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Climate chaos is threatening food production, trade and lives, says World Meteorological Organization

Hunger and disease are rising in Latin America after a year of record heat, floods and drought, a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has shown.

The continent, which is trapped between the freakishly hot Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, probably suffered tens of thousands of climate-related deaths in 2023, at least $21bn (£17bn) of economic damage and “the greatest calorific loss” of any region, the study found.

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Miners could emerge as frontrunners in generating Safeguard Mechanism Credits (SMCs) under Australia’s main carbon market programme thanks to their ability to abate emissions and the varied GHG profiles of different assets, a conference in the country’s unofficial mining capital of Perth heard Thursday.

European carbon prices jumped in early Wednesday trading as traders anticipated a pause in the auction programme for the next two days, while the weekly positions data showed investment funds continuing to trim their bearish bets for a fourth week in a row.

A global competition to support innovators developing carbon removal solutions has announced its cohort of 20 finalists set to compete in the last stage, with $50 million up for grabs for the winning team able to demonstrate sustainable and cost-effective carbon removal from the atmosphere or ocean.

A developer of clean cookstove projects in Kenya has sold its first tranche of credits to a multilateral buyer for several times the typical value of cookstove credits on the voluntary carbon market, with the credits the first to be issued for a biomass project in Africa under a new methodology.

A series of large nature investment funds focused on real assets will launch on a new platform, which should appear next year, from the investment arms of a Dutch bank and a Canadian pension fund.

Southeast Asia is witnessing significant underinvestment in the energy transition and renewable energy, mostly because the private sector has been contributing a negligible percentage of its asset base, a financial consultant told a virtual conference on Wednesday.

Exclusive: Planet is headed for at least 2.5C of heating with disastrous results for humanity, poll of hundreds of scientists finds

• ‘Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair

Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5C (4.5F) this century, blasting past internationally agreed targets and causing catastrophic consequences for humanity and the planet, an exclusive Guardian survey has revealed.

Almost 80% of the respondents, all from the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), foresee at least 2.5C of global heating above preindustrial levels,, while almost half anticipate at least 3C (5.4F). Only 6% thought the internationally agreed 1.5C (2.7F) limit will be met.

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A mineral sands mining company expects to save five million litres of diesel a year by adding a solar farm and a battery storage system to its remote titanium mine site in western NSW.

The post Solar and batteries to save five million litres of diesel a year at remote NSW titanium mine site appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Philippines government has partnered with three of the nation’s biggest conglomerates on the conservation of a 1.4-million hectare vital waterway, though some observers expressed concern as the same three firms recently started building an LNG facility in the area.

Steelmaker ArcelorMittal is accused of walking back on commitments to decarbonise, and returning more money to shareholders than it puts into climate action, in a report released Wednesday by an NGO.

Indonesia’s minister for environment and forestry has defended the country’s much-criticised carbon trading regulations, whilst reprimanding comments made by the head of one of the country’s largest REDD+ project developers.

Scientists reclassify Humboldt glacier, also known as La Corona, after it melted faster than expected

Venezuela has lost its last remaining glacier after it shrunk so much that scientists reclassified it as an ice field.

It is thought Venezuela is the first country to have lost all its glaciers in modern times.

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Australia's biggest utility names retiring NSW National Party MP as its new senior government relations manager to help manage progress of giant renewable projects in NSW

The post Origin hires retiring National Party MP to help “thread the needle” of shift to renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

This recognition places REC among the top 15% of assessed companies in the electronic goods manufacturing industry globally.

The post REC Group receives EcoVadis Silver Medal for its advanced ESG efforts appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Fortescue buys high-tech testing site in UK as it rolls out battery and EV charging products.

The post Fortescue buys UK testing site for battery and electric drive technologies appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Also known as ‘devil birds’ for their haunting scream, they are just starting to arrive from sub-Saharan Africa

May Day dawns cold and breezy, with sullen grey clouds promising rain. Hope seems very far away. But then, a distant dark streak scythes through the skies over the Avalon Marshes, stiff-winged, direct and determined. A single swift, my first of the year.

As I do every spring, I silently recite the words of the poet Ted Hughes: “They’ve made it again, which means the globe’s still working … ”

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French regulators finally give permission to fuel up the country's first nuclear plant in decades, some 12 years late and more than four times over budget.

The post How long does it take to build a nuclear reactor? We ask France appeared first on RenewEconomy.

NSW Independent Planning Commission approves its second wind farm this year, this time the Thunderbolt project in New England.

The post Neoen gets final approval for contested NSW wind farm, with conditions appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Once sold as ‘penny turtles’ around Australia, the Mary River turtle’s plight galvanised local community efforts to save it from extinction. Mariana Campbell, Research Lecturer, Conservation, Charles Darwin University Hamish Campbell, Professor - Spatial Science, Charles Darwin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.