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California electricity sector CO2 emissions continued to decrease from the previous year's levels in October, but at a more moderate pace than in recent months, as shares of natural gas CO2 output skyrocketed and renewables fell back, data published Monday showed.

Between Black Friday and Christmas we will see adverts encouraging people to desire things that don’t reveal what they could cost the planet

Late in November 1998, a British newspaper alerted its readers to a strange quirk of American culture. At 5am on the day after Thanksgiving, queues were forming at US shopping malls, and the roads were busy with more would-be shoppers. It was called “Black Friday”, explained the reporter, the day when retailers could expect to see their bottom lines magically go from red to black. And what was selling this year? Fluffy robots called Furby dolls. By 6.05am, the main toyshop inside one mall in Boston had sold out of its entire stock of Furby dolls. The Guardian’s librarians believe that this is the first mention of Black Friday in any British national newspaper. A quarter of a century later, your Furby may be a relic but Black Friday has gone global.

Marketing changes our norms, and the eight weeks of Christmas broadcasts are the industry’s yearly jamboree. It’s forecast that this month and next, a record £9.5bn will be blown on advertising, more than the UK government spends on prisons in a year. This is the philosophy of “spending like there’s no tomorrow” – literally, given the climate crisis. Once Christmas has passed, the adverts will offer up many alternative ways to fry the planet.

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Two carbon removal project developers have joined forces to explore the development of large-scale direct air capture (DAC) facilities in Canada.

Tree-planting initiatives to increase CO2 sequestration, as part of forest management strategies supported by recent US legislation, may not offset the carbon emitted from related efforts to reduce the risk of wildfires, a new study warns.

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The EU can help Africa achieve its climate goals by raising its demand for carbon credits, Kenya's president William Ruto told the European Parliament on Tuesday.

UK-based CreditNature has closed its third funding round at £470,000, increasing its valuation to almost £5 million, the company has said.

Pakistan’s federal government is working on a comprehensive policy framework to establish its domestic carbon market, the prime minister’s office said on Monday as reported by local media.

Eight of the largest fossil burning power companies in the EU each posted a year-on-year drop in ETS-covered output in excess of 14% over the first nine months of the year, leading analysts to consider the impact on EUAs of the increasing uncertainty of estimating utility emissions in light of clean energy expansion, and the bearish potential of a continued decline in forward hedging from the sector.

Police in southern city of Tilburg tell residents to stay indoors after owner reported missing snake

An “extremely venomous” 2-metre green mamba snake is on the loose in the Netherlands, police have said, warning residents to stay indoors and under no circumstances attempt to ensnare the serpent.

Police in the southern city of Tilburg said they were alerted by the mamba’s owner on Monday evening that “he was missing a snake”.

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An experiment with a common jellyfish has revealed the potential harm of seabed mining on creatures in the deep.

The UK and South Korea are set to sign a clean energy partnership on Wednesday to boost cooperation on low carbon technologies, renewables including offshore wind, and tackling climate change.

Marketplace Plastic Credit Exchange (PCX) has claimed parts of two reports raising concerns about pollution from plastic credits, linked to burning the material as fuel, are inaccurate.

The Guardian led the way in taking the climate crisis seriously and is still, arguably, the only outlet that truly recognizes the urgency of this moment

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To confront the climate crisis, we need reliable information – informed journalism, fearless reporting and trustworthy interpretation. A publication that recognizes the power of grassroots movements, activism and climate organizations in changing the world. An informed and engaged public to be able to take on the unprecedented challenge of the climate emergency. That’s why we need the Guardian.

The Guardian is different. Those differences make it a better news organization when it comes to the climate, including this crucial difference: it doesn’t take money from fossil fuel companies for advertisements, so it’s not running climate stories alongside climate lies from the top destroyers.

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The winners and finalists of this year’s contest celebrate the blue planet, but they also draw attention to the many environmental challenges to marine life and ecosystems – from a warming climate to human development and tourism

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Internal emails show pressure from industry lobbyists and politicians led Trump-era agency to change position on aldicarb

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering approving a pesticide for use on Florida oranges and grapefruits despite the fact that agency scientists have repeatedly found the chemical does not meet safety standards designed to protect children’s health, internal agency records show.

EPA emails indicate how for years, agency scientists have wanted to deny new uses of aldicarb, but appear to have not done so because of persistent pressure from chemical industry lobbyists, politicians and political appointees.

This story is co-published with the New Lede, a journalism project of the Environmental Working Group

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Global warming is not the only driver of the headlong rush to transition to green energy that has triggered a borrowing binge battle between the US and China - the world is also running out of cheap and easily extracted oil.

The Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) will publish additional guidance on Nov. 28 to supplement its 'Claims Code of Practice' that is expected to include details of easier tiers of achievement to help corporates onto the mitigation ladder, while still avoiding allegations of greenwashing when buying carbon credits.

Report finds excessive supernormal profits are becoming the norm for Australia's regulated networks, harming power affordability and diverting billions from the energy transition.

The post Network super profits cost consumers up to $400 a year, and slow the shift to renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

At annual yacht show, only a handful of customers said they were troubled by vessels’ disproportionate carbon footprint

The largest of the yachts in Monaco’s harbour were worth more than the annual GDP of some small island states. But few of the customers touring their decks seemed to care that buying the former would help drown the latter. “I don’t think about this yet,” said Elena Papernaya, an artist who had set her eyes on a mid-sized yacht, when asked if she worried about the damage it would do to the climate.

Kasper Hojgaard, a regional manager for an industrial company who charters yachts for a few weeks each year, said he did not consider climate change “at all” when doing so. His friend Lasse Jensen, a pension fund manager, nodded in agreement. “We are beginning to look a bit more into it, but it’s not playing a role.”

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