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Records of Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz instill hope that progress under Biden could be extended

Public health advocates are optimistic that a Kamala Harris win in the November presidential election in the US would lead to further regulation of PFAS toxic “forever chemicals”, on which the Biden administration has already taken unprecedented regulatory action.

In part that is based on past actions. Last year, Harris’s running mate, the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, signed bold legislation prohibiting the use of toxic PFAS across a range of common consumer goods from menstrual products to food packaging – a measure that is considered by public health advocates to be among the “strongest bans in the world”.

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The Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) Alliance has released guidelines to support companies in corporate disclosures that are aligned with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) recommendations and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard.

A major agricultural lender in Japan has decided to support an industry consortium that aims to utilise carbon credits created from biochar projects.

The Tianjin municipal government is seeking to expand the coverage of companies regulated under the local emissions trading scheme (ETS).

Fortescue, one of Australia’s iron ore giants, used Wednesday’s full year financial results presentation to underline its plans to hit zero emissions for Scopes 1 and 2 by the end of this decade despite its diesel-heavy carbon footprint.

Countries including China, Japan, and South Korea must abandon the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a bridge fuel in order to fully decarbonise their shipping sector, a report released Wednesday said.

‘Beaver bombing’ increasing because of failure by successive governments to approve releases, say experts

“Beaver bombing”, covertly releasing beavers into the countryside, is increasing in England because successive governments have not fulfilled promises to permit some planned wild releases, conservationists are warning.

Beavers now live freely on river systems across swaths of southern England, and conservationists are calling on Labour to allow official releases of free-living beavers and produce a national strategy to maximise the biodiversity and flood alleviation benefits delivered by the industrious mammals.

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A Brazil-based voluntary carbon standard has opened a public call for the registration of validation/verification bodies (VVBs) interested in participating in its certification programmes.

Australian supermarket giant Woolworths Group will stop selling beef and other commodities linked to deforestation by the end of next year, in accordance with Science-based Targets Initiative (SBTi) guidance, it said on Wednesday.

Elon Musk's company said it would be delayed "due to unfavourable weather forecasted" in the capsule's splashdown areas.

The miner has pulled its 1.7GW H2Tas project from the federal environment approvals process after two years in the queue.

The post Woodside pulls plans for Bell Bay hydrogen project in latest blow to Tasmania hub appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The NSW side of the line will now start, although the amount Transgrid has raised is $100m less than the ceiling approved by the regulator.

The post Transgrid locks in $700 million to start works on NSW side of VNI West network upgrade appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Fortescue Metals CEO says he sees "endless opportunities" for green metals industry in Australia, as green hydrogen takes a back seat in the company's ambitions.

The post Fortescue doubles down on green iron, says green hydrogen market “stuck in limbo” appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Why have politicians outsourced the most important issue of our time to private agencies and individuals? We can’t do it all - this way lies disaster

There are several services and assets I would like to see nationalised. But at the top of my list is neither water, nor trains, nor development land, much as I’d like to see them brought under national or local public ownership. Above all, I want to see the nationalisation of my own business: environmental persuasion. I love my job. But I’m not very good at it. None of us is.

We face the greatest predicament humankind has confronted: the erosion and possible collapse of our life-support systems. Its speed and scale have taken even scientists by surprise. The potential impacts are greater than any recent pandemic, or any war we have suffered. Yet the effort to persuade people of the need for action has been left almost entirely to either the private or voluntary sectors. And it simply does not work.

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Australia's largest gas infrastructure business says it plans to spend most of its capex on bespoke renewables in the Pilbara over the next two years.

The post Gas giant says bundled renewables in Pilbara will unlock billions in growth appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New research examines how citizen science data contributes to decisions by governments and conservation organisations about which species are at risk of extinction, and how they can be conserved. Erin Roger, Sector Lead, Atlas of Living Australia, CSIRO Jasmin G Packer, Research Fellow in Wildlife Conservation, University of Adelaide Jodi Rowley, Curator, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology, Australian Museum, UNSW Sydney Rachael Gallagher, Associate Professor, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University Thomas Mesaglio, PhD candidate, Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, UNSW Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

More than 150 councillors join 15,000 members of the public calling for urban areas to be free of the chemicals

The UK should copy Paris and ban pesticides in urban areas, campaigners and local councils have said.

Drawing attention to how the capital city of France still looked pristine while hosting the Olympics, the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) has said the same can be true of UK towns and cities.

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Madrid study finds people from below-average income groups more likely to die in heatwaves

Scorching temperatures across Europe have killed tens of thousands of people in recent years. But as fatalities rise, researchers are finding that one group is disproportionately bearing the brunt of extreme heat: those living in poverty.

“It’s common sense,” said Julio Díaz Jiménez, an investigative professor at Madrid’s Carlos III health institute. “A heatwave is not the same when you’re in a shared room with three other people and no air conditioning, as when you’re in a villa with access to a pool and air conditioning.”

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The Australian government has said its work to strengthen the integrity of the country’s carbon crediting scheme is well in hand in its response to both the 2023 and 2020 review of the market by the Climate Change Authority (CCA).

Snowy Hydro confirms that its new "fast-start, on demand" Hunter Power Plant will begin operations, not on hydrogen, not on gas, but on costly and polluting diesel fuel.

The post Snowy confirms controversial and costly NSW gas plant will start operations fuelled by diesel appeared first on RenewEconomy.