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The Strawberry Line network of paths in Somerset has found a way to speed up planning permission and harness the goodwill of the community

In the past two years, multiple sections of a hoped-for 76-mile rural cycling and walking route spanning Somerset have sprouted up around the small town of Shepton Mallet, seemingly every few weeks.

These new routes are popular. One 300-metre section of path in the heart of the town, for example, uses one of Historic Railway Estates’ bridges for the first time for a cycle route (an organisation usually more given to infilling its structures).

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Sir John Armitt urges ministers to act swiftly or risk impeding growth and jeopardising climate targets

Rishi Sunak’s U-turns over net zero have delayed progress on vital infrastructure that is needed for economic growth, the government’s advisers have said.

Sir John Armitt, the chair of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), said good progress had been made on renewable energy in the past five years, but changes to key policies, including postponing a scheme to boost heat pump takeup, had created uncertainty and delay.

The government will fail to meet its targets on heat pump rollout.

The promised lifting of a ban on new onshore windfarms has not gone far enough.

Massive investment is needed in the electricity grid.

There is no proper plan for rail in the north and Midlands now that the northern leg of HS2 has been cancelled, severely inhibiting economic growth in those regions.

Water bills will need to go up to fix the sewage crisis, and more reservoirs are needed to avoid drought, while water companies have done too little to staunch leaks.

The UK lacks a coherent strategy on flooding, with more than 900,000 properties at risk of river or sea flooding and 910,000 at risk of surface water flooding.

Good progress has been made on the rollout of gigabit broadband around the country.

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Transgrid CEO Brett Redman on new projects, delays, costs and social licence. Plus: The federal budget and even bigger batteries.

The post Energy Insiders Podcast: Bigging up the grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Labor’s Future Made in Australia policy has enough money to move the needle. What matters is implementation – and readiness to adjust course if needed

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Business groups such as ours, alongside investors, unions and climate campaigners, have been calling out for a big push on clean economy investment.

So what should we make of the 2024-25 budget and have those calls been answered?

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Demand for Article 6 credits from developed countries will arise sooner rather than later, however host countries must put necessary policies in place, a conference heard this week.

Depending on who you listen to, the global hydrogen industry is either poised for take-off in 2024, or about to come face to face with the reality of costs.

The post Locking in the green energy transition: Hydrogen ready for takeoff, or a reality check? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New data shows the mining giant's huge wind and solar deals have slashed the "generation gap" for Australia's renewable energy target.

The post Rio’s gigawatt scale wind and solar deals shrink generation gap for 2030 renewable target appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Two of the world's leading renewable energy states – both with grids that regularly achieve periods of 100 per cent solar and wind supply – to collaborate on some of the final pieces of the energy transition puzzle.

The post “World leaders” South Australia and California agree to collaborate on final stretch to 100 pct renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australia's Solar Sunshot plan could get a boost from US tariffs imposed on Chinese imports.

The post Australia’s Solar Sunshot could benefit from US tariffs on China, but Coalition can’t see the light appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A Toronto-based voluntary carbon project financier on Wednesday reported an unrealised net loss on investment of nearly $19 million after the crediting methodology governing one of its endeavours was updated.

Future Gas Strategy anticipates continued demand for LNG exports, but IEEFA research suggests our biggest export market is
already in decline and over-supplied.

The post Japan does not need Australian gas to keep the lights on in Tokyo appeared first on RenewEconomy.

If the world learned to be smarter and more efficient, it could go fully renewable with little or no storage. But that's not the way markets are designed.

The post World’s biggest grids could be powered by renewables, with little or no storage – if we are smart enough appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Malaysian state of Sarawak will tax revenue from carbon credit sales by 5%, the government announced Wednesday.

Asset manager Gresham House is preparing for the possibility of generating voluntary biodiversity credits from parts of its forestry sites in Scotland, Carbon Pulse has learned.

Global economic output could drop by 12% for every 1 C rise in the world’s average temperature, according to a study by researchers from Harvard University and Northwestern University, who likened the impact to fighting a major war in perpetuity.

US tech giant Microsoft saw an aggregate 29.1% increase in Scope 1-3 emissions in 2023 relative to its 2020 baseline, largely driven by data centre construction, alongside procurement of over 5 million tonnes in multi-year carbon removal offtake agreements, according to its annual sustainability report published Wednesday.

A trade association representing hundreds of local electric cooperatives filed in federal court this week a motion to halt the implementation of controversial US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) power plant emissions regulations, amidst ongoing legal challenges since the rules were published.

An appliance-level battery can protect from black/brownout or a power surge. But it can also act as a sponge for renewable energy, and protect from price spikes.

The post How appliance level batteries can shield store owners from energy spikes, and act as sponge for grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Workers tunnelling through mountains and redirecting rivers, powering and irrigating the nation. We think of the Snowy scheme as a successful nationbuilding project – but it wasn’t always that way Belinda Smaill, Professor of Film and Screen Studies, Monash University Kate Fitch, Senior Lecturer, Communications and Media, Monash University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Peruvian forest concessions generating carbon credits could be more lucrative than those reserved for logging, provided that the country’s improved forest management (IFM) credits can command a premium for high integrity, according to a study.