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Climate change: COP24 fails to adopt key scientific report
Bitterns, curlews and lapwings at risk as vital wildlife funds dry up
They are some of the most elusive birds to nest in the UK. Indeed, they hide so well in their reedbed homes that ornithologists can only estimate bittern numbers by counting the sources of the booming sounds made by males in summer. It is a census that has produced alarming results. Only 11 booming bitterns were counted across the country in the 1990s.
But since then the bittern has begun to bounce back – thanks to a remarkable system of EU environment awards called Life grants. One of these, worth €3.9m (£3.5m), has helped ecologists restore the bittern’s reedbeds in South and West Yorkshire and rebuild bittern numbers.
Continue reading...California LCFS diesel benchmark to resume normal schedule in 2019
Airlines ignoring efficient planes in blow to carbon targets – study
TUI Airways comes top of 2018 Atmosfair Airline Index while Virgin Atlantic ranks 83rd
Airlines are failing to take up the most efficient planes in sufficient numbers to make a significant dent in their carbon dioxide emissions, a new study has found.
The most efficient new aircraft models, such as the Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A350-900 and A320neo, can achieve substantial carbon savings over older models, but no airlines have invested sufficiently in the new types to reach the top levels of energy efficiency, according to a ranking by Atmosfair, a German NGO.
Continue reading...'We live in a lobstocracy': Maine town is feeling the effects of climate change
When lobsters are life, environmental change affects livelihoods, and warming waters will ultimately bust the lobster industry
The American lobster is a symbol of Maine, central to the state’s ethos and economy.
Its image appears on license plates, restaurant signs and clothing. It is sold alive, with its claws banded shut, on docks, at highway rest stops and supermarkets. Cooked, it is served everywhere from seaside shacks to the finest restaurants.
Continue reading...'It's medieval': why some cows are still living most of their lives tied up | Tom Levitt
A farming practice where cows are tethered and restricted to sitting or standing is still commonplace, particularly in southern Germany. Now farming groups are calling for a ban
Jürgen Weber points to a lesion on the hind leg of one of his cows, a common health problem in “tie stalls”, where the animals are kept permanently restrained in one position. His herd of 30 cows face each other in two rows inside the dim, low-ceilinged barn on the side of the family home in the town of Boxberg, in the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg.
In a farming system criticised as “medieval”, each cow is held in place by a chain or strap around her neck, which restricts movement to standing or sitting. Food and water is brought to the cow, although some farmers untether the animals and allow them into a yard or on pasture for part of the day or during summer months.
Continue reading...Tiny floof with a sweet tooth
The palm oil dilemma
CP Daily: Friday December 7, 2018
Second batch of RGGI offsets issued to Maryland project
NYISO outlines final carbon proposal for wholesale power market
CN Markets: Pilot market data for week ending Dec. 7, 2018
EU Market: EUAs climb back above €20 in calmer trade to end wild week down 0.7%
COP24: Voluntary carbon market should pause export of Paris-era credits -ICROA
Country Breakfast Features
COP24: Asian Development Bank launches ITMO pilot support for SE Asia
A Big Country 8 December 2018
Nasa's InSight probe listens to Martian winds
EEX announces 2019 EUA, EUAA auction calendars for EU group of 25
Any Trump infrastructure deal must tackle climate change, Democrats warn
- Trump seeking $1bn package to upgrade road, rail and bridges
- Senator Chuck Schumer issues condition for Democrat support
Democrats will only support an infrastructure deal with Donald Trump if it includes measures to combat climate change, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, has warned.
In an op-ed in the Washington Post and a letter to Trump, the New York Democrat said that his party “will have an extraordinary opportunity to force action on climate change” after taking control of the House of Representatives in the recent midterm elections.
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