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A slower paced life with less work and more community focus – if enough people share the dream, we can make it happen

Faced with the now undeniable impacts of climate crisis created by humans, political leaders in wealthier countries incline towards one of two competing responses. They either question the urgency and feasibility of meeting net zero targets and generally procrastinate (the rightwing tendency); or they proclaim their faith in the powers of magical green technologies to protect the planet while prolonging and extending our present affluent ways of living (a position more favoured on the left and centre).

Common to both approaches is a wrongheaded presumption that we can carry on growing while managing to hold off the floods and fires of growth-driven capitalism. Both also take it for granted that the consumerist lifestyle is essential to the wellbeing of rich societies and the ideal to which less developed economies should aspire.

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The International Energy Agency (IEA) has underlined the necessity of curtailing future oil and gas production in order to keep warming at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels even as it sees a role for the companies that produce it in the energy transition.

Taiwan is considering bilateral programmes similar to Japan's Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) to secure high-quality carbon credits from international emissions reduction projects, a top climate policy planner told Carbon Pulse.

Policymakers are using poor data to calculate the social cost of carbon because global warming is causing increasingly frequent tropical cyclones and hurricanes that leave countries with less time to recover from the destruction, warns a new study.

The Australian Labor government’s expanded Capacity Investment Scheme gives us a better chance of hitting high renewable energy targets. It’s not without risk but well worth the rewards. Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The federal Australian government on Thursday provided details on its environmental law reforms, confirming that emissions reduction efforts will largely be handled by the Safeguard Mechanism.

Study finds impact of heat on millions of people went unrecorded, highlighting limitations many African countries face

A record-breaking heatwave in Madagascar in October would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused global heating, a study has shown.

The extreme temperatures affected millions of very poor people but the damage to their lives was not recorded by officials or the media. Many governments in Africa lack the capabilities to record climate impacts. The scientists behind the report said this lack of information made implementing measures to avoid deaths very difficult.

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Heidi Douglas talks through Solar Citizens’ list of policy asks for the upcoming energy ministers’ meeting. Could we get discounted batteries for Christmas?

The post Solar Insiders Podcast: The fight for fairer rooftop PV – and cheaper home batteries appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Energy industry reacts warmly to Bowen's huge underwriting plans, although there are still questions about transmission, social licence and households. And some still want gas.

The post Old and new energy react warmly to Bowen’s underwriting plan – but some still want gas appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Arena announces $864,000 in funding for AGL to develop and trial a forecasting tool to help industry to supply dynamic load flexing in the network.

The post AGL to trial tool to manage flexible energy loads at airport, supermarkets and warehouse appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Flotation Energy’s 1.5GW Seadragon offshore wind project, proposed for Gippsland waters, awarded major project status by the federal government.

The post Australia’s “second most advanced” offshore wind farm gets major boost appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Pacific Green unveils plans for South Australia's biggest battery, a 1.5GWh project that could be trumped by an even bigger project in Victoria.

The post UK battery developer unveils biggest SA project and “multi-gigawatt” Australia plans appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Origin confirms Brookfield bid doomed, but delays meeting to consider revised bid and the federal government's massive renewable energy news.

The post Origin delays vote to consider revised Brookfield bid – and Bowen’s auction plans appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Philippines is set to announce priority investment areas for green and blue carbon projects as the country seeks to explore the potential of nature-based carbon sinks, with 1 million hectares of classified government forest land to be opened up for investments in Q1 next year, local media reported.

The International Energy Agency says the sector must choose between worsening the climate crisis or helping solve it.

A year-long study finds the animals are back in the Seychelles where they were hunted in the 1960s.

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Global climate models don’t let us zoom in on the fine details. A new set of high-resolution climate models for Australia is solving this problem. Ralph Trancoso, Adjunct Associate Professor in Climate Change, The University of Queensland Jozef Syktus, Professorial Research Fellow, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland Sarah Chapman, Visiting Research Fellow, University of Leeds Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

This is exactly the kind of bold policy needed to rapidly transform Australia’s energy market while ensuring reliability and affordability. Can we apply it to consumer energy, too?

The post Bowen has put a rocket under big renewables. Small-scale market must be next appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A New Zealand voluntary carbon certification and advisory service provider will transition out of accepting government-issued NZUs in its programmes, because they are not as rigorously assessed as those submitted to the Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets (ICVCM), it announced Thursday.