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Information ‘blueprint’ of the spotted handfish could aid monitoring, captive breeding and protection efforts, scientists say

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They’re Australia’s own underwater punks in leopard print.

Spotted handfish are an endangered species of fish that prefer to “walk” instead of swim, thanks to their unusual pectoral and pelvic fins; have a fluffy dorsal fin on their head that looks almost like a mohawk; and live in the waters off south-east Tasmania.

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Analysts have slashed their forecasts for EU carbon allowance prices across the board, amid ongoing supply pressures and reduced demand from European power and industrial emitters.

Australian solar innovator SunDrive strikes agreement with China solar giant that could be big boost to Labor's Made in Australia plans and its Solar Sunshot program.

The post Australian solar innovator SunDrive strikes manufacturing pact with Chinese PV giant appeared first on RenewEconomy.

There are deliberate campaigns underway to spread misinformation and disinformation about renewables, particularly in regional areas, in an attempt to delay this crucial transition.

The post Whoever wins the election, Queensland needs more renewables, sooner appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The size of big battery projects in Australia is rapidly increasing, with the latest proposal around eight times bigger than the current biggest operating battery in the country.

The post Plans advanced for Australia’s largest battery, with eight times more storage than current biggest appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Reduced government incentives, the spreading of myths and concerns about used car values and fires have stalled what had been an increasingly rapid uptake of electric vehicles. Milad Haghani, Senior Lecturer of Urban Analytics & Resilience, UNSW Sydney Hadi Ghaderi, Professor in Supply Chain and Freight Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The keen birdwatcher encourages others to take 20 minutes out of their day, describing the experience as ‘meditative’

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In early October the comedian Geraldine Hickey went looking for tawny frogmouths, a charismatic bird with a frog-like beak and mottled feathers.

“They’re a good-looking bird,” Hickey says, though it hasn’t yet appeared in her annual bird calendar, a project she started as a “lockdown thing” that has gained its own dedicated audience.

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Europe’s position in the global net-zero industrial race is at risk due to the US economic dominance and China’s ambition to become the world’s clean tech hub, a pan-European climate think-tank has warned.

United Utilities and Severn Trent had four-star environment ranking but discharges breached permits, campaign group says

• ‘Ankle deep in sewage’: English spring water village suffers supected unlawful spills

Two of England’s biggest water firms dumped raw sewage into rivers across the country in suspected illegal breaches of their permits, despite being given the highest possible rating by the regulator for their environmental performance, the Observer can reveal.

Severn Trent Water and United Utilities were responsible for 1,374 raw sewage spills from sewage treatment works in apparent breaches of permits over a two-year period in more than 80 watercourses, according to an analysis of previously unpublished operational data. It is alleged the suspected illegal discharges were during dry weather or at times when the plants were not at operating capacity.

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The exclusion of branch turnover from forest carbon accounting models has led to significant biases in estimates of global forest carbon sinks, a new study has found.

Water firm Severn Trent accused of being in breach of environmental permits over pollution near Malvern Hills

• Top-rated UK water firms ‘dumped 1,374 illegal spills into rivers’

Colwall, a village of less than 3,000 people on the border between Herefordshire and Worcestershire, is renowned for its spring water, which comes from the nearby Malvern Hills. An area of outstanding natural beauty, it has been favoured by the royal family for centuries, including Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria.

But the water at Colwall is now in the spotlight for very different reasons. The most recent data from Severn Trent Water, the company that covers the area, reveals that a sewage treatment works on Cradley Brook, near the village, spilled sewage for 1,756 hours in 2021 and 1,361 hours in 2022.

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We are losing in the fight against global warming, it is time to put effort into controlling what we pump into the atmosphere

The havoc unleashed by Hurricane Milton provided unambiguous evidence that we are entering a critical and alarming new phase in the planet’s climate crisis. Rising fossil fuel emissions have triggered increases in ocean temperatures and sea levels to such an extent they are generating some of the most destructive storms ever experienced in Florida. Together with Hurricane Helene earlier, the lives of about 250 people have been claimed and thousands of homes destroyed. Florida has been left reeling and forecasters have warned there is more to come – a lot more.

It is a grim prognosis that should be galvanising Florida’s political leaders into taking urgent action to protect the state. Extraordinarily, this has not been the case. Despite the intensification of hurricanes and worsening flooding over the past decade, governor Ron DeSantis has consistently rejected the idea that global warming poses a threat to Florida or that the phenomenon exists at all. A few weeks ago, he signed a law erasing the words “climate change” from state statutes and effectively pledged the state’s future to burning fossil fuels. Such behaviour is disturbing.

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Solar PV mounted on the nation's rooftops have supplied more than 50 per cent of the main grid's power demand for the first time.

The post Rooftop solar supplies more than 50 per cent of main grid’s power demand for first time appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The world's most powerful rocket is expected to be back in action again soon

Comet A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) could be spotted with the naked eye in the UK on Saturday night.

China's efforts to address its aging population by relaxing fertility policies and delaying the retirement age could lead to a significant rise in the country’s carbon emissions, according to a new study

Party donor Dale Vince warns that urging homeowners to switch to clean-power technology risks political storm bigger than Ulez

The government risks a huge political backlash if it keeps pushing the public to install heat pumps to replace their boilers, one of Britain’s leading green entrepreneurs has warned.

Dale Vince, a major Labour donor and renewable energy advocate, called on Keir Starmer to rethink national programmes, championed by Boris Johnson, pushing the technology. Vince argued that Whitehall should explore alternatives to the devices, which he said were expensive, caused serious disruption and could end up increasing energy bills for some people.

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Another tech giant has signed up for the US government’s programme encouraging companies to invest in carbon removal projects, committing to spend tens of millions of dollars on the effort.

A shipping carbon tax being floated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) could have disproportionate economic impacts on African countries, a new report warns.

A “live” carbon removals marketplace was launched on Thursday in an effort to raise funding for the nascent technology.