Feed aggregator

A group of researchers receiving EU support has begun work on an interactive model to describe how different green policy and investment scenarios transform EU industry from 1990-2070, as the EU shifts into the implementation phase of its flagship Green Deal.

US oil majors Chevron and ExxonMobil reported their full-year earnings on Friday, with both posting a drop in income as oil prices fell, after a year in which the companies’ commitments to cut emissions were juxtaposed with record domestic production levels.

California electricity sector CO2 emissions in December and for full year 2023 maintained the trend of sitting at decade lows, even as the share of natural gas power supply remained near record highs, data published Thursday showed.

UN climate chief says ‘torrents, not trickles’ of public and private finance needed to meet global challenge

Governments must not try to pick loopholes in the global agreement to “transition away” from fossil fuels reached last December, the UN’s climate chief has said, as he called for “torrents” of cash for poorer countries to tackle the crisis.

Some countries have sought to play down the significance of the deal reached at the Cop28 UN climate summit in Dubai, the first time that governments have made such a pledge on oil and gas.

Continue reading...

As a professional footballer I see the climate crisis killing my sport and believe we have a duty to act accordingly

When I play football I feel free from the worries of day-to-day life. But as a young person living in a climate and environmental crisis, these worries have become increasingly hard to ignore. This has been made even harder by the fact that the climate crisis is killing my sport, and one of the companies most responsible is plastering its name all over football in England to distract from what it is doing.

As a professional footballer, I’ve had the privilege of representing my country, New Zealand, 15 times. From being a champion of Italy with Juventus to playing most recently for Hearts in the Scottish Women’s Premier League, I have been lucky enough to experience football in a variety of settings. The goal was always to use football as a means to experience the world, but it turns out the world I’ve been experiencing isn’t what I thought it would be.

Continue reading...

Respiratory scientists say inaction will ‘widen inequality gap’ between eastern and western Europe

• Europe live – latest updates

Proposed delays to EU air pollution limits will mean hundreds of thousands more people dying early and will “widen the inequality gap” between eastern and western Europe, a group of public health experts have said, as EU negotiators thrash out key rules to clean up the air.

The World Health Organization has set guidelines for how many tiny particles and how much toxic gas can dirty the air, but stressed that no level of pollution is safe to breathe. Doctors writing in the International Journal of Public Health want the limits met by the end of the decade, but the European parliament wants to wait till 2035, the European Commission wants to set weaker limits for 2030 without setting a date to align with the WHO, and the European Council wants to let poorer countries wait till 2040.

Continue reading...

European carbon prices shook off the weakest German auction of the year to date to trade slightly above a key technical level that has acted as a fulcrum for the market for the last two weeks, as energy markets were mixed amid continued conflicting pressures.

In the UK and around the world, those who challenge rich corporations are being hounded and crushed with ever-more inventive penalties

Why are peaceful protesters treated like terrorists, while actual terrorists (especially on the far right, and especially in the US) often remain unmolested by the law? Why, in the UK, can you now potentially receive a longer sentence for “public nuisance” – non-violent civil disobedience – than for rape or manslaughter? Why are ordinary criminals being released early to make space in overcrowded prisons, only for the space to be refilled with political prisoners: people trying peacefully to defend the habitable planet?

There’s a simple explanation. It was clearly expressed by a former analyst at the US Department of Homeland Security. “You don’t have a bunch of companies coming forward saying: ‘I wish you’d do something about these rightwing extremists.’” The disproportionate policing of environmental protest, the new offences and extreme sentences, the campaigns of extrajudicial persecution by governments around the world are not, as politicians constantly assure us, designed to protect society. They’re a response to corporate lobbying.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

Continue reading...

The rollout of the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) could encourage companies to further engage with decarbonising their supply chain through the process of insetting, said a carbon management platform that helps companies measure and report on their emissions.

Carbon credits from the two Kasigau Corridor REDD avoided deforestation projects can again be delivered into CBL’s N-GEO spot contract, the exchange said Friday, following news that Verra has completed its review of the Kenyan projects that were mired by allegations of sexual offences by staff and improper employment practices.

Flowers used in the ‘microbiome garden’ can enhance gut health by being eaten or just walked past

An “edible meadow” designed to improve gut health is to be displayed at the Chelsea flower show this year.

The two gardeners behind the “microbiome garden” say it will be filled with flowers that can enhance gut health by being eaten or just walked past.

Continue reading...

Governments all over the world are propping up overfishing. Now scientists have penned an open letter calling on trade ministers to implement stricter regulations against harmful fisheries subsidies. Vania Andreoli, PhD Candidate, The University of Western Australia Dirk Zeller, Professor & Director, Sea Around Us - Indian Ocean, The University of Western Australia Jessica Meeuwig, Wen Family Chair in Conservation, The University of Western Australia Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Allowance prices in China’s carbon market hovered just above the 70 yuan ($9.86) level over the past week with an uptick in liquidity, while the national offset market saw a plunge in trading volumes amid sluggish demand.

A coalition of over 100 Brazilian businesses has partnered with impact data and analytics provider GIST Impact to accelerate the adoption of the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) recommendations.

The Taiwanese government has revamped its domestic carbon offset methodologies in a bid to ensure the quality of carbon credits and to encourage participation in the emerging voluntary market.

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

Continue reading...

Ecologists condemn watchdog decision, accusing it of making reckless changes to allow easier logging of state forests containing glider habitat

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

NSW’s environmental watchdog has put the endangered greater glider on a fast track to extinction by watering down logging protections, experts say.

Ecologists from WWF-Australia and Wilderness Australia have condemned the watchdog, accusing it of making reckless changes so Forestry Corporation can more easily log state forests.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Scaling funding to tackle biodiversity loss will be one of the top priorities of next week's Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Council meeting, as discussions on the newly established Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) are set to take centre stage.

China's non-ferrous metals sector will see around 80 domestic aluminium producers covered by the national CO2 emissions trading scheme when the carbon market expands its sectoral coverage, an industry group has said.

A Switzerland-based technology initiative has launched what it says is the world’s first blockchain-native carbon credits, where all units are verified and issued directly on blockchain.