Feed aggregator

Tata Steel on Thursday rejected a workers’ union plan to keep its Port Talbot blast furnaces running, confirming its intention to reduce its carbon footprint by switching its energy source from coal to electricity.

A clean tech company and a supplier of high-grade refractory products are advancing plans to build a capture carbon and utilisation facility in Austria to make industrial products.

A US environmental non-profit outlined policy solutions in a report released Thursday to address the expansion of storage facilities and truck hauls in light of rising demand for shorter delivery durations, which has placed unequal health disparities on low-income households and communities of colour in New York.

The European Commission will propose a goal for the EU to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040, Bloomberg reported citing anonymous sources, in line with scientific recommendations and a previous hint by the EU climate chief.

Power and gas prices are unlikely to strengthen in 2024, analysts at a European utility said on Thursday, which will have a dampening effect on EUAs.

Regulator accused of ‘massaging figures’ by telling staff to pause inspections at poorly performing waste sites until January

The Environment Agency told staff in September to stop inspecting the most poorly performing waste sites until January in order to meet corporate compliance targets, it can be revealed.

The regulator has been accused of “massaging the figures”, with an insider telling the Ends Report and the Guardian that a lack of resources means the body is “failing to do its statutory duty in a timely manner”.

Continue reading...

The NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers have ended their partnership with carbon offset startup Aspiration, which was previously a sponsor of the professional basketball team and is now under investigation by US regulators for potentially misleading customers, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

A venture using synthesized whale poo to stimulate phytoplankton growth in the ocean leading to increased carbon sequestration, says that the process has gigatonne-scale potential for carbon removal and could generate ‘deep blue carbon removal’ credits in future.

A twice-weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

Four organisations in Norway have teamed up to form Norwegian Marine Restoration (NoMaRe), a collaborative platform seeking to restore the more than 5,000 square kilometres of kelp forests that have been lost along the coast over the past decades.

A Norwegian-Indian company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a state government forest department in India to develop a 100,000-hectare environmental conservation project, aiming to contribute to the voluntary carbon market.

Russia’s nascent voluntary carbon market has claimed another milestone after a copper producer announced it would retire carbon credits to offset its emissions.

EU carbon prices moved in a relatively narrow range for much of the morning, trading higher despite briefly plunging to another 17-month low amid a short burst of aggressive selling, as traders eyed a rally in natural gas prices after three days of declines.

The European Union needs to remove barriers to investments in clean technologies to ensure that the Green Deal paves the way to new, sustainable economic growth, speakers said in Davos on Thursday.

The UN has called on countries to swiftly ratify the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdictions (BBNJ) agreement, with 59 more to go after Chile this week became the first country to do so.

China on Thursday published its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) under the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), confirming its 30% nature protection target while eyeing far-reaching regulatory reforms and a broad range of funding options for ecosystem conservation and restoration.

Civil society and environmental groups have released a joint statement expressing concern at an unexpected meeting called by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government to discuss forest plans, including carbon crediting from natural resources.

Singapore-based Climate Impact X (CIX) had to let staff go last year but in a statement to Carbon Pulse Thursday said it had to “adjust [its] internal structure to ensure the team is aligned with the roles and skills necessary to support our business priorities.”

One of the largest commercial banks in South Korea has agreed to participate in a REDD+ forest protection project, the first domestic lender to do so.

Fishing nets churn up carbon from the sea floor, more than half of which will eventually be released into the atmosphere

Scientists have long known that bottom trawling – the practice of dragging massive nets along the seabed to catch fish – churns up carbon from the sea floor. Now, for the first time, researchers have calculated just how much trawling releases into the atmosphere: 370m tonnes of planet-heating carbon dioxide a year – an amount, they say, that is “too big to ignore”.

Over the study period, 1996-2020, they estimated the total carbon dioxide released from trawling to the atmosphere to be 8.5 to 9.2bn tonnes. The scientists described trawling as “marine deforestation” that causes “irreparable harm” to the climate, society and wildlife.

Continue reading...