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AEMC gives final approval for market operator to retain its emergency reserve mechanism, on condition it provides more visibility on contracts and costs.

The post Rule-maker gives operator OK to continue with emergency reserves appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Angus Taylor has been waging scare campaigns since before he entered parliament, but even he must be stunned by the media's complicity and gullibility with his latest efforts.

The post Why does media fall for Angus Taylor’s ridiculous scare campaigns? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Power systems expert Bruce Miller questions why new wind and solar plants are required to install synchronous condensers, and questions other regulatory thinking about frequency and voltage.

The post Energy Insiders Podcast: Have regulators gone too far on “system strength”? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The two biggest solar farms switch off in South Australia as market prices go negative. Anyone got a solar sponge?

The post South Australia solar farms switch off as prices fall below zero appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The recreational drug ketamine also turned up in samples of wildlife examined in Suffolk

Researchers have found cocaine in all samples of shrimp tested in a rural area of eastern England, with ketamine also widespread.

Scientists from King’s College London, in collaboration with the University of Suffolk, made the “surprise” discovery after taking samples from 15 locations across the mostly rural county of Suffolk.

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It could be done at no added cost from previous estimates, and reduce GDP by just 1-2%, a report says.

The UK should adopt a 2050 net zero greenhouse gas emissions target and meet it without resorting to buying any international credits, the government’s independent expert body said on Wednesday.

Committee on Climate Change sets out how UK can reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050

“Make no mistake, this report will change your life,” says Prof David Reay at the University of Edinburgh. “If the meticulous and robust expert advice here is heeded it will deliver a revolution in every facet of our lives, from how we power our homes and travel to work to the food we buy.”

The government’s official advisers the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said on Thursday that the UK’s net greenhouse gas emissions should fall to zero by 2050, emphasising that the transformation is necessary, affordable and desirable.

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Committee says legally binding target is necessary, achievable and could spur global action

The UK government must immediately set a legally binding target to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, its official advisers have said, signalling an end to the nation’s role in driving climate change.

Doing so will be challenging, said the Committee on Climate Change, meaning the end of petrol and diesel cars and gas boilers, less meat on plates, quadrupling clean electricity generation and planting an estimated 1.5bn trees.

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A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

The French government has put before its parliament a plan to achieve net zero GHG emissions by 2050 and launched a citizen-led process on Wednesday that aims to decide many of the steps needed to reach the goal.

The Welsh and Scottish governments have also declared an emergency - along with dozens of towns and cities.

EUAs slipped below €26 on Wednesday as gas prices weakened and trade thinned due to a public holiday across much of the bloc.

Labor hopes their six-point plan could turn around Australia's poor international reputation on animal welfare. Paul McGreevy, Professor of Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Science, University of Sydney Clive Phillips, Professor of Animal Welfare, Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A New York power plant is facing penalties from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for failing to comply under RGGI, but the facility may be exempt from future obligations, a state official told Carbon Pulse.

In the middle of last month, US Senator (and New Green Deal co-sponsor) Ed Markey (D-Mass) said his party would make sure that any overhaul of the country’s infrastructure was done with clean energy. These “green infrastructure” projects don’t just keep greenhouse gas emissions down though; they generate environmental benefits. Some of them can even become carbon negative, meaning they can absorb more GHGs than they emit.

Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to ‘downlist’ the burying beetle, which would allow drilling in Oklahoma and nearby states

The Trump administration plans to weaken protections for a beetle threatened by extinction from climate change, lifting restrictions on oil and gas drilling in Oklahoma and surrounding states.

The American burying beetle, a shiny black bug covered with orange splotches, feeds it young from carcasses it buries, making it vulnerable to disruptions in soil. The species was listed as endangered in 1989.

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Power sector emissions under the RGGI ETS fell during the first quarter of 2019 as mild weather in the US northeast reduced electricity demand from carbon-intensive units, according to preliminary data from the regulator.

Environment secretary calls for cross-party approach as Labour leader says vote can ‘set off wave of action’

MPs have endorsed a Labour motion to declare a formal climate and environment emergency, with Jeremy Corbyn hailing the move as a necessary response to school climate strikers and groups such as Extinction Rebellion.

The Labour leader said the decision by the Commons to pass the motion without a vote “can set off a wave of action from parliaments and governments around the globe”. Conservative MPs were told to not oppose the motion.

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Scientists find evidence an ancient human species called a Denisovan lived at high altitudes in Tibet.