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A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

A global group of securities regulators has published a final report summarising responses to a recent consultation, supporting the establishment and enhancement of compliance carbon markets across its member jurisdictions.

At least 97% of the blood samples contained a type of PFAS known as PFOS, associated with multiple serious health problems

California researchers have found new evidence that several chemicals used in plastic production and a wide array of other industrial applications are commonly present in the blood of pregnant women, creating increased health risks for mothers and their babies.

The researchers said their findings add to a growing body of evidence showing that many chemicals people are routinely exposed to are leading to subtle but harmful changes in health. The work should be a “wake-up call” to policymakers, they said.

This story is co-published with the New Lede, a journalism project of the Environmental Working Group

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Turnbull rounds on Dutton, the Snowy Hydro management and Coalition climate deniers, while ACT energy minister Shane Rattenbury has a special put-down for Angus Taylor.

The post “It’s bonkers:” Turnbull slams Dutton nuclear push, says Snowy 2.0 has been mismanaged appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Two new big batteries win planning approval from NSW government, which flags more than 5GW of storage capacity in the planning pipeline.

The post NSW gives planning OK to two new big batteries in key renewable zones appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Global non-profit The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has opened offices in Singapore with plans to hire at least 20 staff members in order to roll out nature-based projects and activities across the Asia-Pacific region to address climate change and biodiversity loss.

Enel X Australia will recruit 440 commercial refrigeration facilities to deliver flexible demand capacity to support Australia’s renewable energy transition.

The post Arena trial taps 20MW of flexible demand from commercial refrigeration appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The MEG HP1 Hydrogen project will consist of two 5MW electrolysers and use electricity generated from the nearby 11MW Northam solar farm.

The post WA solar to hydrogen project wins $5m government funding boost appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A US-based start-up working with Indigenous small farmers in the Amazon on conservation initiatives has begun pre-sales of its fair trade biodiversity credits, while expecting its indicator species biodiversity methodology to earn its first market standard certification by October.

ARENA says solar is cheap enough to meet short term grid targets, but needs another major cost reduction to replace fossil fuels in all parts of the economy.

The post Ultra low cost solar: Why PV needs to get much cheaper to finish off fossil fuels appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New discoveries in the buried ancient city shed fresh light on Roman life before Vesuvius erupted.

Report finds government goal to plant 30,000 hectares of woodland by March 2025 unlikely to be achieved

The government has met less than half of its annual tree-planting target in England, MPs have found, putting net zero ambitions at risk.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) this year published what it called “ambitious” nature targets, a requirement under the Environment Act, including the goal of planting 30,000 hectares of woodland by March 2025. A report by the environmental audit committee (EAC) of cross-party MPs has found that this target was unlikely to be met.

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Lords committee calls for creation of advisory groups to tackle the pollutants, which may increase risk of heart disease and premature death

Light and noise are “neglected pollutants” that are causing significant harm to human health and can cause premature deaths, a group of peers have said.

The science and technology committee of the House of Lords has called on ministers to do more to tackle these pollutants, which it claims are “poorly understood and poorly regulated”.

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An object found on an Australian beach led to speculation it may be debris from India's Moon mission.

These storms are sudden and violent and can stretch across Arizona's desert landscape at any time.

Our activities now affect the entire planet. But there’s a vital debate over when we started disrupting these systems. Was it 1950 – or hundreds and thousands of years earlier? Noel Castree, Professor of Society & Environment, University of Technology Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The alternative investment arm of a French insurance firm is committing $49 million to Amazon rainforest reforestation projects that aim to restore Brazilian lands degraded from agriculture.

The EU will need a proper strategy to reach increasingly ambitious climate targets in the decade after this, according to members of the European Parliament's environment committee (ENVI) in a preliminary exchange about setting the bloc's 2040 emissions goal on the road to reaching net zero by mid-century.  

Searing temperatures from Spain to Greece underline that the climate emergency cannot be put on hold while other crises are prioritised

The weather map of southern Europe remains a deep, sinister red, as the heat soars above 40C in places and closer to 50C in Sicily and Sardinia. In Madrid, some nights are equatorial rather than tropical, as the temperature stays above 25C. June was the hottest month recorded on Earth for 120,000 years. The hottest week came early this month. “Very dangerous long-duration heat”, to use the language of the recent alert issued by the US National Weather Service in Arizona, sums up the experience of the last few weeks across much of the northern hemisphere. Extreme heat, wildfires and floods are ravaging parts of the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, India and China.

Global heating is not the sole explanation for the hellish impact of Cerberus and Charon, the heatwaves named after mythical denizens of Hades. As in 2016 – the hottest year ever recorded – an emerging El Niño weather pattern is helping drive the barometer upwards. But each time this natural and sporadic event recurs, typically adding 0.2C to the average global temperature, it heats up a planet that is already warmer than before as a result of greenhouse gas emissions.

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Court told wild camping is not open-air recreation as park authority appeals against recent ban

Wild camping is not recreation because sleeping is not an enjoyable activity, lawyers acting for a wealthy landowner said in court while defending a judge’s decision to ban the activity on Dartmoor national park.

In a packed courtroom at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Tuesday, lawyers for the Dartmoor national park authority (DNPA) brought an appeal against the decision to ban backpack camping on the common land. The case hinges on whether wild camping counts as “open-air recreation” as allowed in a 1985 law.

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