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The Austrian capital has been spared the worst of recent flooding. Its experience could be a lesson in how to tackle the climate crisis

Floods are seemingly unavoidable these days. Florida, North Carolina, Nigeria, Tunisia, Mexico, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Poland and Austria are among the places that have experienced flooding in the last month. Those floods should no longer come as much of a surprise. Climate change leads to more frequent and intense rain almost everywhere on the planet, and most infrastructure, from roads and bridges to canals and hydroelectric dams, is simply not built to withstand such extremes.

That’s where Vienna stands out. The floods that have deluged central Europe over the past two weeks caused plenty of disruptions in Lower Austria, including to a newly built train station meant to connect the burgeoning suburbs to the city. But aside from some disruption to Vienna’s otherwise well-functioning subway system, Viennese homes were largely spared. Why? It’s not because Vienna sits on higher ground than the surrounding areas (by and large it does not). The reason the city escaped the worst of the floods is because of human engineering and political foresight dating back to the 1960s, which emerged in response to earlier floods that devastated parts of the city.

Gernot Wagner is a climate economist at Columbia Business School. He is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Wiener Klimarat, Vienna’s climate council

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A UK and EU ETS tie-up, as well as enhanced collaboration on carbon capture and storage (CCS), are among a number of policies that a think tank has recommended for discussion when UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meet on Wednesday.

A new report warns current investment policy towards China is blocking access to a "green capital tsunami" vital to Australia's plans for solar and battery manufacturing.

The post Australia can ride the waves of China’s “green capital tsunami” – but a change in attitude is needed appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Early campaign moves suggest energy will be a key policy battleground in the Queensland election – and that Labor and the Coalition will divide the state down party lines over climate and renewables.

The post Coal extension and public power retailer set battle lines for Queensland’s energy election appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A wind and battery project is going straight into the EPBC process for federal approval.

The post Do not pass go: South-west NSW wind project sent to get federal green tick appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Eighteen investors managing $22 billion have co-signed a letter asking the US financial regulator to stop Brazilian meat giant JBS from listing in the US following concerns around transparency, human rights, and deforestation.

Analysts at a roundtable during Climate Week NYC said that the regulatory picture was dominating market movements across North American compliance programmes, with policy uncertainty through 2024 weighing on allowance prices in the secondary market.

California's power sector reversed course in August from the previous two months with emissions dropping year-on-year (YoY), as the share of renewables increased and the role of natural gas decreased.

Renewable propane, an often overlooked fuel in the energy transition push, has the potential to be a small but key component in helping to scale up renewable fuel supplies while decarbonising an array of end-uses, and one company says it's working to prove that point.

The Alberta Technology Innovation and Emission Reduction (TIER) programme recorded its lowest spot prices in the past two years, attributed to policy uncertainty, according to a report published Tuesday, while worries of forthcoming credit oversupply also shroud the outlook, market observers said.

Imagine using tailored soundscapes to restore ecosystems, simply by amplifying recordings of sonic cues that attract wildlife, stimulate plant growth and rebuild relationships between species. Jake M Robinson, Ecologist and Researcher, Flinders University Martin Breed, Associate Professor in Biology, Flinders University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Aspiring renewables and storage company to be chaired by former WA premier says it "shocked and surprised" to miss out on a lucrative state capacity contract, but intends to have another go with federal scheme.

The post Battery hopeful licks its wounds after missing out on capacity credits as grid shortfall erased appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Excessive heat warnings bring elevated wildfire risk, potential for power outages and rising death toll

San Francisco recorded its hottest day of the year on Tuesday, and Phoenix set a record for the hottest 1 October on record, as the National Weather Service predicted record-high fall temperatures across the south-western US.

With temperatures hitting 100F (38C) or higher in many places, officials and local media outlets issued warnings that the heat posed “a significant threat to property or life”. Excessive heat warnings were in place across the region, bringing with it warnings about elevated wildfire risk, the potential for sweeping power outages in California and a rising toll of heat-related deaths, a particularly deadly risk for unhoused people and the elderly.

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Germany can achieve annual savings of up to €4.3 billion ($A6.4 billion) by establishing offshore hydrogen production on two energy islands, a report says.

The post Offshore hydrogen “energy islands” could save Germany €4 billion per year – report appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A Denmark-based company announced on Tuesday a field test at a US farm to remove methane from dairy barn exhaust using a non-invasive technology.

Why do the mass killers of the fossil fuel industry walk free while the heroes trying to stop them are imprisoned?

The sentences were handed down just as Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina. As homes were smashed, trucks swept down roads that had turned into rivers and residents were killed, in the placid setting of Southwark crown court two young women from Just Stop Oil, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, were sentenced to two years and 20 months, respectively, for throwing tomato soup at the glass protecting Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. No prison terms have been handed to the people whose companies deliver climate breakdown, causing the deaths of many thousands and destruction valued not at the £10,000 estimated by the court in damage to the painting’s frame but trillions.

Everywhere we see a farcical disproportion. The same judge, Christopher Hehir, presided over the trial of the two sons of one of the richest men in Britain, George and Costas Panayiotou. On a night out, they viciously beat up two off-duty police officers, apparently for the hell of it. One of the officers required major surgery, including the insertion of titanium plates in his cheek and eye socket. One of the brothers, Costas, already had three similar assault convictions. But Hehir gave them both suspended sentences. He also decided that a police officer who had sex in his car with a drunk woman he had “offered to take home” should receive only a suspended sentence. Hehir said he wanted “to bring this sad and sorry tale to its end with a final act of mercy”. The solicitor general referred the case to the court of appeal for being unduly lenient, and the sentence was raised to 11 months in jail.

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At least 468 shot by government controllers last year out of an estimated population of as few as 2,640 in the state’s east, advocates say

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Traditional owners and dingo advocates say a Victorian government decision extending the right to kill dingoes on private and public land until 2028 could threaten local populations with extinction.

A government order, which took effect on Tuesday, declared dingoes were “unprotected wildlife” under the state’s Wildlife Act. The ruling means dingoes can be killed by trapping, poisoning or shooting across large parts of eastern Victoria, despite being listed as threatened under the state’s Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act.

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RMIT-lead study recommends a national recycling scheme to reduce the 200,000 tonnes of textiles sent to landfill each year

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Most Australians are confused about what to do with their unwanted clothes, leading about a third to throw their closet clutter in the rubbish, according to the first national survey of clothing use and disposal habits.

The RMIT-led survey of 3,080 Australians found 84% of people owned garments they hadn’tworn in the past year, including a third who hadn’t touched more than half of their wardrobe.

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A cookstove project developer is set to expand operations  from Kenya across ten countries in Africa after securing $5 million of investment.  

Brazil’s renewable energy-based grid stands ready to ratchet up economic growth in a world entering the age of carbon border tariffs and a tech scramble for low-carbon electricity.