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Zimbabwe is preparing to host a voluntary carbon markets forum as it targets creating a pan-African registry linked to the country’s Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX).

Two UK-based technology companies have partnered to publish a draft methodology for crediting emissions removals from restoring peatlands.

New Zealand is unlikely to sell any of the 8.9 million NZUs that will be made available at this week’s auction, market participants told Carbon Pulse, doubting bids will meet the government’s confidential reserve price.

Living in cities filled with tags may make us feel less safe. But tags don’t mean crime and gangs. The real reasons people tag buildings and bridges are to show off and create community. Flavia Marcello, Professor of Design History, Swinburne University of Technology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Nicola Shaw, who made the announcement due to public anger over sewage in rivers, is in line for a windfall of more than £1m from her previous role

The boss of Yorkshire Water’s decision to forgo her annual bonus due to public anger over sewage pollution of rivers has been labelled a “hollow” gesture by a leading union, after it emerged that she was already in line for a windfall of more than £1m from a previous role.

Nicola Shaw, who joined from National Grid last year, will receive share awards worth £1.3m from the energy network operator next month under a long-term incentive plan initiated in 2020, according to its annual report released last week.

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Geopolitical fallout from the conflict in Ukraine is threatening an environmentally crucial region

As the cold war thawed in the 1980s, the frozen high north of the planet was a leading beneficiary of more conciliatory times. Speaking in Murmansk in 1987, Mikhail Gorbachev called for an end to military competition in the Arctic, and a new focus on preserving its unique ecosystem. “The community and interrelationship of the interests of our entire world,” said the Soviet leader, “is felt in the northern part of the globe, in the Arctic, perhaps more than anywhere else.”

Mr Gorbachev’s words paved the way for a cross-state consensus around the idea of “Arctic exceptionalism” – an agreement that in an environmentally crucial region, where Europe, North America and Asia meet, geopolitical rivalries should be put to one side. Since 1996, the Arctic Council, comprising the eight Arctic states including Russia, has embodied that spirit of cooperation. It is yet another disastrous consequence of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine that it is now at risk.

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We will miss our tentacled friend, who brought Sydneysiders together and sparked talks about ocean conservation

Mr Fabulous was the name bestowed upon him. He was a giant cuttlefish (scientific name Sepia apama) and he was the king of Cabbage Tree Bay. This huge, alien-looking cephalopod had attracted many visitors to the small marine reserve at Sydney’s Manly beach; they were enthralled by his flashing rainbow colours and flamboyant tentacles.

He measured about 1 metre in length, and he did not mind posing for an underwater camera, or 10. There were sometimes other smaller cuttlefish around, but none of his size or vibrancy. His image is all over Instagram and he even featured in the pic of the week competition of a national news site. Mr Fabulous was a legend.

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Scaling back of green prosperity plan reflects a possibly costly desire to project fiscal stability

Dread of the financial markets is part of the Labour party’s DNA. This primal fear has been passed down the generations. Ramsay MacDonald, Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson and James Callaghan were all battle-scarred from their vain attempts to defend the pound.

Even though the signs point to a big Labour victory at the next election, the mood at the top of the party remains cautious. For months, Rachel Reeves has been on a charm offensive in the City, sending out a message to the bond dealers and currency traders that she will take no risks with the public finances.

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Project to reintroduce big cat to the wild set back by loss of adults and cubs at reserve

A controversial attempt to reintroduce cheetahs to the wild has suffered a major setback after three adults and three cubs died over the past eight months.

The deaths have led to criticisms of Project Cheetah, a £4.8m international scheme that involved moving 20 animals from Africa to India’s Kuno National Park earlier this year. Some conservationists say not enough space was reserved for the cheetahs while others complained that the project was set up too hastily.

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A ban on high-rise buildings contrasts with Britain’s ever thrusting capital

There’s a story that sections of the British commentariat have liked to tell for some time, about the differences between London and Paris. The French capital, it says, is over-regulated and over-taxed, nice to look at, good for weekend mini-breaks, but stagnant, frozen, a museum piece. Its British counterpart, in this reading, is thrusting, dynamic, creative, global, open for business.

The contrast plays out on their respective skylines. Paris, after a flirtation with tall buildings that has led to two or three controversial projects scattered about the edge of its centre, last week reimposed old rules that ban buildings above 37 metres (121ft). London’s planning continues to be a free-for-all, with raucous clusters of towers sprouting not only in the City and around Canary Wharf, but also less-central locations such as Vauxhall, Tottenham and Lewisham, even in commuter towns outside the city limits, such as Woking.

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The role of industrial farming in wrecking the climate and biodiversity has been given woefully limited attention

Why wasn’t the science followed during Covid-19 (Editorial)? For the same reason we aren’t following the science to tackle the existential crises we are facing – short-term economic and political considerations. We are literally destroying our home, yet industrial farming – a leading driver of both climate and biodiversity crises – is being ignored.

We’ve had flailing attempts to address these challenges, with a timid attempt at reforming farming subsidies, a disowned national food strategy, and trade agreements that are willing to sell out our own farmers for low-welfare, climate-wrecking imports. At international summits, the role of industrial farming in the climate crisis has been given woefully limited attention.

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There are no signs yet that last year’s 40C will be breached again, but meteorologists predict such peaks could become the norm

Temperatures have soared above 30C for the first time this year – and meteorologists forecast the chance of Britain experiencing a hot summer is now 45% – 2.3 times the normal figure.

The warning leaves the nation braced for a possible repeat of last year’s record-breaking heatwave which triggered wildfires, disrupted rail transport, closed schools, led to thousands of premature deaths and saw temperatures break the 40C record in the UK for the first time.

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Fishery board reports shrinkage in size of River Ness as water scarcity alert issued for parts of Scotland

Concern has been raised about the water levels of Loch Ness and the River Ness amid the protracted dry spell affecting Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Brian Shaw, the director of Ness District Salmon Fishery Board, said there had been a dramatic shrinkage in the size of the River Ness. He told the BBC: “These conditions are not normally good for angling.

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Environmental groups’ lawsuit seeks to force tighter regulation of neonicotinoids on seeds that pollute soil, water and air

Environmental groups are suing the US Environmental Protection Agency over pesticide-coated seeds they say have “devastating environmental impacts” and are spread largely without regulatory oversight.

The suit alleges the neonicotinoid seeds are now spread on about 150m acres (61m hectares) of US farmland and up to 95% of the pesticide on the seed sheds, polluting nearby soil, water and air. The seeds are so dangerous to wildlife that just one can kill a bird, the groups note.

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As activist graduates from school, she says she will still protest on Fridays as ‘fight has only just begun’

After what began as a solo protest in Sweden five years ago and grew into a movement with millions of children across the world participating, Greta Thunberg has taken part in her last “school strike” protest as she graduates from school.

The protests, which led to many climate activist movements across Europe, the US and Australia, are known as Fridays for Future or School Strike for Climate.

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The EU-funded Transparent Project has published the Natural Capital Management Accounting (NCMA) methodology, providing corporations with practical guidance for environmental profit and loss (EP&L) bookkeeping.

Exclusive: Natural England chair Tony Juniper says government must work quickly to reconcile farming and nature

England will not meet its biodiversity targets at current rates, the chair of Natural England has said, as he accused ministers of moving too slowly to regenerate nature.

Tony Juniper, who has been in post at the government’s nature quango since 2019, said ministers were not on track to meet species abundance targets, which have been criticised by wildlife charities as “embarrassingly poor”.

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Climate change has lengthened fire seasons and limited chances for hazard reduction burns, leaving authorities racing the clock before risky weather hits

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Last week, people living around Darwin and Brisbane could see and smell the smoke in the air. It’s an experience that will be mirrored across the country in the coming weeks as fire authorities and land managers carry out hundreds of controlled burns.

Climate change has already lengthened Australia’s fire seasons, with higher temperatures driving an increase in riskier fire weather.

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