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The computing power for AI models requires immense – and increasing – amounts of natural resources. Legislation is required to prevent environmental crisis

One of the most pernicious myths about digital technology is that it is somehow weightless or immaterial. Remember all that early talk about the “paperless” office and “frictionless” transactions? And of course, while our personal electronic devices do use some electricity, compared with the washing machine or the dishwasher, it’s trivial.

Belief in this comforting story, however, might not survive an encounter with Kate Crawford’s seminal book, Atlas of AI, or the striking Anatomy of an AI System graphic she composed with Vladan Joler. And it certainly wouldn’t survive a visit to a datacentre – one of those enormous metallic sheds housing tens or even hundreds of thousands of servers humming away, consuming massive amounts of electricity and needing lots of water for their cooling systems.

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The 6th UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) wrapped up with the approval of 15 resolutions – including the first-ever on land degradation – and calls for expediting efforts towards achieving global biodiversity targets, though disagreements frustrated hopes for bolder commitments.

US ski industry is losing billions as average season has become five to seven days shorter in past half century

If you have been enjoying lushly covered mountains by skiing or snowboarding this winter then such an experience could soon become a receding memory, with a new study finding that an era of reliably bountiful snow has already passed due to the climate crisis.

The US ski industry has lost more than $5bn over the past two decades due to human-caused global heating, the new research has calculated, due to the increasingly sparse nature of snowfall on mountain ranges. Previous studies have shown that in many locations precipitation is now coming in the form of rain, rather than snow, due to warming temperatures.

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A new report has shone a light on the complex road ahead for the global energy transition, revealing a dual narrative of rapid acceleration and significant challenges in the form of various "handbrakes".

Michael Gove said UK needed coal to make steel, but business department papers drafted around same time say it will not

Previously unseen documents have emerged that appear to contradict the government’s case for a new coalmine in Cumbria.

When Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, approved plans to build the Woodhouse Colliery near Whitehaven in December 2022, he said the UK would need the coal in order to carry on making steel.

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Offshore wind pioneer says the lack of Australian investment in offshore wind is "embarrassing".

The post “Absolute smugness:” Australia pioneer laments “embarrassing” lack of offshore wind projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A killer whale is captured on camera hunting and "eviscerating" a great white shark in less than two minutes.

A West Virginia Senate bill looking to tax buyers of nature-based carbon offsets generated in the state failed to be approved by the upper chamber on Wednesday following debate over property rights and carbon credit speculation.

Emitters and speculators added to California Carbon Allowance (CCA) net holdings, closing out of Auction Clearing Price (ACP) contracts post the first permit sale of the year, while financial players continued their profit-taking run in RGGI Allowances (RGAs), weekly data from the US Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed on Friday.

Ontario is providing an additional C$60 million ($43.3 mln) for its provincial forest biomass programme, it announced Friday, while also revealing the recipients of the latest tranche of project funding.

Spot credit prices under the Alberta Technology Innovation and Emission Reduction (TIER) programme dropped in February ahead of retirement season for 2023 compliance, with the provincial government expecting maximum offset usage, according to a report published late Thursday.

Two business advocacy groups filed an amicus brief Thursday in support of oil giant ExxonMobil’s lawsuit against shareholders who called for the firm to set a Scope 3 emissions target, in a push for federal courts to set a precedent regarding shareholder advocacy.

The EU has broken the deadlock on its plans for a coordinated withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), an international trade agreement denounced by climate activists for protecting fossil fuel investments and hampering the transition to net-zero emissions.

Members of a UN body tasked with shaping carbon crediting under Article 6 will begin work immediately on several tools, including on baselines, additionality, and leakage, and open a consultation on methodological elements, in a bid to constructively push ahead on operationalising the international mechanism.

A new portal enabling aviation industry firms and individuals to purchase voluntary credits to offset carbon emissions is now live, a spokesperson for The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) confirmed to Carbon Pulse.

Swiss data company RepRisk is working on widening the coverage of a tool, which shows the proximity of companies to biodiversity-sensitive sites, to include firms in the power sector, an executive has said.

Extraction of natural resources, including crops, wood, and minerals, is set to increase by 60% by 2060, with devastating effects on biodiversity, unless bold actions are taken, a report has found.

Britain is aiming to introduce an allowance supply adjustment mechanism (SAM) to its carbon market from 2026, a senior UK government official told Carbon Pulse.

A Czech utility is considering shutting two lignite-fired power plants in the Czechia next year, citing the growing uncompetitiveness of the fuel, according to media reports on Friday.

A voluntary carbon developer, fresh from issuing Sub-Saharan Africa's first ever-green bond designated for the cookstove market, has seen its electric clean cooking project listed by Gold Standard, the company announced Friday.