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The French president has called for action at a climate summit in Paris attended by heads of state and scientists before Cop28

France will spend €1bn (£880m) on polar research between now and 2030, amid rapidly rising scientific concern over the world’s melting ice caps and glaciers.

A new polar science vessel will spearhead the effort, and France is calling for a moratorium on the exploitation of the seabed in polar regions, to which the UK, Canada, Brazil and 19 other countries have so far signed up.

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Cambridge University scientists develop a device to ‘defossilise’ the economy using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide

Automated floating factories that manufacture green versions of petrol or diesel could soon be in operation thanks to pioneering work at the University of Cambridge. The revolutionary system would produce a net-zero fuel that would burn without creating fossil-derived emissions of carbon dioxide, say researchers.

The Cambridge project is based on a floating artificial leaf which has been developed at the university and which can turn sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into synthetic fuel. The group believe these thin, flexible devices could one day be exploited on a industrial scale.

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Renewable energy hit a record high of 72.9 per cent of total generation on Sunday, as a wave of wind and solar across the grid sent coal output and operational demand to new lows.

The post Renewables hit record high in Australia, as green energy transition rolls on appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Once a leader on global heating, Rishi Sunak’s anti-green policies are making Britain look increasingly isolated

Our planet and its inhabitants have endured a grim time over the past 10 months. According to climate scientists’ latest figures, 2023 will almost certainly prove to have been the hottest year ever recorded. Global temperatures are destined to reach 1.43C above those experienced before the Industrial Revolution. The consequences have been striking. Glaciers are disappearing, ice caps melting and deserts spreading at an accelerating rate. On top of these climatic blights, intense rainfall, droughts and wildfires are happening more frequently and violently than have ever been experienced, with disturbing consequences.

Around 2 billion people, almost a quarter of the world’s population, endured at least five consecutive days of extreme heat in 2023, an unprecedented level of meteorological misery that claimed thousands of lives. And forecasters say there is more to come. Next year, temperatures are likely to rise even further thanks to El Niño, a periodic appearance of sea-surface warming in the Pacific, which heats the atmosphere across the planet.

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On Saibai Island in the Torres Strait, homes are already being inundated by king tides, the cemetery has been affected by erosion and sea walls have been built

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“We cannot garden anymore. They have to go far away to get the seafood,” says Aunty McRose Elu of life on Saibai Island in the Torres Strait.

“All of the effects [of climate change] on the islands changes the life of our people.

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Windfarm critics claim projects will harm marine life. Scientists say that’s not backed by credible evidence

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Some pictures show a whale lifeless on a beach. In others, the whale is on fire, jumping from the ocean, as wind turbines loom behind it.

The pictures are shocking – intentionally so. Recently they’ve appeared on posters and placards and in social media posts in New South Wales’ Hunter and Illawarra regions, as part of a growing campaign against an Albanese government plan to open offshore windfarms zones off the coast.

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Mark Barrow returned to the site of an earlier shoot five years later and found aquatic life devastated by sewage

Five years ago, when Mark Barrow started his project to film along the 65-mile River Wharfe in Yorkshire, he captured footage of majestic shoals of grayling, the fish known as “the Lady of the Stream”, some 200 or 300 strong.

Recently, Barrow returned to the same spot, near the historic Harewood House on the outskirts of Leeds, to reshoot some video because he wasn’t happy with the quality of his earlier attempt.

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Deforestation in the Amazon has fallen to its lowest level in five years, according to a report published this week by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), while a fund to support these efforts was strengthened.

Fears grow that Rishi Sunak’s anti-green policy shift is driving investment in renewable energy abroad

The government has received no new applications for onshore wind farms in England since cabinet ministers eased planning rules earlier this year – in a further sign that Rishi Sunak’s anti-green policy shift is driving investment abroad.

So far this year, only one new project, with a single turbine, has become fully operational in England, with many more being built in the EU – and in Scotland and Wales, where planning rules are less burdensome. This is despite renewables being seen as the cleanest and safest form of power, and having wide public support.

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Charity says research dispels myth that wood burning, which has health risks, is a cheaper energy option

Wood burners are a more expensive way to heat homes than gas boilers or heat pumps, research shows.

A study found that as well as causing significant health and environmental dangers for the home’s occupants and their neighbours, it is up to 15% more costly to heat a home using a wood burner rather than a gas boiler.

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Thousands are asked to evacuate from a town in the southwest over fears magma has spread underground.

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Winners each awarded $1.2m at environmental awards founded by Prince William, and held in Asia for the first time.

The highest number of quarterly credits in the history of the programme saw Oregon's Clean Fuels Program (OCFP) generate the second highest quarterly net credit surplus during the second quarter of the year, even as gasoline deficits reached their peak, according to state data published Thursday.

An offset project developer part-owned by a major oil company has denied allegations by a Brazilian investigative news outlet that Indigenous people in the Amazon were deceived into signing carbon credit contracts.

The Attorney General’s office in New Hampshire is scrutinising the new business model of Bluesource Sustainable Forest Company (BSFC), which owns a 59,000-hectare tract at the state's tip, to assess its compliance with a 20-year-old easement originally intended for logging and recreation.

A Toronto-headquartered global wealth and asset manager announced on Friday the initial close of its forest fund investing in sustainably managed forests where carbon sequestration is prioritised over timber production.

Solar output records tumble across the grid on Friday, with the gap between solar power and coal output stretching to nearly 10 GW at one stage.

The post Solar records tumble across the grid, stretches midday gap over coal to nearly 10 GW appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A German-Brazilian startup focused on enhanced rock weathering (ERW) in tropical regions has successfully raised €5.6 million in an oversubscribed funding rounds, led by prominent impact, climate, and tech investors.

The Americas Partnership Fund for Nature will receive an initial $10 million from the US government, the White House said last week before launching the financing vehicle officially via a fact sheet Friday.