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Representatives at the Cop16 summit in Colombia negotiated against a backdrop of extreme weather and ecosystem collapse

As world leaders gathered in Colombia this week, they also watched for news from home, where many of the headlines carried the catastrophic consequences of ecological breakdown. Across the Amazon rainforest and Brazil’s enormous wetlands, relentless fires had burned more than 22m hectares (55m acres). In Spain, the death toll in communities devastated by flooding passed 200. In the boreal forests that span Siberia, Scandinavia, Alaska and Canada, countries were recording alarming signs that their carbon sinks were collapsing under a combined weight of drought, tree death and logging. As Canada’s wildfire season crept to a close, scientists calculated it was the second worst in two decades – behind only last year’s burn, which released more carbon than some of the world’s largest emitting countries.

In global negotiations, climate and nature move along two independent tracks, and for years were broadly treated as distinct challenges. But as negotiations closed at the Cop16 biodiversity summit in Cali on Saturday, ministers from around the world underscored the crucial importance of nature to limiting damage from global heating, and vice versa – emphasising that climate and biodiversity could no longer be treated as independent issues if either crisis was to be resolved. Countries agreed a text on links between the climate and nature, but failed to include language on a phase out of fossil fuels.

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Ausgrid want to put two large batteries in Sydney and Newcastle, as part of the company's first foray into big installations.

The post Ausgrid pitches its first big batteries for Newcastle and Sydney appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Rosemary Grundy is on a mission to demonstrate that going renewable and electric is not only good for the climate, but makes financial sense.

The post SwitchedOn Podcast: Breaking even on solar, storage and two Teslas in under nine years appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australian-owned electricity retailing upstart Energy Locals is set to change hands, after Quinbrook agrees to sell the company.

The post Retail electricity upstart Energy Locals to get new owner after Quinbrook sale appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Snowy Hydro annual earnings double, helped by its ability to cash in on extreme pricing events such as those triggered by grid outages, and from higher power bills to consumers.

The post Snowy Hydro profits double as it cashes in on grid outages and higher retail prices appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New research shows how river flows in the once-mighty Murrumbidgee have dwindled over time, leaving the floodplain high and dry. But the main culprit is not climate change and we can fix it. Jan Kreibich, PhD Candidate, Centre for Ecosystem Science & Water Research Laboratory, UNSW Sydney Richard Kingsford, Professor, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

NSW gives planning approval for amended proposal to boost rated capacity of a gigawatt scale wind project by nearly half with fewer but bigger turbines.

The post NSW approves supersized 1.3 GW wind project with fewer but bigger turbines appeared first on RenewEconomy.

There will be a small silver lining from BHP's shock closure of its Nickel West mine in Western Australia, with its unneeded renewable power to be sold into the local grid.

The post New solar-battery at shuttered BHP nickel mine to be repurposed to power Kalgoorlie appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New Queensland government says it received confirmation that the pumped hydro project it scrapped within days of taking office had suffered a cost blowout to $37 billion.

The post Queensland premier says costs of dumped Pioneer pumped hydro project blew out to $37 billion appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New research suggests that redesigned contracts in forest conservation programmes could significantly reduce deforestation at a fraction of the usual cost.

A US non-profit has announced a new funding programme offering grants of up to $200,000 to support research into enhanced rock weathering (ERW).

Many Australians are involved in Buy Nothing groups that allow locals to ask for and give away unwanted stuff for free. They bring circular economy principles to life, but depend heavily on women. Madeline Taylor, Lecturer, School of Design, Queensland University of Technology Paige Street, Senior Research Assistant, School of Design, Queensland University of Technology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

More than 130 organisations take part in protest demanding government action over country’s sewage crisis

Thousands of blue-clad protesters have told the government to “stop poisoning Britain’s water” as they marched through London calling for action on the country’s contaminated coastal waters and rivers.

A coalition of more than 130 nature, environmental and water-sport organisations called supporters out on to the streets of the capital on Sunday afternoon, aiming to create the country’s biggest ever protest over water.

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Letter by 61 Labour MPs supports ‘cheapest and most pragmatic’ plan for new electricity infrastructure

More than 60 Labour MPs have formed a bloc to push back against anti-pylon lobbying by Conservative and Green MPs, saying they back plans to build the pylons despite local opposition in several areas.

MPs, particularly in rural areas, have come under mounting pressure from anti-pylon activists to oppose the infrastructure. The Tories found themselves forced to commit to hold a “rapid review” of overhead pylons in their July manifesto.

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Argentina’s new carbon bill prescribes a revitalised national registry but defers key details regarding Article 6 and the voluntary market (VCM) to a domestic regulatory body, diverging from more explicit approaches seen in other Latin American countries.

Panama on Friday established a temporary moratorium on forest carbon projects and decided to apply state assessment procedures.

It turns out long-held resentments exist even in the animal kingdom. Does that mean they hold an evolutionary advantage?

The best thing that happened to me during the whole of the pandemic was a story on the internet. An Oregon resident, furloughed, saw on a daytime nature documentary that, if you fed crows, they would bring you small gifts. Curious, they tried it, and were delighted to find themselves in effective possession of a 15-strong crow family – but then things took a dark turn. The crows became an army, fiercely protective of their leader’s property. If neighbours came near, the crows would dive-bomb them. “To be clear,” the person wrote on Reddit, “they’re not aggressive 100% of the time. If just the neighbours are out [on their own porch], they are friendly, normal crows. They only get aggressive when someone gets close to me or my property.”

It’s such a lovely phrase, “friendly, normal crows”; it’s just a pity that it’s an oxymoron. Crows are the most prodigious grudge-holders, which a professor of wildlife at Washington University, John Marzluff, discovered by capturing seven of the birds while wearing an ogre mask in 2006. A full 17 years later, crows were still regularly attacking him. Even if you were to query the ethics of his original experiment, you’d have to admit that he paid a high price. How such a thing is possible when the lifespan of a crow is only 12 years is this: not only can they hold a grudge, they can also pass it on to one another. Originally, even birds that witnessed the ogre-trap attacked Marzluff, then over time they transmitted the hostility to their offspring, creating a multigenerational grudge.

Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist

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Best performing wind farms split between north, south, east and west, but the solar results were more predictable.

The post Australia’s best performing wind and solar farms in October appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Brutal economic situation has inflicted misery on farmers who struggle to turn a profit and forced some to look for alternative streams of revenue

• Revealed: billionaires are ‘ultimate beneficiaries’ linked to €3bn of EU farming subsidies

When Coen van den Bighelaar first spoke to school friends about taking over their parents’ dairy farms, he was the only one of the four to voice serious doubts. Fresh out of university, he was making more money in a comfortable office than his father did toiling for twice as long in the field.

But six years later, Bighelaar has followed in his parents’ footsteps, while his friends’ enthusiasm has waned. One quit farming to take a job in logistics. Another opened a daycare centre to supplement the income from selling milk. A third is thinking about buying land and moving to Canada.

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Thousands of small farms have closed according to analysis of official but opaque data from EU member states

• ‘We didn’t realise how hard it is’: small farmers in Europe struggle to get by

The European Union gave generous farming subsidies to the companies of more than a dozen billionaires between 2018 and 2021, the Guardian can reveal, including companies owned by the former Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš and the British businessman Sir James Dyson.

Billionaires were “ultimate beneficiaries” linked to €3.3bn (£2.76bn) of EU farming handouts over the four-year period even as thousands of small farms were closed down, according to the analysis of official but opaque data from EU member states.

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