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The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

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Two US institutions have been granted access to samples collected by the Chang'e-5 mission in 2020.

Public confidence in the UK biomass industry is low – robust checks are needed to ensure every wood pellet its power plant burns is sustainable

Even government ministers sounded embarrassed in February when they threw yet more subsidies at Drax, recipient of £6.5bn to date, to keep its wood-burning power plant open until 2031. Few people think the biomass industry can survive in the long term unless as-yet-untested carbon capture technology can be installed.

But the bizarre business of importing wood pellets from the US and Canada for incineration in North Yorkshire was given an extension because the UK’s power system, now more reliant on wind and solar generation, also needs firm “dispatchable” power that can be turned on and off in a hurry.

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Exclusive: EU Transparency Register shows law firms also among lobbyists working for fossil fuel companies

A handful of “small but dirty” public affairs and law firms in Europe are enabling pollution by lobbying extensively for big oil, an analysis has found, with most major companies in the industry working for at least one fossil fuel client.

Several of the top spenders on activities to influence EU policymaking are on the payroll of oil and gas companies, according to an analysis of the EU Transparency Register by the Good Lobby nonprofit, but fossil fuel clients represent just 1% of the industry’s revenue.

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Brazil’s emergent $125 billion “Tropical Forest Forever Facility” fund, set to be launched at COP30, fails to finance forest preservation actors, environmental advocacy non-profits said in a report Thursday.

A UK parliamentary committee has urged the government to prepare a contingency plan in case bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) cannot reach the scale required to meet the country's net zero goals.

A partnership to plug an orphan gas well in Canada yielded its first tranche of carbon credits.

The BioCarbon environmental standard on Thursday launched a water crediting programme at the Colombia Carbon Forum in Bogota, following a 30-day public consultation.

California Carbon Allowances (CCA) fell below the 2025 price floor amidst strong front-end selling and political uncertainty around the future of the state's cap-and-trade programme, while Washington Carbon Allowances (WCAs) gained value in thin markets despite the threat of legal action from the federal government, traders said.

Liquid fuel producers suing to rescind California’s clean cars mandate will likely be granted standing by a unanimous or near-unanimous US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ruling, but the case will then face a tough road winning on its merits, an environmental law specialist said Thursday.

Climate activists may be going deeper underground.

Climate activists may be going deeper underground.

The UK should focus on pushing companies to take plastics out of their materials rather than imposing a Emissions Trading Scheme on municipalities that collect and burn household waste, the Local Government Association (LGA) warned on Friday.

Canada is about to go to the polls - and the country's climate and fossil fuel election debates - and the Trump effect - mimic Australia's in more ways than one

The post Australia and Canada: Two fossil fuel giants where Trump has had stunning impact on election polls appeared first on RenewEconomy.

UK prime minister tells energy summit his government is determined to transition energy system from fossil fuels to renewables

• Britain will accelerate push to net zero, Starmer tells energy summit

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California diesel sales plunged nearly a quarter month-over-month (MoM) at the start of 2025, aligning with low points recorded last year, new state data showed.

Employees of water firms who obstruct investigations into spills could face jail under new rules that come into force on Friday

Water company bosses have entirely escaped punishment for covering up illegal sewage spills, government figures show, as ministers prepare to bring in a new law threatening them with up to two years in prison for doing so.

Only three people have ever been prosecuted for obstructing the Environment Agency in its investigations into sewage spills, officials said, and none received even a fine.

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Third and final giant transformer arrives for installation at first stage of state-backed big battery that will deliver up to 1.6 gigawatt-hours of storage into the grid.

The post Last of three giant transformers gets craned into place at massive state-backed battery appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) received hundreds of comments on their Section 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit guidance, asking the agency to finalise guidance quickly and to adjust its definition of qualifying sales to match the transportation fuel business.

Speech made clear prime minister sees renewable energy as core to UK’s future prosperity and national security

Britain will go “all out” for a low-carbon future and accelerate the push to net zero instead of slowing down as some have demanded, the prime minister said on Thursday.

In his strongest declaration yet of support for the net zero agenda, Sir Keir Starmer told a conference in London of more than 60 countries that tackling the climate crisis and bolstering energy security were “in the DNA of my government”.

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