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Lobbyists from Airlines for America argued against European Commission draft rules to report cocktail of pollutants, freedom of information requests show

US airlines lobbied against plans to monitor the damage wrought by planet-heating pollutants pumped out of planes in a previously undisclosed meeting with the European Commission, the Guardian can reveal.

Lobbyists from Airlines for America and some of its member companies met representatives of the European Commission’s climate team in May in a meeting that is not logged on the participants’ pages in the EU transparency register. The commission said the meeting took place at a technical level and that it is under no obligation to publish details of meetings at lower levels of its hierarchy.

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Developers announced on Wednesday the first tranche of issuance from an improved forest management (IFM) project in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula region.

Voluntary carbon market (VCM) institutions, ranging from registries to ratings agencies and insurers, are often unable to weed out bad actors in repeated infringements with industry standards, lacking consistent policies or criteria to do so, market players told Carbon Pulse.

The UK should redesign its contracts for difference (CfD) scheme to take a ‘maximalist approach’ to renewable energy investment if it is to speed up the rollout of clean energy fast enough to meet its targets, according to a trade body.

Extinct in central Europe for 300 years, 36 northern bald ibis are following an ultralight aircraft on their long-forgotten migration route from Austria to Spain

The northern bald ibis was extinct in central Europe for 300 years. Now, it has returned – and scientist “foster parents” aboard a tiny plane are teaching the birds to fly their long-forgotten migration routes.

Thirty-six of these endangered birds are now following an ultralight aircraft 1,740 miles (2,800km ) from Austria to Spain, on a trip that could take up to 50 days to complete.

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Australia needs more gas in the short term because of our sluggish transition to renewables – but at worst the shortfall may lead to some rationing

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The gas industry has been unleashing a firehose of rhetoric in recent days over concerns Australia could suffer a shortage of gas.

In a series of articles in the Australian newspaper under the banner “Gas Crisis”, industry figures and the Coalition’s energy spokesman, Ted O’Brien, claim a shortage is going to “destroy” the economy, cause a “crippling energy crisis” and have Australians suffering the ignominy of “cold showers”.

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Verra has taken ‘unprecedented action’ after rejecting 37 rice cultivation projects based in China and also imposing sanctions against the proponents and validation and verification bodies (VVBs) involved, the standard body announced Wednesday.

Several countries, including the US, have been violating their commitment to the Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETP) to reduce public finance for fossil fuel projects, finds a report.

The world will only be able to hit a global storage rate of 16 billion tonnes of CO2 per year by 2050, assuming the US contributes 60% of this total, according to a new scientific paper.

Energy and commodities marketplace Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) will utilise its investment in a satellite data startup to ensure its coffee and cocoa trade meets EU deforestation standards.

The biodiversity net gain (BNG) register in England will list another 16 sites from project developer Environment Bank on its website over the next month, following a partnership tipped to shift the dial on market supply, Carbon Pulse has learned.

A fintech company has introduced a tool that enables carbon project developers to simulate the effects of different debt scenarios on their cash flow, the company announced.

EU carbon allowance prices erased early gains and were slightly down on the day after Wednesday's morning session as weekly positioning data showed investment funds further reducing their bearish bets and a rise in hedging related to coal-fired power generation.

EU member states are largely failing to promote sustainable fisheries and address marine biodiversity loss, the European Environment Agency (EEA) has warned.

Records of Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz instill hope that progress under Biden could be extended

Public health advocates are optimistic that a Kamala Harris win in the November presidential election in the US would lead to further regulation of PFAS toxic “forever chemicals”, on which the Biden administration has already taken unprecedented regulatory action.

In part that is based on past actions. Last year, Harris’s running mate, the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, signed bold legislation prohibiting the use of toxic PFAS across a range of common consumer goods from menstrual products to food packaging – a measure that is considered by public health advocates to be among the “strongest bans in the world”.

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The Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) Alliance has released guidelines to support companies in corporate disclosures that are aligned with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) recommendations and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard.

A major agricultural lender in Japan has decided to support an industry consortium that aims to utilise carbon credits created from biochar projects.

The Tianjin municipal government is seeking to expand the coverage of companies regulated under the local emissions trading scheme (ETS).

Fortescue, one of Australia’s iron ore giants, used Wednesday’s full year financial results presentation to underline its plans to hit zero emissions for Scopes 1 and 2 by the end of this decade despite its diesel-heavy carbon footprint.

Countries including China, Japan, and South Korea must abandon the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a bridge fuel in order to fully decarbonise their shipping sector, a report released Wednesday said.