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European carbon markets continued to track retreating gas prices on Thursday, with reports that industrial strike action at a key LNG export plant in Australia has now been averted.

A weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

Implementing aligned policies across ministries and avoiding vested interests will be a key factor for governments as they hammer out strategies to meet the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)'s 30x30 target, according to a report led by WWF US released this week.

India can go from being a local wind power player to a global export hub with the right policy support, the Global Wind Power Energy Council (GWEC) said in a report released Thursday.

China's Guangdong province has released a comprehensive work plan to expand the scope of its carbon market by the end of this decade, as the economic hub aims to realise its climate goals and retain industry competitiveness.

The governments of the US, Norway, and Gabon have joined the UN, Interpol, and a range of civil society organisations in setting up a global alliance to fight nature-related crime.

An Australia carbon project developer has signed a development agreement with a Traditional Owner organisation to develop eight projects, generating millions of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) in South Australia, it announced Thursday.

People were overwhelmingly in favour of stopping oil drilling in Yasuní national park. Can this success be replicated elsewhere in the world?

Joy and hope are all too rarely associated with the environmental movement, but both have been in abundant supply since Ecuador’s people voted on Sunday to keep the country’s oil in the subsoil of the Yasuní national park. The question now is whether this is a one-off triumph, or something that can be replicated in other countries.

The referendum result obliges the state oil company to dismantle operations – 12 drilling platforms and 225 wells that produce up to 57,000 barrels a day – in block 43 of the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) project, an area of the Amazon rainforest famed for its ecological diversity, and which is home to two tribes that live in voluntary isolation. With more than 5.4 million votes in favour of halting production and 3.7 million against, this is the most decisive democratic victory against the fossil fuel industry in Latin America and, arguably, the world.

Jonathan Watts is the Guardian’s global environment editor

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An Australian carbon project developer specialising in environmental plantings is in the process of A$3 million to fund the next stage of growth, as it targets 30,000 hectares of plantings by 2030.

Public interest in climate change and global warming peaks after bushfires and lasts for months, research reveals. But Australians do not respond to storms and floods in the same way. Christopher Crellin, PhD Student / FNRS Aspirant, Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) Robert MacNeil, Lecturer in Environmental Politics, University of Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Greek firefighters have been struggling for five days to contain deadly wildfires throughout the country, several of them bordering an acrid, smoke-filled Athens

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The shift to renewables will not be cheap, the Intergenerational Report confirms, but it won’t cost nearly as much as it did to set up Australia’s fossil gas industry.

The post Shift to renewables will be cheaper than cost of setting up gas industry, says Chalmers appeared first on RenewEconomy.

NSW Greens call for climate act that sets a net zero target for 2035, as the Labor government ponders extending the life of the country's biggest coal fired generator.

The post Greens push for 2035 net zero target in NSW as Labor sweats over Eraring closure appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Work on Cockshut chalk stream will restore its natural flow, improving biodiversity and reducing flood risk

A chalk stream in Lewes, East Sussex, has been “rewiggled” to restore its natural flow and create a public wetland.

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Chandrayaan-3's rover Pragyaan exits Vikram lander and takes first steps near the little-explored south pole.

Indonesia has released regulations for its carbon exchange ahead of next month's emissions trading launch.

The private sector has a key role to play in developing National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and achieving the $200-billion funding target for nature, according to Pradeep Kurukulasuriya, director and executive coordinator of environmental finance at UNDP.

Water containing radioactive tritium being pumped into ocean via tunnel from Tepco plant, amid protests from China, South Korea and fishing communities

Japan has begun discharging more than 1m tonnes of tainted water into the Pacific Ocean from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, news agency Kyodo has reported, a move that has sparked protests and import bans from China and Hong Kong, and anger in nearby fishing communities.

The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), pumped a small quantity of water from the plant on Thursday, two days after the plan was approved by Japan’s government.

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Australia is expected to yield a A$435 billion ($282 bln) economic dividend if it can reach net zero emissions as well as replace existing fossil fuel-based exports with commodities and products vital for the energy transition, a new report says.

Equinor officially opens the largest floating wind farm in the world, with plans to bring this technology to Australia - hopefully not to power oil and gas rigs.

The post World’s largest floating wind farm has opened – but it’s powering oil and gas appeared first on RenewEconomy.