Feed aggregator

The US carbon capture and storage (CCS) sector needs higher credit values and certainty beyond the current crediting timeline to catalyse growth, conference attendees heard this week.

Chilean climate policies must send clear signals of stability in order to unleash additional investments and unlock the country’s potential for nature-based projects, an IETA representative said Wednesday.

Current US policy incentives fall short of supporting sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) rollout, prompting producers to target markets with mandates in the near-term, industry members told Carbon Pulse.

With under a month to US elections, Carbon Pulse’s North American team has sourced insights from a wide network of policy analysts and industry stakeholders on some of the key environmental issues potentially at stake depending on which candidate occupies the White House next year.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) released a draft of its annual carbon management programme strategy on Thursday to show its pathways for deploying CO2 capture, transportation, conversion, and storage technology, as the agency looks toward allocating the remaining funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

Ikea owner signs up for another stake in Australia's biggest wind project as production ramps up.

The post Ikea owner takes another slice of Australia’s biggest wind project appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The world's most powerful rocket is expected to be back in action again soon

In the 1940s, RAAF planes took aerial photographs of the Great Sandy Desert, capturing something valuable: the patterns of burning performed by our ancestors over generations. Braedan Taylor, Traditional Owner; Karajarri Lands Trust Association/UWA, Indigenous Knowledge Jacqueline Shovellor, Karajarri Traditional Owner, Cultural Advisor, Karajarri Land Trust Association, Indigenous Knowledge James (Frankie) McCarthy, Ngurrara Traditional Owner and Database Officer, Yanunijarra Aboriginal Corporation, Indigenous Knowledge Sarah Legge, Professor of Wildlife Conservation, Australian National University Thomas Nnarda, Ngurrara Traditional Owner and Ranger, Indigenous Knowledge Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Climate change deniers such as Florida’s Ron DeSantis lament the impact of such events but won’t acknowledge the underlying problem

The preparations for Hurricane Milton were on a mammoth scale, as the clean-up will be. The storm thankfully lost some of its force before it slammed into Florida, making landfall on Wednesday night as a category 3 hurricane. But many more lives would surely have been lost without the massive evacuation and the deployment of thousands of national guard troops and personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

This was the second direct hit on the state in less than a fortnight, after Hurricane Helene, which killed at least 225 people in the US. The hotter ocean temperatures which worsened these storms are hundreds of times likelier because of human-made global heating, a new analysis has shown. Climate change may have increased the rain dumped on parts of the south by Helene by 50%, scientists believe. Another study has suggested such double punches could arrive every three years thanks to the continuing burning of fossil fuels.

Continue reading...

A US-based oil and gas multinational announced Thursday it has won a lease for 271,000 acres (110,000 hectares) for an offshore CO2 storage site in Texas state waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

US-headquartered ExxonMobil is suing the Dutch government for its decision to accelerate the closure of Groningen, Europe's largest gas field, it announced this week.

The proposal to mandate a minimum 10% tree planting cover on farms in Wales under the Welsh government’s Sustainable Farming Scheme for carbon, biodiversity, and climate adaptation reasons is “the largest barrier” to entering the scheme as it currently stands, according to the sector’s trade union.

Germany’s main energy industry association has said the country should keep the price of its national heating and transport carbon system fixed until the new EU-wide heating and transport ETS kicks in in 2027 and skip the one-year trading phase.

A UK carbon capture firm will collaborate with an Indian steelmaker and a global mining company to speed up the deployment of carbon capture technology to decarbonise steel in India, it announced on Thursday.

The “dangerous illusion” of biodiversity offsets damages communities and ecosystems, as the value of nature cannot be numbered, said a report published on Thursday by a forest coalition.

Shimmery cellulose-based alternative looks safer for soil than conventional microplastics, Australian-led research finds

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Even before Taylor Swift donned “glitter freckles”, the sparkly stuff was prolific – sold in tiny vials at craft shops, and sprinkled on to a variety of products from clothing to Christmas decorations, cards and makeup.

Glitter ends up everywhere: in the environment as well as the carpet.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Taxpayers in Europe risk having to foot a collective €140 billion bill for risky carbon capture and storage projects, as governments in the EU and the UK bet on CCS to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from hard-to-abate sectors, financial analysts have warned.

The UK government announced on Thursday a new “cap and floor” scheme to incentivise billions in private investment in long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies to support renewable power integration and boost energy security.

The UN body mandated to determine rules governing the Paris Agreement's Article 6 opted early Thursday to bypass negotiators and bring its standards for carbon methodologies and removals into force - in a "risky" and "bold" move that was widely welcomed for its potential to drive agreement at next month's COP29, despite concerns about its long-term implications.

Wheat haul in England estimated to be down by 21%, with Britain’s wine producers also hit hard

England has suffered its second worst harvest on record – with fears growing for next year – after heavy rain last winter hit production of key crops including wheat and oats.

The cold, damp weather, stretching from last autumn through this spring and early summer, has hit the rapidly developing UK wine industry particularly hard, with producers saying harvests are down by between 75% and a third, depending on the region.

Continue reading...