Feed aggregator

New Zealand carbon allowances climbed 10% in Tuesday trade amid continued speculator demand and as the market digests what little there was for it in last week's budget.

The Australian government is looking at its Guarantee of Origin scheme (GO) as a potential demand-side driver of green metals development in the country alongside a raft of other measures, according to a consultation paper released Tuesday.

IEA report finds that if countries included existing energy policies in their new climate pledges they would reflect 70% of what's needed to reach the 2030 tripling renewables goal.

The post World on track to triple renewables based on government policies, but not according to climate pledges appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Barnaby Joyce has a new company to boycott, with Octopus Australia unveiling plans to build a massive 1GW wind farm in south-west New South Wales.

The post Octopus adds 1GW wind farm to its massive renewable and storage plans in NSW appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Analysis of policies of nearly 150 countries shows shortfall to hit target viewed as vital for transition from fossil fuels

The world is off track to meet the goal of tripling renewable electricity generation by 2030, a target viewed as vital to enable a swift global transition away from fossil fuels, but there are promising signs that the pace of progress may be picking up.

Countries agreed last December on a tripling of renewable power by the end of this decade. But few have yet taken concrete steps to meet this requirement and on current policies and trends global renewable generation capacity would only roughly double in developed countries, and slightly more than double globally by 2030, according to an analysis by the International Energy Agency.

Continue reading...

Figures show breaches have rarely led to prosecution by Drinking Water Inspectorate since 2021

The drinking water regulator for England and Wales has brought only three prosecutions against water companies for providing poor quality water since 2021, despite 362 instances in which water was flagged as being unfit for human consumption.

Periodically, members of the public or companies have informed the Drinking Water Inspectorate about water that has not been not safe for human consumption. In those instances, the DWI can issue legal instruments that require companies to put in place a package of measures.

Continue reading...

Rio Tinto to invest $215 million in development facility in Australia to assess a new ironmaking process using biomass called BioIron.

The post Mining giant Rio Tinto to build “green iron” facility that uses biomass to cut emissions appeared first on RenewEconomy.

MPower to sell Lakeland project to free up funds as it embarks on program to build another 30 solar and storage projects on main grid.

The post First solar and storage project on Australia’s main grid to be sold appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australian mining giant Rio Tinto announced Tuesday it will spend $143 million on an R&D facility to assess the effectiveness of its novel low-carbon ironmaking process, dubbed BioIron, that it says could cut up to 95% of the emissions associated with steelmaking.

The Australian government has a challenge. Having gone big on renewable energy and clean economy announcements, how does it now deliver meaningful outcomes for the regional communities.

The post Capacity Investment Scheme must be about filling gaps in social licence, too appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The collecting module is coming back with the first samples ever taken from that side of the moon.

New state access regime aims to "substantially reduce" the risk new projects will be subject to curtailment and improve certainty for investors and developers.

The post Victoria caps access for solar and wind in new renewable zones, to avoid curtailment and buoy investors appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Insistence on investment purity misses the point and will only lead to a decline in arts sponsorship

In a ranking of climate villains in the fund management industry, Baillie Gifford would surely come a long way down most people’s list. The Edinburgh-based firm preaches long-termism and its specialism is backing technology companies, especially those with kit to accelerate the transition to cleaner energy and transport. It was early into Tesla on the thesis that polluting internal combustion engines are on the way out and Elon Musk had a winning electric design. Another high-profile bet was Northvolt, the Swedish pacesetter in batteries that is now the net zero envy of the rest of Europe.

Few portfolios in the mainstream asset management world are entirely free of fossil fuel assets but Baillie Gifford’s are definitely at the less oily end. As the firm has pointed out repeatedly in recent weeks, only 1% of the £225bn of the assets it manages is invested directly in fossil fuel companies, and the figure is still only 2% if one includes stocks such as supermarkets that sell petrol. That’s versus an industry average of 11%.

Continue reading...

No, it’s not a problem that some renewable power doesn’t make it to the grid. Here’s why Dylan McConnell, Senior Research Associate, Renewable Energy & Energy Systems Analyst, UNSW Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

UBS Asset Management has launched an exchange-traded commodity (ETC) that gives investors exposure to the EU carbon market.

Major flaws in the design of the newly announced NSW home battery rebate are already taking a toll on industry in the state, as sales dry up in the long wait until November.

The post “It’s going to be devastating:” Crisis talks as battery rebate design threatens to kill sales appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Two new reports look at rapidly emerging storage technologies, including compressed air, redox flow batteries, solar thermal and other heat storage.

The post Long-duration storage – alternative technologies ramping up to fill “missing middle” appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, has begun erupting in a remote area that last saw an eruption half-century ago, the US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said. The eruption is about 1.6 km (1 mile) south of the Kilauea caldera, in an area within Hawaii Volcanoes national park that last erupted in December 1974. The area surrounding the caldera has been closed to the public since 2008 because of other hazards, including ground cracking, instability in the crater wall and rockfalls.

• Hawaii’s Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, erupts

Continue reading...

Jim Everett-puralia meenamatta refused to attend court on charges of trespassing over an anti-forestry protest

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
• • ‘I’m ready for everything and I don’t care’: the man refusing to turn up at an Australian ‘colonial’ court
• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

A Hobart magistrate has issued an arrest warrant for an Aboriginal activist who refused to attend court on charges stemming from a protest because he does not consider himself an Australian citizen.

Jim Everett-puralia meenamatta says he wants to highlight the destruction of forests and issues of Indigenous sovereignty.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Asuncion has reassured voluntary market (VCM) stakeholders with its low risk profile, favourability to carbon markets, and facilitating frameworks, enticing project proponents despite the country’s small size, an international developer told Carbon Pulse in Buenos Aires on Monday.