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UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves pledged to fire up competitiveness in the country's financial services sector during her first Mansion House speech on Thursday evening, planning to boost private investment in clean energy and make the UK a global leader in sustainable finance.

The timberland management division of a Sao Paulo-based investment bank has reached $500 million for its Latin American reforestation fund, while Brazilian oil giant Petrobras has pledged increased funding for ecological restoration in the Amazon in partnership with the country's development bank.

A developer of atmospheric emissions monitoring for carbon markets said its approach could improve the accuracy of monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of nature-based projects, and potentially lead to more credits being issued than otherwise assumed using conventional methods.

Israel is in the final stretches of preparing a tax on greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants that parliament approved in September after years of debate in an effort to resolve a “significant market failure” caused when polluters don’t pay for their environmental damage. 

A Russian petrochemical company plans to offset the carbon footprint of the country’s delegation attending COP29 in Baku, the firm announced on Thursday.

A mining giant has committed $16 million into the Makira Natural Park REDD Project in northern Madagascar that will help the project scale as well as reassess its deforestation baseline under Verra’s VM0048 methodology, which has just been approved by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) as eligible for its stamp of high quality.

Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility accuses Australian oil giant of misleading and false claims in closing arguments

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Santos misled investors by positioning itself as a “clean fuels company” with a credible net zero plan, the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) has alleged in closing remarks to a world-first greenwashing case.

Noel Hutley SC, representing ACCR, said the case was about protecting the public interest by “ensuring that commitments by Australian companies regarding climate change are reasonably based and not misleading”.

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The negotiations continue with plenty of disagreement about the way forward, as we approach the halfway mark in Baku, Azerbaijan

More concern about whether Cop29 is really functioning properly. The wires are reporting that former US vice president Al Gore said yesterday: “It’s unfortunate that the fossil fuel industry and the petrostates have seized control of the COP process to an unhealthy degree.

While the Dubai summit produced a global agreement on “transitioning away” from fossil fuels, the follow-up commitment “has been very weak” and the issue “is hardly even mentioned” at COP29, he said.

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The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

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A new AI-powered technology could help UK companies measure and reduce emissions from electric vehicle charging, as they face stricter reporting obligations under the upcoming UK Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR).

The coal transition requires targeted finance, with challenges in balancing investor expectations and supporting coal-dependent regions, experts said at COP29.

What would it witness in Azerbaijan? A species that knows it is destroying itself but is too greedy to change course

Imagine, as many people do, an all-seeing eye in the sky, looking down on planet Earth. Imagine seeing what it sees. It watches, over the course of decades, ice caps shrinking, rainforests retreating, deserts expanding, ocean circulation slowing, freshwater dwindling and sea levels rising, and it thinks – for it has been there since the beginning – “this is familiar”. All the signs are there, of an Earth system sliding towards collapse, as it has done five times since animals with hard body parts first evolved.

But this time, it knows, is different. Not only is one of the life forms causing the collapse, but it shares some of the eye’s supernatural abilities: it too can see what is happening. So, with heightened curiosity, the eye zooms in, to see what this well-informed being is doing to avert catastrophe.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

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It is Day 5 at COP29 in Baku - Energy Day. After a messy Article 6 draft on trading rules was published on Thursday, with negotiators then demanded to work late to help slim down the 43 pages of text, signs of fatigue are setting in, just 48 hours before ministers arrive. On the energy front, the Azerbaijan presidency will announce a raft of pledges, and debate over the COP28 fossil fuels outcome is expected to be high on the agenda.

V2G technology, turning EVs into batteries on wheels, will be big – for drivers, households and the grid. Jon Sibley from enX explains why. Plus: News of the week.

The post Energy Insiders Podcast: Why batteries on wheels will be the next big thing appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New study assesses the impact of an emissions reporting rule change that enables open cut mines to select how they would like to report their methane pollution.

The post Australian coal mine emissions accounting trick could be hiding more than 10 million tonnes a year appeared first on RenewEconomy.

California regulator ARB’s Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (EJAC) on Thursday approved a set of recommendations for cap-and-trade programme revisions, which included calls to eliminate free allowances and offsets.

Australia can access all the cheap wind turbines, solar panels, batteries and EVs we want from a willing seller. Let’s not waste the opportunity.

The post We need to get the cost of wind energy down in Australia – Chinese turbines are the likely answer appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New report says steel makers counting on carbon capture to slash emissions are at risk of creating stranded assets.

The post Carbon capture won’t work for iron makers and steel makers, new report says appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The originator of the largest onshore wind farm currently underway in Australia has unveiled new plans to build a 1.5 GW project with a massive, four-hour battery in NSW.

The post WestWind goes big again, with plans for 1.5GW wind farm and 2,400 MWh battery in NSW appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A Toronto-based carbon credit financier eked out a small net profit in Q3 2024 despite further writing down the value of one of its projects.