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The Council of EU member states voted Friday to adopt the bloc's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), requiring companies with a turnover of more than €450 million to observe human rights and environmental obligations along their entire supply chain or face fines of up to 5% of their global turnover.

A group of seven EU countries are presenting plans on Friday for greater use of recycled materials, biomass, and captured CO2 to replace fossil carbon in the chemical sector, arguing this will help restore the industry’s lost competitiveness.

Prices in China’s CO2 allowance market over the past week remained stable with healthier trading volumes, though the continued absence of policy updates is expected to limit the potential for price growth.

An Australian agri-tech company has developed beta soil organic carbon measurement models that it says can reduce the reliance on extensive physical soil sampling.

PFAS contamination recorded in groundwater on Angus Fire site in Bentham, and includes chemicals with known health impacts

A small North Yorkshire town has been found to have the highest concentration of “forever chemicals” in the UK, it can be revealed.

The market town of Bentham, which is home to 3,000 people and set on the banks of the River Wenning, is also home to the Angus International Safety Group – locally known as Angus Fire – which, since the 1970s, has been producing firefighting foams containing PFAS at a factory near the town centre.

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Conservation International has announced its intention to participate in the nature and biodiversity credit markets, outlining guardrails it will abide to, including refusing to sell units to fossil fuel companies and firms without zero deforestation targets.

The ruling could be a legal game-changer for small island nations that are trying to hold developed nations to account for the impacts of their greenhouse gas emissions. Clive Schofield, Professor, Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong Karen Scott, Professor in Law, University of Canterbury Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Australia has all the key ingredients to build a booming battery industry. We just need to find the right cooks and co-ordinate all of this frantic activity to get this big opportunity right. Glen Thomas Currie, Energy Systems Program Impact Manager, Climateworks, Monash University, Monash University Anna Malos, Climateworks Centre - Country Lead, Australia, Monash University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

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Water is very heavy – and it can move. Until now, changes to water on land have actually offset much of the rising sea level from ice melt. How? Gravity Rebecca McGirr, Postdoctoral research fellow, Australian National University Anthony Purcell, Research Fellow, Australian National University Herbert McQueen, Research officer, Earth Sciences, Australian National University Paul Tregoning, Head, Climate and Ocean Geosciences, Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A Glencore pilot carbon capture and storage project was knocked back by the Queensland state government Friday over what it said were serious environmental concerns, shutting the door to any further CCS projects in the area.

Shishir Dholakia of the University of Southern Queensland's Centre for Astrophsics has identified Gliese 12b, a possibly temperate Earth-sized planet just 40 light years away. The student has been co-leading an international team that published the discovery in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

• Earth-sized planet spotted orbiting small star with 100 times sun’s lifespan

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Speaking at the UK River Summit, Philip Duffy said officials do not want to reveal the true ‘embarrassing’ environmental picture

The head of the Environment Agency has admitted that freedom of information requests have been buried by the regulator because the truth about the environment in England is “embarrassing”.

Philip Duffy, the body’s chief executive, told an audience at the UK River Summit in Morden, south London, this week that his officials were “worried about revealing the true state of what is going on” with regards to the state of the environment.

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Snowy Hydro has upped the valuation of its troubled pumped hydro project, but battery storage could add competition.

The post Latest Snowy 2.0 business case a surprise, but batteries might eat its lunch appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Equatic, in partnership with EcoEngineers and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), has launched a new MRV methodology for electrolytic ocean-based CO2 removals.

Industry-first trial will use helicopters flying on a mix of sustainable aviation fuel to transport workers to and from an offshore wind project under construction in the Baltic Sea.

The post Vestas trials helicopters powered with green fuel in offshore wind first appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A European oil firm has agreed to spend around $90 million to purchase as many as 10 million carbon credits from nature-based carbon projects in Ghana as part of a jurisdictional REDD+ deal.

As we launch into a Future Made in Australia, we need to map and better understand the social and economic risks – as well as potential benefits – for remote and disadvantaged communities. Deanna Kemp, Professor and Director, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, The University of Queensland John Burton, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Social Responsility in Mining, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Over the past decade, global solar generation has grown ninefold while wind generation has tripled. In contrast, hydro, nuclear and coal generation have barely moved.

The post Global solar and wind generation will soon overtake nuclear and hydro appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australia’s largest carbon project developer, GreenCollar, has resigned from co-chairing industry working groups developing the integrated farm land management (IFLM) method due to losing confidence in the process, a spokesperson told Carbon Pulse.