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Lawyers acting for minister say emissions of coal extracted from mine should have been taken into account

The government has admitted that a proposed coalmine in Cumbria was approved unlawfully, as the carbon emissions of coal from the mine should have been taken into account in the planning decision.

This follows a precedent set by a supreme court judgment last month, when Surrey county council’s decision to extend planning permission for an oil drilling well at Horse Hill, on the Weald, was quashed.

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While carbon removals may be good for the climate, developers and buyers also need to minimise the project's impact on wider environmental health, and promote benefits, according to updated criteria for high-quality projects, released on Thursday.

A Brazilian cosmetics company has raised R$1.3 billion ($245 million) with a 'first-of-its-kind' sustainability-linked bond (SLB) tied to targets on biodiversity conservation and sustainable sourcing in the Amazon region.

A new Labour government in the UK could boost the green gilt market, a new report published on Thursday has found.

The European Union policy on how to define and certify carbon removal activities will move forward in October on a peatlands methodology, while several active in the sector have expressed surprise at a recent change in name of the regulation.

Brazil will host the G20 summit this year after producing close to 90% of its electricity from renewables in 2023, adding pressure on the group of leading economies to step up their decarbonisation efforts after seven countries let power sector emissions rise last year, according to analysts.

Flax-based materials that can reduce a vehicle’s weight and CO2 footprint are increasingly in demand among automakers looking to meet their decarbonisation goals and get ahead of the EU’s proposed end-of-life vehicles (ELV) regulation.

A $50-million fund to protect Egypt's coral reef has been launched this week under the Egyptian Red Sea Initiative, a newly established programme supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UN-backed Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR).

Rescued chicks favour seafood, suggesting they turn to urban diet as adults from necessity rather than preference

Herring gulls have wrecked many a harbourside picnic, pouncing on unsuspecting people trying to enjoy a Cornish pasty, a sandwich or a bag of chips.

But a study from the University of Exeter suggests that gull chicks prefer seafood even after being raised on a diet of the sort of scraps found around humans.

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Satellite analysis looked at credits sold by Finite Carbon, which runs some of North America’s largest offset projects

This story is co-published with SourceMaterial and Floodlight

Some forest carbon offsets sold by the biggest offsetting company in the US offer little or no benefit to the climate, a satellite analysis has found.

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European carbon edged higher on Thursday morning as the market looked to end a three-day losing streak, with prices tracking firmer natural gas despite a downturn in liquidity as the holiday season approached its peak.

Beyond federal governments and supranational organisations, regional and city administrations can play a huge role in scaling up carbon dioxide removals (CDR) solutions, according to a report published Thursday.

Indian steelmakers will likely have to bear costs three times higher than that of their Chinese counterparts under the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) if no effective domestic carbon price is implemented by 2030, a webinar heard Thursday.

Stimulating demand for nature-related projects is a key part of a programme for making English nature projects more investable, a financial advisory company has said.

A US-based asset manager has announced the launch of a global fund to channel investments towards sustainable food, planning to reach 80% of companies in the portfolio committed to improving biodiversity.

BP has raised its oil and gas demand forecasts in a closely followed annual outlook, though still expects global CO2 emissions to peak over the next few years, with 7 billion tonnes of carbon capture needed by 2050 for the world to hit net zero.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has launched an initiative to steer companies in aligning disclosures under its framework with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).

Water firms have hit out at bill rises of £94 over the next five years after wanting bigger hikes.

An Australian senate committee looking into a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project has recommended state and territory governments ban similar developments in order to protect the Great Artesian Basin (GAB).  

NYC has lagged behind the UK in waste disposal. But with wheelie bins replacing bin bags, we’re finally catching up

Last year, 200 composting bins were rolled out in New York City, with a unit on every other corner you could open and close via an app. This was exciting for those of us who have hit an age when rubbish disposal is something we think about. For a while, my kids indulged me in my need to discuss composting – whether our bag would fit in the bin; how good the exercise made us feel; whether it actually did anything useful or not – before pointing out I was talking about it too much. This week, a new fleet of wheelie bins has been introduced across the city, and the excitement has been almost too much to bear.

The “trash revolution” as Eric Adams, the mayor of New York, put it while placing a black bin bag in a wheelie bin in front of reporters on Monday, sounds like a characteristic piece of hyperbole from the man, but for once he wasn’t exaggerating. Like banking technology, rubbish disposal is one of those baffling areas in which the US in general, but New York in particular, is wildly behind Britain.

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist

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