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Failure to heed warnings over unchecked growth meant blaze was ‘a disaster waiting to happen’, say scientists and academics

Scientists and academics say they have been warning for several years that invasive grasses covering a quarter of the Hawaii islands are a major fire risk.

Untamed grassland helped fuel the spread and intensity of last week’s deadly fires on the island of Maui, according to experts. The fires, which broke out last Tuesday, have killed at least 106 people and destroyed the island’s historic town of Lahaina.

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There are growing concerns in India that a controversial new forestry act adopted last month will drive deforestation after a state government ordered that a specific forest category was no longer covered by law, even if that order has been put on hold temporarily.

European carbon prices climbed to another August high in morning trade on Wednesday as positioning data showed speculative investors had increased their net short position last week, while energy prices were modestly lower on profit taking after Tuesday's sharp increases.

The UK government is investing several million pounds in accelerating the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce the carbon footprint of industry, with funding for AI projects dedicated to improving renewable energy generation and support for a UK-based research centre focused on using AI for decarbonisation.

Oil, gas, and coal producers have vastly overestimated the efficacy of their climate policies, and will fail to do their share to meet Paris climate targets even when they have company net-zero policies in place, according to a new study that looked at close to 150 companies.

One year has passed since the launch of the subsidy-laded Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US, with the legislation igniting domestic cleantech development but also sparking a green investment race in Europe and worldwide.

Twenty-five countries are using 80% of their water supplies each year, research shows

Twenty-five countries that are home to a quarter of the world’s population are facing extreme water stress, according to research.

Data from the World Resources Institute suggests these countries are regularly using 80% of their water supplies each year.

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New Zealand is on the cusp of passing legislation that would update industrial allocation settings as well as late payment penalties for ETS participants.

Tasmania’s forestry wars aren’t over, if the uproar over the felling of a large mountain ash is anything to go by. Jamie Kirkpatrick, Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

To drive down the cost of producing clean hydrogen, one of the world’s largest independent oil and gas companies has partnered with a Milwaukee-based startup and plans to use water vapour from industrial processes.

Behavioural scientist John Pickering on the challenges of getting social licence for wind, solar, battery and transmission projects. Plus: What’s big coal up to?

The post Energy Insiders Podcast: Wind, solar and social licence appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Renewable energy industry fears role of EnergyCo under review as NSW assesses a key report on the health of its energy market.

The post Fears of further delays on renewable zones as EnergyCo under review by NSW appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Chelion Australia are excited to announce that the integrated components of the Matrix CAIO All-In- One Battery Cabinet have been granted Clean Energy Council (CEC) approval for sale in Australia.

The post Chelion Australia’s all-in-one battery cabinet for renewable energy deployment appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The lawsuit is the first in US to rely on a state’s constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment to challenge policies that fuel climate change. It won’t be the last.

The post Montana kids win historic climate lawsuit – here’s why it could set a powerful precedent appeared first on RenewEconomy.

On the one-year anniversary of the US IRA, we look at the top five impacts, and how Australia can follow suit.

The post All carrot, no stick: What Australia can learn from US approach to renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A single 2MW wind turbine at the Scroby Sands Wind Farm off the coast of Norfolk caught fire on Tuesday, but has since self-extinguished.

The post Turbine catches fire at one of UK’s oldest offshore wind farms appeared first on RenewEconomy.

BayWa and Atmos Renewables cut a deal on a major solar farm and announce new partnership that will be a "formidable force" for wind farm projects in Australia.

The post BayWa and Atmos cut deal on solar farm, join forces for big wind projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.

By the war’s end, it will be too late to prevent the worst consequences of these terrible crimes. Global leaders must act now

• Andriy Yermak is head of the Office of the President of Ukraine; Margot Wallström is a former foreign minister of Sweden

Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist who led the team that developed the world’s first nuclear weapons, quoted from ancient Hindu scriptures to illustrate his conflicting feelings about the forces his science unleashed: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” he said. In his later years, Oppenheimer longed for a future “without nation states armed for war, and above all, a world without war”.

Yet there’s another kind of loss that Oppenheimer recognised only too clearly in his readings of the Bhagavad Gita, the ancient text he turned to after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Humans now possess the power to destroy the world they live in.

The people of Ukraine have grown cruelly familiar with war and death, inflicted on them by a nation state with vastly superior resources: they will never forget the human loss they have suffered in fighting to save their homeland. But Ukraine is also facing a destruction of habitat and nature on a scale that will reverberate far beyond its borders. While it is almost impossible to measure, the breadth and depth of this damage must be understood.

Russia has taken deliberate aim at Ukraine’s environment: its rivers, forests and fields. Many of Ukraine’s natural reserves – its animal and sea life, water and impressive biodiversity – have been terribly damaged or polluted. Toxins leak from its damaged industries and infrastructure. Global food security is at risk. The world cannot afford to ignore this growing environmental threat.

The overwhelming threat to Ukraine’s environment was highlighted in June, with the extraordinary collapse of the huge Nova Kakhovka dam, which held back one of the biggest water reservoirs in Europe. This was no coincidental collapse: the dam was under Russian control when an explosion inside an internal passageway blew its concrete heart to pieces. This unleashed a catastrophic flood that wrecked over 40 towns and villages and one of the world’s most valuable agricultural regions. Tonnes of oil were spilled into the Dnipro River. An uncountable number of landmines were strewn into the river and the Black Sea, leading to toxic leakage.

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Australia and the US state of California have signed an MoU to work together to combat climate change, focussing on clean energy and tech, trade, and nature-based solutions.  

NSW energy minister says she is open to possibility of putting part of HumeLink that will connect Snowy 2.0 project to rest of grid under ground.

The post NSW says it may put part of controversial Snowy link underground, despite higher costs appeared first on RenewEconomy.