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Starmer pledges to avoid rerun of 1980s deindustrialisation with clean energy plans

The Guardian - Sat, 2024-10-05 00:40

Prime minister suggests there will be more public money made available for new technologies

Keir Starmer has signalled his government will drastically increase its green investment plans in an attempt to avoid a rerun of 1980s-style industrial decline by safeguarding jobs in heartland manufacturing communities.

On a visit to a Merseyside glass factory on Friday to unveil billions of pounds in funding for carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, the prime minister suggested there would be more public money made available for new technologies.

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Outraged that some plastic you send for recycling ends up being burned? Don’t be | James Piper

The Guardian - Fri, 2024-10-04 23:33

Recycling is, by its nature, complicated. The imperfections in the process don’t mean the whole system is a con

The process of recycling is, by its nature, complicated. We put our mix of rubbish in the right bins, and from that point onwards hope that those we entrust it to – be it local councils picking up rubbish or supermarket recycling schemes – will do the rest. If this is you, then you may be dismayed to learn that a recent Everyday Plastics report found that most soft plastics collected by two of Britain’s biggest supermarkets are not being recycled and are, instead, incinerated.

Soft plastics are anything flimsy that you can scrunch in your hand: think bread bags, pouches, clingfilm, chocolate wrappers and crisp packets. But as this latest report shows, they aren’t as easily recyclable as you might think. Here’s why.

James Piper is the co-host of the Talking Rubbish podcast and author of The Rubbish Book

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Integrating gender into carbon credit projects key to market credibility and outcomes -report

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2024-10-04 23:30
Project developers should embed gender considerations into the design, implementation, and monitoring of carbon credit projects to boost market integrity and improve project outcomes, according to recent research.
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INTERVIEW: Demand for Article 6 units won’t suddenly boom in case of agreement

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2024-10-04 23:04
Demand for carbon credits aligned with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement is not going to suddenly spike if an agreement on rules to operationalise UN international carbon markets is found at COP29 at the end of the year, a senior EU negotiator told Carbon Pulse.
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Northern Lights possible as solar storms gather

BBC - Fri, 2024-10-04 21:59
The largest solar flare since 2017 has been spotted erupting from the Sun’s surface.
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Euro Markets: Midday Update

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2024-10-04 21:28
European carbon prices were set to record their sixth five-day decline in the last seven weeks, coming within range of a key suport level as selling pressure continued to push the market to new six-month lows, while gas markets stalled and UK Allowances resumed their decline.
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Western Australian govt announces first nature tech accelerator cohort

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2024-10-04 20:20
The government of Western Australia announced Friday the first cohort of six early-stage nature tech startups that will receive seed capital and expert support to scale their businesses under a newly launched accelerator programme.
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Hurricane Helene is a humanitarian crisis – and a climate disaster | Rebecca Solnit

The Guardian - Fri, 2024-10-04 20:00

Behind the violence of extreme weather is that of the fossil fuel industry, and Americans are suffering for it

The weather we used to have shaped the behavior of the water we used to have – how much and when it rained, how dry it got, when and how slowly the snow in the heights melted, what fell as rain and fell as snow. Climate chaos is changing all that, breaking the patterns, delivering water in torrents unprecedented in recorded history or withholding it to create epic droughts, while heat-and-drought-parched soil, grasslands and forests create ideal conditions for mega-wildfires.

Water in the right time and quantity is a blessing; in the wrong ones it’s a scourge and a destroying force, as we’ve seen recently with floods around the world. In the vice-presidential debate, Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor, noted that his state’s farmers “know climate change is real. They’ve seen 500-year droughts, 500-year floods, back to back.” Farmers around the world are dealing with flood, drought and unseasonable weather that impacts their ability to produce food and protect soil.

Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of Orwell’s Roses and co-editor with Thelma Young Lutunatabua of the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility

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Civil society organisations worldwide urge not to be ‘fooled’ by biodiversity credits

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2024-10-04 19:10
Over 270 civil society organisations and academics from around the world have penned a statement against the use of biodiversity credits and offsets, warning that market-based mechanisms pose significant risks to ecosystems and communities.
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Companies increasingly shift to internal carbon pricing to drive decarbonisation strategies

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2024-10-04 18:46
Businesses are increasingly turning to internal carbon pricing (ICP) to drive their decarbonisation efforts, a webinar heard on Thursday.
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Politicians flying less or cutting out meat is ‘missing link’ in climate action

The Guardian - Fri, 2024-10-04 18:03

Exclusive: Study suggests people more willing to reduce own carbon footprint if they see leaders doing the same

Political leaders “walking the talk” on climate action by flying less or eating less meat could be a “crucial missing link” in fighting global heating, according to a study.

Researchers found that people are significantly more willing to reduce their own carbon footprint if they see leaders doing the same. The finding, by psychologists in the UK, was not a given, as green action by high-profile people can sometimes be dismissed as virtue-signalling.

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Nature-positive insurance practices gain traction, but faster integration needed, report says

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2024-10-04 17:46
The concept of nature-positive insurance is building momentum in Australia as a way to address insurability challenges, but work must be done more quickly to integrate these practices more broadly, a report published Friday urged.
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Japanese companies team up to cut emissions from LNG value chain

Carbon Pulse - Fri, 2024-10-04 17:16
Dozens of companies in Japan have endorsed a government-backed initiative that aims to reduce methane emissions in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) value chain, according to local media reports.
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Sharks found to eat sea urchins as large as their heads in accidental discovery by Australian researchers

The Guardian - Fri, 2024-10-04 17:02

Researchers tethered 50 long-spined and 50 short-spined urchins outside lobster den and sharks were observed ‘smashing the whole thing’

An experiment designed to investigate lobster predation on sea urchins unexpectedly found that Port Jackson and crested horn sharks ate the spiky animals instead.

The research, led by University of Newcastle marine ecologist Jeremy Day, involved tethering sea urchins at the entrance to a lobster den – home to at least 20 large eastern rock lobsters – near Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales.

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Researchers wanted to study lobsters eating sea urchins. But sharks ate their lunch — video

The Guardian - Fri, 2024-10-04 17:01

An experiment designed to investigate the role lobsters play in regulating sea urchin numbers unexpectedly found sharks were eating them instead. The research, led by the University of Newcastle marine ecologist Jeremy Day, involved 50 long-spined and 50 short-spined sea urchins tethered to the entrance of a lobster den on the south coast of NSW. Over the course of 25 nights, sharks ate 45 of the urchins, while lobsters ate only four. Sea urchins are native to NSW but have become are a pest in Tasmania, where they are threatening local ecosystems

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Week in wildlife in pictures: bears caught in the act, a glamorous seal and a fugitive emu

The Guardian - Fri, 2024-10-04 17:00

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

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Collins Street falcons: two chicks have hatched on skyscraper and are taking meals – video

The Guardian - Fri, 2024-10-04 15:47

The stars of 367 Collins Street have welcomed baby birds to the nest. Two hungry chicks are taking meals after entering the world on a Melbourne skyscraper. Last year’s eggs were unable to hatch after the mother stopped incubating – likely due to a territorial dispute – making the stakes all the higher this year

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Ex-carbon offsetting boss charged in New York with multimillion-dollar fraud

The Guardian - Fri, 2024-10-04 15:00

Kenneth Newcombe, formerly CEO of C-Quest Capital, indicted over allegations of carbon credit manipulation

A former carbon offsetting executive has been charged with fraud by US federal authorities, who allege that he helped to manipulate data from projects in rural Africa and Asia to fraudulently obtain carbon credits worth tens of millions of dollars.

Kenneth Newcombe, former CEO of C-Quest Capital LLC and a leading figure in the offsetting industry, was indicted on Wednesday in New York with commodities and wire fraud.

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