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Three-year pause in fishing is the only way to prevent disappearance, researchers say

It is one of Sicily’s most popular dishes: spaghetti ai ricci di mare, or sea urchin spaghetti. Prepared with a simple base of oil and garlic, plates of the stuff are demolished every summer, particularly by the hundreds of thousands of tourists who descend on the island every year.

But sea urchins’ status as a culinary delicacy is leading to their gradual disappearance from local waters, and last week researchers said the Sicilian sea urchin, which resides on the sea floor and feeds primarily on algae, could soon become extinct if urgent conservation policies were not implemented.

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Leaked briefing documents for meetings with governments contained ‘asks’ from state oil firm

The host of the UN Cop28 summit, the United Arab Emirates, planned to use climate meetings with other countries to promote deals for its national oil and gas companies, according to leaked documents.

Cop28 begins on Thursday and will be run by Sultan Al Jaber, who is the chief executive of the national oil company Adnoc as well as the UAE’s climate envoy. This dual role has been criticised as a conflict of interest, and climate summit veterans said the new revelations undermined trust in Al Jaber’s presidency of Cop28, potentially threatening a successful outcome.

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How does a species survive hundreds of millions of years unfazed? You must live in a shell – and it must grow with you, chamber by chamber

Where to start with the nautilus: at the centre of the spiral or its culmination? It is a cephalopod in a shell, a spiral no wider than the length of a ruler, ending in 70 tentacle-like wavy bits. Its eye works slowly, like a pinhole camera. It swims like a bellows. It can live for two decades, and its eggs take a year to hatch. The tentacle-like bits are called cirri, and they are very good at touch and smell.

One scientist describes it like this: “Right now everything’s in bloom, and, you know, you can smell the azaleas. But can you imagine if you could also say, ‘That azalea bush has 3,002 blossoms on it’.” (Their favourite things to touch and smell are not flowers but anything rotting).

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Carbon credit certifier Verra on Monday announced its new REDD methodology for protecting forests, which moves away from site-specific projects to jurisdictions and brings in third-party data to set the baselines used to calculate the emissions reductions of individual projects.

European carbon prices sagged back towards a key support level on Monday morning as weather models appeared to suggest milder temperatures in the coming days, prompting weakness in natural gas prices, which fed through to EUAs.

Australia should set up a $5-billion ($3.3 bln) fund dedicated to buying up land of high biodiversity value to ensure it meets its commitments under the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), a green group-led initiative said Monday.

France will inject €1 billion into funding biodiversity protection and restoration next year as part of a 40-part national biodiversity strategy unveiled Monday.

United States projected to extract 12.9m barrels of crude oil as countries at Cop28 to push for agreed fossil fuels ‘phaseout’

The United States is poised to extract more oil and gas than ever before in 2023, a year that is certain to be the hottest ever recorded, providing a daunting backdrop to crucial United Nations climate talks that hold the hope of an agreement to end the era of fossil fuels.

The US’s status as the world’s leading oil and gas behemoth has only strengthened this year, even amid warnings from Joe Biden himself over the unfolding climate crisis, with the latest federal government forecast showing a record 12.9m barrels of crude oil, more than double what was produced a decade ago, will be extracted in 2023.

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The Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday introduced a three-month trial market maker scheme for its carbon trading platform as it is working with the government to boost liquidity in the J-Credit market.

Phrases such as ‘green economy’ turn voters off, it seems – and Labour has already reframed its language

• Roger Harrabin is a former BBC climate correspondent

As Cop28 approaches, the Swiss solar aviator and environmentalist Bertrand Piccard says he will be given a platform at the conference to argue that we need to rethink the words we use to discuss climate change. He says many climate terms can numb people with fear instead of inspiring them into action, and proposes new language that will reframe our situation as an opportunity, rather than a crisis.

Take the key phrase “green economy”: Piccard says this motivates environmentalists but repels those who discern an assault on their lifestyle or a rise in their bills. Why not, he says, rechristen it the “clean economy”, because no one likes “dirty”. Likewise “clean energy” instead of “green energy”. He has come up with an entire list of terms in common use that he believes need a rebrand.

Roger Harrabin is a fellow at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and a former BBC correspondent

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Investment manager owned by Australian super funds says it will spend $20 billion in the UK by 2027 on renewables and renewable infrastructure.

The post Australian investment manager to spend $20 billion on UK clean energy projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Inconsistent standards and unclear land tenure structures may add complexity to China's forest carbon market, affecting the quality of carbon projects and credits, according to a report released Monday by environmental group Greenpeace.

A termite-snatching drongo, cows wading through flood water and a coral glowing like a Christmas tree are among this year’s winners. From CIWEM and WaterBear, and presented by Nikon in association with MPB and supported by Arup, the 16th year of the contest showcases global environmental photography to inspire change and climate action. The six winners primarily come from climate-vulnerable countries, including Bangladesh, India, and Argentina

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The Australian government has launched a consultation on the model used to generate some Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), as the Clean Energy Regulator issued around 720,000 units in its latest update.

Five-year project to reduce environmental impact of industry has ‘all but failed’, report finds

British retailers and seafood companies have been accused of making misleading claims over “responsibly sourced” scampi or langoustines, according to campaigners, who say a five-year project to reduce the environmental impact of the £68m industry appears to be failing.

The companies, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Waitrose, Young’s and Whitby Seafoods – the last of which is currently the largest supplier of breaded scampi to UK pubs, restaurants and fish and chip shops – are all part of a fishery improvement project (FIP) aimed at making the UK langoustine industry more sustainable.

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Leaked documents show how the COP28 host planned to use its role to strike fossil fuel business deals.

Police arrested 109 climate protesters taking part in a blockade at Newcastle port on Sunday, including Alan Stuart, a 97-year-old Uniting Church reverend. NSW police say protesters continued blocking the port beyond the 30-hour agreed deadline

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• Newcastle port: more than 100 arrested after climate protesters continue blockade past agreed deadline

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Australia's biggest gas projects have cost shareholders $US19bn and the methane emissions are on par with coal, studies show.

The post Case for gas as transition fuel falling apart on both economic and environmental costs appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A requirement for the proposed Robbins Island wind farm project to shut down for five months a year to protect critically endangered parrots has been overturned.

The post “A calamity:” Bob Brown angry after Robbins Island wind farm shut down order overturned appeared first on RenewEconomy.

With the support of the Greens, there’s a chance the ‘Restoring Our Rivers’ Bill will pass. Will it be enough to put the Murray-Darling Basin Plan back on track? Celine Steinfeld, Director, Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists & Adjunct Lecturer, UNSW Sydney Michael Vanderzee, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.