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Exclusive: Documents show warnings that changes would weaken environmental protections were ignored

Ministers have been accused of “misleading the public” after documents obtained by Ends Report and the Guardian revealed they ignored their officials’ advice when scrapping key air quality regulations.

On 31 December, two key air quality regulations will drop off the statute book under the Retained EU Law (REUL) Act.

. Revoke the NAPCP with no replacement, with the environment improvement plan (EIP) becoming the alternative process

2. Revoke the NAPCP provisions and introduce a new process for assessing policy options, with a new process triggered by a failure or potential failure to achieve a target

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Thailand has already issued mitigation outcomes from its landmark electric bus Article 6.2 carbon crediting programme and is "on track" to complete the first-ever transfer of an ITMO for use under an NDC national emissions pledge before the end of the COP28 conference, according to stakeholders close to the process.

A new hydrogen methodology presented at COP28 may facilitate greenwashing practices from the fossil fuel industry, say concerned NGOs.

An Indian carbon offset project developer has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a major government-owned oil company to promote indoor solar cooking systems at the household level in India and other developing economies, it said Wednesday.

It's Day 7 of COP and Carbon Pulse journalists are still going strong as Week 1 draws to a close. 'Urbanisation Day' here in Dubai, and several scary reports are emerging around global warming tipping points, as progress continues in negotiation rooms on the Global Stocktake and Article 6, with phaseout language, and UN crediting in focus. The EU's CBAM and concerns over a clean energy subsidy race are also infiltrating negotiating rooms, a key theme likely to spill over into Week 2. In our daily running blog, Carbon Pulse will report relevant or useful updates throughout the day. Timestamps are in local time (Gulf Standard Time, GMT+4).

The first use of carbon credits to de-risk the financing of large-scale grid infrastructure build-out in developing countries, using the Paris Agreement's Article 6.2 mechanism, has been put forward with the launch of a new study in partnership with a European utility-backed project developer, to be put into practice in an African country in need of transmission line upgrades.

Sixth day of Cop28 comes as new report says threats to humanity drawing closer as carbon pollution heats the planet to ever more dangerous levels

Good times! The guitarist Nile Rodgers has made an appearance with activists at Cop28.

Rodgers is co-founder of the We Are Family Foundation, which staged a joint #Education4Earth event with Earth Day at Cop28’s Blue Zone.

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Environmental groups and nature experts have welcomed Australia’s Nature Repair Market legislation being passed in Parliament with amendments to prohibit the use of offsets, however lingering concerns remain about how this would exactly work in practice. 

An actual platypus in the dam – a miracle!

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Urine found to contain ‘significantly’ increased concentrations of glyphosate, which is associated with fetal problems

Pregnant women living near farm fields show “significantly” increased concentrations of glyphosate weedkiller in their urine during periods when farmers are spraying their fields with the herbicide, according to a new scientific paper published on Wednesday.

The research team said the findings were concerning, given recent studies that have found gestational exposure to glyphosate is associated with reduced fetal growth and other fetal problems. Glyphosate separately has been linked to cancer and other health problems.

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A Singapore-headquartered carbon exchange has teamed up with a project ratings agency to launch a new contract for the voluntary market that only includes credits from the highest-ranked projects.

Snowy Hydro's Hunter Power Project has kept a low profile compared to Snowy 2.0 – but it has a strikingly similar list of troubles sending it over budget and off schedule.

The post Another dud Snowy Hydro project, squandering over $1.5bn of taxpayers’ money appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Danish wind turbine manufacturing giant Vestas has received type certification for its 15MW offshore wind turbine, making the turbine ready for commercial use.

The post Vestas massive 15MW offshore wind turbine ready for service appeared first on RenewEconomy.

EnergyAustralia reveals updated plan for NSW pumped hydro project with key components hidden from view as it seeks to finalise several major battery projects.

The post EnergyAustralia hides pumped hydro from view as it seeks to lock in giant Victoria battery appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Nature, everyone agrees, is in trouble. But can Australia’s new market-based mechanism help? Patrick O'Connor, Associate Professor, University of Adelaide Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

AGL signs deal with Australian start-up that says it can recycle batteries without creating a sludge known as "black mass"

The post AGL signs up battery recycling innovator that avoids “black mass” for Hunter hub appeared first on RenewEconomy.

COP28 host country the United Arab Emirates is "cautiously optimistic" on a deal to at least phase them out

The world is well off track to limit warming to 1.5C, but there have been some encouraging steps.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

Hot and wet weather, and the added complications of Covid and the Gaza conflict, have caused more delays for the return of the Callide C coal generator units.

The post Heat and rain delay return to service of Queensland’s busted coal plants appeared first on RenewEconomy.