Feed aggregator

The big lesson for Europe? Trump backed down under pressure

The Guardian - Fri, 2025-04-11 14:00

The EU neither ‘kissed ass’ nor unleashed its most powerful trade weapon. Now it must provide the world with an alternative to US chaos

My condolences to everyone who spent days trying to play 5D chess with Donald Trump’s market-exploding tariff mess. Where Trump is involved, there is a cloud of malevolent chaos, and there is grift amid the chaos. What grandmasters there are to be found are almost certainly grandmasters of grift.

When markets dump $10tn in three days and then gain trillions back in a single afternoon on the erratic decisions of one deeply corrupt person, you can be sure that a small number of people have made immense sums of money out of that volatility. Were the people responsible for abnormal spikes buying into the markets (including call options on various indexes and exchange-traded funds) on Wednesday morning – and again, 20 minutes before the tariff announcement went public – extraordinarily lucky? Were they in the right Signal group? Or were they just simply following Trump on Truth Social, where he posted: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT” –just a few hours before dropping the news that he was kind of pulling back.

Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe correspondent

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

PR campaign may have fuelled food study backlash, leaked document shows

The Guardian - Fri, 2025-04-11 14:00

Eat-Lancet report recommended shift to more plant-based, climate-friendly diet but was extensively attacked online

A leaked document shows that vested interests may have been behind a “mud-slinging” PR campaign to discredit a landmark environment study, according to an investigation.

The Eat-Lancet Commission study, published in 2019, set out to answer the question: how can we feed the world’s growing population without causing catastrophic climate breakdown?

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

WCI Markets: CCAs roiled as White House draws battle lines with state-run ETS schemes, tariff turnabouts upend macro markets

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2025-04-11 11:34
California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices whipsawed in after-hours churn Tuesday amid White House executive orders (EOs) calling for termination of state-run ETS programmes, with partial recovery after lawmakers reaffirmed support for defending state jurisdiction over policymaking.
Categories: Around The Web

Starlings disappearing from gardens, says RSPB

BBC - Fri, 2025-04-11 11:31
The Big Garden Birdwatch survey recorded the lowest ever numbers of starlings this year.
Categories: Around The Web

Australian voters are left in the dark on climate targets as they head to the ballot box | Tony Wood

The Guardian - Fri, 2025-04-11 11:05

There has been little talk about how Australia’s economy will get to net zero. That’s a terrible reflection on the state of our politics

The Coalition has been forced to reassert its commitment to the Paris climate agreement after its energy spokesperson, Ted O’Brien, appeared to waver on the pledge on Thursday.

O’Brien faced off against the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, at a debate in Canberra, weeks out from a federal election in which energy policy is emerging as a hot-button issue.

Labor, the Coalition, nobody in this country will be able to achieve the emission target set by Chris Bowen and Anthony Albanese. The difference between Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese is that Peter Dutton has been honest and upfront about that.

… go against the spirit, if not the letter, of the Paris Agreement, and – in some circumstances – could constitute a breach of those obligations.

Tony Wood is the energy and climate change program director at the Grattan Institute. This article was originally published in the Conversation

Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Alaskan seaweed farms need regulatory changes for CDR applications -study

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2025-04-11 10:21
The existing processes for permitting seaweed farms largely account for harvesting for human consumption, not CO2 removal projects (CDR), according to an Alaska-centred study published this month.
Categories: Around The Web

US EPA can’t deregulate on its own, public engagement required, former agency official says

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2025-04-11 10:12
Policy deregulation at the US EPA cannot wholly and swiftly take place under the agency’s sole direction, a former official said on a webinar Wednesday, noting opportunities for state and public engagement.
Categories: Around The Web

What goes on inside toddlers' brains? A pioneering project is trying to find out

BBC - Fri, 2025-04-11 09:13
A unique study is tracking the development of hundreds of babies whose parents have also been studied since birth.
Categories: Around The Web

FEATURE: Carbon ‘credits’ or ‘bonds’? LATAM regulators try to set the record straight

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2025-04-11 08:43
Spanish-speaking officials in established Latin American carbon markets are attempting to correct the popular Spanish term for voluntary carbon units (carbon ‘bonds’) with carbon ‘credits’, codifying differences that have implications for discourse and regulation alike.
Categories: Around The Web

New US Republican bill cuts wind, solar from IRA clean tax credits

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2025-04-11 07:27
A new US Republican bill would gradually cut solar and wind out of clean energy tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), amid a larger push to preserve fossil fuel-based power.
Categories: Around The Web

US SEC appoints crypto market expert as new chairman

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2025-04-11 06:20
The US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) appointed a new chairman with expertise in the digital financial asset space after the Senate confirmed the nomination in a vote largely along party lines on Wednesday.
Categories: Around The Web

As more communities have to consider relocation, we explore what happens to the land after people leave

The Conversation - Fri, 2025-04-11 06:05
Managed retreat can be traumatic and hard. But with good planning, the land left behind can serve new purposes, and make public what was once private. Christina Hanna, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Planning, University of Waikato Iain White, Professor of Environmental Planning, University of Waikato Pip Wallace, Senior lecturer in Environmental Planning, University of Waikato Raven Cretney, Senior lecturer in Environmental Policy, Lincoln University, New Zealand Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
Categories: Around The Web

Extinctions of Australian mammals have long been blamed on foxes and cats – but where’s the evidence?

The Conversation - Fri, 2025-04-11 06:05
Dozens of Australian mammal species have declined and gone extinct since European colonisation – and introduced predators are often blamed. But evidence is lacking. Arian Wallach, Future Fellow in Ecology, Queensland University of Technology Erick Lundgren, Postdoctoral Fellow in Ecology, University of Alberta Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
Categories: Around The Web

Draft permit granted for Louisiana underground CO2 injection project

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2025-04-11 04:30
A proposal to inject CO2 underground in Louisiana has moved forward following preliminary state-level approval.
Categories: Around The Web

BRIEFING: US federal funding walk-back hinders state-led EV adoption, ETS ambition

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2025-04-11 02:27
A US federal funding squeeze for EV policy could push state-led initiatives to the forefront, which analysts say should focus on affordability and access—a conundrum for regulators driving higher ETS stringency.
Categories: Around The Web

Pages

Subscribe to Sustainable Engineering Society aggregator