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Introduced with the right safeguards and a well-publicised countryside code, freeing up access to green space can reset our relationship with nature

During a recent House of Commons debate on public access to nature, MPs on both sides of the aisle seized the opportunity to indulge in a spot of bucolic lyricism. William Wordsworth, John Keats, Laurie Lee, John Constable and Beatrix Potter were among those mentioned in dispatches. But the most significant intervention was made by the then shadow minister for nature, Alex Sobel.

A future Labour government, said Mr Sobel, would introduce Scottish-style right-to-roam legislation in England, vastly expanding access to woods, rivers and grasslands. Labour would offer people “the right to experience, the right to enjoy and the right to explore”. In a country where the right to roam currently applies to only 8% of land, this was an approach that was true to the party’s long tradition of campaigning for wider access to the countryside. It is also one which has huge popular support.

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Rooftop PV sets new records for share of generation, and sends minimum demand levels to new low, taking a bigger bite out of the fossil fuel lunch, and that of large scale solar farms.

The post Rooftop PV take a bite out of everyone’s lunch as minimum demand records tumble again appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Increasing infestation in the Italian capital blamed on city’s refuse problem and high temperatures

Andrea Velardi had just settled down to dine on the terrace of his friend’s apartment near Campi de’ Fiori in central Rome when he felt an excruciating pain in his foot.

It was nearing sunset on a sweltering day in mid-August, and his friend had valiantly tried to kill off the unusually large wasps that had been swarming around the terrace before the guests arrived. “He wanted to protect us,” said Velardi. “But one on the ground beneath the table was still alive … the pain was tremendous, and my foot swelled up so much I couldn’t walk. I knew straight away that this wasn’t a normal wasp sting.”

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Malaysia’s federal government on Saturday said it would end biodiversity-related payments to Kelantan if the state goes through with its plans to remove protections for vast areas of rainforest.

Largest vanadium flow battery in south hemisphere is going through its commissioning process at Port Pirie, with big hopes for the future of round-the-clock storage.

The post Vanadium flow batteries stake a claim for round the clock storage for renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Scientists says soil carbon projects are overblown by as much as 10 times, which risks the accuracy of Australia's greenhouse gas inventory.

The post Australian scientists raise “serious concerns” over soil carbon offsets for fossil fuels appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Two weeks of negotiations among the almost 30 member nations of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) ended Friday evening in Hobart, Australia with a fresh failure to establish three marine protected areas (MPAs) in the region representing more than 1% of the global ocean.

Health bodies demand all governments immediately cease expansion of new fossil fuel infrastructure and production

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Global health bodies are demanding international governments urgently phase out fossil fuels and fast-track renewable energy as health professionals increasingly see patients suffering from harm caused by climate change.

The world’s leading GP and health bodies, representing more than three million health professionals worldwide, will deliver an open letter on Saturday calling for urgent action against climate change to protect the health of communities.

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Glow worms are a rare sight in the UK but one young conservationist is trying to bring them back.

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Regulated parties entered the third week of growing their V23 California Carbon Allowance (CCA) and RGGI Allowance (RGA) holdings while reducing V24 net length, as financial players continued to build V24 net positions, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed Friday.

Washington state industrial emitters will receive slightly more free allowances under the cap-and-invest programme in 2024 than this year, with some individual economic sectors seeing fluctuations of several hundred thousand permits, according to government data published Friday.

While carbon removal technologies and measures to address supply chain emissions still hold numerous challenges, industry proponents are maintaining an optimistic outlook for the future, a conference heard this week.

Members of the public, non-profits, and energy producers want the RGGI cap-and-trade system to better model the impacts of renewable energy projects, and also reconsider a proposed full annual compliance surrender, according to newly released comments submitted to the scheme’s ongoing RGGI’s Third Program Review.

The UN’s Green Climate Fund (GCF) approved $736.4 million of funding across 15 climate projects in developing countries this week, support that is expected to be boosted to $3.6 billion once co-financing is included.

Levels of optimism on whether the EU is on the right track eight years on from signing of the Paris Agreement diverged amongst key climate stakeholders at an event in Brussels on Friday, as the experts prepared for this year's UN negotiations where they deem it crucial to secure a global fossil fuel phaseout commitment.

Now is the time for regulation to hold the financial sector to account on nature loss, and tools like biodiversity credits and patient capital can catalyse action, according to a Switzerland-based NGO.

The $750-million dollar deal between New York-headquartered Hess and the Guyanese government for the purchase of tens of millions of avoided deforestation carbon credits will not be affected by the former's acquisition at the hands of the global energy giant, Guyana's vice president said Thursday.

EU leaders tasked Brussels to accelerate work to safeguard the competitiveness of the bloc's clean technologies in the conclusions adopted on Friday following their European Council summit, responding to pressures from the industry for the upcoming legislature.

Using acoustic monitoring devices to collect data about ecosystem health based on the sounds of different animals living in an area is a powerful and cost-effective way of measuring biodiversity and should be one of the primary data collection methods in new biodiversity crediting systems, say industry sources.