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A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which oversees Norway’s NOK15.3 trillion ($1.4 trillion) sovereign wealth fund, on Friday published stricter climate action guidelines for companies in which it invests, highlighting that climate risk equates to financial risk but also offers opportunities.

Car users can be exposed to more damaging pollution than cyclists, bus passengers or pedestrians, research claims

Drivers in London are likely to be among the biggest beneficiaries of moves to penalise highly polluting vehicles in the capital, London’s mayor is to say, because at present many drivers are likely to experience more pollution than other road users.

Though they may have the illusion of being insulated in their vehicles from the effects of exhaust fumes, drivers can be more exposed to pollutants including the highly dangerous small particles known as PM2.5, which can damage lungs and lodge deep within the body.

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China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) on Friday evening announced it had approved, in principle, a set of administrative measures that will underpin the relaunch of its national carbon offset programme, which has been suspended for more than six years.

In a first for the UK, the methane was detected by satellite, bringing hope for curbing the greenhouse gas.

This beautiful bird’s former name represented colonial dominance – and told us nothing about the species

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The pink cockatoo has had a few names over the years. The father of Australian ornithology, John Gould, knew it as Leadbeater’s cockatoo, following the scientific name given to it in 1831, Cacatua leadbeateri. This was named after Benjamin Leadbeater, the London naturalist and taxidermist whose name also commemorates Victoria’s faunal emblem, Leadbeater’s possum.

Sir Thomas Mitchell, the surveyor general of New South Wales from 1828 to 1855, called it the red-top cockatoo. He was awestruck by its beauty. “Few birds more enliven the monotonous hues of the Australian forest than this beautiful species whose pink-coloured wings and flowing crest might have embellished the air of a more voluptuous region,” he gushed.

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In a webinar Friday, a panel of labour representatives cautioned the state against over-zealous regulation in its forthcoming cap-and-invest programme, while urging the protection of workers and jobs.

California and Quebec will offer more carbon allowances at the November auction in comparison to the Q3 2023 sale in August following the inclusion of past vintage units, according to a government notice published Friday.

Compliance entities moved their positions on the California Carbon Allowance (CCA) market to the current year while selling off RGGI Allowances (RGAs) , while speculators rolled their CCA positions to next year and picked up RGAs over the past week, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.

A US-based agricultural technology firm providing carbon services and products has raised over $250 million to advance its suite of offerings for sustainable agriculture, according to a release published Friday that follows reports of a steep drop in the company's valuation.

A  carbon credit certifier announced a partnership with two international institutions to develop  methodologies for blue carbon and blue economy on Thursday, while signalling a long-term aim to broaden its work beyond carbon. 

Malaysia trial shows quicker recovery compared with areas replanted with four or just a single native species

Replanting logged tropical forests with a diverse mixture of seedlings can help them regrow more quickly than allowing trees to regenerate naturally, a study has shown.

Satellite observations of one of the largest ecological experiments in the world in the Malaysian state of Sabah have revealed how lowland rainforest recovered over a decade.

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Bamboo could be the next market to boom in nature-based removal solutions as a startup developer in Uganda expects its first batch of afforestation carbon credits to trade at $20, although the company’s expansion plans into Kenya may be at risk from the country’s new revenue sharing demands for local communities.   

Verra has largely welcomed the latest academic bashing of REDD methodologies because it says the criticisms are addressed in its upcoming VCS methodology updates, although the standard body has also pointed out some areas that need to be clarified.

In the nascent and fragmented biochar market, more could be done to tie the carbon credit price for a project with how the biochar will ultimately be used, such as in concrete or as a soil amendment, and subsequently how long the carbon will likely be sequestered.

More than a trillion dollars have now been committed to boost renewables and access to electricity and clean cooking technologies by 2030, although it falls far short of the funds needed to meet the Paris Agreement climate target, warns a report released Friday ahead of a UN summit.

The UK’s approach to using biomass to produce electricity will be closely examined by the country’s National Audit Office, following ongoing critique about where the fuel is sourced and concerns by environmental activists that burning biomass is not truly renewable.

A US congressman and senator introduced companion bills on Thursday that would launch a 10-year, multi-agency programme for research, development, and demonstration of multiple varieties of carbon removal technologies.

The loud bloke in a hat’s pro-nuclear, anything-but-renewables stance is out of touch with his NSW electorate

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Let’s play a game. What’s the biggest myth in Australian politics?

There are certainly lots of candidates, but for me, it is that Barnaby Joyce enjoys widespread support in New England.

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The UK government will provide £500 million to keep the largest steel plant in the country open and to reduce its carbon footprint by switching its energy source from coal to electricity, the British government said in a statement on Friday, although doing so will likely lead to thousands of job losses.