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Rooftop solar output leaps by nearly a gigawatt to help establish new output records for renewables and reshape the grid.

The post Stunning leap in rooftop solar PV smashes renewable records across the grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Conditions this year have been perfect for a cabbage white population boom, but you can do a few things to stop their caterpillars from shredding your plants. Nigel Andrew, Professor of Entomology, Southern Cross University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Anne Lindboe to look at travel plans of Norway’s annual gift to UK but insists tradition will not stop

It is a long-cherished Christmas tradition: a tree sent to London every December from Norway to thank Britain for its support during the second world war.

But felling a decades-old 20-metre (66ft) spruce in the woodlands near Oslo and transporting it by road and sea to Britain to light up Trafalgar Square, only for it to be turned into woodchip a month later, could hardly be described as environmentally friendly.

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Lufthansa Group has agreed to pre-purchase direct air carbon (DAC) credits from the Airbus carbon removal scheme as part of its target to halve net CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to 2019.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is reportedly exploring forward selling biodiversity credits from its world heritage sites.

Three airlines have over-egged their green credentials, the UK's advertising watchdog said on Wednesday, upholding investigations into misleading claims about the environmental impact and sustainability of flying. 

Money offered so far falls far short of estimated $400bn in losses developing countries face each year

• Cop28 live – latest updates

Wealthy countries most responsible for the climate emergency have so far pledged a combined total of just over $700m (£556m) to the loss and damage fund – the equivalent of less than 0.2% of the irreversible economic and non-economic losses developing countries are facing from global heating every year.

In a historic move, the loss and damage fund was agreed at the opening plenary of the first day the Cop28 summit in Dubai – a hard-won victory by developing countries that they hoped would signal a commitment by the developed, polluting nations to finally provide financial support for some of the destruction already under way.

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Denmark's climate minister Lars Aagaard urged the European Commission on Wednesday to adopt a proposal for the EU to cut emissions by 90% across the bloc by 2040, the first member state to come up with a position on the interim goal towards the bloc's binding mid-century net zero target.

Former Ireland leader issues firm response in row over comments made to her by Cop28 president

• Cop28 live – latest updates

Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, has called for a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels, in a diplomatic but firm response to the row over comments made to her by the Cop28 president, which were revealed by the Guardian this week.

In a live online event, Sultan Al Jaber had told Robinson there was “no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C”, a view strongly rejected by many scientists. As well as running the Cop28 UN climate summit in Dubai, Al Jaber is the chief executive of the United Arab Emirates’ state oil company, Adnoc.

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Singapore has concluded negotiations with a series of nations across Asia, Latin America and Africa on implementation of Article 6 to give it access to international carbon markets.

Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) is developing science-based targets for nature focused on cities, it has announced at a COP28 presidency event.

A French project developer has agreed terms with local authorities to develop projects in the Philippines and Nigeria that are expected to generate tens of millions of carbon credits over coming decades.

A Japanese project developer has teamed up with a major tech company in Vietnam to expand its carbon credit generating business in Southeast Asia, with a focus on sustainable agricultural practices.

Spot credit prices under the Alberta Technology Innovation and Emission Reduction (TIER) programme in November more than reversed the previous month's gains despite record-high transactions, with low spot volumes and political developments likely hindering prices, a report published Tuesday said.

When Tories row back on previous climate pledges, they are merely marching in lockstep with extreme parties across Europe

Not only did Rishi Sunak spend more time travelling to Cop28 on his private jet than attending the conference itself, he also delivered a speech at the Dubai summit doubling down on the decision to abandon crucial climate policies on heat pumps and energy efficiency, as revealed in his September announcement. All this while using the diminishing strength of the UK’s green credentials as a shield. These actions lay bare the troubling path the Conservatives have chosen ahead of the next general election. But across western states, abandoning long-held climate commitments is becoming the norm for rightwing parties.

In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ Freedom party has secured the most votes in the country’s recent general election and wants to undo the green transition. In New Zealand, the National party has formed a coalition with the populist NZ First party and ACT, a rightwing party that wants to repeal the Zero Carbon Act. In Germany, the AfD, the far-right party that is second in national opinion polls, has previously called for an end to all climate action efforts. In Canada, polls show that the Conservatives, who voted not to recognise the climate crisis as real two years ago, would win the upcoming 2025 election if it were held today.

Diyora Shadijanova is a journalist and writer

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Ukraine's government is persisting in its efforts to introduce an ETS by 2025 and in plans to re-build the war-torn country in a greener way, though these initiatives are undermined by Russia’s continuous attacks as well as increasing emissions and environmental damage caused by Moscow's aggression.

Make UK, a trade body for UK manufacturers, has renewed calls for the British government to introduce a carbon border adjustment mechanism for energy-intensive industries before 2026 to align with the timescales of the EU’s version.

European carbon made a modest recovery on Wednesday morning after weekly position data showed investment funds had further increased their already-record net short positions, while natural gas and power prices snapped a sharp two-day loss to add support to the carbon market.

Indonesia is exploring using carbon credits generated under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement to fund floating solar projects in the country as soon as next year, as analysis this week has downgraded the rating of its climate targets and actions to "critically insufficient". 

Nature targets will be a core driver of demand for biodiversity credits, as companies can already see the business case for the market, according to a survey published by the UN-backed Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA).