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Australian vehicle emissions are even worse than official figures show and are likely to fall even further behind the rest of the world unless much more ambitious policies are adopted. Robin Smit, Adjunct Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

From sacrificial bark to fire-germinating gumnuts to stealthy buds the eucalyptus has evolved an arsenal of protective measures. Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The impact of meat on the environment is well known, but what about staples such as rice and legumes?

Biodiversity-conscious eaters could consider substituting potatoes for rice, cutting down on beef and lamb and asking where their beans, lentils and chickpeas are grown to reduce their impact on nature, a new study has found.

Scientists analysed 151 popular recipes around the world for their biodiversity impact. They found meat dishes were the worst offenders: recipes including chilli con carne, salsa verde pork and a Spanish lamb dish called lechazo, all had high biodiversity damage scores compared with vegan and vegetarian ones.

The massive environmental impact of eating meat has been well established, and the study reinforced this, with meat dishes scoring more than vegetarian or vegan dishes across almost all locally and globally produced scenarios. Brazilian-raised beef topped the charts. But the study, published on Wednesday in Plos One journal, also had surprising findings about the biodiversity footprint of some grains and legumes.

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Denmark has been advised by a government-appointed expert group to impose a carbon tax on farmers as part of its efforts to meet national emissions reductions objectives and comply with EU climate commitments.

Bilateral sovereign carbon credit trade is rolling forward despite the unravelling of Article 6 negotiations at COP28, a webinar heard Wednesday.

An adjustment by the UK government to the biodiversity net gain (BNG) legislation, meaning local authorities need to justify increasing their minimum net biodiversity improvement level, undermines nature restoration efforts, a consultant has said.

Beef production by Brazil's three biggest meatpackers is fuelling illegal deforestation in the Cerrado region, with an area bigger than Chicago cleared between 2008 and 2019 within ranches supplying the companies, an NGO investigation has found.

The regulatory backbone of compliance mechanisms will help to support and scale the voluntary carbon market (VCM) as the two increasingly overlap, with buyers moving away from individual project assessment to rely instead on the oversight of schemes like CORSIA and Article 6 as a benchmark for credit quality, experts told a webinar Wednesday.

Several improved forest management (IFM) methodologies present a high risk of overstating emissions impacts, according to factsheets released Wednesday alongside a new set of carbon credit quality scores by a German think tank in partnership with NGOs.

South Africa’s treasury on Wednesday proposed increasing the national carbon tax rate from 190 rand to 640 rand per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent after the country's new climate change bill comes into effect.

Attorney general’s attempt to end climate protesters’ use of consent defence is slippery slope, says KC

A government attempt to remove one of the last remaining defences for climate protesters would be a slippery slope to the erosion of the constitutional right to trial by jury, the court of appeal was told on Wednesday.

The attorney general, Victoria Prentis KC, is arguing that one of the last available defences being used by environmental protesters should be removed. Prentis is making the appeal in the case of a defendant known as C, after a string of acquittals by juries of defendants for acts of criminal damage involving daubing paint on buildings.

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We are seeing cowardice on a huge scale, so we will ratchet up pressure on MPs. We’ll also seek our own voice in parliament

After two years of civil resistance, Just Stop Oil has made the issue of new oil and gas licences part of the political debate. These consents, which had previously passed almost unnoticed, have now become a major event. The government has responded to the movement by issuing three sets of repressive legislation. That is a response – even if not the one required or demanded. Yet people are still on the streets in defiance.

The Conservative party has spent months raising the profile of Just Stop Oil, and painting the Labour party as its political wing. If only this were true. Still, this means that, ahead of and after the general election, Just Stop Oil is now part of the national political debate.

Sarah Lunnon is a co-founder of Just Stop Oil

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The next European Commission term should unleash “a Juncker plan on steroids” to spur on climate investment, the Commission's top climate official said in Brussels on Wednesday.

Pollution controls have seen mercury emissions plummet - but levels in tuna have remained stable.

Pollution controls have seen mercury emissions plummet - but levels in tuna have remained stable.

Cantor's giant softshell turtle is native to the rivers of south Asia and is critically endangered.

Researchers at RMIT University find a way to replace the electrolyte in lithium-ion batteries with water, an innovation that could remove the fire risk entirely.

The post Australian researchers make water battery breakthrough appeared first on RenewEconomy.

RePlanet is partnering with other companies on five biodiversity credit initiatives around the world that could each generate “$10 million or more", via an impending blockchain process, an executive has estimated.

Three groups familiar with draft conservation laws say they do not go far enough and may allow political influence on development decisions

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New national environment laws being developed by the Albanese government fail to address systemic flaws in the existing system and would continue to allow widespread deforestation, according to three organisations familiar with the plans.

Officials representing the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, have been sharing sections of draft conservation laws to be introduced this year in consultation meetings with conservation, business and other groups.

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Shadow farming minister commits to forging closer relationship with EU as polling shows farmers favour Labour over Tories

Labour has laid out its plans for farming at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) conference, promising to end imports that undercut British farmers and forge a closer trading relationship with the EU.

Making a number of pledges that appearedto commit to properly functioning government rather than radical reform, the shadow farming minister, Daniel Zeichner, promised Labour would make the environmental land management scheme, which pays farmers to green their farms, work properly and take action on flooding.

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