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EU climate chief Frans Timmermans officially handed in his much-anticipated resignation on Tuesday, with the European Commission temporarily handing responsibilities for the European Green Deal and climate action files to Commissioner Maros Sefcovic.

Light-sensitive proteins below colour-changing cells mean fish can ‘take a photo of their own skin from the inside’

What do you call a fish with no eyes? Fsh. What about a fish that can also use its skin as “eyes”? Well, that would be a hogfish.

Hogfish often use their ability to change colours to support their camouflaging abilities. They also have light-sensing skin, or skin vision, that can help them “see” their surroundings.

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Thirty-two investors managing $7.3 trillion in assets have asked the G20 group of wealthy countries to align their agricultural subsidies with climate and nature goals.

Investment in battery storage is at record levels, surging through the billion dollar market in the last quarter. But financial commitments for new wind and solar has plunged, putting renewable targets at risk.

The post Battery storage charges on as new wind and solar projects hit new low appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Researchers focused on turtles and tortoises from sites of nuclear tests

Tortoise and turtle shells can be used to study nuclear contamination, scientists have found.

Just as tree rings can provide snapshots of the Earth’s climate, and ice cores can give us information on past temperature, researchers found that the layers of shells can be used as a time stamp of periods with nuclear fallout.

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Two ports in Northern Africa have experienced a jump in activity in the past year in what may be a pre-emptive attempt by ship operators to avoid purchasing EU carbon allowances once the shipping sector is part of the EU ETS in 2024, a piece of additional draft legislation by the European Commission has outlined. 

European carbon prices rose on Tuesday morning as participants eyed up key technical resistance levels, and support continued to filter in from the risk of strikes at a key Australian LNG export terminal that boosted regional gas contracts, while UKAs soared back up to early July levels due to bullish power prices.

Singapore on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sri Lanka to collaborate on trading carbon credits aligned with Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement.

Amid Western sanctions, the largest integrated petrochemical company in Russia has teed up the domestic voluntary market by selling its first carbon credits to a Russia-based financial services platform.

A Vietnamese conglomerate with 600 megawatts of renewable power under operation and over 800 MW more in the pipeline has signed with a Singaporean ESG reporting powerhouse to assist the nation’s 785,000-plus small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) better report their emissions and carbon footprints.

As temperatures rise across Oceania, droughts are becoming more extreme and strong winds drive catastrophic fires

Hawaii was never paradise. Since the day my ancestors first stepped ashore, our islands have been devastated by hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and erupting volcanoes that buried whole towns.

But fires are something new. We were not prepared. Our officials were not prepared, for a raging inferno of 1,000-degree heat that moved at lightning speed, reducing our historical town of Lahaina – once the capital of the Hawaiian kingdom – and 2,000 homes to ash. More than 1,300 people are still missing. At this stage, many will not be found. Cadaver dogs whine with frustration. They are uncovering mostly ash.

Kiana Davenport is a writer of Native-Hawaiian and Anglo-American descent. She is the author of eight novels and three anthologies: Prize-Winning Pacific Stories

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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has signed a strategy for carbon neutrality with eight targeted outcomes that include enhancing interoperable carbon markets and the necessary standardisations of carbon, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy efficiency reporting.

A Tokyo-based climate startup has teamed up with a regional bank in Japan to expand its carbon farming business at home, the latest in a growing line of Japanese firms to announce plans for the generation of agricultural carbon credits.

Knowing the ‘next drought is just around the corner’, Australia’s Water Minister Tanya Plibersek is striking a new agreement to return water and health to the Murray-Darling Basin. Jamie Pittock, Professor, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

What the UK needs is pragmatic, joined-up policymaking. But what we get instead are culture wars, and a tabloid feeding frenzy

What’s an acceptable number of dead people in European waters? What about dead children? I’m asking largely about healthy young people, albeit exhausted ones. Migrants, who have braved long, terrible journeys, often experiencing horrific violence and terror.

So how many should we write off as justifiable collateral damage in our war against … what, exactly? There is no war except with ourselves: it’s a culture war. The cause is “strong borders”, but strong against what? Despite the rhetoric, this not an invasion. If the strong borders are to protect our economy – well, these are young, fit workers who could boost our economies if we actually let them work.

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New Zealand might apply new governance standards to its emissions trading scheme from 2025, and will begin work to procure a national exchange, but no final decision to proceed with it has been made, the government said Tuesday.

Australian miner BHP has forecast that coal-based steel and iron making processes in major production economies like China and India will be required for decades, due to lack of readiness, and the industry will need to continue to purchase carbon credits for a “considerable period” to become carbon neutral.

Stephanie Unwin, the CEO of Horizon Power, discusses how 400 residential and business customers had just one year to electrify after the local gas distribution decided to cut off the gas supply.

The post SwitchedOn Podcast: How this regional town transitioned off the gas network in just 12 months appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australia is not likely to solve its coal closure issues until it gets serious about hard targets. But the extension of Eraring is not a fait accompli.

The post Eraring and Loy Yang A coal closure wrangles show need for hard renewable targets appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Scientists find ‘substantial ecological changes’ after greening initiative by major road in Melbourne, Australia

The benefits of urban greening initiatives are increasingly well documented: they can help mitigate the effects of urban heating, and improve physical health and mental wellbeing. And even small greening actions in cities can significantly improve local biodiversity, new research suggests.

Increasing the diversity of native plants in a single urban green space resulted in a sevenfold increase in the number of insect species after three years, Australian researchers have found.

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