Feed aggregator

Parts of the state record their lowest rainfall on record, with devastating impacts on freshwater fish, butterflies, bees and even some hardy trees

• Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here

Usually hardy trees and shrubs are dying, waterways have turned to dust and ecologists fear local freshwater fish extinctions could be coming as historic dry conditions grip parts of South Australia.

Large swathes of the state – including the Adelaide Plains, the Fleurieu, Yorke and Eyre peninsulas and upper south-east – have seen the lowest rainfall on record in the 14 months since February 2024, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter

Continue reading...

Researchers looked at more than 25,000 everyday items available at supermarkets like Aldi, Coles, Woolworths, Harris Farm and IGA

• Get our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcast

Simple grocery swaps – including substituting red meat for chicken or plant-based alternatives, opting for dairy-free milk and yoghurt and choosing fruit toast instead of muffins – could substantially cut household greenhouse gas emissions, new research has found.

A report by the George Institute for Global Health found switches could reduce a household’s climate pollution by 6 tonnes a year, which it said was roughly equivalent to the emissions from an average household’s grid-based electricity use.

Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter

Continue reading...

Polish power producer PGE, one of the largest emitters in the EU ETS, posted an 18% annual drop in hard coal generation and a 3% rise in lignite in 2024, in preliminary full-year figures published on Tuesday.

"Sweating" Australia's aged coal-fired generators past their use-by date risks shortfalls in supply equivalent to cutting power to around 2 million typical households, new report finds.

The post Ageing coal plants will be unavailable to supply power 34 pct of the time, new data suggests appeared first on RenewEconomy.

State government announces major road upgrades in response to local council concerns about road congestion from transport of giant turbine blades.

The post NSW begins major road upgrades to deliver huge turbine blades and “oversize” gear to renewable zones appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Clean energy projects will be prioritised for connection to the UK’s electricity grid under reforms to be confirmed on Tuesday by energy markets regulator Ofgem, with the government projecting the move will unlock £40 billion in annual investment.

Projects that use naturally occurring bacteria to capture methane emissions, and turn it into organic fertiliser are cropping up in the US, with one company looking to generate carbon credits from activities on oil and gas sites, landfills, and dairy farms.

 The new EU Emissions Trading System (ETS2) for building and road transport fuels risks creating a boomerang effect with prices modelled to start at well over €100 per tonne of CO2, unless there are further investments and social policies to support European households, according to new research.

While it's far from perfect, the Safeguard Mechanism's first compliance report suggests it's helping solve Australia's decarbonisation challenge.

The post Safeguard Mechanism far from perfect, but a good start after a decade of climate denial appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Germany’s coal phaseout has been mostly successful, but only because it was structured to fit with the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), according to a new academic paper, which recommends aligning the country's future climate policies with wider European measures.

Sweden is set to miss its climate targets for sectors not covered by the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), with projected gaps of 7 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030, 4 Mt by 2040 and 21 Mt by 2045, according to the country’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Norwegian industrials affected by the EU ETS will receive NOK 7 billion (€0.58 bln) annually through the country’s industrial support scheme, but nearly half of the money must now be directed towards decarbonisation measures, the government announced Tuesday.

Transition carbon credits, generated from the early retirement of coal-fired power plants (CFPP), could potentially reduce the losses incurred from the shutdown of such plants in Asia, a report released Tuesday has found.

EU carbon prices rose for a fourth successive day on Tuesday, briefly coming within range of a technical level after a flurry of mid-morning buying, before easing back off, as trading activity began to diminish ahead of the Easter holiday.

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) held a meeting with government officials on Monday to explore the development of a national scheme for biodiversity credits.

China has outlined this year's compliance deadlines and relevant tasks under the national emissions trading scheme for regional regulators and emitters.

The European Commission has launched a call for evidence on the revision of the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), ahead of a formal legislative update due in Q3 next year that will look at extending the scheme to new sectors in order to reach the bloc’s upcoming 2040 climate target.

Tech giant Microsoft has continued to expand its portfolio of carbon removal (CDR) credits after inking the world’s largest offtake deal to date from a US bioenergy carbon capture and storage project (BECCS).

Bear Grylls-inspired vessel helps wardens on Coquet Island care for UK’s only breeding colony of roseate terns

It looks like something James Bond might drive – or, more accurately, Bear Grylls. But rather than enabling secret missions or carrying millionaires, this innovative amphibious boat is helping RSPB wardens look after Britain’s only breeding colony of roseate terns.

The endangered birds nest on Coquet Island off the Northumberland coast each spring but seasonal wardens who manage the tiny island struggle to get on and off it because there is no safe mooring point or harbour at low tide. This means boats can only take people and kit to the island at high tide – often at inconvenient times of day or night – making life for the wardens, who live in the island’s lighthouse, a little complicated.

Continue reading...

The 129 member banks of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) have approved a new protocol that changes previously mandatory requirements for reducing clients’ emissions into non-binding 'best practice' guidelines.