it.
The post “It’s ridiculous:” Lack of leadership leaves Australia starved of capital for energy transition appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Land of opportunity: more sustainable Australian farming would protect our lucrative exports (and the planet)
Blueprint for emissions reduction: major industry policy changes needed for Australia to reach net zero
As emissions from industrial sites increase, Grattan Institute recommends a new future fund be set up similar to the national green bank
Greenhouse gas emissions from Australia’s industrial sites have risen 24% since 2005, and need to be addressed now if the country is to have a chance of reaching net zero by 2050, a new report says.
The Melbourne-based think tank Grattan Institute has released a blueprint to reduce emissions from major industry, citing government projections that without action they are expected to stay around current levels until 2030.
Continue reading...UK switch to hydrogen power ‘could add same emissions as 1m petrol cars’
Government’s plan to use ‘blue’ fossil-fuel hydrogen alongside green version raises concern, say campaigners
Opting for hydrogen that is made using fossil fuels rather than renewable electricity could create up to 8m tonnes of carbon emissions every year by 2050, according to an analysis of government data.
The figures show that the use of fossil-fuel hydrogen, or “blue hydrogen”, would create the same carbon emissions each year that more than a million petrol cars would produce, compared with using zero-carbon “green hydrogen”.
Continue reading...The more children know of the natural world, the more they’ll want to protect it | Lucy Jones and Kenneth Greenway
Too many British children are deprived of nature. If they can’t recognise a swift, will they care if it doesn’t come back?
When the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report was published in early August, it confirmed what was already being made increasingly obvious by 2021’s extreme weather events: the burning of fossil fuels is “choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk”.
While the report’s main headlines weren’t news to many – especially climate scientists, who have been sounding the alarm for decades, and the fossil fuel industry, which has spent billions obscuring the truth about climate change – one cohort in the UK was mostly able to continue with their days unaware of its implications: young children.
Continue reading...On Covid and climate we can achieve change – but we’re running out of time | Robert Reich
A simple breakfast with a friend presented a serious dilemma and pointed to both the need and precedent for action
On Saturday morning I met a friend for breakfast at a local diner. We weren’t sure whether to sit outside because of the surging Delta variant of Covid, or inside because stinging smoke from wildfires consuming northern and western California had spread into the Bay Area.
Related: Our Own Worst Enemy review: a caustic diagnosis of America after Trump
Continue reading...Today's decisions lock in industry emissions for decades — here's how to get them right
Australia must overhaul Safeguard Mechanism to cut industrial emissions -report
Burned paws, hungry bears: the race to help animals injured in wildfires
The Wildlife Disaster Network is just one group that patrols burn areas looking for critters that need their help
The emaciated bear cub was trekking along a mountain road through the scorched Sierra Nevada when firefighters spotted it. His paws appeared burned and he seemed alone. There was little the fire crew could do, but call the Wildlife Disaster Network.
The group of volunteer disaster veterinarians treats animals injured in California’s devastating wildfires. The network, and other groups like it, are busier than ever this year as fires tear through the state at an astonishing pace.
Continue reading...Ratty comes home: water voles thrive again on Hertfordshire riverbank
Having suffered a 90% drop in population, they still face extinction in Britain – but a new initiative offers a glimmer of hope
A hundred and fifty water voles were last week settling into new homes on the riverbanks of Hertfordshire. The animals had been released from pens the previous week as part of a campaign to halt the devastating drop in Arvicola amphibius number across the British Isles over the past 50 years.
Once widespread in the UK, water voles – whose most known incarnation is Ratty in Wind in the Willows – have suffered a 90% drop in population since the 1970s. Feral mink, which kill young voles in their nests, in combination with major changes in land use, have resulted in the widespread eradication of a species that was once a ubiquitous presence along the banks of Britain’s rivers.
Continue reading...Solar exceeds coal for first time, as renewables set new records on Australia’s main grid
Solar exceeds coal output as renewables set new record share of demand in Australia's main grid.
The post Solar exceeds coal for first time, as renewables set new records on Australia’s main grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Market fracture looms as states and power industry split over “Coal-keeper”
National Electricity Market could be fractured by the split among states and industry over the design of reforms designed to bring it into 21srt century.
The post Market fracture looms as states and power industry split over “Coal-keeper” appeared first on RenewEconomy.
‘So fluffy they’re like teddy bears’: thousands of native bees emerge in Western Australia
Higher than average rainfall and growth of the bees’ two favourite flowers could account for the larger than usual colony
Thousands of fluffy native bees are emerging from the clay pans in Western Australia in bumper nesting colonies, after a year of above-average rainfall has wildflowers blooming.
Dawson’s burrowing bees, or Amegilla dawsoni, emerge from the ground from a few weeks every spring to breed and dig new burrows, which they will line with wax and fill with pollen and eggs.
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