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Funding deal between federal and state governments will take share of renewables in W.A. to around 70 per cent - the most of any isolated grid of its size with no hydro.

The post Bowen signs deal to treble large scale wind and solar capacity, and double storage in the West appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Sparrows were taken into captivity after numbers dwindled – and this week experts released 1,000th bird back into wild

Scientists in Florida are hailing the landmark release this week of a tiny bird only 5in tall as an oversized success in their fight to save a critically endangered species.

Numbers of the Florida grasshopper sparrow, seen only in prairies in central regions of the state, dwindled so severely by 2015, mostly through habitat loss, that authorities took the decision to remove remaining breeding pairs into captivity. Their wager was that a controlled repopulation program would be more successful than leaving the birds to their own devices.

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Wind and solar remain stalled at the gate, with no new registrations in June, but the backlog of prospective projects is growing rapidly - many fishing for a deal with the Capacity Investment Scheme.

The post New wind and solar remain stalled at the gate, but battery starts are charging to new records appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The urgent needs of the road users they held up were ignored during this climate crusade

It was “a dark day”, according to a UN special rapporteur. Others lamented “a gross miscarriage of justice” and “a farce” marking “a low point in British justice”. Such language would not have been hyperbolic had they been talking about the review highlighting the failings that left Andrew Malkinson jailed for 17 years for a crime he didn’t commit. Or a recent travesty of the single justice procedure, the expedited closed-door process that saw a woman dying from stage 4 breast cancer convicted for non-payment of a TV licence. But it was actually referring to the handing down of five- and four-year prison sentences to five Just Stop Oil activists for their role in masterminding four days of serious motorway disruption: if we are to believe them, a grave affront to the right to protest.

There are certainly questions about whether the sentences for their offences are proportionate or appropriate in the context of the wider criminal justice system. But to suggest that freedom of conscience creates an unlimited right to cause other citizens harm is to fail to engage with the nature of their offence. And, more broadly, to misunderstand what it means to live in a democracy where we enjoy a right to noisy protest, but are also bound by obligations to each other that are framed by the rule of law that applies to us all equally.

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Decline blamed on washout summer driving down population of insects, butterflies and moths they feed on

Conservation groups across England are seeing more malnourished bats, as wildlife experts warn the washout summer is driving down the insects, butterflies and moths they feed on.

Groups across Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Worcestershire, Essex and South Lancashire said they are seeing an increase in the number of “starving” or “underweight” bats, often juveniles, who need to be rescued and cared for by volunteers. In some places, they are seeing fewer bats than they usually do in the summer.

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Newly announced deal in Czechia shows GenCost nuclear estimates are too optimistic. Even in established nuclear countries, new nuclear power is hopelessly uneconomic.

The post Czech nuclear deal shows CSIRO GenCost is too optimistic, and new nukes are hopelessly uneconomic appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australian renewable energy developer names former head of Tilt Renewables as executive chairman.

The post Former Tilt boss to head newly emerging Australian renewables player appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Colorado has unveiled recommendations to broaden its embryonic, in-state carbon market by facilitating trading between the largest industrial manufacturing facilities and energy-intensive and trade-exposed (EITE) sectors such as cement and steel.

The energy secretary’s plans to install thousands of pylons in unspoiled rural areas is facing a huge backlash

The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has been warned he faces battlegrounds across the country over plans to install thousands of pylons in unspoiled rural areas to deliver a “clean power” revolution. Council leaders and communities oppose proposals for a vast new network of pylons across large parts of several counties, including Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

There are calls for community compensation of “hundreds of millions of pounds” if the schemes are pushed through.

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New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) on Friday unveiled $100 million to decarbonise the Empire State Plaza, targeting a 20% GHG reduction in its operations.

A US federal appeals court on Friday rejected another request for a temporary pause on controversial Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) power plant standards as they are being challenged on merit.

Stakeholders shifted their California Carbon Allowance futures and options holdings to vintage 2025 in the aftermath of ARB’s cap-and-trade workshop fallout, while the month-long trend of strong compliance demand for RGGI Allowances (RGA) continued, weekly data from the Commitment of Traders’ report released Friday showed.

Iowa state Republican lawmakers, counties, and landowners filed separate motions on Monday requesting the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) to reconsider its issuance of a construction permit to a proposed CO2 pipeline.

Canada’s ministry of natural resources on Friday announced more than C$71 million ($51.7 mln) in additional funding to support its 2 Billion Trees (2BT) initiative, which was previously deemed unlikely to meet its target without significant changes.

Algeria’s government and private sector are looking to carbon capture and storage (CCS) to counterbalance emissions from oil and gas production, with an eye to minimising the impact of the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), according to local media sources.

The steel sector has potentially turned a corner on net zero, says a new report, after years of being considered a laggard in emissions reduction pathways.

Michel Forst, UN special rapporteur, joins growing chorus of voices criticising jail terms handed to five defendants

The lengthy multi-year sentences handed to Just Stop Oil activists are “not acceptable in a democracy”, a UN special rapporteur has said, as the government faced growing pressure to reverse the previous administration’s “hardline anti-protest” approach.

Michel Forst, the UN special rapporteur for environmental defenders, joined a growing chorus of voices condemning the sentences handed down to the five defendants for planning non-violent protests on the M25.

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Azerbaijan has today announced the launch of the Climate Finance Action Fund (CFAF), initially targeting $1 billion in financing from fossil fuel producing countries and companies, and half of the capital to go towards climate projects in developing countries.

The Turkish parliament has passed a law requiring ships to pay for the greenhouse gas emissions released when entering and departing from the country's ports.

These protesters are shouting ‘fire’ while the world burns. A society that locks them up cannot be called democratic

There’s a crisis in our prisons. Keir Starmer says it is “shocking”. Our jails are so full, police chiefs are warning it may soon be impossible to maintain even the most basic law and order. So here’s a radical proposal. Let’s stop locking up our truth tellers. The people who are shouting “fire” because there’s a fire. When they see we’re not moving fast enough and that the flames are getting higher, they know their responsibility is to shout out the message louder. Because they care. You probably know who we mean.

These people might be annoying. They might give you an earache. We might wish they would tone it down. But in a democratic society, they do not belong in prison. We need to be listening to them, not locking them up.

Chris Packham is a naturalist, environmental and animal welfare campaigner, author and television presenter on BBC Two’s Springwatch

Dale Vince is a green energy industrialist and campaigner and a Labour party donor

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