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With its certification for emissions' removals, the EU is moving to lock out international carbon credits to meet its own climate targets, at the expense of developing countries that are in direst need of green finance, critics say.

Experts celebrate discovery of secretive and endangered Australasian bittern in recently restored wetlands

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The “bunyip bird” – named after a mythological river-lurking, human-eating monster – is as elusive as its namesake. Also known as the Australasian bittern, it is heard more often than it is seen.

It means that when bittern expert Geoff Shannon discovered the bird at Tasmania’s recently restored Lagoon of Islands – the first time it had been seen there in 40 years – it was a “very special moment”.

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Dead and dying shrubs and trees – some of which are found nowhere else on Earth – line more than 1,000km across the state’s south-west

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A couple of weeks ago, Joe Fontaine stood in the middle of one of Western Australia’s eucalypt forests on another hot and dry day that was stripped of the usually raucous backing-track of bird calls.

“I could hear this scratching-crunching noise coming from the trees,” says Fontaine, a forest ecologist at Perth’s Murdoch University.

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Superfund law requires industries responsible for PFOA and PFOS contamination in water or soil to pay for cleanup

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday designated two forever chemicals that have been used in cookware, carpets and firefighting foams as hazardous substances, an action intended to ensure quicker cleanup of the toxic compounds and require industries and others responsible for contamination to pay for their removal.

Designation as a hazardous substance under the Superfund law does not ban the chemicals, known as PFOA and PFOS. But it requires that release of the chemicals into soil or water be reported to federal, state or tribal officials if it meets or exceeds certain levels. The EPA then may require cleanups to protect public health and recover costs that can reach tens of millions of dollars.

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The Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) has launched a corporate pilot to develop the first scientific targets for seafood value chain impacts, ahead of the full roll out in mid-2025.

Social Carbon has opened a consultation on proposed updates to its standard for crediting voluntary projects, as well as the requirements for validation, monitoring, and verification, as it seeks to align with the ICVCM.

A fund for investing in projects that contribute to reaching global biodiversity targets has been launched by an environmental impact platform and a payments network.

Peatland could generate voluntary biodiversity credits for sale in combination with carbon credits in the UK next year under Peatland Code proposals launched this week.

The Clean Energy Regulator has written to entities covered under the Safeguard Mechanism raising concerns that they are not implementing strategies fast enough to meet their compliance obligations ahead of the February surrender deadline, a source has told Carbon Pulse. 

Research into release of ‘forever chemicals’ raises concerns about contamination and human exposure along world’s coastlines

Ocean waves crashing on the world’s shores emit more PFAS into the air than the world’s industrial polluters, new research has found, raising concerns about environmental contamination and human exposure along coastlines.

The study measured levels of PFAS released from the bubbles that burst when waves crash, spraying aerosols into the air. It found sea spray levels were hundreds of thousands times higher than levels in the water.

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European carbon prices started the day sharply higher on Friday morning as traders reacted to the overnight attack by Israel on Iranian facilities, before falling back as markets appeared to price in a de-escalation of tensions in the region.

Exclusive: Study released at Cop28 misused research to underestimate impact of cutting meat eating, say academics

A flagship UN report on livestock emissions is facing calls for retraction from two key experts it cited who say that the paper “seriously distorted” their work.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) misused their research to underestimate the potential of reduced meat intake to cut agricultural emissions, according to a letter sent to the FAO by the two academics, which the Guardian has seen.

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A German climate technology firm has entered a partnership in the US to create biochar carbon removals from wastewater sludge disposal.

India is seeking an exemption from Britain's planned carbon adjustment border tax (CBAM) as part of negotiations aiming to finalise a free trade deal with the UK, according to an exclusive in the Guardian newspaper.

The International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB) has launched its second consultation on the emerging biodiversity market, seeking to gather views on possible basic models.

China’s national carbon market saw allowance prices reach a fresh high again over the past week but with lower trading volumes, as observers expect tighter allocation of permits in the upcoming market plan.

A Danish environmental consultancy has released an open-access metric to measure the biodiversity value of sites in the Americas, seeking to inform restoration projects as well as supporting corporate disclosures on nature-related impacts and dependencies.

New Zealand has committed NZ$41 million ($25 mln) in climate finance to Southeast Asia via the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM), it said Friday, while entering into early talks with the Philippines over potential cooperation on Article 6.

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

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A state-owned water supplier in South Korea has secured partnerships with two Central Asian countries as it seeks to explore the potential of emissions reduction projects using renewable energy in the region.