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The heads of three major EU and international institutions warned that not accelerating the clean energy transition in Europe would mean losing industrial competitiveness and threatening financial stability, at a conference in Paris on Friday.

Civitas’s deeply flawed report was timed to follow the PM’s speech in which he called for an honest approach to the issue

Imagine demanding an “honest” debate over the cost of net zero in a report full of errors that even a schoolboy would be embarrassed about. Then imagine getting coverage of your report in the Sun, Times, Daily Mail, Daily Express and Spectator.

Sound impossible? Well, let me tell you how Civitas, one of the thinktanks housed at 55 Tufton Street in London, did exactly that, and nearly got away with it.

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European carbon prices fell back on Friday morning in very thin trading activity as the third quarter approached its end, while energy markets also weakened as mild weather and high gas stocks continued to weigh on the markets.

Competition aimed at encouraging Swedish island residents to save water is being copied elsewhere

Dry, brown grass is no longer a source of shame on one Swedish island where residents have been competing over the “ugliest lawn” in an attempt to save water – and it seems the trend is spreading.

“It was the easiest competition to win, I didn’t have to do anything,” said this year’s winner Stina Östman, a resident of Sweden’s largest island of Gotland, who has mixed feelings about her victory. “It’s always nice to win, even if you are the worst,” she said.

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The fashion industry has complex and specific challenges to biodiversity but needs to start moving on understanding their impacts, according to a new report released by an industry body.

The president has a golden opportunity to prove that green jobs will bear dividends for the working class

Joe Biden had to choose a side in the United Auto Workers’ contract fight with the “big three” American automakers, and he did. This week, he became the first US president to walk a picket line while in office when he joined strikers in Belleville, Michigan, offering enthusiastic support for their demands. Biden should be thanking the UAW for handing him a golden opportunity: to prove that the green jobs his administration is creating will be good, union jobs, too, and that climate policy will bear dividends for the working class.

Republicans cosplaying solidarity have tried to exploit the strike to score cheap political points. As Republican presidential hopefuls debated this week, Donald Trump told a rally at a non-union plant in Michigan that the strike wouldn’t “make a damn bit of difference” because the car industry was “being assassinated” by “EV mandates”. (Whether there were any union members or even autoworkers in the room isn’t clear.) Ohio senator JD Vance has similarly blamed autoworkers’ plight on “the premature transition to electric vehicles” and “Biden’s war on American cars”.

Kate Aronoff is a staff writer at the New Republic and the author of Overheated: How Capitalism Broke the Planet – And How We Fight Back

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There is a a looming shortfall of the materials needed for electrification and the energy transition, according to a report released Friday by miner BHP and investment firm BlackRock on the challenges ahead facing the mining sector, new energy sectors, and hard-to-abate sectors such as steel making and cement.

Financial think tank Planet Tracker has developed a theoretical framework for a blue recovery bond that would allow investment in blue recovery bonds to fund fisheries that reduce or completely stop fishing in designated areas while stocks recover.

Trees enhanced for photosynthesis using bioengineering have been shown to accelerate the rate of carbon capture and slow the rate of decomposition, in addition to improved soil quality through more below-ground biomass and potential for greater resilience to high temperatures and drought, according to a California-based startup.

New Zealand has cancelled 21.5 million carbon credits left over from international Kyoto protocol markets, the government announced.

Cape Town mayor declares major incident as roads closed and 80,000 people left without electricity

Extreme rain and strong winds across South Africa’s Western Cape province have caused flooding, torn off roofs, destroyed crops and damaged roads this week. It is estimated that the 48-hour rainfall totals between Sunday and Monday were between 100mm to 200mm (4-8in) in this region.

According to the Cape Town Disaster Risk Management Centre, 12,000 people were affected, but a further 80,000 people were left without electricity, according to the national power utility. The mayor of Cape Town signed a major incident declaration for additional resources and relief measures as 80 roads have been closed, 200 farm workers have been stranded and rail services have been suspended in the Western and Eastern Cape provinces.

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The best of this week’s wildlife photographs, including a hummingbird hawk moth, capybaras and a newly discovered tarantula

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I shall lay my eggs here on this beach where they have been safe for thousands of years

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California regulator ARB provided updates on major considerations for its upcoming Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) rulemaking at a non-voting Board meeting on Thursday, as commenters offered input on the regulator's carbon intensity (CI) reduction targets and raised concerns about avoiding methane crediting and jet fuel emissions.

A Canadian climate tech company and an Australian mining company have partnered to investigate carbon mineralisation opportunities at a nickel mine site in Vietnam.

An Australian based climate fintech firm has teamed up with a carbon credit pricing, data, and analytics company to build transparency around carbon projects.

The EIS for the country's first renewable zone has been lodged, but has already run into opposition from the Greens over compulsory acquisition proposals.

The post EIS lodged for Australia’s first renewable zone, Greens lament compulsory acquisition appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Sparc Technologies says it will speed up and extend its R&D into sodium ion batteries, as an alternative to lithium-ion, after a second round of positive results.

The post Sparc ramps up sodium ion battery research after further positive results appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The humble creatures – which break down organic matter and aerate soils – contribute to as much as 6.5% of the world’s grain harvests

Earthworms’ contribution to the world’s grain harvest matches that of Russia, according to a study documenting their enormous role in food production.

This amounts to 140 millions of tonnes of food a year, researchers said, which would make earthworms the fourth largest global producer if they were a country. Russia produced 150m tonnes in 2022 and expects to produce 120m tonnes this year.

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An anti-plastics waste group has poured cold water on a consortium of Japanese heavyweights’ plans to skim microplastic from the surface of a harbour and turn it into oil, suggesting it is nothing more than a “distraction” in the climate debate.