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Experts and agencies have overwhelmingly deemed the plan not to be credible. And burning more coal and gas in the medium term only leads one way

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Let’s not waste time with niceties: the Coalition’s nuclear plan is a fantasy. The vision laid out on Friday by a quartet of opposition frontbenchers is not going to eventuate, regardless of the result of the next election.

That’s not because nuclear energy is necessarily a terrible idea, in a global sense. While waste is an issue, nuclear plants offer zero-emissions power and will be needed in places with fewer energy options. But the claims put forward by the opposition – that Australia needs nuclear, or could have it in the way the Coalition describes – do not stand up to scrutiny.

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Australia must significantly increase its spending on and administration of nature, including putting more money into its planned biodiversity market and change its approach to generating carbon credits, according to the country’s peak conservation body.

A Japanese project developer has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Thailand’s Rubber Authority on developing carbon credits from biochar, which it hopes will help the world’s rubber industry decarbonise.

The UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) released on Thursday the first global guide for insurers to prioritise actions for nature, stressing their role in achieving global biodiversity goals, including through scaling emerging markets.

The once-public emissions reductions targets of Canadian oilsands companies remain absent six months following the introduction of new greenwashing laws, as uncertainty persists regarding specifics of what can be held to account under the new mandate.

Several startups are proposing sinking biomass in anoxic basins, such as the Black Sea, to sequester carbon and generate removal credits, though they face hurdles related to wider scientific approval and regulatory sign-off before they can move ahead.

Trade in EU carbon allowances was significantly calmer on Friday morning after four days of heavy and volatile activity, as traders began to shift their attention to the Dec-25 EUA futures contract, which takes over as the benchmark early next week, while prices were little changed despite modest gains in natural gas.

A Luxembourg-headquartered asset manager has launched a fund aimed at supporting European companies and projects that contribute to biodiversity conservation and restoration, with the target of raising €200 million.

Verra has questioned ICAO’s decision to exclude various of its methodologies for phase one of the aviation emission scheme CORSIA, including its newly improved methodologies for REDD avoided deforestation and afforestation, reforestation and vegetation, as well as cookstoves and carbon capture and storage.

China’s national carbon market saw allowance prices drop below the 100-yuan ($13.74) mark over the past week amid selling pressure, but trading remained robust as emitters rushed to meet the end-of-month compliance deadline.

Chevron spent billions trying to destroy him after he won the largest pollution case in history. It’s time for Biden to end this nightmare

It’s a tale as old as time: an underdog fighting for what’s right, and a powerful giant doing everything it can to stop him. Yet in today’s America, the giants don’t lose – they rig the system to crush anyone who dares to challenge them.

That’s exactly what happened to Steven Donziger, a well-known human rights lawyer who stood up to oil giant Chevron. After helping Indigenous and farming communities in Ecuador secure a historic $9.5bn judgment against the company for decades of environmental destruction, Chevron retaliated with a vicious legal campaign designed not just to discredit him, but to ruin his life.

Jim McGovern is a congressman from Massachusetts

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A direct air capture (DAC) developer is set to launch a pilot plant in New Mexico, while a renewable fuels producer has signed an agreement to generate biogas carbon credits, according to announcements made Thursday.

‘Clean power 2030’ plan will speed up planning and give energy secretary final say on major infrastructure projects

The UK will not face blackouts under Labour’s proposed shake-up of energy supply, Ed Miliband has said, as he unveiled plans to boost clean power by the end of the decade.

The energy secretary insisted the transition away from fossil fuels was “unstoppable.”

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Find is ‘hopeful sign’ the species, one of world’s largest and rarest freshwater fish, is not at imminent risk of extinction

Six critically endangered Mekong giant catfish — one of the largest and rarest freshwater fish in the world — have been caught and released in Cambodia, reviving hopes for the survival of the species.

The underwater giants can grow up to 3 metres long and weigh up to 300kg. They are found only in south-east Asia’s Mekong River but in the past inhabited the entire 3,044-mile (4,900km)-long river all the way from its outlet in Vietnam to its northern reaches in China’s Yunnan province.

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A climate fund has opened its 2025 call for proposals for durable carbon removal projects, it announced Friday.

South Korea this week sold around 70% of the allowances on offer in its monthly CO2 permit auction amid dwindling buying interest, while spot prices in the secondary market retreated to around 10,000 won ($6.96).

India’s Ministry of Steel has released a green steel taxonomy as the South Asian country steps up efforts to control CO2 emissions in its heavy industry.

Action helps thwart advance of invasive yellow-legged hornet that can kill 50 bees a day and has devastated honeybee colonies in France and Italy

Rapid action against an invasive bee-killing hornet has stopped its spread in the UK despite suitable climate and habitat for the insect, a study has found.

Research led by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) looked at how suitable European countries were for the yellow-legged or Asian hornet to become established, and how they might have spread without action.

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China has revamped its national emissions standards for coalbed methane, in the country's latest attempt to curb methane output.

A successful transition to clean energy is vital to Australia’s prosperity. But the Coalition’s latest nuclear salvo leaves many unanswered questions. Thomas Longden, Senior Researcher, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.