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The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

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The Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) officially launched a public consultation on its Beta Scope 3 Emissions Guidance on Thursday, with the VCMI executive director expressing hope that SBTi would align with its carbon crediting guidance.

Before biomass firm is promised a penny extra from billpayers, Ed Miliband should commission a review of its business model

A finding that you submitted dodgy data to the regulator on where your wood pellets come from sounds like very bad news if, like the biomass power generator Drax, you are the lucky recipient of £500m-plus of subsidies every year and are trying to keep the handouts flowing beyond their scheduled end date of 2027.

But shares in Drax did not collapse on Thursday. City analysts judged that the end of Ofgem’s investigation represented an excellent development for the company – “a clear positive”, said RBC, and “a positive read-across” for the chances of getting a new contract with the government, thought Jefferies.

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The incoming Azerbaijan presidency of the COP29 climate conference on Thursday distributed a letter to all parties and observers encouraging early submission of climate progress reports to help accelerate the newest UNFCCC transparency framework.

A template for carbon removal (CDR) offtake agreements sheds light on what buyers want in a voluntary market that is characterised by opacity and often limited legal capacity among smaller suppliers, according to specialist law firm.

After the polar blast of a few weeks back, we have opened our eyes to the luminous full bloom of premature spring

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These unseasonal late-winter days of warmth and clear skies, of the sudden necessity of shorts and T-shirts for the morning dog-walk, are at once glorious and somewhat disconcerting.

Spring – the season of renewal, of awakening, of birth and perhaps re-birth – demands to be celebrated. But somehow this year, all of its ridiculously early harbingers feel double-edged for their presaging of the realities of climate change and sea-level rise.

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A drone image of two humpback whales ‘bubble-net feeding’ by Western Australian photographer Scott Portelli has taken out the top prize in the 2024 Australian Geographic nature photographer of the year competition. This is a cooperative hunting strategy used by humpbacks that allows as many of them as possible to feed in a short time. It is widely believed the whales developed this feeding method after they were hunted to near extinction. The image was chosen from 1,856 entries and the exhibition is now on at the South Australian Museum until Sunday 3 November

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Over a quarter of existing forests worldwide, 320 million hectares, could become agriculturally productive by the end of the century due to the effects of climate change, with potentially grave impacts on biodiversity, a paper said on Thursday.

South Australia has announced the allocation of A$11.4 million ($8 mln) in grants to help landowners enhance and protect nature within their properties.

The inventor behind the commercialisation of biodegradable plastic has turned his hand to scaling up sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and says that producing from corn carbohydrates can be 'carbon negative', lower cost, and more energy efficient than using CO2 as a feedstock.

The EU needs to advance preparations for its upcoming carbon market for road transport and heating fuels, known as ETS2, as new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles may convert into higher costs for consumers, experts told Carbon Pulse.

Article 6 is under threat from rising unilateralism, especially from some of the most influential parties, while isolated efforts to raise integrity in the voluntary carbon market will not be enough, a new report has argued, urging countries to unite around UN carbon markets to drive sufficient climate finance to meet the Paris Agreement goals.

Brazil’s carbon sector is set to be most affected by the changes to the REDD+ project assessment methodologies by credit certifier Verra, according to new data analysis carried out by Carbon Pulse.

The Labour Party-led UK government, in power since July, will not defend against green groups’ legal challenges to the previous Conservative government’s oil and gas licences for two major new sites off the coast of Scotland, it announced on Thursday.

Government says it will not challenge reviews of approval given to controversial Jackdaw and Rosebank fields

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The future of two of the UK’s most controversial oil and gas projects has been thrown into doubt, after the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, withdrew government support for the companies in two legal cases brought by campaigners.

The Jackdaw oilfield, operated by Shell, was given approval in 2022, and Greenpeace applied for a judicial review shortly after the decision. Last year, the previous Conservative government gave the green light to Equinor-operated Rosebank, the UK’s biggest untapped oilfield, against the recommendation of climate advisers. Greenpeace and Uplift demanded a judicial review, arguing that the approval was incompatible with the UK’s legally binding climate commitments, and saying that ministers’ original analysis ignored the devastating impact of burning oil from the site.

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Campaigners hail Labour’s ‘proactive approach’ after series of policy U-turns under Conservatives

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The UK government is considering making further commitments on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, likely to be announced at the UN climate summit this year.

It is hoped the plan will help kickstart global ambitions on cutting emissions and encourage other countries to follow suit.

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European carbon prices slipped back to test a support level from the start of the week amid weaker natural gas prices, shrugging off the strongest auction in three weeks as EU-wide emissions continued to decline, while UK Allowances rose to a seven-week high.

A carbon ratings agency is to make its headline ratings available on a Latin America-based registry platform, aiming to increase engagement in emerging markets.

Half of the countries in the world have at least one type of freshwater ecosystem in a state of degradation, following impacts on lakes and mangroves, UN bodies said on Wednesday.

British power company Drax has agreed to pay £25m to a voluntary redress fund after the UK energy industry regulator found it had submitted inaccurate sustainability data on the sourcing of wood pellets for its biomass plant in north Yorkshire, it said Thursday.