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Voters and politicians now know slow, incremental change just won’t cut it. The next government must be bold and brave

• Caroline Lucas is a former Green MP

When I entered parliament back in 2010 as the first Green MP, I used every possible trick in the book to push the environment up the UK’s political agenda. In the early days, progress was agonisingly slow. Simply making the case that Britain should be powered by renewables, not fossil fuels, was a daily battle. Every single budget, I would stand up and ask the same question: what about the climate? And then, quite quickly, things finally began to change.

I’ll never forget the moment I realised the environment movement had finally entered the political mainstream. The shift dawned on me during the school strikes five years ago, which brought over a million people worldwide out on to the streets in protest. I stood on top of a makeshift platform on a fire engine outside parliament and saw a vast crowd of young people, stretching as far as the eye could see, demanding climate justice and action.

Caroline Lucas is an environmental activist and former Green MP

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Nature-related law cases focused on rights and corporate responsibility are set to increase in the next few years, the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) said on Tuesday in a report.

The UK appears set to enter a new era of stronger, better coordinated climate policy and diplomacy under a Labour government  - although some changes will be soft, and still fall short of what’s needed to gain ground on the country's goal for net zero emissions by 2050.  

EU carbon prices were marginally higher at midday on Wednesday after a fairly volatile morning characterised by strong volume, as an EUA rally after the daily auction appeared to be a reaction to another increase in speculators' net short positions and was not matched by a recovery in natural gas, casting further doubt on the recent correlation between the two markets.

Next government urged to have a proper plan for food security, as UK’s climate becomes more unpredictable

UK fruit and vegetable production has plummeted as farms have been hit by extreme weather.

The country suffered the wettest 18 months since records began across the 2023-24 growing year, leaving soil waterlogged and some farms totally underwater. The impact on harvests has been disastrous. Data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs shows that year-on-year vegetable yields decreased by 4.9% to 2.2m tonnes in 2023, and the production volumes of fruit decreased by 12% to 585,000 tonnes.

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A tree-planting startup has raised €5 million seed investment to expand its voluntary carbon project development pipeline across Europe.

The US state of New York has drafted a plan to advance efforts towards protecting 30% of its land and sea by 2030, saying an additional 1.2 million hectares must be conserved to achieve this target.

A materials science company and a research institution based in Saudi Arabia have announced a year-long research and development partnership focused on CO2 removal via concrete, aimed at generating voluntary carbon credits.

European shipping emissions dropped sharply by 15% in 2023 compared to the previous year, in large part due to a reduced demand for energy and general goods from the EU, according to preliminary emissions data published this week. 

A carryover mechanism introduced in China's draft permit allocation plan may help boost liquidity and reduce oversupply in the national carbon market, though the arrangement could result in great selling pressure among Chinese emitters. 

The federal government introduced its Future Made in Australia legislation to parliament Wednesday, designed in part to unlock some A$22.7 billion ($15.1 bln) in public funding over the next decade to drive investment into industries that will transition the country to net zero emissions and, the government hopes, turn it into a renewable energy superpower.

A group of Japanese companies will pilot a technology that captures CO2 in urban spaces and uses it to grow vegetables and other plants that can be sold on the spot at places like railway stations in one of the country’s biggest cities.

Experts believe songbird is suffering from Usutu virus, first detected in UK in 2020

Beloved by Shakespeare and the Beatles, the blackbird and its sweet song have captured the imagination of Britons for centuries.

But now the songbird is facing decline, and the British public has been asked to contribute to a survey by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) to find out why.

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Labor says the world is changing, and its $22 billion Future Made in Australia deal is essential to protect its future in a low carbon world.

The post “The world is changing:” Labor targets solar and battery industries in $22 billion green deal appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The energy transition is changing the face of historic coal mining and farming regions and community leaders are calling for better consultation on renewables.

The post From “carbon-based economies” to renewable energy hubs, regions face their future appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A study commissioned by the Australian government on its biodiversity offset sites has found that 30% of the areas surveyed were in worse condition than before the projects started, and found missing, incomplete, and incorrect information in many of the projects' documentation.

Rio Tinto has finished an off-grid solar farm in Canada and signed off on two in the NT, as it looks to support end-of-mine-life energy needs.

The post Rio Tinto leans into solar PV for end-of-life mines appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Mass adoption of e-bikes in Australia requires better infrastructure, new government regulation and price incentives. But you can still enjoy the benefits now. Muhammad Rizwan Azhar, Lecturer of Chemical Engineering, Sustainable Energy and Resources, Edith Cowan University Waqas Uzair, Research Associate, Advanced Battery Systems and Safety, Edith Cowan University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A South Korean power company has secured a government-backed international carbon project in Uzbekistan, as part of Seoul's efforts to obtain Paris-aligned carbon credits through expanding partnerships in Central Asia.

NSW seeks to fast track transmission lines and pumped hydro projects proposed for coal sites targeted by the Coalition for large scale nuclear.

The post NSW gives top priority to new transmission links and pumped hydro plans for old coal facilities appeared first on RenewEconomy.