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Many of us take getting around our cities and towns for granted. But it's not as easy for those with a disability, and the elderly.

Emission prices have since recovered but no one knows if this will last. With consultation underway on improving the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS), the government should seriously consider a “price floor” to rebuild confidence in low-emission investment.

Leaked document shows BusinessEurope group would oppose more ambitious goals

Companies including Facebook, Google and Microsoft have failed to distance themselves from a lobby group’s proposal to fight any effort by the EU to set more ambitious climate change goals.

A leaked document shows that BusinessEurope, Europe’s biggest business lobbying group, will urge members to oppose any moves by the European Commission to ratchet up the bloc’s 2030 targets for clean energy, carbon cuts and energy efficiency.

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Risk in over-50s increases by 40% where highest nitrogen oxide levels exist, study shows

Air pollution may increase the chance of developing dementia, a study has suggested, in fresh evidence that the health of people of all ages is at risk from breathing dirty air.

People over 50 in areas with the highest levels of nitrogen oxide in the air showed a 40% greater risk of developing dementia than those with the least NOx pollution, according to the research, based on data from London.

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University of Newcastle's work on organic solar cells heralds a new industrial revolution, with flexible coatings that can be printed on plastic film or sheets in great quantity at low cost.

The post Flexible printed solar cells – a new manufacturing frontier? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Advocates said retracting the regulation would cause more smog-forming pollution that can cause heart and lung illnesses

The Trump administration is rolling back Obama-era standards to limit planet-warming methane pollution from oil and gas operations on federal lands.

Environmental advocates said retracting the regulation would contribute to global warming and cause more smog-forming pollution that can cause heart and lung illnesses.

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It's quite hard to tell when a sea creature is extinct – there's always hope it will turn up somewhere. Tim O'Hara, Senior Curator of Marine Invertebrates, Museums Victoria Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

There are fears for the welfare of 11 tiny piglets stolen from a farm in London.

Additional past vintage carbon allowances arising from regulatory provisions will also be included in the upcoming Western Climate Initiative (WCI) auction, California officials told Carbon Pulse.

European carbon prices gave back most of Monday’s near-5% gains on Tuesday as a weak auction result weighed, but EUAs still managed to close above €20.

The seafood industry in Tasmania and Victoria is worried about seismic testing and point to research backing their concerns

There are calls for a moratorium on seismic surveys by the oil and gas industry from members of the fishing industry after new Australian research shows it has serious impacts on invertebrates such as lobster, scallop, abalone and crab.

The calls come as three different oil and gas companies have told industry bodies they want to carry out seismic explorations inthe Otway basin this summer.

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**THIS IS A FREE ARTICLE** – The world's biggest carbon offset market is set to sunset in 2020, with governments at odds over how the UN CDM’s thousands of projects and billions of carbon credits should be subsequently treated under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

Governments need to raise carbon prices much faster if they are to meet their commitments on cutting emissions and slowing the pace of climate change under the Paris Agreement, according to a report by the OECD on Tuesday.

Experts believe that action is urgently needed to expose horrifying labour conditions across Paraguay’s Chaco region

“For me, there are two very important anthropological concepts,” says Patrick Friesen, speaking Spanish with a thick accent. He is a descendant of protestant Mennonites who left Europe to found agricultural colonies in the arid region of the Paraguayan Chaco; he is also the communication manager of Chortitzer, one of the three large Mennonite cooperatives that dominate the economy of this inhospitable part of the country.

“The first [concept] is that people from the north[ern hemisphere] need to stockpile. They work from sunrise to sunset, investing, so they can survive the winter. But a person from the south, to put it crudely, can sit under a mango tree and wait for a mango to fall on his head. Nature provides security,” he says, differentiating what he believes to be the mental maps of the Mennonites and the indigenous peoples who have been living together in the Chaco for a century.

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Uncertainty around Third Energy’s North Yorkshire project blamed for resignations

Third Energy, one of the firms at the frontline of the UK’s fracking drive, has been hit by the departure of two of its directors due to delays over its flagship project in North Yorkshire. Campaigners said the resignations were a sign of a company “in meltdown”.

The Barclays-backed company had looked likely to be the first shale explorer to frack in the UK for years, but its plans for the KM8 well have been pushed back by government checks over its financial health.

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John Schubert appears before Senate inquiry into the grant awarded to his small non-profit without tender

The chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, John Schubert, has told a Senate inquiry he did not know the government was going to offer a $444m grant when he agreed to meet with the then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and his environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg.

In the hearing on Tuesday, Schubert said the prime minister’s office called with an invitation two days before the 9 April meeting but gave no information on what was to be discussed.

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Head of Holborn primary school shocked to learn air pollution in classrooms far exceeds World Health Organisation guidelines

• Children inhaling toxic air on school run and in classroom

Headteacher Gwen Lee had not expected the results to be good but had been unprepared for what the air pollution engineer found.

Levels of dangerous particulate pollution exceeded WHO guidelines in every classroom of the school – and two were more than three times over the limit.

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Tiny particles of black carbon from car exhausts lodge themselves in children’s lungs and can enter the bloodstream and potentially the brain

• ‘I was horrified that children are breathing air this dirty inside the school’

Children in the UK are being forced to breathe dangerous levels of toxic air as they make their way to and from school – and even once they are inside their classrooms, according to new research.

The findings from academics at Queen Mary University in London reveal that young children were absorbing a disproportionate amount of tiny black carbon particles during the school day with potentially devastating health consequences.

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With consultation underway to improve the New Zealand emissions trading scheme, experts argue that a reserve price on emissions units could help rebuild confidence in low-emission investment. Suzi Kerr, Adjunct Professor, School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Latest CER data shows combined capacity of large-scale wind and solar energy projects in development pipeline now nudging 9GW.

The post Clean Energy Regulator counts 9GW in big solar and wind pipeline appeared first on RenewEconomy.