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Federal and state governments finalise funding for hydrogen hub expected to lead to $13 billion of investments, but still no word on hydrogen electrolyser and power plant tender winners.

The post Funding finalised for massive Port Bonython hydrogen hub, still no word on Whyalla tender appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Indian government officials are considering taxing exporters to the EU for their carbon content to ensure that costs tied to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) stays in India, according to media reports.

New Zealand’s Labour party will set separate targets for gross emissions reductions and CO2 removals, limit exotic afforestation, and develop a regulatory framework for the voluntary carbon market if it returns to government at next month’s elections, it announced Monday.

CMI is looking for someone to lead the delivery of services as Administrator of the Australian Carbon Industry Code of Conduct (the Code).

It secured a deal to control a fifth of Cambodia's coastline - 15 years on, it has barely got started.

With bee populations struggling, mechanical pollination may be increasingly needed as a back-up.

Manufacturers expect levy agreed in Brexit deal to hand chunk of market to global firms, including China

Car giants including Renault, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have called on EU leaders to “act now” and delay plans for a 10% tariff on electric car exports from Europe.

Renault’s chief, Luca de Meo, led the calls, saying that if the EU did not take action then policymakers would simply be “handing a chunk of the market to global manufacturers” including Chinese companies, which are making significant inroads.

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Clean energy hubs could save money and create jobs if clusters of businesses shared transmission lines and green hydrogen pipelines, independent research shows.

The post Green industry urged to club together in clean energy hubs and cut transmission spend appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New research reveals how trees respond to extreme heat. Most trees lose more water than models predict. Some species cope better than others. Access to water will be critical for the hot summer ahead. Renée M Prokopavicius, Postdoctoral Researcher in Plant Ecophysiology, Western Sydney University Belinda Medlyn, Distinguished Professor, Ecosystem Function and Integration, Western Sydney University David S Ellsworth, Professor of Plant Eco-physiology, Western Sydney University Mark G Tjoelker, Professor and Associate Director, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

When framing the shortlist for the 2023 bird of the year, we opted for familiar Aussie birds that hold a special place in our hearts

• The Australian bird of the year poll launches today, 25 September 2023

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Those of us who work at Birdlife Australia get asked a lot of questions about birds. Usually, it’s to ID a mystery back yard bird. (Nine times out of 10 it’s a butcherbird!) Occasionally we get thrown a much curlier question such as “Is a cassowary a bird?”, “Do birds have penises?” or “What’s your favourite bird?”.

The answers are: “yes”, “females don’t, but neither do males of most species – they have a cloaca, which is a topic for another day”. And the last question is almost impossible to answer. How can you possibly choose?

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Sean Dooley is national public affairs manager for BirdLife Australia

You can vote in the bird of the year poll from 6am Monday 25 September to 11.59pm Thursday 5 October

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Some of Australia’s most recognised feathered denizens have been flying under the popularity radar for far too long

• This year’s Guardian/BirdLife Australia bird of the year poll runs from 25 September to 6 October. Nominate your favourite for the shortlist

Is there anything more thrilling than seeing an underbird soar? Keep that in mind when casting your vote in this year’s Guardian/Birdlife Australia bird of the year poll.

Previous polls have revealed a shocking bias. Support for some of Australia’s most recognised birds has been consistently weak. Let’s ruffle some feathers and give these underbirds a chance.

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Guardian Australia’s biennial poll is a chance to show your love for your favourite feathered friend and raise awareness of those at risk

• Australian bird of the year 2023: vote now for your favourite
• Read more about this year’s poll
  

Birds matter. They bring the wild to our back yards, balconies, streets and suburbs. They forage, spread seeds and pollinate plants, keeping natural systems humming.

Birds sing. They laugh. They are nature’s alarm clock. They sound and look weird. They bring joy, mostly. They aren’t boring.

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Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday guest Yanis Varoufakis attacked the PM's 'incompetence and cynicism'.

With more and more people prepping for Armageddon, the answers to this question are revealing – whether it’s Babybels, cash, crossbows or toilet paper

The author Lauren Groff has become a prepper. “I think everyone should have a go bag right now,” she told National Public Radio (NPR) in the US. “I think every household should have enough food to last through at least two weeks. This is just logical at this point.”

Groff lives in Florida, where dangerously extreme weather has become a fact of life – we’re lucky enough to be spared that in the UK, at least for now. But as a semi-professional catastrophist – one apocalyptic sandwich board short of full doom-monger status – am I missing a trick? Should I have a go bag and what should go in it? Online recommendations include water – one of my least favourite fluids – cereal bars, first aid supplies, spare clothes, medication and paperwork. Practical, but short on bells and whistles (actually, they do recommend taking a whistle).

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The conservation organisation once again faces being infiltrated by climate crisis deniers and oil-funded groups

I love British traditions. Whose heart soars not upon seeing some drunk men chasing a cheese down a fatally steep Gloucestershire hill, or some drunk men burning their faces off carrying flaming tar barrels on their heads in a Devonshire village, or some drunk men dropping an enormous effigy of David Jason into a giant burning boozer made of straw in a Hertfordshire hamlet at midnight? In Spanish fire bull festivals, cruel peasants set fire to animals. Here, outside the EU, we merely set fire to ourselves.

But the nights are drawing in and soon it will be time for one of the oldest, and most enjoyable, British traditions of all. Because it’s that time of year when, in the run-up to the National Trust’s AGM on 11 November, the opaquely funded “anti-woke” pressure group Restore Trust, backed by Neil Record of the Tufton Street climate crisis denial bodies Global Warming Policy Foundation and Net Zero Watch, tries to have its own pod people planted on the board. Sing ye wassail! It’s that time again!!

Basic Lee tour dates are here

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk

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Former Cop26 chair says emissions cuts must be made elsewhere and ministers must show how they plan to achieve this

Alok Sharma, the former Tory cabinet minister who chaired the landmark Cop26 UN summit in Glasgow, has warned Rishi Sunak that he will now have to find other ways to cut emissions if the UK is to meet its international climate obligations, following last week’s dramatic U-turns on green policy.

In his first comments since Sunak’s announcement on Wednesday, Sharma told the Observer that “rolling back on certain policies will mean we need to find emissions reductions elsewhere, if we are to meet our legally binding near term carbon budgets and our internationally committed 2030 emissions reduction target”.

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Rooftop solar meets all of South Australia's demand at one stage on Saturday, as battery records fall across the grid and coal output hits record low in biggest coal state.

The post Rooftop solar meets all of South Australia demand in major new milestone appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australia has three native corvid species, but their unearned reputation for cruelty and an all-too-human cleverness makes them unlikely to win a popularity contest

• The Australian bird of the year poll launches on 25 September 2023
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Those who have experienced an Australian dawn chorus will know just how special our songbirds are. Within the somewhat discordant mix of melodies are many who will no doubt be favourites for Guardian Australia’s 2023 Australian bird of the year. But will the Corvidae family be in the running, even with the Australian raven on the shortlist? Not likely.

The Corvidae includes crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, Eurasian magpies, treepies, choughs (though not the Aussie ones) and nutcrackers. Australia has three native types of raven and two types of crow. Being generalists, Australians tend to call them all “crows”. Telling them apart can be tricky unless you’re close enough to see the base of their feathers – crows have white at the base and ravens have grey – or you’re familiar with the differences in their calls.

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A capsule carrying rocky debris from asteroid Bennu is about to streak through the sky above Utah.

Group tasked with overseeing initiative to insulate homes and upgrade boilers was only set up in March

• ‘The worst kind of culture war’: Tories attack Rishi Sunak’s reversal on net zero

The government’s energy efficiency taskforce, charged with reducing the UK’s energy use by 15% by 2030, has been scrapped months after it was established.

The group, which was overseeing an initiative to insulate homes and upgrade boilers, was announced by the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, in his autumn statement last year as part of plans to boost investment in energy efficiency.

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