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Report details "remarkable" 2018 for Australian renewables, including doubling of investment in large-scale projects, and delivering wind and solar – with storage – at costs cheaper than new coal.

The post Renewables smashed records in 2018, says report – and truly trumped coal on cost appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The German renewable energy industry set a new record in March, producing over half of the country’s net electricity generation.

The post Renewables provide over half of German net power in March appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A 44MW solar facility has been completed in Ontario, built on the site of what was once the largest coal-fired power plant in North America.

The post Canada replaces largest North American coal plant with solar appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Existing legislation requires ‘complete overhaul’ to prevent the decline of species, committee warns

A Senate committee examining Australia’s animal extinction crisis has recommended new environment laws to try to halt the decline of threatened species.

The laws, proposed in an interim report by the committee, would include a new, independent national environmental protection authority that would have sufficient powers and funding to enforce compliance with environment law.

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

Study creates blueprint to safeguard marine life and enable ocean recovery

Academics have mapped out a network of sanctuaries they say are required to save the world’s oceans, protect wildlife and fight climate breakdown.

The study, ahead of a historic vote at the UN, sets out the first detailed plan of how countries can protect over a third of the world’s oceans by 2030, a target scientists and policy makers say is crucial in order to safeguard marine ecosystems and help mitigate the impacts of a rapidly heating world.

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EUAs shot up more than 5% to a one-month high on Wednesday as financial markets reacted positively to Brexit progress deemed to reduce the risk of Britain crashing out of the EU.

Scientists call for more research into the last time when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were the same as today.

Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) disputed comments that its proposed RGGI-linked ETS would significantly increase costs for consumers, while the agency omitted language that would cause the cap to decline after 2030.

A backlog of registry-listed forestry projects will finally culminate in large issuances of California Carbon Offsets (CCOs) this year, but the estimated future supply of credits that will provide direct environmental benefits to the state (DEBs) will remain low, analysts said Wednesday.

The developers of the massive 11GW wind and solar project proposed in the Pilbara in north west Australia have hinted the project could get even bigger as it eyes huge markets for green hydrogen in the Asia market. The so-called Asia Renewable Energy Hub is the largest project of its type being developed in the...

The post Huge Pilbara wind and solar project may get even bigger as focus turns to green hydrogen appeared first on RenewEconomy.

California fuel sector emissions likely dropped in 2018 for the first time in the state's carbon market era, while the power sector could see an increase after years of GHG reductions, according to Carbon Pulse estimates.

A new study found the settlement of new coral larvae fell by 89 per cent in the wake of the ocean heatwaves.

Australia's environment took a beating in 2018, as temperatures rose, rainfall declined, the health of rivers and ecosystems worsened, and floods, droughts and bushfires all took their toll. Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

After repeated bleaching in 2016 and 2017 corals on the Great Barrier Reef are producing far fewer offspring. Morgan Pratchett, Professor, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Governments are chronically underfunding the restoration of natural landscapes that can simultaneously tackle climate change and biodiversity loss, an international group of campaigners said Wednesday.

Study shows dramatic fall in baby coral numbers but also change in type of coral

The number of new corals on the Great Barrier Reef crashed by 89% after the climate change-induced mass bleaching of 2016 and 2017.

Scientists have measured how many adult corals survived along the length of the world’s largest reef system and how many new corals they produced in 2018 in the aftermath of severe heat stress and coral mortality.

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Clean Energy Australia snapshot shows investment in large-scale projects has doubled to $20bn

Despite Canberra remaining locked in ongoing partisan war about emissions reductions, and Malcolm Turnbull losing the prime ministership after a conflagration about energy policy, 2018 was a boom year for renewable energy, according to the latest Clean Energy Australia report.

The new assessment, to be released Thursday, finds the amount of renewable energy capacity committed in Australia during 2018 increased 260% on 2017, with 14.8 GW underway in 2018 compared to 5.6 GW in 2017.

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EU ETS reforms have strengthened the case for countries to ramp up their own climate action in capped sectors by greatly reducing the carbon price-damping effect of national policies, according to experts.

China has circulated a set of draft regulations for its national emissions trading scheme for public consultation, the first official ETS document to surface since the government delayed the programme indefinitely in Dec. 2017.