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New South Wales has reached two remarkable renewable energy milestones that signal the growing contribution of solar power to the state's energy mix.

The post Australia’s biggest coal state breaks new ground in wind and solar output appeared first on RenewEconomy.

While the EU and US hesitate, the UK can become world leader in this burgeoning – and cruelty-free – innovation

If the pet food industry were a country, it would rank as the world’s 60th biggest emitter of carbon dioxide. In countries such as the US, researchers estimate that pet food accounts for about a quarter of total meat consumption. And as the number of pets grows, the environmental impact looks set to increase. But the British government may have unlocked a solution. This year, the UK became the only country in Europe to approve the use of lab-grown meat in pet food.

Lab-grown meat may sound futuristic, but the process is actually straightforward. It starts with the harvesting of a small number of animal cells, then the cells are fed essential nutrients to help them replicate and grow, similar to a yeast culture on a petri dish. But unlike a whole living animal, there are fewer limitations on size, there are no welfare concerns, and the setup does not require such vast land, water and energy resources.

Lucy McCormick is an analytics manager at the Guardian and a writer on economics, politics and current affairs

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Ports including in Saudi Arabia and the US projected to be seriously damaged by a metre of sea level rise

Rising sea levels driven by the climate crisis will overwhelm many of the world’s biggest oil ports, analysis indicates.

Scientists said the threat was ironic as fossil fuel burning causes global heating. They said reducing emissions by moving to renewable energy would halt global heating and deliver more reliable energy.

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Adding biochar to soils could significantly boost their capacity to capture atmospheric CO2, potentially playing a pivotal role in combating climate change, according to a new study.

Vermont remains embroiled in a pair of lawsuits against the fossil fuel industry – a challenge to its climate superfund legislation and the other case involving the state’s pursuit of compensation from oil and gas companies.

The US is slated to have surpassed 5 billion gallons of biodiesel and renewable diesel (RD) consumption in 2024, and that momentum is expected to carry into 2025 as sectors continue adopting green fuels.

The US Department of Treasury (DOT) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released on Friday final federal guidance on eligibility for income tax credits in the production of hydrogen established by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

The UN-launched financial alliance announced its restructuring on Friday along with a shift in focus to address barriers to mobilising capital.

Factory closures highlight the turbulent shift to a green economy, exposing political challenges and the urgent need for a equitable move to net zero

One of the biggest political battles of the future began to take shape in 2024, yet it did not centre on Westminster. Instead, try Grangemouth in central Scotland, Port Talbot in south Wales and Luton in the south of England. Their stories were not front-page staples, but each was of huge significance – locally, nationally and economically.

Grangemouth is Scotland’s sole oil refinery, whose owners confirmed in September that it would shut, to be replaced by a terminal taking in imported fuel – with nearly 400 workers losing their jobs. In the last days of September, the only remaining blast furnace at Port Talbot was shut down, as part of a restructuring that will cost 2,800 employees their jobs. At the end of November, staff at Vauxhall in Luton were told the plant would shut, ending 120 years of the carmaker’s association with the town and putting between 1,100 and 2,000 jobs at risk. One result was two days of protests in the town a week before Christmas.

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China released two new methodologies for its national voluntary carbon market, ahead of an initial issuance of credits to the market that is expected in the coming weeks.

Family-controlled companies emit more greenhouse gases than their non-family counterparts under the EU’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), but they show greater potential for leveraging innovation to reduce emissions, a new academic study has found.

Estonia's Prime Minister Kristen Michal has criticised the country's participation in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), as the country weathers an energy crisis and the fallout from a damaged undersea power cable.

A handful of mostly developing countries said they intend to use the Article 6 carbon markets to help finance their Paris Agreement climate plans by 2030 — or are keeping open the option to do so, according to the first round of transparency reports to be submitted to the UN every two years.

A new £1 million insetting fund has been launched to reward farmers in the UK for adopting sustainable practices, funded by prominent retailers and landowners.

Affluent areas average as few 7,000 residents per public pool, while suburbs farther from the coast may have as many as 138,000

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Angelica Ojinnaka-Psillakis says it was a paradox: you can grow up in a country that prides itself on being a nation of swimmers yet never learn to swim.

So at 26, she decided to take swimming lessons and discovered the reason why.

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Three-quarters of critical habitats and wildlife in England have not been monitored in the past five years, due to funding shortages affecting environmental public bodies, according to government data cited by local media.

Denmark's long-running carbon pricing scheme has been key in reducing emissions from energy-intensive industries, alongside other climate finance strategies such as green bonds and climate-focused venture capital, a new study has found.

The growing renewable energy development in high-potential Southwestern US territories could negatively impact already threatened wildlife, a study published Thursday said.

Prices in China's national emissions market continued to decrease over the past two weeks, with analysts expecting a sustained bearish sentiment in the coming months.