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Means to stop catastrophic global heating exist, says UN chief, but political courage is needed to end world’s fossil fuel addiction

The huge cuts in carbon emissions now needed to end the climate crisis mean it is “crunch time for real”, according to the UN’s environment chief.

An unprecedented global mobilisation of renewable energy, forest protection and other measures is needed to steer the world off the current path towards a catastrophic temperature rise of 3.1C, a report from the UN environment programme (Unep) has found. Extreme heatwaves, storms, droughts and floods are already ravaging communities with less than 1.5C of global heating to date.

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The goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C is slipping quickly out of reach, although it is still “technically possible” - and relatively inexpensive - for the world to roughly halve emissions within this decade, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warned on Thursday.

The European Commission presented draft rules on Tuesday to measure CO2 removals from agriculture and forestry, saying future EU carbon removal credits could help mobilise finance for nature restoration.

The Netherlands is "extremely unlikely" to reach the legal climate goal of a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 under current or scheduled policy, and will need additional policy fast to bring the climate goal for 2030 back in sight, according to the country's environmental assessment agency.

A carbon removal registry has issued a “minor update” to its Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) methodology to add more detail and clarity around monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) requirements, the platform announced on Thursday.

A cookstove manufacturer and project developer has secured $15 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to scale electric cooking in east Africa, avoiding 12 million tonnes of carbon emissions over a period of five years.

Colombia-based carbon standard Cercarbono is looking to establish projects in Indonesia, its chairman told a conference Thursday, as market participants wait for more detail on the new Indonesian government's plans for the country’s carbon markets.

Debate over the place of carbon removals in climate policy is picking up ahead of a decision on the EU’s 2040 climate target, due next year, but EU climate chief Wopke Hoekstra remains elusive on whether he will support a separate target for removals or not.

Nature tech startups are projected to attract up to $2 billion in venture capital (VC) investments by the end of this year, with significant growth in early-stage involvement, particularly in the MRV and biodiversity credits category, according to data presented on Thursday at the COP16 UN biodiversity summit.

Verra, the voluntary carbon standard-setter and verifier, has released a set of modules for carbon capture and storage (CCS) – the first in its Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) as part of methodology VM0049 – with a view to better proving direct air capture (DAC) projects with carbon storage.

A US-headquartered group of conservation policy experts has laid out the next steps for the biodiversity credit market, to fulfil what it sees as significant potential, by preventing it from mirroring voluntary carbon markets.

More than 30m homes are thought to contain lead paint, including nearly 4m where children under age of six live

Two weeks after setting a nationwide deadline for removal of lead pipes, the Biden administration is imposing strict new limits on dust from lead-based paint in older homes and childcare facilities.

A final rule announced on Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency sets limits on lead dust on floors and window sills in pre-1978 residences and childcare facilities to levels so low they cannot be detected.

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A Zurich-headquartered direct air capture (DAC) company has partnered with an American financial services institution to permanently remove 40,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, the company announced on Thursday.

Funding brought about via Article 6 of the Paris Agreement is hoped to overcome the complex policy and engineering challenges faced by Indonesia and Vietnam in decarbonising their electricity grids, experts on a panel said Thursday.

Pace of growth helps maintain renewable energy when weather conditions interfere with wind and solar

Faced with worsening climate-driven disasters and an electricity grid increasingly supplied by intermittent renewables, the US is rapidly installing huge batteries that are already starting to help prevent power blackouts.

From barely anything just a few years ago, the US is now adding utility-scale batteries at a dizzying pace, having installed more than 20 gigawatts of battery capacity to the electric grid, with 5GW of this occurring just in the first seven months of this year, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA).

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An activist shareholder group said Thursday Australia’s sovereign wealth fund has over A$1 billion ($660 million) invested in three of the nation’s most polluting companies, two oil and gas and one coal. 

Development banks are funnelling billions of dollars annually into the expansion of factory farming linked to animals, capital that should instead go towards regenerative practices, according to analysis by a non-profit.

Chinese regulators have jointly released a work plan to improve the country's carbon accounting systems, requiring the central and regional governments to report emissions data on an annual basis.

A major trade group in South Korea has teamed up with a government agency to promote the development of forest-based carbon offsets in the country.

Just designating key areas will not meet 30x30 target on nature loss, study says, pointing to oil drilling in parks

Biodiversity is declining more quickly within key protected areas than outside them, according to research that scientists say is a “wake-up call” to global leaders discussing how to stop nature loss at the UN’s Cop16 talks in Colombia.

Protecting 30% of land and water for nature by 2030 was one of the key targets settled on by world leaders in a landmark 2022 agreement to save nature – and this month leaders are gathering again at a summit in the Colombian city of Cali to measure progress and negotiate new agreements to stop biodiversity loss.

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