Feed aggregator

Bulgaria’s government has submitted plans to the EU detailing how it will help coal-reliant regions phase out the fuel, aiming to run the country’s coal-fired power units until 2038 without setting dates for when each plant will be retired.

Policymakers around the world must work together to tackle climate change by setting minimum carbon prices as well as removing trade barriers, avoiding subsidy races, and finding ways to “crowd-in” private financing, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday.

Nearby nature-based carbon credit futures tumbled over the past week to create backwardation between the spot and the December future, as much of the rest of the market was little changed despite relatively strong volumes.

Power generation covered by the EU ETS fell by more than one-fifth over the first nine months of 2023, compared to the same period last year, according to data collated by a research organisation, with weak demand and rising low-carbon output crushing fossil fuel burn.

Rightwing thinktank Civitas mistakenly cost onshore wind power 10,000 times higher than reality and claimed bill would be £4.5tn

A report that hugely overestimated the cost to the UK of reaching net zero emissions has been retracted by the rightwing thinktank that published it.

The Civitas pamphlet published on Thursday claimed to offer a “realistic” estimate of the cost – £4.5tn – and said “the government needs to be honest with the British people”. However, factual errors were quickly pointed out after publication.

Continue reading...

A San Francisco-based direct air capture (DAC) company on Monday revealed its principles for "high-road" CO2 removal (CDR), which include barring the use of fossil fuel revenues and raising barriers for energy industry involvement.

The largest bank in the UAE has signed two strategic partnerships for the supply of "high-quality" carbon credits in a further step to becoming the UAE’s carbon trading hub.

You will play a central role in Abatable’s growth, helping corporations and investors to effectively navigate, access, and invest in high-integrity climate solutions, thereby fostering enduring positive effects on the environment and society at large. You will be an expert on Abatable’s procurement and market intelligence services focused on identifying new business opportunities, qualifying their needs, developing strategies and driving opportunities to closure.

UK energy minister Claire Coutinho announced Monday a shortlist of companies selected to build small-scale nuclear reactors in the country, alongside measures to boost rooftop solar expansion and energy efficiency investment, as she emphasised energy security and job creation in a speech to her party.

Exclusive: Bosses who signed letter eight years ago now highly critical of PM’s plans to roll back net zero policies

Business leaders who warned against Ed Miliband in 2015 have now turned on Rishi Sunak, criticising the prime minister’s plans to roll back net zero policies.

Some of Britain’s top entrepreneurs have told the Guardian that the plans have caused uncertainty for business, reduced the country’s international standing and punished investors who made early decisions on net zero based on the original timeline.

Continue reading...

Behold the slug and you behold a teenager, in all of her magic and power

Slugs have not inspired much poetry – though this line from Brian Swann is nice: “Turn them over, they’re the soles of new shoes, / pale and unmarked as babies.”

Virginia Woolf insulted her enemies, herself and the perfectly nice city of Brighton with slug name calling. In an essay called Spiralling around Snails and Slugs in Virginia Woolf Miscellany, Elisa Kay Sparks lists these insults. “Poor creature! He knows he’s but a slug”; a “white and voluble slug”; “Brighton a love corner for slugs”. When she is lonely, Woolf writes, “I relish the commonest animated slug”; when she is sick: “I turned over like a slug and slept the month of February out”.

Continue reading...

Even if the 2050 goal is still met, postponing action – as the UK has done – will cause more heat and damage

Postponing action and taking a slower route to net zero emissions by 2050 will worsen the climate crisis even if the goal is still reached by that date, the new chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned.

Prof Jim Skea also said that approving new oil and gas fields only increased the already large amount of reserves that will have to be kept in the ground if global heating limits are to be reached.

Continue reading...

Global companies need clearer guidance on what 'beyond value chain mitigation' is and which claims they can make make based on their actions, according to a consultation process carried out by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

European carbon fell on Monday morning, dropping to an eight-day low as demand appeared to be retreating amid growing expectations that fossil burn will remain weak even at the start of the winter demand season, while energy prices also retreated as North Sea gas supply improved.

Wetland conservation has the highest potential impact for mitigating climate change when compared with alternative ocean-based solutions, according to researchers at a British university, with the report proposing cost-per-tonne levels across different activities to ensure the protection of such ecosystems.

An alliance of more than 20 organisations and companies has urged the Australian government to design a national restoration plan with targets and funding mechanisms to turn the tide as the nation’s ecosystem degradation and decline continue at scale.

Companies in England and Wales want to charge up to £84 a year more in 2025, rising to £156 extra by 2030.

The UAE has offered to host the UN climate summit for a second consecutive year with Russia blocking Armenia and Azerbaijan's proposals for the 2024 event, according to media reports, as the Middle Eastern nation's state oil company doubles its carbon capture goal, and major oil and gas firms are said to have agreed at a summit in Abu Dhabi to rally around a 2050 net zero target.

The new space observatory sees pairs of Jupiter-sized objects floating free between the stars.

Financial institutions should use more diversified approaches and metrics to ensure an adequate evaluation of transition finance for the hard-to-abate sectors, an expert group of major Japanese banks has argued.