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Who will take the crown this year? That will be for you to decide

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It’s that favourite time again for many of our readers – Australian bird of the year is back, with polls to open on 25 September.

In the last Guardian Australia/Birdlife Australia poll in 2021, the superb fairywren was voted the winner, narrowly beating the tawny frogmouth and gang-gang cockatoo in a nail-biting competition.

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Hundreds of thousands of raw sewage discharges were recorded last year. These maps show where these were and what the impact is

More than 384,000 discharges of raw sewage were reported by water companies across England and Wales in 2022, official figures show, in what the Rivers Trust has described as “extremely bad news for environmental and human health”.

However, the true scale may be even greater, as a new legal challenge has claimed. Meanwhile, another set of water firms are under investigation by the regulator Ofwat and the Environment Agency for alleged illegal dumping of sewage from treatment works, and an independent watchdog is now saying that the government and even the regulators themselves may have broken the law by letting firms discharge raw sewage more often than law allows.

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A major tech giant is making its first foray into the world of direct air capture (DAC) by purchasing carbon removal credits from the world’s largest DAC facility and investing in a developer of modular DAC systems.

Nasa's James Webb Telescope may have discovered a molecule thought only to be produced by life.

EUAs were little changed on Tuesday morning amid a relatively narrow trading range as the market geared up for Wednesday's weekly Commitment of Traders data, while natural gas prices also fluctuated as North Sea maintenance was postponed while China re-entered the LNG market to buy winter cargoes.

Two German companies active in the voluntary carbon market (VCM) announced a partnership Tuesday that will enable the customers of a platform to buy credits from a portfolio of carbon removals projects, including via long-term automated purchase agreements. 

Australian oil and gas company Woodside has expanded its cross-border carbon, capture, and storage (CCS) value chain plans through a deal with three Japanese companies.

Study highlights conflict between Washington’s claims of climate leadership and its fossil fuel growth plans

The US accounts for more than a third of the expansion of global oil and gas production planned by mid-century, despite its claims of climate leadership, research has found.

Canada and Russia have the next biggest expansion plans, calculated based on how much carbon dioxide is likely to be produced from new developments, followed by Iran, China and Brazil. The United Arab Emirates, which is to host the annual UN climate summit this year, Cop28 in Dubai in November, is seventh on the list.

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Wood-based products have the highest biodiversity impacts within the manufacturing sector relative to their output, French consultancy CDC Biodiversite has said.

Correspondence shows nature watchdog had recommended that housebuilders pay for pollution

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The government ignored its nature watchdog’s advice in weakening rules on pollution from housebuilders in England, the Guardian can reveal.

Michael Gove, the housing secretary, and Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, recently announced they would be ending what they termed “defective” EU laws, which require developers to offset any extra nutrient pollution they cause in sensitive areas, under the habitats directive. These areas include the Lake District and Norfolk Broads.

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The European Parliament voted in favour of nearly doubling the share of renewable energy in the EU’s overall energy consumption by 2030 on Tuesday in Strasbourg, after months of infighting over the proposal both on the Parliament and Council of member states side.

A study conducted by a global investment company has found that most large investors are not familiar with the concept of a 'just transition', and those that understand the term have not implemented a plan to integrate it within existing strategies.

A Beijing-based carbon trader and offset project developer has teamed up with a China-focused venture capital firm to launch a clean stove project in Bangladesh, eyeing the growth potential of South Asian carbon markets.

It is being investigated for allowing excessive sewage into England's rivers and seas.

Government may be letting firms discharge raw sewage more often than law allows, says Office for Environmental Protection

The government and regulators may have broken the law by failing to stem raw sewage dumping into rivers by water companies in England, the new independent environmental watchdog has said.

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), which was set up after Brexit to replace the enforcement powers of the European Commission, said an investigation suggested the government, the Environment Agency (EA) and Ofwat may be failing to comply with environmental law and allowing raw sewage to be discharged by water companies more frequently than the law allows.

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The government of South Korea will hold a public hearing on carbon market regulations on Wednesday, as it seeks to revitalise its emissions trading market by relaxing current KAU carryover rules.

Gentari, the renewables arm of Malaysian oil giant Petrobas, unveils huge renewable and storage plans for Australia after buying and rebranding Wirsol Energy.

The post Malaysia oil giant aims for up to 8GW of renewables and batteries in Australia by 2030 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

We all know climate change makes extreme weather more likely. But it’s also loading the dice for quick-forming drought, sudden and intense rainfall and fast-forming tropical storms. Andrew King, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science, The University of Melbourne Andrew Dowdy, Principal research scientist, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

European solar industry calls for urgent action amid warnings that unsustainably low-cost PV from China is pricing the local market out of business.

The post “Looming catastrophe:” EU solar makers issue SOS as cheap China modules flood market appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Solar and wind costs have fallen by up to 90 pct in last 12 years, and even in 2022 huge growth in China meant that global average costs remained stable.

The post “Seismic shift:” Energy crisis helped wind and solar stretch cost advantage over fossil fuels appeared first on RenewEconomy.