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The Guardian view on net zero: a bank-led green transition won’t work for Britain | Editorial

The Guardian - Mon, 2024-05-20 02:30

A state industrial strategy is needed to reduce carbon output, produce cleaner growth and redistribute jobs around the UK

Theresa May and Boris Johnson both argued for levelling up and for a state-supported green transition undergirded by an industrial strategy. Neither delivered and their successor, Rishi Sunak, has repudiated their legacy as prime minister. He looks to the City to deliver growth, with banks determining the rate of investment to meet the challenge of the climate emergency. This is a recipe for failure. The Climate Change Committee (CCC), the government’s independent advisers on cutting carbon emissions, warned last year of “worryingly slow” progress to meet net zero targets. The government is not engaging on what it will take to decarbonise.

Weaning the country off fossil fuels and on to green energy is a complex transition that should be a job for the state, not the free market. Yet Britain is bottom of the league for state spending on renewables in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. In the offshore industry alone 30,000 workers could end up with nowhere to go by 2030 without new roles in green industries. Relying on big finance to meet that gap will entrench today’s failing model, which emphasises the need to attract significant capital flows through deregulation and privatisation, strengthening the hand of boom-and-bust financial services and weakening labour rights. The flipside is a bigger trade deficit and a destructive politics of redistribution to asset holders and to London.

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Ships in some UK port cities create more air pollution than cars

The Guardian - Mon, 2024-05-20 01:33

Milford Haven, Southampton and Immingham top the list for emissions of gases and particulates

Ships calling at the UK’s most-polluted ports produce more nitrogen oxides than all the cars registered in the same cities or regions, analysis has shown.

A report from Transport & Environment (T&E) said that ships were continuing to discharge huge quantities of air pollutants at ports, with Milford Haven, Southampton and Immingham topping the list for emissions of harmful sulphur oxides and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) as well as nitrogen oxides (NOx).

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Vampire finches and deadly tree snakes: how birds went worldwide – and their battles for survival

The Guardian - Sun, 2024-05-19 19:00

A new exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London includes ‘tragic’ tales of species wiped out from their natural habitats

Douglas Russell, a senior curator at London’s Natural History Museum, was examining a collection of nests gathered on the island of Guam when he made an unsettling discovery.

“The nests had been picked up more than 100 years ago, and I was curating them with the aim of adding them to the museum’s main collection. They turned out to be one of the most tragic, saddest accumulations of objects I’ve ever had to deal with,” Russell told the Observer last week.

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They’re fast. Pedestrians are furious: ‘fat’ ebikes divide Australian beach suburbs

The Guardian - Sun, 2024-05-19 06:00

Popular among teenagers, the large electric bikes have triggered numerous complaints to councils as fears grow for the safety of riders and pedestrians

If you frequent coastal towns or suburbs around Australia, you might be familiar with the sight of large, speedy ebikes zooming along the footpath. Fat bikes, as they’re commonly known, have been described as the monster trucks of the cycling world. With wide, thick tyres and seats big enough for two, the electric bicycles are designed to handle sand and off-road terrain.

But they have also garnered a cult status among young people, who are using them to get around with friends, take their surfboard to the beach and commute to school.

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Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ ubiquitous in Great Lakes basin, study finds

The Guardian - Sat, 2024-05-18 22:00

PFAS chemicals present in air, rain, atmosphere and water in basin, which holds nearly 95% of US freshwater

Toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” are ubiquitous in the Great Lakes basin’s air, rain, atmosphere and water, new peer-reviewed research shows.

The first-of-its-kind, comprehensive picture of PFAS levels for the basin, which holds nearly 95% of the nation’s freshwater, also reveals that precipitation is probably a major contributor to the lakes’ contamination.

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Sticky trick: new glue spray kills plant pests without chemicals

The Guardian - Sat, 2024-05-18 15:00

Edible oil droplets trap bugs without the harm to people and wildlife that synthetic pesticides can cause

Tiny sticky droplets sprayed on crops to trap pests could be a green alternative to chemical pesticides, research has shown.

The insect glue, produced from edible oils, was inspired by plants such as sundews that use the strategy to capture their prey. A key advantage of physical pesticides over toxic pesticides is that pests are highly unlikely to evolve resistance, as this would require them to develop much larger and stronger bodies, while bigger beneficial insects, like bees, are not trapped by the drops.

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Water firm criticised over 'scary' outbreak

BBC - Sat, 2024-05-18 11:29
One man describes the condition as "probably the worst ailment" he has had in his adult life.
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More Northern Lights soon as Sun storms strengthen

BBC - Sat, 2024-05-18 10:01
Another spectacular light show could come within two weeks as Sun storms reach 11-year high.
Categories: Around The Web

More Northern Lights soon as Sun storms strengthen

BBC - Sat, 2024-05-18 10:01
Another spectacular light show could come within two weeks as Sun storms reach 11-year high.
Categories: Around The Web

Think-tank releases US plan to hit 2050 net zero targets ensuring economic growth

Carbon Pulse - Sat, 2024-05-18 10:00
A public policy arm of a global think-tank has outlined recommendations for the US to achieve net zero by 2050 while ensuring reliable, affordable access to energy for economic growth.
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Speculators boost CCA net length for first time since early April, RGGI seen in demand -US CFTC data

Carbon Pulse - Sat, 2024-05-18 08:59
Speculators notched their first increase to their California Carbon Allowance (CCA) net holdings since early April, while demand rose across the board for RGGI Allowances (RGA), according to weekly data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
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US energy sector could see $1 trillion less low-carbon investment under second Trump presidency -report

Carbon Pulse - Sat, 2024-05-18 08:40
A November election victory for former US President Donald Trump would likely see reduced support for low-carbon energy and a rollback of methane, power plant, and transportation emissions regulations, according to a report published Thursday.
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Brazilian national civil aviation authority incorporates CORSIA into law

Carbon Pulse - Sat, 2024-05-18 08:28
The board of directors of the Brazilian National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) unanimously approved Tuesday a resolution that incorporates the UN's CORSIA aviation offsetting into law.
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US Democratic attorneys general file motion to support EPA power plant rules against challenges

Carbon Pulse - Sat, 2024-05-18 07:19
A group of 20 Democratic state attorneys general and others filed a motion to intervene Thursday to support the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a litany of lawsuits from challengers to power plant regulations finalised in April.
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DOE funded $19.7 mln “technically unacceptable” CCS project, says US Government Accountability Office

Carbon Pulse - Sat, 2024-05-18 07:13
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that a carbon storage project funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) did not meet technical thresholds and is now delayed and the cost overrun, it said in a report published Thursday.
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EU maintains strong carbon removals position in Article 6 call for input

Carbon Pulse - Sat, 2024-05-18 07:09
The EU has said it struggles to see "a sufficiently clear direction for further work" in a response to a call for input on Article 6.4 removals crediting guidance under the Paris Agreement, with a wide range of starkly different positions also submitted by other entities highlighting the difficulties ahead of COP29 with finding consensus on key methodological matters.
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UPDATE – WCI reschedules Q2 auction for May 22

Carbon Pulse - Sat, 2024-05-18 05:55
California and Quebec announced Friday a new date for the joint WCI carbon allowance auction for Q2 that was postponed earlier in the week due to technical difficulties.
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