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The Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh), the proud custodian of more than 3,860 photographs, is holding a fundraising auction in Melbourne, with the proceeds of the sales shared equally with the contributing artists

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The Coalition’s nuclear policy is leveraged on regional discontent over renewables. But many farmers don’t want nuclear in their back yard either

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Here’s the thing about the Coalition’s latest nuclear policy. It tries to use one of the most contentious issues in rural areas, which is the rollout of renewables and the electricity transmission lines to carry energy around the country, to push an even more controversial energy transition.

Because nuclear power stations would also be built in the regions. And if you’re worried about renewables, hands up who wants a nuclear reactor next door?

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My grandmother’s orchard stopped me in my tracks, and I only have to read the word to feel the shade of those trees

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My grandmother had a small orchard in her garden in Johannesburg. It was a few plum and peach trees, and very shady. The leaves of the plum trees were purpley-green, almost black, and the ground was covered with the pits of decayed peaches, so that when I ran barefoot across the sunny garden with its dry grass, and into the orchard, I was forced to stop; it was like running over hard pebbles. And when I stood still, it was dark and smelled like rotting fruit. There were gnats hovering near the ground. I lifted my foot and looked at the hard folds on the peach pit. My shadow stopped at the orchard’s border, it could not cross.

An orchard is a place where you tame trees, or try to. To plant one is an act of hope, the belief that home will mean abundance, that it is good to put down roots. “These trees came to stay,” is how Richard Wilbur opens his poem Young Orchard.

the shadows of long pines down trackless slopes,
the shadows of glass-faced towers down evening streets,
the shadow of a frail plant on a city sill—

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battalions of starlings waging peaceful cries,
bearing the net higher, covering this world
like the vines of an orchard, or a mother drawing
the trembling gauze over the trembling eyes
of a child fluttering to sleep;

it was the light

Do you have an animal, insect or other subject you feel is worthy of appearing in this very serious column? Email helen.sullivan@theguardian.com

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Discovery of three queen hornets in East Sussex means it is likely the bee-killing insect will be here for good

DNA testing has confirmed that Asian hornets overwintered in the UK for the first time this year, meaning it is very likely the bee-killing insect will be here for good.

Asian hornets (Vespa velutina) dismember and eat bees, and have thrived in France, where they have caused concern because of the number of insects killed. They sit outside honeybee hives and capture bees as they enter and exit, and chop up the smaller insects and feed their thoraxes to their young.

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A voluntary carbon registry has published what it describes as the world's first ocean alkalinity protocol, with buyers already signed up to purchase the first batch of credits.

The European Commission is stepping up efforts to close a deal on international carbon credits, but a successful outcome needs to be based on a clear understanding that emissions reductions or removals – rather than climate finance – are the top priority, a senior EU official has said.

French financial institutions are highly exposed to risks associated with biodiversity loss, with over 40% of securities in their portfolios issued by companies heavily dependent on at least one ecosystem service, a paper has found.

European carbon prices jumped steeply on Monday morning and approached a five-month high after natural gas markets were roiled by an unscheduled outage in the North Sea, while UK Allowances also climbed to their most in nearly eight months.

The SpongeBob SquarePants fungus and Shakira wasp might sound funny, but there is a rising acceptance that eponyms in the natural world are a legacy of empire and oppression

Unsurprisingly, numerous species of animal (including a flightless weevil and a parasitic flatworm) are named after David Attenborough – but were you aware of the existence of a Shakira wasp (aleoides Shakira) and the Taylor Swift millipede (nannaria swiftae)?

It’s not just fauna. Spring on middle-aged-lady Instagram is a riot of people posting pics of their Gertrude Jekyll (a formidable horticulturist) roses and there are hundreds of others named for everyone from Judi Dench to Jimmy Greaves. We name the natural world for people we admire and want to honour, and always have; even asteroids, which makes me wonder if anything out there has named us. (The dismissive alien equivalent of “flightless weevils” perhaps?)

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The operating entity of three Paris airports closes a tender Monday for the provision of voluntary carbon credits from France-based projects to offset some of the group's annual emissions.

India’s biggest bottled water company has proposed developing a framework for establishing water credits to make the beverage industry accountable for its water use. 

A Japanese financial institution has signed an agreement with the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) to collaborate on growing carbon markets, they announced in a joint statement Monday.

Institutions like this can prove enduring despite Australia’s contested climate politics. Here's why.

The post Why do we need a Net Zero Economy Authority? And how can it meet its goals? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Intera Renewables says $258 million in non-recourse project financing will help with development and construction of new wind and solar.

The post Renewable fund lands new financing deal to help chase new projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Shanghai municipal government on Friday sold all 1 million CO2 permits that were on offer, with the sale clearing in line with the secondary market, well above the auction’s price floor.

Indonesian Ministry of Finance officials have attributed the limited activity on the country’s national carbon exchange to a lack of awareness, as its staff continue to hold seminars and information sessions to get the word out.

Claude the koala was caught eating 4,050 food tree seedlings at Eastern Forest Nursery near Lismore in 2023. The bandit continues to return for a meal at the nursery, as workers look on. Conservationists say Claude's behaviour is part of a bigger problem as heavy land clearing has meant that there isn't enough food in the local area for koalas to eat

• Daylight robbery: Claude the ‘leaf thief’ koala caught munching seedlings

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Koala became online hit after sampling wares at NSW nursery, but conservationists say increasingly brazen behaviour highlights serious issue

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Claude the koala became Australia’s cutest thief and a viral sensation when he was filmed munching on seedlings at a nursery near Lismore last September.

But fame has only made him more brazen, with the hungry marsupial now helping himself to a weekday feed in front of staff at Eastern Forest Nursery.

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Barnaby Joyce is so unhappy with Andrew Forrest building wind farms - or "swindle factories" - that he is refusing to wear boots made by his company.

The post From junk science to “swindle factories”, Barnaby Joyce hates wind farms down to his boots appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The number of large scale solar PV projects under construction in Australia is lowest since 2017, raising fears some contractors will move on.

The post Large scale solar PV projects at lowest level for seven years. Will contractors stay the course? appeared first on RenewEconomy.