Feed aggregator

The enforcement of US environmental law could be endangered should two Supreme Court cases overturn a landmark ruling that defined the balance of power between the judiciary and executive branches in implementation of federal law, legal experts have noted in a series of webinars.

The Port of Hastings windfarm block highlights a growing conundrum – how to expand renewable infrastructure without damaging fragile ecosystems

The recent decision by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, to block the development of a “renewable energy terminal” at Port of Hastings in the Western Port wetland east of Melbourne brings into stark focus the increasing tension between two commitments of all Australia’s governments – solving the biodiversity crisis and the climate crisis. We need solutions to this conundrum quickly, otherwise there will be lost opportunities, expensive mistakes and even more extinctions.

Humanity faces two existential crises. The climate crisis we know well; the second, less appreciated threat to humanity is biodiversity loss. We are only just beginning to appreciate its effects on our economy, agriculture, health and culture.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices broke all-time records this week, with traders articulating an array of opinions behind the rally, while Washington Carbon Allowance (WCA) prices witnessed a fairly precipitous pullback, which multiple market participants said could be attributed to political uncertainty around the future of the programme.

As Challicum Hills turns 20, we look at the long-term technical and commercial performance of the NEM’s first batch of utility-scale wind farms.

The post Twenty years on, how is Australia’s first batch of wind farms performing? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Having once pledged not to “mangle the process” by using anything but renewables to fuel his energy plans, Andrew Forrest says some imported gas is necessary.

The post Forrest backtracks on “filthy” fossils, supports development of gas terminal appeared first on RenewEconomy.

*PREMIUM LISTING - With the rapid growth in carbon markets driving a new wave of project development, Verra is seeking a Senior Program Officer to join the Climate Policy and Strategy Team within the Legal, Policy and Markets Department.

US federal agencies alongside California’s ARB and Attorney General’s Office released on Wednesday details of a proposed settlement totalling $2 billion with a US-based engine maker for alleged violations of both the federal Clean Air Act (CAA) and California law.

An Irish road congestion toll in effect as of Jan. 1 provoked sharp rebuke from a Dublin-area official on Thursday as the EU country lags on sustainability commitments amid tightening purse strings and reluctance to tax heavy-emitting industries.

Modular building techniques offer sustainable, affordable and adaptable solutions for a rapidly changing world. Ehsan Noroozinejad, Senior Researcher, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University Parisa Ziaesaeidi, Associate Lecturer in Architecture, Western Sydney University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The city was built 2,500 years ago but may have been abandoned after a volcanic eruption.

The prime minister believes that the climate emergency can be left to the individual conscience. He’s wrong

This year has been the hottest in our recorded history and, most likely, over the last 100,000 years. “Heat domes” across the northern hemisphere saw temperatures soar. There were heatwaves during winter in the Andes. Extreme weather saw unprecedented flooding in Asia. The wildfires that swept Canada this summer were the largest in modern history – and produced more carbon emissions than all of the country’s other human-related activities combined. After a Mexico-sized chunk of Antarctica failed to refreeze, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, proclaimed that “the era of global boiling has arrived”.

There can be little comfort taken from the fact that the average global surface temperature in 2023 was 1.48C hotter than that of the preindustrial period, a fraction below the UN’s 1.5C target. Scientists suggest that above this – but below the 2C threshold – the world is more likely to pass key irreversible tipping points: the die-off of low-latitude coral reefs; widespread abrupt permafrost thaw leading to greenhouse gas release; and the collapse of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets. One entrepreneur with an eye for the apocalyptic is already shipping glacier ice to cocktail bars in the UAE. But exploiting the current situation is the problem.

Continue reading...

The European Parliament's environment and industry committees on Thursday approved some of the last files that will soon be regulating greenhouse gas emissions across the bloc, in one of the last meetings as EU lawmakers approach elections time.

The CEO of one of the world’s largest fertiliser producers Yara International has warned the EU risks swapping its Russian energy dependence to dependence on the country's fertilisers and food, as imports to the EU and other countries grow and home-grown production falls.

A consulting giant has entered into a strategic agreement with a major US carbon removals developer that includes a deal to buy direct air capture (DAC) credits.

Biochar-based carbon removals accounted for a minority of investment in durable CDR solutions in 2023 despite widespread enthusiasm for the technology among public and private sector actors alike, trailing behind funding in direct air capture (DAC), according to a report released Thursday.

A twice-weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

Two biodiversity credit developers are among the eight members of a cohort focused on nature technology and innovation launched by network Climate Collective.

Russian petrochemical company Sibur has added three climate projects to the Russian Registry of Carbon Units, giving it the largest portfolio of projects to reduce emissions among the country's businesses.

Carbon capture technology provider Capsol Technologies has been awarded a feasibility study for a cement plant in Latvia, with the facility forming part of a major CCS initiative intended to capture much of the Baltic region's ETS-covered emissions. 

A Sri Lankan government fund plans to issue more than 8 million carbon credits over a decade to a REDD+ project in Brazil, though experts say the carbon sequestration figures the project lists appear to be exaggerated by several orders of magnitude.