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Oliver Yates to chair new venture planning to spend $2 billion on battery storage projects, with three big batteries ready to go and another four in the pipeline.

The post Yates heads new venture planning $2 billion of battery storage projects in Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Science-based Targets Network (SBTN) released a report on Monday highlighting the benefits and challenges experienced by the first cohort of companies when piloting targets for nature.

North Macedonia and Serbia face challenges as they work on aligning their climate and energy goals with those of the EU, with the aim of eventually joining the bloc as members, according to a report published on Tuesday.

Floating solar plants emerge as a game-changer for Southeast Asia, by maximizing its solar resources and overcoming limited land availability.

The post Why floating solar PV will play a “critical role” in land-constrained south-east Asia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Joint venture signed to develop a 150MW solar farm in New Zealand, which would be the biggest in the country.

The post Joint venture signed to build biggest solar farm in New Zealand to date appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Declines in the European price of carbon below current levels are likely to be temporary as the EU ramps up preparations to impose a cost of emissions on imported products from 2026, according to analysts.

European carbon prices rose steeply early on Tuesday morning to fill a technical gap, before giving up most of their gains as the market digested a sharp cut in analyst price forecasts for the short and medium term.

As UN expert says UK’s actions are chilling and regressive, we look at some of the cases

• UN expert condemns UK crackdown on environmental protest

The UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders Michel Forst has said the UK’s crackdown on climate protesters is chilling, regressive and a restriction on fundamental freedoms.

We look at some of the cases:

Defendants on trial for peaceful protest were forbidden from mentioning the words climate change, fuel poverty or the civil rights movement when they were on trial for public nuisance. Several people, including a social worker, David Nixon, and the Dorset councillor Giovanna Lewis, were jailed for contempt of court when they defied the restrictions to explain their motivations for taking action to the jury.

A retired social worker, Trudi Warner, is being prosecuted for contempt of court for holding up a sign outside a court defending the right of juries to decide a case on their conscience. The decision to prosecute was made by the then solicitor general Michael Tomlinson KC, a minister and the Conservative MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole.

Stephen Gingell, 57, was jailed for six months after pleading guilty to taking part in a peaceful slow march protest on a London road. The sentence is thought to be the first jailing under the Public Order Act 2023, which includes an offence of “interference with key national infrastructure”. Gingell is appealing.

Civil injunctions have been issued to hundreds of individuals. National Highways has injunctions covering 4,300 miles of motorways and major A roads. Anyone who breaches this injunction faces imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. Any corporation can apply for a civil injunction, and individuals can be punished without a trial.

Marcus Decker and Morgan Trowland made history as the peaceful protesters who have received the longest jail sentences in modern history in the UK when they were sentenced to two years and seven months, and three years respectively for public nuisance. They climbed the Queen Elizabeth II bridge over the Dartford Crossing and unveiled a banner for Just Stop Oil in 2022. The longest jail term issued to the suffragettes was three months.

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Rio Tinto signs contract to buy all the output for what will be the biggest solar project on Australia's main grid, and will help power its smelters and refineries.

The post Rio Tinto signs contract for Australian grid’s first gigawatt scale solar project appeared first on RenewEconomy.

UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders says he is seriously concerned about ‘regressive new laws’

A severe crackdown on environmental protest in Britain with “draconian” new laws, excessive restrictions on courtroom evidence and the use of civil injunctions is having a chilling impact on fundamental freedoms, the United Nations special rapporteur has said.

As the world faces a triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, environmental protesters were acting for the “benefit of us all” and must be protected, Michel Forst, the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders, said on Tuesday.

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German-based tech startup Landbanking Group has released a consultation paper ahead of a planned launch of a new nature asset class in a bid to foster investments in ecosystem preservation, restoration, and improvement.

India is planning to ask the EU for measures to help align its upcoming domestic carbon market with that of the EU emissions trading system at the trade negotiations scheduled for next month, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing anonymous sources.

A Shell veteran has been appointed chief executive of a global environmental solutions service provider that saw revenues of almost $6 billion last year.

Cookstove projects are one of the fastest-growing carbon offset schemes but research finds carbon benefits are vastly overstated

Clean cookstove projects, one of the most popular types of carbon-offset schemes, are probably overstating their beneficial impact on the climate by an average of 1,000%, according to a new study.

Every year, an estimated 3.2 million people die prematurely from household air pollution caused by cooking with smoky fuels such as wood, paraffin or kerosene, which produce about 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features

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After passing peer review, a journal version of an academic pre-print study that said it found over-crediting in cookstove offset projects last year has renewed its criticism of over-estimation of issuances in the same project methodologies, but by a much higher factor.

EnergyAustralia plans massive four-hour battery in wind and solar dominated South Australia, to be built next to an existing gas fired power station.

The post EnergyAustralia plans to build massive four hour battery in South Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Campaigners say 76% decline in riverfly species’ abundance at Cunsey Beck is being caused by sewage discharges

Testing by citizen scientists of a beck that feeds into Windermere has revealed a huge loss in invertebrate life in the lake in Cumbria that campaigners say is being caused by sewage discharges.

Save Windermere and WildFish carried out testing for invertebrates in Cunsey Beck, a site of special scientific interest (SSSI), in order to assess the impact on its freshwater ecology of the Near Sawrey wastewater treatment works, owned and operated by United Utilities.

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A project funded by the Australian government is eyeing carbon credit revenue from cutting greenhouse gas emissions from rice production across three Vietnamese provinces.

Analysts have significantly reduced their outlook for EU carbon prices this year due to a number of short-term bearish factors related to both supply and demand, including macroeconomic uncertainty, weak power consumption fundamentals, and ample allowance supply due to auctions linked to the bloc's REPowerEU energy independence policy.

Using two-sided or bifacial solar modules could lift the output from rooftop solar systems by more than 22 per cent. But they need a light coloured roof.

The post Households could boost solar output with two-sided panels, a tilt, and a light colour roof appeared first on RenewEconomy.