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The 2024 budget for Guyana’s Ministry of National Resources will allocate more funding to mineral mapping than to land reclamation and reforestation, but this will ultimately help prevent deforestation, according to recent remarks by the agency's minister.

The shipping sector’s main international trade association has put forward a new proposal for a global shipping climate fund, which could be filled by imposing a levy of $12.50 per tonne of CO2 equivalent, based on the need to raise $10 billion to meet emissions goals.

Carbon surcharges attached to shipping fees levied on charterers and downstream customers from Jan. 1 reflect not only EUA prices or emissions data, but also methodological decisions, contract types, and risk management, according to various experts speaking to Carbon Pulse.

Findings in leading scientific journal that globe has breached key warming milestone challenged by climate science experts

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Between 30 metres and 90 metres below the surface of the Caribbean Sea, an ancient sponge species that grows a hard skeleton has been quietly recording changes in the ocean temperature for hundreds of years.

Now those sponges are at the centre of a bold and controversial claim made in a leading scientific journal that, since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the planet may have already warmed by 1.7C – half a degree more than estimates used by the United Nation’s climate panel.

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A court in Kenya has mandated a commission to investigate the acquisition of around 4,000 acres of land by a company "involved in carbon trade" and operating in parts of a Kasigau Corridor REDD project, according to legal documents.

The Moroccan government reaffirmed its commitment to implementing a carbon tax on Friday, years after initially proposing it in a tax reform law and partially in response to new EU carbon tariffs.

Germany will hold capacity auctions for gas-fired power plants that can be switched to hydrogen fuel in the 2030s, as part of a power plant strategy announced by the coalition government on Monday.

Credit certifier Verra has begun publishing average processing times for project review requests, disaggregated by type, in a bid to improve performance and provide transparency under its New Era for Verra initiative, per a company press release.

European carbon allowance prices were said to be "wandering" on Monday morning, with the daily spot auction clearing in line with benchmark futures prices, gas easing lower, and traders awaiting the outcome of a key EU policy meeting on Tuesday on the bloc's 2040 emissions reduction target.

There is both hope and hype for what artificial intelligence can do for growth – if politicians can tame its destructive potential

Since returning from this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, I have been asked repeatedly for my biggest takeaways. Among the most widely discussed issues this year was artificial intelligence – especially generative AI (“GenAI”). With the recent adoption of large language models (like the one powering ChatGPT), there is much hope – and hype – about what AI could do for productivity and economic growth in the future.

To address this question, we must bear in mind that our world is dominated far more by human stupidity than by AI. The proliferation of megathreats – each an element in the broader “polycrisis” – confirms that our politics are too dysfunctional, and our policies too misguided, to address even the most serious and obvious risks to our future. These include climate change, which will have huge economic costs; failed states, which will make waves of climate refugees even larger; and recurrent, virulent pandemics that could be even more economically damaging than Covid-19.

The WEF zeitgeist is, in my experience, a counter-indicator of where the world is really heading. Policymakers and business leaders are there to flog their books and spew platitudes. They represent the conventional wisdom, which is often based on a rear-window view of global and macroeconomic developments.

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Further developing the biodiversity credit markets and reforming subsidies harmful to nature are among the top priorities to bridge the biodiversity finance gap, researchers have said.

A study conducted by the National University of Singapore (NUS) has recommended a framework for the city state to include blue carbon in its greenhouse gas emissions reporting under the Paris Agreement.

The European Greens will push for full climate neutrality by 2040 - 10 years earlier than the bloc is aiming for - in an election manifesto adopted on Sunday.

Three out of four of the largest Nordic companies are struggling to assess their biodiversity risks and integrate nature into their business models, a paper has found.

Exclusive: Meeting took place days after BP reported record profits while households were squeezed by high energy bills

The energy and climate minister Graham Stuart asked BP about the incentives required to “maximise” extraction of oil and gas from the North Sea, documents released under freedom of information rules have revealed.

Stuart’s meeting with the corporation’s UK boss, Louise Kingham, last year came days after BP had announced a record profit of $28bn (£23bn) for 2022, raised its dividend to shareholders, and rowed back on its aim to cut its carbon emissions by 2030. Households were also enduring very high energy bills. BP will report its profits for 2023 on Tuesday.

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The maker of Philadelphia cheese and Capri-Sun juice is turning to green hydrogen to partially replace natural gas demand at a large manufacturing plant in northwest England, as it strives to curb its carbon footprint in line with its emissions reduction goals.

A major energy unit of South Korea's GS group has teamed up with an urban greening solution provider to tap into the offset market, with a focus on the development of nature-based solutions.

Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout vow to fight for more equal and ecological Europe amid surge to far right

The European Green party has picked Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout as lead candidates to front its campaign ahead of elections in June that polls suggest will see it lose seats.

Flanked by green banners bearing the word “courage”, the two MEPs, who were elected by delegates at a congress in Lyon on Saturday, said they would stand up to the surge of the far right and fight for a more equal and ecological Europe.

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A blockchain group that supplies digital carbon credits is planning to tap into the Japanese market through a subsidiary, seeking to bring digital J-Credits on to blockchain later this year.

Moving to a new flat forced my wife and I to go electric – and realise it wasn’t the tragic culinary loss I believed

My wife and I have always had certain non-negotiables when looking for a place to rent: good light, a decent location – and a gas stove. We love cooking together, and countless food shows have impressed upon us that there is nothing more essential to a tasty meal than a flame.

Then came the pandemic. Our landlord wanted to move back into our Barcelona flat, so in the first months of 2020 we found ourselves looking for a new place to stay. With just days to relocate before the first Covid lockdown came into effect, we were forced to set aside our preference for gas – and reluctantly moved into an apartment with an induction hob.

Michael Kavate writes the newsletter Cooler Futures and is a senior reporter with Inside Philanthropy

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