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Royal Society of Edinburgh says money should be spent on longer-living native forests with greater biodiversity benefits

A report has called on ministers to scrap the huge subsidies and tax breaks given to conifer forests because they do too little to combat the climate crisis.

The report from the Royal Society of Edinburgh said the tens of millions of pounds in subsidies given to the timber industry should instead be spent on longer-living native forests, which have greater and clearer climate and biodiversity benefits.

In Scotland, ministers have subsidised forestry by more than £390m over the last decade, with roughly 80% of that spent on commercial conifer plantations, as well as extra subsidies for haulage.

Timber companies and landowners pay no corporation tax on their income from forests; profits from timber sales are tax-free; there is no capital gains tax on the value of the trees, and 100% inheritance tax relief on the forestry property.

Forest owners were also able to sell carbon credits, adding to the attractiveness of forestry as an investment.

These grants, tax breaks and carbon credits had helped to substantially drive up land prices in Scotland, up by 73% in a single year, greatly distorting the land market and pricing people out.

Government agencies are not properly enforcing policies which require environmental impact assessments on new forest projects; their approach is “inadequate” and “passive”.

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Norway and Ethiopia this week upgraded their decade-long forest partnership to pave the way for payments of up to $100 million if the East Africa nation meets its climate and nature targets.

An Australian oil and gas company producing offshore Brazil has signed up for a five-year partnership with a local REDD+ project certified by Verra.

A BBC investigation finds about one third of chickens sold in some UK supermarkets have "hock burn".

A BBC investigation finds about one third of chickens sold in some UK supermarkets have "hock burn".

Fortescue again delays a decision on what would be Australia's biggest green hydrogen plant, while Forrest appoints a former gas man to head his renewable plans.

The post Forrest delays decision on Australia’s biggest hydrogen project, hires former gas man to lead renewables push appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Wind and solar output hit new record high, just days after state government fast-tracked its target of 100 per cent renewables.

The post South Australia hits new wind and solar record as it surges towards fast-tracked 100 pct renewable target appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australia could be the largest developer of carbon offsets in the world by 2033, according to an outlook statement released Thursday, driven by demand from the Safeguard Mechanism.

5B takes its largest order yet, for 70MW of its prefabricated, rapid-deploy Maverick modules to be delivered to the US from a new factory it is building in India.

The post Australian solar innovator 5B lands biggest module order, to be made in new India factory appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Neoen reveals fall in battery earnings, and an ongoing project delay, as well as falling costs for battery technologies and solar modules, which will lead to lower prices.

The post Australia’s biggest battery developer plans to maintain lead despite fall in storage earnings, project delay appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Environment Protection Authority originally demanded asbestos be cleaned up by end of February but Transport for NSW granted extra month by watchdog

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The remediation and reopening of a major Sydney park where asbestos was found in mulch by a child in early January has been pushed back a month, sparking outrage from the local mayor and a state MP as more contamination is found across the city.

Transport for New South Wales on Thursday announced it had been granted an extension for the works at the Rozelle parklands by the state’s environmental watchdog due to the extent of the remediation needed.

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California offsets offering direct environmental benefits (DEBs) to the state command high prices even as year-to-date issuance trails last year’s levels for the same time, data published by state regulator ARB on Wednesday showed.

Nexa’s Stephanie Bashir on how to reshape grid around consumer energy as solar tariffs cut and PV sets new records.

The post Solar Insiders Podcast: Solar tariffs slashed again appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Southwest Airlines has announced a strategic $30 million investment in sustainable fuel firm LanzaJet as part of a strategy to develop a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production facility in the US.

The owner of Australia's newest big battery says it has been able to charge at low or negative prices and sell into the grid at more than $10,000/MWh during peaks.

The post How Australia’s newest big battery has cashed in on market volatility appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Idle ships at anchor around the globe will be able to earn carbon credits under a new methodology approved by Gold Standard.

The US Forest Service, responsible for stewardship of public forest acreage, has failed to assess the effects of its logging projects on carbon storage and emissions, an environmental law firm said in a lawsuit filed Monday.

A long-awaited report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) investigating a Cambodian REDD+ project has found developers failed to obtain free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) from Indigenous communities, some of whom are said to have been arrested and had their livelihoods destroyed as a result of the scheme’s operations.

Anyone reading the Australian’s Newspoll survey might think there was an actual proposal in place to build small modular nuclear reactors around Australia – except there isn’t

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What happens when an uncosted Coalition thought-bubble to deploy an unavailable nuclear power technology across the country’s electricity grid is presented in an opinion poll as a concrete proposal?

You get a page one story in The Australian under the headline: “Powerful majority supports nuclear option for energy security” backed with two pieces of commentary, an editorial and a narrative reliably echoed by Sky News Australia.

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In the wake of Melbourne’s spectacular cricket swarm, we asked the author of Australia’s Guide to Crickets why insects gather in such large numbers and how to keep them out of our homes. David Rentz, Adjunct Professorial Research Fellow, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.