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Community and biodiversity benefits can help demonstrate integrity in REDD forest protection projects but developers need to get better at disclosing them, community-focused groups argued this week.

Malta has paused accepting applications for carbon trading accounts amid an influx of applications, market participants told Carbon Pulse this week, noting that that the demand was mainly from non-EU shipping companies trying to prepare for the sector’s imminent entry into the EU ETS.

A maritime data firm has teamed up with one of Europe’s biggest utilities to unveil a web-based EU ETS management solution for shippers being brought into the bloc’s carbon market.

Corporates have shied away from the voluntary carbon market since the release of the ICVCM's framework for assessing methodologies eligible for its Core Carbon Principle (CCP) integrity labelling, with retirements and demand for REDD avoided deforestation dropping sharply in August.

Activists say that whales will still suffer agonising deaths despite new regulations and monitoring

Animal rights groups and environmentalists have described as “hugely disappointing” the news that Iceland has given the green light for commercial whaling to resume, after a temporary ban introduced this year came to an end.

The Icelandic government said there will be tougher regulations in place – including better equipment, training and increased monitoring – but campaigners said these were “pointless and irrelevant” because whales will still suffer agonising deaths. The hunted whales are shot with grenade-tipped harpoons.

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The market impact of the new EU ETS compliance cycle explained by Gauthier Bily, CEO of Vertis Environmental Finance.

The bonuses of senior leaders at companies should depend on achieving environmental goals on nature as well as climate, according to an executive at Holcim, one of the world's biggest cement producers.

The vast Arctic wetlands, which span over 80% of the region's land area, may play a pivotal role in the uptake of the potent greenhouse gas methane, according to a recent study.

Voters won a huge battle with the oil industry – proving that we can’t save the planet without robust democracy

Days ago, voters in Ecuador approved a total ban on oil drilling in protected land in the Amazon, a 2.5m-acre tract in the Yasuní national park that might be the world’s most important biodiversity hotspot. The area is a Unesco-designated biosphere reserve and home to two non-contacted Indigenous groups. This could be a major step forward for the entire global climate justice movement in ways that are not yet apparent.

This vote is important not only for Ecuador and for the Indigenous peoples in the Yasuní, who now have hope of living in peace in perpetuity. It is also a potential model for how we can use the democratic process around the world to help slow or even stop the expansion of fossil fuels to the benefit of billions of people.

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Investigating protest and criminal damage is apparently now a waste of police time. Funny that Conservatives didn’t say that about Just Stop Oil protests

This was “crime week” on the Tory grid, but the party of law and order is no more. Tories now do like dictators, passing draconian laws against the freedom to protest but flouting them for protesters of their own political ilk.

Self-styled “blade runners” claim to have so far destroyed 600 cameras of the 3,000 needed to enforce the new Ulez – ultra-low emission zone – now covering all of Greater London. The Mail, Telegraph and Sun have been whooping up the actions of “Captain Gatso” and his balaclavaed vandals as they tear down cameras and cut cables. The Sun reports anti-Ulez exploits along with its “Give Us A Brake campaign to slow down the government’s ruinous race to net zero”. The Telegraph quotes a vigilante describing his night-time vandalism as “unpaid voluntary work for the community”.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

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Researchers used genetic analysis to identify species that cannot be distinguished by appearance alone

Seven new leaf insect species, known as “walking leaves”, have been discovered.

The insects exhibit a sophisticated “twigs and leaf-like” camouflage allowing them to blend into their surroundings without detection, posing a challenge to both predators and researchers.

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Looking like a pearl necklace, the object known as SN1987A is the closest star explosion to Earth.

Discovery that most canids in Australia are not hybrids with wild dogs leads researchers to push to change policy and terminology

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Scientists are calling on governments to end baiting programs targeting dingoes in national parks, to ditch the “inappropriate and misleading” term “wild dog”, and to proactively engage with Indigenous Australians regarding dingo management.

Dozens of scientists have written to the New South Wales, Victorian and South Australian environment and agriculture ministers to push for changes to dingo policies in light of new scientific research.

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A European fuel supplier has increased its stake in a voluntary carbon market intermediary, which has now been issued its first batch of nature-based carbon removals, the firm announced in a release Thursday.

Do the charity’s accusations that the government has reneged on a range of environmental pledges stand up to scrutiny?

If the RSPB hoped to raise awareness about the perplexing concept of “nutrient neutrality” their post calling Rishi Sunak, Michael Gove and Thérèse Coffey “LIARS!” worked: it has, to date, been viewed by five million people.

“You lie, and you lie, and you lie again,” the conservation charity declared on X, formerly Twitter, listing a number of environmental statements from the trio over recent years.

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The UK government appointed Claire Coutinho as secretary of state in charge of the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) as part of a ministerial reshuffle on Thursday, taking Grant Shapps’ place as he moves to head up the defence ministry.

European power emissions are set to fall by more than a fifth this year as gas-fired generation has returned to profitability in the region, while an uptick in hydro generation will also help depress demand for EUAs over the coming month, according to analysts.

European carbon prices were modestly firmer on Thursday as the final August auction cleared at a discount, capping an early rally as participants anticipated the resumption of full sale volumes from tomorrow, while weaker natural gas prices appeared to shift generation margins in favour of gas, cutting potential demand for EUAs.

A weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

Small water bodies with crucial benefits for biodiversity have been overlooked due to their size, a German research centre has said.