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Producing something ‘living, fresh and green’ for astronauts to eat on the moon and Mars among ultimate aims but first test is whether plants can survive

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An Australian-led project to grow plants on the moon has secured a ride on a lunar mission scheduled for takeoff in 2025.

Plants and seeds ensconced in a carefully engineered capsule will make the 380,000km trip aboard an Intuitive Machines lunar lander.

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A huge solar and battery project near Tamworth gets IPC approval despite Barnaby Joyce putting out a call for objections.

The post Huge solar farm farm and big battery project gets IPC approval in New England, despite food concerns appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan and MP Keith Pitt both spoke out about the party’s climate policy in the wake of Donald Trump’s win

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Nationals leader David Littleproud, shadow transport minister Bridget McKenzie and Senate Liberal leader Simon Birmingham have all rejected a backbench push to use Donald Trump’s election in the US to abandon support for net zero by 2050.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has said he is completely committed to the target, attempting to fight the next election on the Coalition’s vague taxpayer-funded nuclear plan that will likely extend the use of coal and gas rather than the 2050 target.

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Global solar PV capacity has reached 2 terawatts, and is forecast to quadruple by 2030.

The post It took 68 years for the world to reach 1 terawatt of solar PV capacity. It took just two years to double it appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Government and industry are pushing consumers to join virtual power plants, but our energy system is full of roadblocks and disincentives.

The post SwitchedOn Podcast: Why virtual power plants will fail unless the energy system changes appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A man has died have being crushed beneath a turbine blade at the site of Australia's biggest wind project.

The post Man dies after being crushed by turbine blade at Australia’s biggest wind project appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Central Queensland has become a koala refuge. But heavy traffic on one highway is threatening a vital population of these threatened marsupials Rolf Schlagloth, Koala Ecologist, CQUniversity Australia Charley Geddes, Research technician, CSIRO Douglas Kerlin, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University Flavia Santamaria, Lecturer in Biology, CQUniversity Australia Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Early signs of success seen in area where native European oysters were fished to local extinction by early 1900s

Thousands of oysters released into the Firth of Forth appear to be thriving again after a century-long absence from the Scottish estuary since they were lost to overfishing.

Marine experts from Heriot-Watt University who have helped reintroduce about 30,000 European flat oysters to the estuary said divers and underwater cameras showed they were doing well.

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The central focus of COP29 negotiations is on a bigger target for climate finance – the money rich nations provide poor nations to help with their energy transition and climate resilience. Matt McDonald, Professor of International Relations, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Months of hot and dry weather, with only 23mm of rain recorded over seven months, drove some species to seek food and water in the city. Harry Moore, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia Anna Cresswell, Adjunct Research Fellow, UWA Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Verse’s connection to nature can inspire awareness and hope amid the climate crisis, offering clarity beyond data

Poetry has a big debt to nature, its muse and source of metaphor for centuries. As the UN climate conference begins, it is time to pay it back. Poetry must give nature a voice to express its dire predicament. “I will rise,” declares the furious river in the Scottish makar Kathleen Jamie’s poem What the Clyde Said, After Cop26 – just as the River Xanthus in Homer’s Iliad rose in revenge against Achilles for filling it with so many bodies.

Ms Jamie’s poem appears in a new anthology, Earth Prayers, edited by the former poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy. “We are in the age of anthropogenic climate breakdown, possibly the Age of Grief,” Ms Duffy writes in the foreword. The 100 poems, ranging from classics such as Matthew Arnold’s 1867 Dover Beach to #ExtinctionRebellion by Pascale Petit, remind us not just of the beauty of the natural world, but its fragility.

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Once heavily scorned because of fraud and poor outcomes, carbon trading is likely to be high on the agenda in Baku

For the next two weeks, countries will gather on the shores of the Caspian Sea in Baku, Azerbaijan, to discuss how to increase finance for climate crisis adaptation and mitigation. A global agreement on carbon markets will be high on the agenda as countries try to find ways of generating the trillions they need to decarbonise in order to limit heating to below 2C above preindustrial levels.

Here is what you need to know.

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Colombian carbon body Asocarbono and the National Federation of Timber Industries (Fedemaderas) have rejected a peer-reviewed study criticising Colombia’s afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) projects.

Australian Automobile Association analysis notes hybrids are exempt from fringe benefits tax until 1 April 2025, which can save consumers thousands of dollars

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Battery-powered electric vehicle sales fell sharply last quarter and may have peaked as consumers increasingly turn to hybrid models that attract tax concessions, according to new analysis.

Quarterly vehicle sales data released by the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) on Monday reveals petrol-powered cars continued to decline in popularity, with sales falling by 9.16% in the three months to 30 September.

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A doubling in battery storage projects and a rebound in wind energy puts Australia back on track to meet its renewable energy target - if it can be sustained.

The post “Terrific news:” Battery boom and rebound in wind projects put renewables target back on track appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Crucial question for summit will be how to help developing countries cope with extreme weather caused by high temperatures

Cop29 officially opens on Monday 11 November in Baku, Azerbaijan, and the conference is scheduled to end on 22 November, although it is likely to run later. World leaders – about 100 have said they will turn up – are expected in the first three days, and after that the crunch negotiations will be carried on by their representatives, mostly environment ministers or other high-ranking officials.

The crucial question for the summit is climate finance. Developing countries want assurances that trillions will flow to them in the next decade to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with the rapidly receding hope of limiting global heating to 1.5C above preindustrial levels, and to enable them to cope with the increasingly evident extreme weather that rising temperatures are driving.

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The COP29 presidency is pushing for an early endorsement of key carbon crediting standards under Article 6, Carbon Pulse has learned, though is facing resistance from several countries.

COP30 host Brazil has announced a new UN climate plan that aims to reduce net greenhouse gas emission by 59-67% in 2035, compared to 2005 levels.

Director sets out to unmask the secret underwater agent known as Hvaldimir in new documentary

When a white whale, mysteriously kitted out with covert surveillance equipment, was first spotted in icy waters around Norway five years ago it seemed like an improbable chapter from a spy thriller. But working out the true identity and secret objectives of this beluga, nicknamed Hvaldimir by the Norwegians, quickly became a real-life puzzle that has continued to fascinate the public and trouble western intelligence analysts.

Now missing clues have surfaced that finally begin to make sense of the underwater enigma. The makers of a new BBC documentary, Secrets of the Spy Whale, believe they have traced the beluga’s probable path and identified its likely mission.

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A proposal to protect part of rural Wales has sparked a furious debate over who the countryside is for

Plans to create a new Welsh national park stretching from the dunes of north-east Wales to the wild Berwyn mountains and the peaceful, wooded slopes of Lake Vyrnwy further south have captured the imagination of many ramblers, cyclists and other outdoor lovers.

But the Welsh government’s proposals to improve access to nature have been dismissed by an opposition group as creating “a play area for townies”, sparking a furious debate about who the countryside is for.

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