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There is little chance nuclear power plants will ever be built in Australia. But for climate obstructionists that is not the point.

The post Nuclear power makes no sense for Australia – but it’s a useful diversion from real climate action appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Two Nasa astronauts are due to set off to the International Space Station in a new spacecraft in the early hours of Tuesday morning UK time.

The rise of policies aimed at harnessing forests to absorb carbon is driving the commodification of forests, hindering the slow-down of deforestation, and ignoring their social benefits, scientists warned in a report published on Monday.  

New report finds rooftop solar can lower electricity network infrastructure costs, cut power prices, and support electric vehicle adoption, but rules need to change.. 

The post Power to the people: Rooftop solar seen as “secret weapon” to energy transition and EV uptake rooftop appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Changing work habits and shifting environmental priorities demand new models of urban redevelopment. Architectural ‘exaptation’ uses the past to reimagine the future. Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez, Senior Researcher in Architecture, Auckland University of Technology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Insisting nuclear power is the only way for Australia to achieve net zero by 2050 is a classic move from the playbook of those who oppose urgent action on climate change. Adam Simpson, Senior Lecturer, International Studies, University of South Australia Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Audio collected with underwater microphones suggests numbers at least stable after centuries of industrial whaling left only a few hundred alive

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Centuries of industrial whaling left only a few hundred Antarctic blue whales alive, making it almost impossible to find them in the wild.

Now new research suggests the population may be recovering. Australian scientists and international colleagues spent two decades listening for their distinctive songs and calls, and found the whales – the largest animals ever to have lived – swimming across the Southern Ocean with growing regularity.

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We must ask ourselves what it is that we really need. Only then can we stop our endless consumption and save the planet

• Making sense of it is a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday life

From a Buddhist perspective, everyone can learn to live simply and be happy. There’s no great secret to it. Simplicity is not an aesthetic or a lifestyle choice. It’s how your life expresses itself when you are content.

How can this thinking help us navigate the climate crisis?

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About 6,000 have been installed this year, a quarter of them rapid chargers that can power up a car in under an hour

The UK has installed a record number of public electric car chargers this year, as companies race to keep up with the increasing number of battery vehicles on British roads.

Nearly 6,000 new chargers were installed during the first three months of 2024, according to quarterly figures from data company Zapmap published by the Department for Transport. About 1,500 of those were rapid chargers, capable of charging a car in less than an hour.

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Australia’s very first big battery at the Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia may have taken less than 100 days to build in late 2017, but it seems that those were very special circumstances. One of the big bugbears of renewable energy and battery storage developers is the time it takes to land a connection […]

The post “More bureaucracy than engineering:” Battery developers lament lengthy connection delays appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Organisers of this year’s environmental conference hope cooperation on green issues could help ease global tensions

This year’s Cop29 UN climate summit will be the first “Cop of peace”, focusing on the prevention of future climate-fuelled conflicts and using international cooperation on green issues to help heal existing tensions, according to plans being drawn up by organisers.

Nations may be asked to observe a “Cop truce”, suspending hostilities for the fortnight-long duration of the conference, modelled on the Olympic truce, which is observed by most governments during the summer and winter Olympic Games.

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Effects of heat are expected to worsen after bill prohibiting municipalities from enacting shade and water protection is passed

For Javier Torres and other workers whose jobs are conducted outdoors in south Florida, the heat is unavoidable. A new law recently signed by Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, that prohibits any municipalities in the state from passing heat protections for workers ensures that it is likely to stay that way.

Torres has seen a co-worker die from heatstroke and another rushed to the emergency room in his years of working in construction in south Florida. He has also fallen and injured himself due to heat exhaustion.

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More frequent heatwaves mean bees are unable to thermoregulate their hives – further endangering a species already in decline

Bumblebee nests may be overheating, killing off broods and placing one of the Earth’s critical pollinators in decline as temperatures rise, new research has found.

Around the world, many species of Bombus, or bumblebee, have suffered population declines due to global heating, the research said. Bumblebee colonies are known for their ability to thermoregulate: in hot conditions, worker bees gather to beat their wings and fan the hive, cooling it down. But as the climate crisis pushes average temperatures up and generates heatwaves, bumblebees will struggle to keep their homes habitable.

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Even products marketed as ‘organic’ may be toxic, say campaigners, with risks for the wider ecosystem

Gardeners are inadvertently killing scores of earthworms with soil conditioners marketed as “organic”, experts fear, as they call for tighter regulation on products that poison the invertebrates.

Earthworms may appear humble, but Charles Darwin thought their work in improving soil structure and fertility was so important he devoted his final book to them and said: “It may be doubted if there are any other animals which have played such an important part in the history of the world as these lowly organised creatures.”

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There is a significant gap in the CO2 removal efforts needed to meet the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement, according to researchers.

Policy developments seen emerging in the coming months will lift California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices to a new record high above $45, analysts predicted this week, while they considered RGGI Allowances (RGA) overvalued at current levels.

A New Jersey legislator introduced a bill this week that would direct the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to implement a cap-and-trade programme to cover most greenhouse gas emissions not regulated under RGGI.

Brazil's national development bank on Friday signed a deal on concessions for restoration and sustainable forestry projects on almost 73,000 hectares of deforested land, while also agreeing to support two states in their efforts to scale their own carbon markets.

A US non-profit research group has outlined criteria to avoid reputational risks in drafting regulations regarding offset projects on state lands, in comments submitted to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Two legislators in Parana this week introduced a bill that would establish a regulated carbon market in the southern Brazil state.