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Carbon Analyst, AGL Energy – Melbourne
Clean energy celebrates as US coal senator supports “red, white and blue” climate bill
Relief after backflip by coal Senator and billionaire Joe Manchin paves way for new bill that promises to slash US emissions by 40 per cent.
The post Clean energy celebrates as US coal senator supports “red, white and blue” climate bill appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Home is where the heart is – or should be – on energy and climate policy
If we are to lower energy bills and meet our climate targets, then households and communities must move to the centre of energy and climate policy.
The post Home is where the heart is – or should be – on energy and climate policy appeared first on RenewEconomy.
NSW plans new “firming” tenders to support renewables, electrification and EV switch
NSW plans to roll out additional "firming" tenders to cope with increased demand driven by electrification and the switch to electric vehicles.
The post NSW plans new “firming” tenders to support renewables, electrification and EV switch appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Plans emerge for new 150MW wind farm in WA wheatbelt
Plans have emerged for 150MW wind farm in Western Australia's wheatbelt region.
The post Plans emerge for new 150MW wind farm in WA wheatbelt appeared first on RenewEconomy.
“Held to ransom:” Damning report shows gas cartel throwing away social licence
The federal government warns the Australian gas industry it is losing its social license after the release of a damning report from Australia’s competition watchdog.
The post “Held to ransom:” Damning report shows gas cartel throwing away social licence appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Weave: New device will investigate Milky Way's origins
Queensland govt funds five carbon projects with more on the way
Solar is the cheapest power, and a literal light-bulb moment showed us we can cut costs and emissions even further
The space tech helping to tackle deforestation Shooting laser beams at trees to tackle deforestation
Solar and storage developer Genex says no to Atlassian billionaire’s bid
Solar and storage developer Genex says no to the overtures of Atlassian co-founder and a private equity fund run by former Macquarie bankers.
The post Solar and storage developer Genex says no to Atlassian billionaire’s bid appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Big spinning machines remove constraints on wind and solar
Constraints on wind and solar are at the lowest level in more than three years.
The post Big spinning machines remove constraints on wind and solar appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Why Labor's new tax cut on electric vehicles won't help you buy one anytime soon
After floods will come droughts (again). Better indicators will help us respond
Labor’s climate bill is mostly symbolic - the big questions are about what comes next | Adam Morton
In the first of a new weekly column, Guardian Australia’s environment editor argues the Albanese government will be judged on what it actually achieves to tackle climate change
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Last week was a big deal for anyone who cares about faltering efforts to live up to the Paris agreement and tackle the climate crisis. It’s possible that it will come to be seen as something of a landmark. The major step forward was not in Canberra, where an increasingly circular debate is playing out over Australia’s first piece of climate change legislation in more than a decade.
That’s not meant to dismiss the Albanese government’s climate change bill or the crossbench MPs working to strengthen it. The Australian legislation matters, primarily as a confidence boost for investors looking to get behind clean energy and other climate solutions. It sets minimum targets – a 43% cut by 2030 compared with 2005 and net zero by 2050 – and includes some useful transparency and accountability measures. But the reality is there is barely anything in it.
Continue reading...The Guardian view on fishing: marine protection should mean what it says | Editorial
By allowing destructive dredging and bottom-trawling, ministers are undermining wider efforts to protect the oceans
Damage to the world’s oceans generally takes place out of sight, meaning it can be even harder to build momentum behind policymaking than it is to tackle other forms of harm to wildlife. But shocking data gathered by marine conservation NGOs, revealing that 90% of Britain’s marine protected areas (MPAs) are still being fished using the most destructive methods, should serve as a wake-up call. The UK government is officially signed up to a target of protecting 30% of our territorial waters by 2030. So far, action is lagging a long way behind words.
With a desperately needed global oceans treaty due to be negotiated in August , the UK government should live up to its pledges. If nations are unwilling to protect the marine environment in their own waters, the chance of reaching agreement over international ones could slip away. The level of protection provided by the designation of MPAs has been exposed as too minimal to be meaningful. Last year, just 10% were not fished using highly destructive dredging or bottom-trawling equipment – which Greenpeace likens to “bulldozing” the seabed.
Continue reading...This heatwave is a reminder that grass lawns are terrible for the environment | Akin Olla
Lawns and gardens account for 60% of household water use in arid areas of the US. This is unsustainable
As a heatwave drags across the United States, local and state governments are scrambling to find solutions to the threats brought by record high temperatures. Washington DC and Philadelphia have declared heat emergencies, activating public cooling centers and other safety measures across their cities, while Phoenix and Los Angeles continue to push programs to plant new trees in working-class neighborhoods with little canopy coverage. Many of these short-term solutions rely on water, a dangerous reality given that nearly 50% of the country is experiencing some form of drought, with the amount of Americans affected by drought increasing 26.8% since last month. This looming threat has pushed one state, Nevada, to seek a more long-term solution: the banning of non-functional lawns.
Lawn grass takes up 2% of all land in the United States. If it were a crop, it would be by far the single largest irrigated crop in the country. Nevada has, due to necessity, taken an obvious but large step in alleviating some of the more immediate symptoms of the climate crisis and bought themselves more time for other measures. It is time for the federal government to push all states to do the same and create incentives to ensure that it happens quickly and in a manner that doesn’t force working-class Americans to foot the bill.
Akin Olla is a contributing opinion writer at the Guardian
Continue reading...‘People are worried it will happen again’: the English village whose water ran out
In Challock in Kent the taps ran dry for six days, causing the school and gastropub to close
John Ramsden surveyed the parched village green, its yellow grass withered in the midday sun, and wondered what lay ahead. “People are worried it’ll happen again.”
The “again” refers to life without a water supply. Ramsden’s village of Challock, perched in the uplands of the Kent downs, has already survived one bout without mains water this summer.
Continue reading...Tory MP urged to quit job as adviser to ‘climate denier’ US fossil fuel firm
Critics say Mark Pritchard’s £46,800-a-year role with Linden Energy is ‘highly concerning’
A Tory MP has been urged to quit his second job as a £325-an-hour adviser to a US fossil fuel firm after the company was accused of using “classic climate denial” tactics to delay action on the climate crisis.
Mark Pritchard, 55, Conservative MP for the Wrekin in Shropshire, took on a role providing “strategic communications advice” to Linden Energy Holdings in May, official records show. He will be paid £46,800 a year for working 12 hours a month through his consulting company, Map Advisory.
Continue reading...Act now on water or face emergency queues on the streets, UK warned
Hosepipe ban and compulsory water metering needed, say advisers, as nation braces for drought
A national hosepipe ban should be implemented as a national priority along with compulsory water metering across the UK by the end of the decade.
That is the key message that infrastructure advisers have given the government as the nation braces itself for a drought that is threatening major disruption to the nation. Failure to act now would leave Britain facing a future of queueing for emergency bottled water “from the back of lorries”.
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