Feed aggregator

Scheme backed by €170m fund crucial to getting agreement from farmers, politicians and environmental groups

“Plant-based foods are the future.” That is not a statement you would expect from a right-wing farming minister in a major meat-producing nation. Denmark produces more meat per capita than any other country in the world, with its 6 million people far outnumbered by its 30 million pigs, and it has a big dairy industry too. Yet this is how Jacob Jensen, from the Liberal party, introduced the nation’s world-first action plan for plant-based foods.

“If we want to reduce the climate footprint within the agricultural sector, then we all have to eat more plant-based foods,” he said at the plan’s launch in October 2023, and since then the scheme has gone from strength to strength. Backed by a €170m government fund, it is now supporting plant-based food from farm to fork, from making tempeh from broad beans and a chicken substitute from fungi to on-site tastings at kebab and burger shops and the first vegan chef degree.

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US-based carbon standard Climate Action Reserve (CAR) has opened a second public consultation on proposed updates to its Mexico Forest Protocol Version 3.0 (MFP V3.0), seeking to clarify and strengthen requirements for project eligibility, monitoring, and verification.

A German multinational has partnered with a business consortium in Kenya to facilitate soil carbon offset projects in the East African nation and across the continent.

The share of carbon in the cost structure of industries covered by the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is currently too small to cause deindustrialisation on its own, but will become a growing cause for concern in the coming years, analysts said.

The decision to expand Heathrow is just the latest evidence that my party is chasing policies that serve profit, not people

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s recent “big growth agenda” speech wasn’t just the expression of a vision for the economy. It was also a warning shot to wavering Labour MPs. The message was blunt: get on board with the government’s economic strategy or step aside. Growth, we were told, is the non-negotiable mission.

This was not a sudden shift but a reaffirmation of her stance at Davos, where she made clear that “the answer can’t always be no”. That answer, now firmly codified, prioritises GDP growth above all else. Heathrow airport expansion is in; net zero, bats and newts are out. The promise? A revitalised economy, busy high streets and more bobbies on the beat – a Labour-friendly vision of progress designed to bolster morale and stuff leaflets with “good news” ahead of the next election.

Clive Lewis is the Labour MP for Norwich South

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The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

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Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto and a Norwegian aluminium producer announced this week a five-year partnership worth $45 million to develop carbon capture technologies in a bid to reduce emissions from aluminium smelting.

Global non-profit Conservation International (CI) is looking to establish what it says is the first indigenously co-owned carbon project in the country, using Verra's latest REDD+ methodology.

WMO’s climate and energy lead Roberta Boscolo on the latest climate report, the 1.55°C average temperature rise and heating oceans. Plus: A wrap of the news in our first podcast of 2025.

The post Energy Insiders Podcast: “I don’t know if we can adapt” appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Benchmark California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) traded below $30 for the first time in nearly two years as rulemaking uncertainty continued to weigh on the market, while earlier-dated Washington Carbon Allowances (WCA) lost more ground this week.

LNP introduces strict new planning rules for wind projects in state with lowest share of renewables, and promises to do the same for large scale solar,

The post Queensland unveils strict new wind farm planning rules, with solar projects to follow appeared first on RenewEconomy.

North Dakota's legislature will consider a bill that promotes carbon capture and storage (CCS) to allow ethanol producers to lower their carbon intensity (CI) and qualify for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production credits.

Vaccinating poultry against bird flu is still not allowed in the UK despite a rise in farm outbreaks.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and National Australia Bank (NAB) announced a A$300 million ($186 mln) co-financing programme to help manufacturers, businesses and farmers transition to net zero emissions.

Artificial lights at night are causing serious disruption to these insect night shift workers. That’s a problem for everyone. Tanya Latty, Associate Professor, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

State transportation departments will no longer be required to establish highway emissions reductions targets, according to measures taken by the new US transportation secretary on Wednesday.

Despite improvements made in the past few years, “deeper and more comprehensive reforms” are required - in particular to address flawed accounting approaches and perverse incentives - in order to assure the voluntary carbon market’s longer-term sustainability, a new academic paper warns.

Canadian oil and gas giant Shell Canada is officially out of Alberta’s oilsands, increasing its carbon capture and storage (CCS) stake in an existing project.

Tiny plastic pollution more than 50% higher in placentas from preterm births than in those from full-term births

A study has found microplastic and nanoplastic pollution to be significantly higher in placentas from premature births than in those from full-term births.

The levels were much higher than previously detected in blood, suggesting the tiny plastic particles were accumulating in the placenta. But the higher average levels found in the shorter pregnancies were a “big surprise” for the researchers, as longer terms could be expected to lead to more accumulation.

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Canada’s plans to reduce emissions could cost workers thousands of dollars, and a quarter-million jobs by the half-century, according to a new report.