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Austria’s carbon management strategy, including public funding programmes, will not be impacted by ongoing government coalition talks and will remain in place unless laws are being changed, an official has said, outlining that the country could need as many as 7 million tonnes of carbon removals per year to achieve its climate goals.

Around 65% of surveyed asset owners and managers worldwide have incorporated nature and biodiversity into their sustainability strategies, while a further 20% plan to do so, according to a report released last week.

The average price of carbon credits traded under the Thailand Voluntary Emission Reduction Programme (T-VER) in the last quarter of 2024 saw a rise of about 40% from the previous quarter, according to official data released Monday.

A global forest monitoring initiative has released new blue carbon reporting guidance, the organisation said last week.

The EU and China have launched a four-year project aimed at improving biodiversity and climate monitoring by combining artificial intelligence (AI) with ground and remote sensing data.

Manatees don’t have incisors or canines, only ‘cheek teeth’. No hair, only whiskers. Algae growing on their backs. Everything is gentle

A manatee looks like every animal I have ever tried to make with play-dough: roll a big piece into a sausage, flatten a bit on either side with your forefingers, and a bit at the end with your thumb. Hey presto. A manatee also happens to be the grey of all Play-Dough colours mixed together.

Imagine eating lettuce underwater: the crunch, the squelch. Reading about manatees, I finally give in and look up what the word “prehensile” actually means, as in a giraffe’s prehensile tongue, a monkey’s prehensile tail, a manatee’s prehensile lips. What could these things have in common, you wonder, for 25 years. Then it is time to find out.

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Peru’s Ministry of Environment (MINAM) has identified two voluntary carbon market (VCM) standards and four methodologies eligible for inclusion on the national carbon registry launched last year.

They can be joyful and important social spaces, but a new generation of customers runs a mile from the shelves of plastic and chemicals

When I first heard that garden centres are facing a wave of closures, I immediately thought of the one around the corner from where I live. On a recent Wednesday afternoon, the car park was full and the cafe was bustling with people my parents’ age and older, chatting over milky coffees and slices of cake. The retired ladies who talk to me in the gym changing room love to come here for a jacket potato after their aquafit class.

Yet, as I stepped through the automatic doors, the plants weren’t immediately visible. First, I had to pass a bright deli counter, an area filled with homeware and crockery, shelves of fragrant toiletries, and a section of children’s toys before anything remotely connected to gardening came into view. I waded through gloves, power tools, pesticides and outdoor furniture, and then, finally, I found the annual bedding plants and potted shrubs. Here, all was quiet. The gardening section was quite unlike the busy cafe; I was alone but for one member of staff.

Claire Ratinon is an organic food grower and writer

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Stronger biodiversity-related markets are needed to help drive financing towards nature, as carbon markets are falling short of expectations, the head of the World Resources Institute (WRI) has said.

The World Bank has updated its carbon tracking registry to align with international compliance frameworks, including Article 6 and CORSIA, the global aviation offset programme.

Constructed wetlands stop increasing the rate of their carbon capture at the 15-year milestone, challenging assumptions about their long-term climate benefits, a recent study has found.

European carbon prices edged lower in early Monday trade even as energy markets forged higher, as EUAs were hit by concerns that President Donald Trump will levy new tariffs on EU exports to the US.

Atmospheric river brings wind, heavy rain and up to 1.8 metres of snow in mountainous areas

An atmospheric river has been under way through the weekend, pummelling northern and central parts of California with spells of wind and heavy rain and hill snow, and is forecast to continue into Wednesday.

The weather system, locally called the Pineapple Express, is set up by low pressure situated to the north-east of Hawaii, which propels moist tropical air from Hawaii and across the Pacific Ocean on blustery westerly winds. The result is a stream of heavy precipitation piling into parts of the west coast of the US, falling as snow down to about 1,200 metres (4,000ft) with rain at lower levels. A cumulative total of up to 500mm (20in) of rain is expected to have fallen by Wednesday, while up to 1.8 metres (6ft) of snow will be possible in mountainous areas. Subsequently, there has been a risk of flooding.

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The cacophony around me seemed to drown out my daily worries until a writing retreat showed me there was a better way

I’ve lived in South Korea for more than a decade, but it’s only recently that I discovered just how loud it is here. The bing-bong when someone presses the “stop” button on the city bus, and the accompanying sing-songy announcements in Korean, the beeps of riders scanning their transit cards to board or depart; soju-drunk office workers loudly singing off-tune through neighbourhood alleyways; obnoxiously loud K-pop music blaring out of storefronts; and songs that seem to change key at record rates as delivery motorbikes speed out of range.

In reality, I have relied on there being near-constant cacophony around me for the whole of my adult life. Without realising it, background noise became a kind of comfort to me, making me feel less alone. It started after university when I was barely scraping together a living, working jobs I didn’t want to be doing. I would soothe my loneliness and isolation in the evenings by playing endless hours of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit just for the ambient sound – the comfort of Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler bringing criminals of the worst kind to justice.

Krissi Driver is a writer based in South Korea

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Another three big renewable and storage projects enter EPBC planning pipeline, with two of them branding themselves as "energy hubs".

The post Another three big wind and battery projects sucked into EPBC process appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Lessons from Australia teach us that going all-in on fossil fuel exports is a recipe for volatile energy supplies and higher prices. Trump’s "drill baby, drill" will leave Americans vulnerable.

The post Trump’s “drill baby, drill” plan is a disaster for energy security, and prices appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Hopes for environmental law reform during the current term of federal government have been dashed, so what lies ahead for ‘nature positive’ next term? Peter Burnett, Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Law, Australian National University Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Jaana Dielenberg, University Fellow in Biodiversity, Charles Darwin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Greenpeace co-director responds to report finding fewer than one in 20 working in sector identifies as non-white

Environmental organisations “are still very white, especially at the top”, the co-director of Greenpeace has said as research showed little to no improvement in the ethnic diversity of their workforces.

Areeba Hamid’s comments came as the third annual racial action on the climate emergency (Race) report into diversity among environmental charities found fewer than one in 20 of those working in the sector identified as people of colour or as other racial or ethnic minority groups.

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The leader of one of New Zealand’s coalition government parties says the country should consider pulling out of the Paris Agreement.

Less than two months after it was finalised, issues are being raised with Australia's environmental plantings carbon credit method, with one developer saying its technical requirements have led to them cancelling projects.