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States face challenges getting federal aid amid dwindling Fema funds and laws that don’t consider heat a climate disaster

The spiraling costs of extreme weather in the US are hitting hard as more than 60 million Americans are under heat alerts this week, experts say, even though federal law does not explicitly consider heatwaves to be climate disasters.

Temperatures on Tuesday climbed toward record highs across the north-east, upper midwest and mid-Atlantic, with the south also bracing for soaring temperatures later in the week.

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Decision on regulations for ground-level ozone – AKA smog – avoids election-year battle with industry groups and Republicans

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is delaying plans to tighten air quality standards for ground-level ozone – better known as smog – despite a recommendation by a scientific advisory panel to lower air pollution limits to protect public health.

The decision by the EPA Administrator, Michael Regan, means that one of the agency’s most important air quality regulations will not be updated until well after the 2024 presidential election.

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Two German carmakers and a large e-fuels firm announced at a summit in Munich that they will develop a direct air capture facility to be installed in Chile in 2024.

Michael Gove, who pledged to boost protections, now plans to scrap them. No wonder natural habitats are threatened

• Stella Creasy is the chair of the Labour Movement for Europe and the Labour and Cooperative MP for Walthamstow

This week politicians have again been talking crap – the kind that ends up clogging our waterways and streams and making them toxic. Nutrient neutrality sounds like something a health food drink promises. In layperson’s terms, these policies ensure that the materials leaching into our natural water sources help to maintain a healthy oxygen balance so that all – fish, fowl or human – can imbibe it safely. This can be put at risk by sewage discharges into our rivers. In political terms, however, these debates are proof that this government is happy to sell our precious environmental standards down the river.

As a result of farming and development, phosphates and nitrates get discharged into the soil and then to rivers, leading to eutrophication – waterways choking with algae.

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A large energy and chemicals firm based in South Africa has partnered with a voluntary carbon project developer, the firms announced in a release Wednesday, which will see historically one of the largest corporate buyers of credits secure fresh supply.

European carbon continued to trade in a narrow range, moving slightly higher over the morning as the market took account of the two-day pause in daily auctions while positioning data showed that speculative traders had increased their net short holdings.

New solar installations around the globe are expected to reach nearly 400 gigawatts (GW) in 2023, driven by China and record low prices for solar modules.

The post New solar installations to hit nearly 400GW this year as module prices hit new lows appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The climate crisis and soaring temperatures are worsening air quality, WMO says, with ‘knock-on effects’

Heatwaves across the world are worsening air quality and pollution, scientists have said.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said extreme temperatures are not the only hazard from heatwaves but that they also cause pollution-related health problems.

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The Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) Alliance has partnered with impact data and analytics provider GIST Impact to help investors access its information.

Conservation International and the Peace Parks Foundation have committed $150 million to a new initiative during Africa Climate Week that aims to boost biodiversity and climate resilience through climate-smart grazing practices.

A major oil trading company and a US-based software firm on Wednesday launched a platform helping clients to calculate supply chain carbon emissions in the energy sector.

The former heads of state of Colombia, Ethiopia, and Uganda have this week urged global leaders to ensure that the nature finance commitment made at the UN biodiversity COP15 summit to deliver at least $20 billion per year to developing countries by 2025 is kept to.

A Tokyo-based climate startup is planning to kick off a methane reduction project in Vietnam next year through collaboration with a local partner, based on a rice cultivation methodology that has started to gain popularity among Japanese developers.

As the the inaugural Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi continues this week many countries and companies have announced pledges and partnerships with African stakeholders as they look to close the climate finance gap in the region and aid the continent's efforts to establish itself as a green energy and carbon markets hub.

There are systemic flaws pertaining to nature-based offset projects in the voluntary carbon market (VCM), a European environmental advocacy group outlined in a report on Wednesday, while offering several recommendations to ensure and improve climate integrity in the sector going forward.

The Clean Energy Regulator has issued almost 1.4 million Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) for a second consecutive week as one developer received more than 500,000, while the spot price for generic units has crept below A$29.

Australia’s biosecurity system is on high alert for alien invaders. Here’s a hit list of eight baddies we believe pose the greatest threat to Australia’s biodiversity. Jaana Dielenberg, University Fellow, Charles Darwin University Patrick O'Connor, Associate Professor, University of Adelaide Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Heavy rain in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria has triggered flash floods that have left at least seven dead and many missing. In Turkey, some holiday makers were feared dead after flash flooding at a campsite in Kirklareli province, near the border with Bulgaria. Nikolai Denkov, the prime minister of Bulgaria, said two people died and three others were missing.

• Seven dead as severe storms trigger flooding in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria

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Victorian government kicks in $500,000 for feasibility study into developing a renewable methanol facility in Portland with huge production goals.

The post Million-tonne renewable methanol plan wins $500k in state backing appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Nasa said its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter took the image four days after India's historic Moon landing.