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Back when there were Arctic alligators and turtles, ‘polar stratospheric clouds’ kept their world warm. Research suggests these clouds contribute to the ‘missing warming’ in climate models. Katrin Meissner, Professor and Director of the Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW, UNSW Sydney Deepashree Dutta, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Cambridge Martin Jucker, Lecturer in Atmospheric Dynamics, UNSW Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

If big money is going to invest in clean energy and technology, the rules have to be clear. Australia’s launch of a green finance strategy last week was a good start but there is further to go. Alison Atherton, Program Lead, Business, Economy and Governance at the Institute for Sustainable Futures., University of Technology Sydney Gordon Noble, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A twice-weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

The atmosphere in negotiations for the EU’s nature restoration law is not positive, with its future over the next few months uncertain, a member of the Greens–European Free Alliance (EFA) party involved in the talks has said.

Carbonplace, a carbon credit transaction network developed by several global banks, said Tuesday it has signed a series of partnerships, among them a collaboration with carbon credit rating agency BeZero, whose ratings will be hosted on the fintech’s platform.

Prices for Xpansiv CBL’s standardised nature-based carbon contract, the N-GEO, ticked up on Tuesday after the marketplace removed the Kariba and Kasigau REDD projects from its list of pre-screened projects.

A US-headquartered non-profit has proposed a comprehensive code of conduct to guide the burgeoning field of marine CO2 removal (mCDR) research, in an effort to minimise damage to ecosystems, communities, and the industry's reputation that could be caused by the sector's hurried development.

EU-based banks and companies - such as TotalEnergies, Shell, RWE, and Eni - are involved in more than 100 of the world's biggest 'carbon bomb' fossil fuel extraction projects that could tip the world into unstoppable warming, NGOs said in a report on Tuesday that urged legislators to avert this by setting binding climate goals for companies in ongoing EU legislation. 

William says ‘hope does remain’ at event rewarding innovative solutions to climate emergency

Scientists who developed a cleaner and more sustainable way to make batteries for electric cars were among the winners of this year’s Prince of Wales’s £1m Earthshot prizes.

The awards, announced at a ceremony in Singapore on Tuesday, are aimed at rewarding innovative solutions to tackle the climate and biodiversity emergencies.

PA Media contributed to this report.

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A European agtech firm has expanded its network of soil carbon removals projects further afield to now include projects across Africa, it said on Tuesday, aiming to have 200,000 hectares of African territory under its programme by the end of the year.

Europe's Euclid telescope begins its quest to map the cosmos and reveal its missing components.

European carbon prices rallied on Tuesday morning after setting a new one-year low, as technical buying wiped out early losses and traders focused on Wednesday's weekly Commitment of Traders report amid expectations the recent price decline will have encouraged a further build in speculative short positions.

The UK’s two-year-old “world-leading” environmental legislation has not affected deforestation rates due to a lack of follow-up action by the government, according to analysis conducted by NGOs and published on Tuesday. 

The world’s 60 largest food companies reduced their risks from biodiversity and deforestation by 6% over the last year, a report by investor network FAIRR has found.

Members of the European Parliament's environment committee resoundingly agreed climate action should be accelerated in all sectors to meet the Paris Agreement goals and called for and end to fossil fuel subsidies by latest 2025, in a vote on their demands for the COP28 UN climate conference on Tuesday.

Countries must immediately start building capacity for Article 6 readiness, carbon market participants have warned, citing a general lack of understanding among governments about the Paris Agreement's international emissions trading rules, the risks of overselling mitigation outcomes, and the dangers of allowing nations to revoke the authorisation of carbon transfers across borders.

Xpansiv CBL has removed the Kariba and Kasigau REDD projects from its list of pre-screened projects, the carbon credit marketplace said in a note early on Tuesday, meaning that credits from these projects are no longer deliverable under its N-GEO nature-based standardised spot contract.

Australia on Tuesday released a discussion paper on how to reduce carbon emissions from agriculture and land use, the first of six sectors for which it intends to draw up detailed strategies to put its overall GHG output in line with its Paris commitments.

The biggest business group in Japan has demanded the government makes major changes to the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), including involving more partner countries and project types, increasing project co-funding, and making it easier and more attractive for private companies to participate.

Exclusive: Nitrogen dioxide limits and approval tests practically unchanged from current rules under Euro 7 proposals

The EU is poised to water down a landmark piece of car pollution legislation after extensive lobbying from the automotive industry, which experts say will cause an estimated €100bn in health and environmental costs.

Analysis provided by the Consortium for Ultra-low Vehicle Emissions (Clove) exclusively to the Guardian and Voxeurop shows that half of the projected financial savings from the new Euro 7 standards on car emissions will be lost due to damage caused by excess nitrogen dioxide. This toxic gas is the main contaminant released by combustion engines, especially diesel ones, and was responsible for 49,000 premature deaths in the EU and 5,750 in the UK in just one year.

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