Feed aggregator

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

EU carbon prices ended higher for the sixth straight session on Friday, briefly climbing above €14 and near their seven-year high, though some warned weak auction demand could soon signal a correction.

Shipping firms to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as part of historic agreement

Carbon dioxide from ships at sea will be regulated for the first time following a historic agreement reached after two weeks of detailed talks in London.

Shipping companies will halve their greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 under the plan, brokered by the International Maritime Organization and binding across its 170 member states.

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The Alaska government produced a draft climate change policy this week that instructs the US state to begin looking at how carbon pricing may help achieve the state’s climate goals, though the text remained sparse on details.

Call by Cristiana Pașca Palmer comes ahead of a major biodiversity conference in Beijing in 2020

At least half of the world should be made more nature-friendly by 2050 to ensure the wellbeing of humanity, according to the UN chief leading efforts to create a new global pact on biodiversity.

The call to strengthen the world’s life support system comes ahead of a major conference in Beijing in 2020 that many hope will be the biodiversity equivalent of the Paris climate agreement.

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A new study shows that some species may become victims of their own prestige.

Karen state activists mourning community leader Saw O Moo, who campaigned to protect a local forest and for residents’ land rights

Indigenous activists in Myanmar’s Karen state are mourning the killing of a community leader who campaigned for a peace park to protect a local forest and its residents’ land rights.

Saw O Moo was ambushed by government troops on 5 April as he was riding a motorbike with a soldier from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), a rebel group that is fighting for autonomy.

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Both the New Jersey Assembly and Senate approved two bills on Thursday to expand the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) for conventional and solar renewable energy, as well as establishing a Zero Emission Certificate (ZEC) programme aimed at supporting struggling nuclear plants.

Governments at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) adopted on Friday an initial strategy to address international shipping emissions, including setting a 2050 target to cut emissions by at least 50% under 2008 levels.

Orphaned baby elephants and mating hamlets are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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How close the world is to a catastrophic collapse of giant ocean currents is unknown, making halting global warming more critical than ever, scientists say

Serious disruption to the Gulf Stream ocean currents that are crucial in controlling global climate must be avoided “at all costs”, senior scientists have warned. The alert follows the revelation this week that the system is at its weakest ever recorded.

Past collapses of the giant network have seen some of the most extreme impacts in climate history, with western Europe particularly vulnerable to a descent into freezing winters. A significantly weakened system is also likely to cause more severe storms in Europe, faster sea level rise on the east coast of the US and increasing drought in the Sahel in Africa.

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Committees seek clarity on indecision over taxpayer support and price guarantees for flagship tidal clean energy scheme to harness tide power

MPs are to press ministers on why they have left investors hanging in limbo over taxpayer support for a pioneering £1.3bn tidal lagoon in Swansea.

The business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee and Welsh affairs committee will call on government to explain why no decision has been forthcoming on the flagship scheme. The government has still not indicated whether it is minded to support the lagoon, 15 months since an independent review told ministers to back the clean energy project.

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An experienced Singapore-based energy markets executive has left Engie Global Markets.

We’d like to hear from people who have crossed from one side of the debate to the other

A heated debate among evangelicals is taking place across the US, with some Christians protesting in the name of protecting the Earth and others not seeing it as existing at all.

Evangelicals have traditionally been the bedrock of conservative US politics, including on climate change, but some are taking action. One group has even built a chapel in the way of an oil pipeline and a radical pastor has encouraged his congregation to put themselves in the way of the diggers. However some resistance remains – a climate scientist who denies the world is warming and a preacher in Florida who sees the fact his home was flood as a welcome sign of divine presence.

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Below is a table of the closing prices, ranges and volumes for China's regional pilot carbon markets this week. All prices are in RMB, and volumes in tonnes of CO2e. Data sourced from local exchanges.

An internal battle is simmering among evangelicals in the US over whether climate change is a call to protect the Earth, the work of God to be welcomed, or does not exist at all.

Evangelicals have traditionally been the bedrock of conservative US politics, including on climate change. But a heated debate is taking place across the country, with some Christians protesting in the name of protecting the Earth, seeing it as a duty to be done in God’s name. One group has even built a chapel in the way of an oil pipeline and a radical pastor has encouraged his congregation to put themselves in the way of the diggers.

But resistance remains – a climate scientist who denies the world is warming and a preacher in Florida who sees the fact his home was flood as a welcome sign of divine presence.

Could a surprising section of Christian Americans offer hope regarding the country’s attitude to climate change?

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Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator this week handed out over 285,000 carbon credits, but no new offset projects sought registration despite the deadline for joining the next ERF auction being just a week away.

Study of PM2.5 levels in Utah suggests increase in diagnoses of viral infections such as bronchitis follows even brief upticks in pollution

Even short-term increases in air pollution are linked to a higher risk of developing viral chest infections that turn into conditions such as bronchiolitis, new research suggests.

The study, carried out by scientists in the US, looked at levels of tiny particles in the air known as PM2.5s across eight locations along the Wasatch Front in Utah, including Salt Lake City. This area features a string of towns and is home the majority of the state’s population and, due to various factors, experiences large variations in air pollution.

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A new draft of Australia’s National Energy Guarantee (NEG) leaked this week addresses some technical concerns, but the federal government has yet to release an update on political issues of the scheme, such as its overall emissions target.

ESB makes major concessions, dropping push for physical contracts on emissions, and a "light touch" reliability obligation. However, major policy issues are addressed in separate government document that even the ESB had not seen.