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Progress for plans to build more than 4GW of wind, solar and battery storage projects in Queensland coal country, as wind farm wins state approval.

The post Massive wind, solar and battery project edges ahead in Central Queensland appeared first on RenewEconomy.

ASX-listed miner looks to invest some of its windfall coal profits into renewables, including a potential giga-scale solar, wind and pumped hydro project in Queensland.

The post New Hope for renewables? Coal miner floats huge solar, wind and pumped hydro plan appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Newcomers in Australia found and took rich pastures made by Aboriginal fire. Without fire, pastures would revert to forest or scrub. Bill Gammage, Emeritus Professor, Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Rooftop and distributed solar set remarkable new record for the world's biggest standalone grid after peaking at nearly 2GW and a 74 pct share of output.

The post Rooftop solar takes record 74 pct share of generation in world’s biggest standalone grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Majority of offset projects that have sold the most carbon credits are ‘likely junk’, according to analysis by Corporate Accountability and the Guardian

The vast majority of the environmental projects most frequently used to offset greenhouse gas emissions appear to have fundamental failings suggesting they cannot be relied upon to cut planet-heating emissions, according to a new analysis.

The global, multibillion-dollar voluntary carbon trading industry has been embraced by governments, organisations and corporations including oil and gas companies, airlines, fast-food brands, fashion houses, tech firms, art galleries and universities as a way of claiming to reduce their greenhouse gas footprint.

A total of 39 of the top 50 emission offset projects, or 78% of them, were categorised as likely junk or worthless due to one or more fundamental failing that undermines its promised emission cuts.

Eight others (16%) look problematic, with evidence suggesting they may have at least one fundamental failing and are potentially junk, according to the classification system applied.

The efficacy of the remaining three projects (6%) could not be determined definitively as there was insufficient public, independent information to adequately assess the quality of the credits and/or accuracy of their claimed climate benefits.

Overall, $1.16bn (£937m) of carbon credits have been traded so far from the projects classified by the investigation as likely junk or worthless; a further $400m of credits bought and sold were potentially junk.

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The Prince of Wales joins the global stage in New York as the Earthshot Prize finalists are revealed.

Plans set to be announced on Friday could include delaying ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars

Rishi Sunak is planning to row back on some of the government’s net zero policies that impose a direct cost on consumers as the Conservatives attempt to create a dividing line with Labour before the next election.

The Guardian understands that the move, expected to be announced in a major speech this Friday, could include delaying a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and watering down the phasing out of gas boilers.

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Plans could include delaying a ban on sales of new petrol cars and the phasing out of gas boilers.

An unattended pastry truck was irresistible to a bear mom and her cub, who gorged on doughnuts before being chased away

Two bears on an Alaska military base raided a Krispy Kreme doughnut van that was stopped outside a convenience store during its delivery route.

The driver usually left his doors open when he stopped at the store but this time a sow and one of her cubs that loitered nearby sauntered inside, where they stayed for probably 20 minutes on Tuesday morning, said Shelly Deano, the store manager for Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson JMM Express. The bears chomped on doughnut holes and other pastries, ignoring the banging on the side of the van that was intended to shoo them away, Deano said.

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Prof Lesley Hughes and others says there is ‘cognitive dissonance’ between Labor’s stated commitment to the climate crisis and its policies

The Australian government is “missing half the equation” in acting on the climate crisis by backing a shift to renewable energy but having no plan to get out of fossil fuels, according to an author of a new scientific review.

Prof Lesley Hughes is a leading climate change scientist and member of the independent Climate Council and government advisory body the Climate Change Authority. Hughes said there is a “cognitive dissonance” between Labor’s stated commitment to addressing the problem and the pace at which it is moving.

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These beady-eyed, bulletproof birds are an adaptive species – and their lift and lilt is like a flight path that takes me safely home

• The Australian bird of the year poll launches on 25 September 2023
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One year I built myself a little nest in a green tent, surrounded by moonahs and gumtrees. Inside, I had an old embroidered tablecloth, its coloured threads stitched in swirls. I had crocheted rugs, a bean bag, a small seat and a floor covering.

From the tent I felt and heard the beauty in many small things: the way the light came through the fabric walls; the birds, so close to me, feeding in the wet soil; the magpies singing all morning from high up in the dry branches of the gumtree; tiny wrens of yellow and grey, a mass of them flitting in the tea tree; wattlebirds clacking; and the lift and lilt of the currawongs carolling.

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Google DeepMind has used its technology to identify parts of human DNA that might cause diseases.

Federal Government urged to facet-track net zero target to 2035 to try and avoid the worst impacts of warming on an already vulnerable Australia.

The post “We should lead:” Australia urged to fast track net zero to 2035, as El Niño declared appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Report says climate change made rainfall heavier but human factors turned extreme weather into humanitarian disaster

Carbon pollution led to heavier rains and stronger floods in Greece and Libya this month but other human factors were responsible for “turning the extreme weather into a humanitarian disaster”, scientists have said.

Global heating made the levels of rainfall that devastated the Mediterranean in early September up to 50 times more likely in Libya and up to 10 times more likely in Greece, according to a study from World Weather Attribution that used established methods but had not yet been peer-reviewed.

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New solar farm in the Riverina joins the grid and will help power the operations of the NBN as it moves towards its goal of 100% renewable purchases.

The post Another big solar farm plugs into the grid, this one to help power the NBN appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Melting ice caps and rising sea levels are urgent but people care more about the floods, wildfires and droughts that are here now, New York summit hears

Floods, wildfires, drought and the onslaught of extreme weather are driving a global health crisis that must be put at the centre of climate action, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

“The climate crisis is a health crisis; it drives extreme weather and is taking lives around the world,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the WHO, said. “Melting ice caps and rising sea levels are, of course, crucial issues, but for most people they are distant threats in both time and place. The threats of our changing climate are right here and right now.”

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The Australian Energy Market Operator is teaming up with CSIRO and two universities to lead a new push to fast-track the shift to 100% renewables.

The post AEMO and CSIRO to lead new study into 100 pct renewable grids appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The federal Coalition's now ideological push for nuclear power – a technology it refused to countenance in 10 years of government – is taking a truly bizarre turn.

The post The stunning stupidity of the Coalition nuclear push is now in plain view appeared first on RenewEconomy.

WA government awards contracts worth more than $1 billion with China 's CATL to supply batteries for two of the country's biggest battery projects.

The post China’s CATL lands billion dollar contracts for two massive battery projects in WA appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The deal with some of the Sunshine State's biggest new wind projects will power 50% of BHP's central Queensland metallurgical coal operations.

The post BHP signs up wind and hydro in new power purchase deal for coal mines appeared first on RenewEconomy.