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NSW has lifted its ban on genetically modified crops: what difference will it make to food and farmers?
Research has shown community opposition to GM foods is broader than just health concerns
New South Wales lifted its ban on genetically modified crops this month, after an 18-year moratorium. It follows the repeal of a similar moratorium in South Australia last year, making Tasmania the last Australian state with a blanket ban on GM crops.
The move has been welcomed by GM proponents as helping farmers become more resilient to the effects of climate change, but opposed by organic farming representatives.
Continue reading...Australia demands world heritage experts visit Great Barrier Reef ahead of ‘in danger’ list decision
Environment minister calls for ‘due process’ to be followed before 21-country United Nations committee rules on the reef
Australia is demanding world heritage experts carry out a monitoring mission to the Great Barrier Reef before an international committee decides if it should be placed on a list of global sites in danger.
The Australian government on Monday night briefed international ambassadors and Paris-based delegates to Unesco as part of lobbying efforts to keep the Great Barrier Reef off the in-danger list.
Continue reading...The Morrison government wants to bail out coal-fired generators. Guess who’ll pay? | Tristan Edis
This is a desperate quick fix to try to rescue power station owners from an onslaught of renewable energy they should have seen coming
Largely unnoticed by much of the press, the federal government and its Energy Security Board have dreamed up a plan to bail out the owners of coal-fired generators, and it’s you who will be paying the bill.
Most of the private-sector owners of these coal-fired generators bought these power stations for a song, at prices well below the replacement cost of the power plants. One of them, Trevor St Baker (number 149 on the Financial Review Rich List 2021 with a net worth of $727m), picked up his power plant – Vales Point – for less than the price of the average Sydney home at $1m. AGL, which paid a fair bit more than $1m for Liddell and Bayswater, nonetheless still boasted to investors that it had paid so little for these power plants that it could shut Liddell immediately and the deal still made fantastic money.
Continue reading...Pennsylvania won’t delay RGGI finalisation timeline as GOP lawmaker asks for postponement
UK’s Environment Agency faces legal fight over landfill fumes
Threat to health of five-year-old triggers proceedings over fumes from Walleys Quarry landfill near Newcastle-under-Lyme
A five-year-old boy from Staffordshire has begun legal action against the Environment Agency over fumes from a landfill site that a medical expert has said is shortening his life expectancy.
Campaigners said a letter to begin legal proceedings had been sent on behalf of Mathew Richards, who was born prematurely and has significant respiratory health problems that have been worsened by fumes from a landfill site near his home in Silverdale, near Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Continue reading...European Commission adopts green investment roadmap, voluntary bond standard
Brussels draft seeks 2035 phaseout of EU ETS free allocation, FAZ reports
ICAO moves forward CORSIA emissions recovery forecast, drops offset cost estimates
Austrian man bitten by python during visit to the toilet
Victim, 65, felt a nip in the genital area shortly after sitting on the lavatory at his home in Graz
An Austrian man was bitten by a 1.6-metre (5.25-foot) python during an early-morning visit to the toilet at his home, police have said.
The 65-year-old victim “felt a ‘nip’ in the genital area” shortly after sitting on the toilet at home in Graz just after 6am on Monday, according to a statement from police in Styria province. He then looked into the toilet and discovered the albino reticulated python.
Continue reading...Southern Water dumped raw sewage into sea for years
Company awaits sentencing after admitting 51 violations in biggest-ever Environment Agency investigation
Southern Water discharged enormous volumes of raw sewage into protected coastal waters for nearly six years causing “very considerable environmental damage” because it was cheaper than treating it, a court has heard.
This was “the worst case brought by the Environment Agency in its history”, the court was told. Southern Water had acted “deliberately” and had reaped “considerable financial advantage” by allowing the discharges.
Continue reading...Malaysia to ensure voluntary carbon projects don’t interfere with NDC
The Return: a family reconnects with the Amazon as Covid threatens their village – video
While millions of people around the world have gone into lockdown amid the coronavirus crisis, a family in the Ecuadorian Amazon has opted to move deeper into the relative safety of the jungle.
As they reconnect with dormant ancestral knowledge, away from the distractions of modern life, their affinity with nature begins to flourish. As news spreads that Ecuador might lift lockdown soon, will the family stay?
Investor group worth $6 trillion backs global carbon price corridor
The acrid smell of hot tar: life in a US west stricken by wildfires and heatwaves | Michelle Nijhuis
The 2021 fire season is predicted to be among the worst – which is saying something, because last year’s burned 10.5m acres and killed at least 43 people
On the first day of summer, I woke up to the acrid smell of hot tar. Even before my sleepy brain could name the source, my body tensed with anxiety: wildfire season was underway. Given the deepening drought and record-setting heat across most of the American west, this year’s fire season is widely predicted to be among the worst in recent memory – which is saying something, because last year’s was grotesque.
More than 10.5m acres burned across the region in 2020, the highest annual total since accurate records began nearly 40 years ago. At least 43 people died as a direct result of the flames, and researchers estimate that thousands more died from the effects of sustained smoke inhalation. Entire neighborhoods were flattened, and evacuations lasted weeks, accelerating the spread of the coronavirus. In rural Washington state, where I live, my neighbors and I were trapped inside for days by smoke so thick we could barely see across the street.
Continue reading...Western Australia state govt launches funding scheme for carbon farming projects
International Policy Director, IETA – Geneva/Brussels/London/Toronto
NZ Market: NZUs breach NZ$45 as post-auction bull run continues
“Green team”: Fortescue sees early promise for green hydrogen and 100 pct renewables
Fortescue says work of its "green team" shows promise for its goal to decarbonise power, transport and heavy industries.
The post “Green team”: Fortescue sees early promise for green hydrogen and 100 pct renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.
South Australian Sardine Fishery – Agency application 2021
Could Australia follow US ban on solar panel materials linked to forced labour?
Proposals to mirror a US ban on imports from China's Xinjiang region, linked to forced labour, could have major impacts on Australia's solar industry.
The post Could Australia follow US ban on solar panel materials linked to forced labour? appeared first on RenewEconomy.