Feed aggregator

Using bees as biomonitors can be a more sensitive and effective way of detecting contaminants than traditional sampling methods, new research shows. Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Kara Fry, Adjunct Fellow, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Max M Gillings, PhD Candidate, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Many credits in the voluntary market going unused, with study finding some offsetting could make global heating worse

Carbon credit speculators could lose billions as scientific evidence shows many offsets they have bought have no environmental worth and have become stranded assets.

Amid growing evidence that huge numbers of carbon credits do nothing to mitigate global heating and can sometimes be linked to alleged human rights concerns, there is a growing pile of carbon credits equivalent to the annual emissions of Japan, the world’s fifth largest polluter, that are unused in the unregulated voluntary market, according to market analysis.

Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs, including turtle hatchlings, mating butterflies and trafficked toucan

Continue reading...

Green groups have challenged the European Commission to revise upwards its 2030 emissions target to at least 65% compared to 1990 levels instead of the current 55%, submitting a request to the EU executive to review its legal text on annual emissions allocations for sectors outside the current EU ETS this week.

A Swiss business foundation is investing 50 million Swiss francs ($56.7 mln) until 2030 into five projects of carbon dioxide removal or carbon capture in the country that aim to collectively cut 232,800 tonnes of CO2.

South Africa signed a series of deals with China to upgrade its energy sector at the BRICS summit this week, including one contract that could help to extend the life of South Africa’s coal plants.

An increase in the number of nature-based carbon sequestration projects is helping to reduce uncertainties around potential risks in these activities, according to a European development agency.

The Kenyan National Assembly has reportedly passed legislation to ensure local communities get a larger share of the profits from carbon credit projects, following similar moves made by other African nations.

In the 20th year of the South Australian Museum’s photographic competition, Samuel Markham’s image My Country Burns was the overall winner. The picture, taken while Markham was defending his home from a bushfire, was described by the judges as a ‘breathtaking, scary photograph … indicative of the world we now live in’

Continue reading...

Biodiversity is a “megatrend” that will reshape human behaviour, company trajectories, and industry value chains, according to asset manager Robeco.

Several project developers and proponents have come out to demonstrate the positive impact of REDD+ projects in recent days, as new studies emerge that are critical of baseline assessments.

The release of water from the Japanese nuclear plant has already caused the price of produce from surrounding coastal areas to drop

Awa-jinja is a place of pilgrimage for the more superstitious fishers of Shinchi-machi, a coastal town in Fukushima, who come here to lower their heads and ask the Shinto gods to look kindly on them as they prepare to steer their boats into the vast Pacific Ocean.

Today, though, the “safe waves” implicit in the shrine’s name are of little concern to the men and women coming to the end of the working day at the town’s fishing port.

Continue reading...

Ireland is working towards adopting a similar code to the UK’s Woodland Carbon Code (WCC) to incentivise reforestation and afforestation projects, according to an Irish property developer looking to offset its residual emissions by financing tree planting on its home turf.

A state government in India has issued an official resolution as a protest against the forest act recently passed by the federal parliament, amid concerns it could drive deforestation and biodiversity loss.

Oil, gas and coal benefited from $7tn in support in 2022 despite being primary cause of climate crisis

Fossil fuels benefited from record subsidies of $13m (£10.3m) a minute in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund, despite being the primary cause of the climate crisis.

The IMF analysis found the total subsidies for oil, gas and coal in 2022 were $7tn (£5.5tn). That is equivalent to 7% of global GDP and almost double what the world spends on education. Countries have pledged to phase out subsidies for years to ensure the price of fossil fuels reflects their true environmental costs, but have achieved little to date.

Continue reading...

For as long as our coast remains polluted and food is plentiful in urban areas, we will have these noisy neighbours

I used to hear sparrows, starlings, wood pigeons and robins. Now, summer’s small hours are dominated by a chorus fit for a seafarer: herring gulls mostly, narrating the day from their urban stoops. “Oh, how lovely!”, wistful colleagues say. “I feel like I’m at the seaside during a call with you.” And yet, I am not at the seaside. I am in Exeter city centre, 10 miles from the coast.

Our relationship with gulls is complicated. From Viking superstition to British Vogue’s latest cover, these seabirds have long been allied with truth, cunning, good fortune and endurance, while simultaneously being regarded as the ultimate urban antagonist.

Sophie Pavelle is a writer and science communicator

Continue reading...

Median level of PFAS was 88% higher for Asian Americans than non-Hispanic whites, research using novel method shows

Asian Americans likely have much higher levels of “forever chemicals” in their blood than other US races and ethnicities, research using a novel method for measuring PFAS exposure finds.

The peer-reviewed study factored sociodemographic, dietary and behavioral characteristics into its algorithm, which makes it more sensitive to exposure differences among cultures than the standard methods used by the US government and most of the scientific community.

Continue reading...

European carbon markets continued to track retreating gas prices on Thursday, with reports that industrial strike action at a key LNG export plant in Australia has now been averted.

A weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

Implementing aligned policies across ministries and avoiding vested interests will be a key factor for governments as they hammer out strategies to meet the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)'s 30x30 target, according to a report led by WWF US released this week.