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Agricultural sector hit by post-Brexit turmoil with protests over trade deals, environmental legislation and rising costs

Rishi Sunak will promise farmers the “largest ever” grant scheme tomorrow, as well as the creation of a food security index, after criticism that Brexit trade deals and poor responses to flooding and rising costs have put England’s ability to feed itself at risk.

Against a backdrop of turmoil in the agricultural sector, with farmers in the UK and across the continent causing havoc with tractor protests against environmental regulations and a perceived lack of support, Sunak will respond to farmers’ calls for a commitment from government that the UK’s food self-sufficiency will remain at or exceed the current estimated level, which is about 60%.

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We’ve brought some species back from the brink – but more and more are being threatened. Here’s why Frédérik Saltré, Research Fellow in Ecology for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The government of Cote d'Ivoire has signed a landmark agreement with an investor consortium for forest rehabilitation, which will generate carbon credits through agroforestry.

South Africa’s Presidential Climate Commission said the energy ministry’s electricity plan fails to adequately address the country's power supply crisis and to ensure that emissions fall in line with international climate commitments.

More than 60 chief executives of European heavy industries are expected to meet at a chemical plant in Antwerp on Tuesday for a hush-hush summit that will issue a declaration for a European Industrial Green Deal.

A London-based investor has partnered with a British-American insurance company to start a biodiversity credit fund in the wake of England's net gain (BNG) policy coming into force, Bloomberg reports.

Prices barely moved last week and trade thinned to curtail some early exuberance of a revival of the voluntary carbon market this year after a trough in the second half of 2023, although retirement levels remained healthy.

The Indian government has set up a taskforce to accelerate the country’s transition away from fossil fuels in order to deliver on the first global stocktake agreed by nations at the UN climate summit COP28 in Dubai last year.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's bid for a second term could help to protect, and implement, the European Green Deal that she spearheaded, following elections that are heavily favoured towards the political right and against ambitious climate action.

A major investment manager has pledged to target companies failing to disclose their impacts on biodiversity with nature-related reputational and business risks poised to affect its portfolio.

US research shows foods such as butter and processed meat likely to increase levels of toxic PFAS in blood over time

Diets rich in foods such as processed meat and butter likely increase levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in human blood over time, new peer-reviewed research has found.

The paper identified a range of foods to be among the drivers of high PFAS levels, including teas, pork, candy, sports drinks, processed meat, butter, chips and bottled water. The research also pointed to higher PFAS blood levels among those who consumed more carryout or food prepared at restaurants.

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Bids under the European Commission’s pilot auction for renewable hydrogen production have far exceeded the €800 million budget, demonstrating enthusiasm to scale up the nascent industry, the Commission said on Monday.

European carbon prices fell to their lowest in 30 months on Monday morning as aggressive selling overwhelmed the buy side amid sharply weaker energy markets, and an analyst forecast even lower prices ahead.

A UK-based land restoration company is counting on capital from an investment fund to help scale its model of buying up land for natural capital purposes.

EUA prices are set to fall further to three-year lows as the impact of declining natural gas prices filters through to the rest of the energy complex and demand from compliance buyers remains low, making 2024 “the year to build strategic long positions”, according to a European bank analyst.

An Indian agri-tech firm will soon receive the first issuance of Verra certified carbon credits under its carbon farming programme, the company told Carbon Pulse Monday.

A group of scientific and conservation organisations have called for the Northern Territory (NT) to legislate biodiversity protection for the first time in an open letter to the chief minister, even as the federal government is in the process of reforming the national environmental law.

I was looking forward to a magnificently white winter, with school closures and an otherworldly hush. The weather had other ideas

I was excited to experience a Boston winter – being in snow country was a genuine attraction of our trip here – and last week looked set to deliver. The headlines were threatening me with a good time (“predicted to be heaviest snowfall in two years” and pre-emptive school closures ran in ticker tape across the TV screen). Cars started sporting snowplough attachments, and the yoga teacher ended class not with namaste but with an ominous: “Good luck with the storm.”

My husband and I were giddy as toddlers. Would there be six inches of snow? Twelve? “When I wake up at 4am,” my husband said gleefully, studying his weather app, “it should already be white.” At the shop he asked, in all seriousness, if we should buy a sledge “before they all sell out”.

Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist

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South Korea has decided to expand funding support for overseas emissions reduction projects this year, as the East Asian country plans to use international carbon credits to fulfil more than 10% of its 2030 CO2 reduction target.

A voluntary carbon standard has announced it will exclusively focus on nature-based solutions and discontinue the eligibility of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) methodologies under its banner.