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Letter says technologies to produce blue hydrogen and capture CO2 are unproven and could hinder net zero efforts

Leading climate scientists are urging the government to pause plans for a billion pound investment in “green technologies” they say are unproven and would make it harder for the UK to reach its net zero targets.

Labour has promised to invest £1bn in carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) to produce blue hydrogen and to capture carbon dioxide from new gas-fired power stations – with a decision on the first tranche of the funding expected imminently.

Lock the UK into fossil fuel production for generations to come.

Result in huge upstream emissions from methane leaks, transport and processing of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US.

Rely on carbon capture and storage (CCS) during the production of hydrogen – technology they say has been abandoned in the vast majority of similar projects around the world.

Pose a danger to the public if there are any leaks from pipes carrying the captured carbon. At least 45 people had to be taken to hospital after a leak in the US.

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The European Union seeks to encourage carbon storage in wood-based construction products to pave the way for “climate positive buildings”, as the regulators are developing a methodology for measuring CO2 embodied in building materials.

European carbon permit prices ticked up Wednesday morning as investment funds' net short positions built for the fourth consecutive week, with some additional volatility also seeping into the market due to the September options expiry deadline.

The Prince of Wales has issued an urgent call to end the destruction of the environment.

Global carbon capture and storage (CCS) deployment will likely be too limited and slow for the world to meet the 1.5C warming target of the Paris Agreement, a report finds.

Ministers from 67 countries including the UK, Japan, and Canada have reaffirmed commitments to finalise a legally binding global treaty aimed at ending plastic pollution by 2040, before the final negotiations take place, in a statement published on Wednesday.

The UK government and FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, announced this week a $55 million commitment to reforestation efforts in Latin America, including in the Cerrado biome, one of Brazil's most biodiverse ecosystems.

US-headquartered infrastructure consulting firm AECOM has launched a forest restoration project in Indonesia, with plans to pilot nature credits, Carbon Pulse has learned.

The Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme is faced with a plethora of supply, demand, and policy risks that are leading the scheme to be “finely balanced”, according to analysis shared with Carbon Pulse.

A large Australian iron ore miner with huge decarbonisation and green energy dreams took a step closer to achieving that Wednesday with the signing of a $2.8 billion deal to electrify two-thirds of its haul truck fleet in the north of Western Australia.

How does a massive coal push lasting decades line up with what it has pledged? Leaders of low-lying Pacific nations might appreciate some answers

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The most obvious point to make about Tanya Plibersek’s approval of three coalmine expansions on Tuesday is the most important. The potential climate impact is substantial, and far beyond anything else we have seen approved so far by the Albanese government.

Labor has been criticised for its support of new fossil fuel developments before, but the four coal developments it had backed prior to this were relatively small. They are expected to add about 156m tonnes of heat-trapping carbon dioxide to the atmosphere if fully developed.

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Nine climate protesters have stopped a coal train headed to the Port of Newcastle in opposition to the federal government’s approval of three new mining projects. Rising Tide, the group behind the move, said in a statement that the three projects – Whitehaven Coal’s Narrabri thermal coal project to 2066, Mach Energy’s Mount Pleasant thermal coal project to 2058 and Yancoal’s Ashton coal project to 2064 – would create 1.4bn tonnes of emissions

• Tanya Plibersek approves three coalmine expansions in move criticised as ‘the opposite of climate action’

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The European Commission gave its green light Tuesday evening to a proposal by The Netherlands and Austria to unilaterally extend the scope of their Emissions Trading Scheme for heating and transport fuels (ETS2) to vehicles used in agriculture, as well as railways, and – in the case of Austria – domestic and international flights.

Indonesia and Japan are seeking to finalise an agreement that promotes mutual recognition of bilateral carbon trade this month, a move believed to be aligned with the Paris Agreement Article 6, according to a government official.

Until the government changes its stance on the environment and the war in Gaza and Lebanon, there is nothing to celebrate

On Monday morning, we walked into the main hall of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, before the keynote speech of the chancellor, Rachel Reeves. What we did next, you might have seen.

Shortly after Reeves began her address, two of us stood to speak out on Labour’s complicity in suspected Israeli war crimes, and the party’s ties to climate-wrecking corporations. We were there on behalf of Climate Resistance, a group campaigning to end the cosy relationship between politics and the fossil fuel industry. Just like arms manufacturers, oil companies have been guilty of hindering democratic processes with donations and lobbying, putting human lives on the line for their own profits.

Jack McGinn is a climate activist with Climate Resistance

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The NZU market has been drifting through calm waters with prices largely rangebound in line with market expectations, as it now looks to the supply shortfalls on the horizon. 

Victorian electricity distribution company wins transmission licence, an achievement it says will create more competition and faster connections for new wind and solar in the state.

The post Powercor wins bid to plug in bigger wind, solar and battery projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Appointee was a climate chief at the World Bank and will lead UK’s return to high-level environmental diplomacy

• Who is Rachel Kyte, the UK’s new climate envoy?

A former climate chief of the World Bank has been appointed to lead the UK’s efforts to forge a global coalition on climate action, the Guardian can reveal.

Rachel Kyte, who previously served as special representative for the UN and a vice-president of the World Bank, will take up the role of climate envoy to lead the UK’s return to the front ranks of global climate diplomacy.

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When sighting rates for basking sharks are high they are low for minke whales, says monitoring programme

The highest ever recorded numbers of minke whales and the lowest number of basking sharks were observed in the Hebrides in 2023, according to a report.

The latest findings of the 20-year monitoring programme by the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust suggest a possible association between these two highly mobile and long-lived species. When sighting rates for basking sharks are high, they are low for minke whales, and vice versa.

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Consortium of companies picked to build the transmission system for the Central-West Orana renewable energy zone has been awarded an operator's licence.

The post NSW grants licence to consortium picked to deliver first renewable energy zone appeared first on RenewEconomy.