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Excessive heat warnings bring elevated wildfire risk, potential for power outages and rising death toll

San Francisco recorded its hottest day of the year on Tuesday, and Phoenix set a record for the hottest 1 October on record, as the National Weather Service predicted record-high fall temperatures across the south-western US.

With temperatures hitting 100F (38C) or higher in many places, officials and local media outlets issued warnings that the heat posed “a significant threat to property or life”. Excessive heat warnings were in place across the region, bringing with it warnings about elevated wildfire risk, the potential for sweeping power outages in California and a rising toll of heat-related deaths, a particularly deadly risk for unhoused people and the elderly.

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Germany can achieve annual savings of up to €4.3 billion ($A6.4 billion) by establishing offshore hydrogen production on two energy islands, a report says.

The post Offshore hydrogen “energy islands” could save Germany €4 billion per year – report appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A Denmark-based company announced on Tuesday a field test at a US farm to remove methane from dairy barn exhaust using a non-invasive technology.

Why do the mass killers of the fossil fuel industry walk free while the heroes trying to stop them are imprisoned?

The sentences were handed down just as Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina. As homes were smashed, trucks swept down roads that had turned into rivers and residents were killed, in the placid setting of Southwark crown court two young women from Just Stop Oil, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, were sentenced to two years and 20 months, respectively, for throwing tomato soup at the glass protecting Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. No prison terms have been handed to the people whose companies deliver climate breakdown, causing the deaths of many thousands and destruction valued not at the £10,000 estimated by the court in damage to the painting’s frame but trillions.

Everywhere we see a farcical disproportion. The same judge, Christopher Hehir, presided over the trial of the two sons of one of the richest men in Britain, George and Costas Panayiotou. On a night out, they viciously beat up two off-duty police officers, apparently for the hell of it. One of the officers required major surgery, including the insertion of titanium plates in his cheek and eye socket. One of the brothers, Costas, already had three similar assault convictions. But Hehir gave them both suspended sentences. He also decided that a police officer who had sex in his car with a drunk woman he had “offered to take home” should receive only a suspended sentence. Hehir said he wanted “to bring this sad and sorry tale to its end with a final act of mercy”. The solicitor general referred the case to the court of appeal for being unduly lenient, and the sentence was raised to 11 months in jail.

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At least 468 shot by government controllers last year out of an estimated population of as few as 2,640 in the state’s east, advocates say

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Traditional owners and dingo advocates say a Victorian government decision extending the right to kill dingoes on private and public land until 2028 could threaten local populations with extinction.

A government order, which took effect on Tuesday, declared dingoes were “unprotected wildlife” under the state’s Wildlife Act. The ruling means dingoes can be killed by trapping, poisoning or shooting across large parts of eastern Victoria, despite being listed as threatened under the state’s Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act.

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RMIT-lead study recommends a national recycling scheme to reduce the 200,000 tonnes of textiles sent to landfill each year

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Most Australians are confused about what to do with their unwanted clothes, leading about a third to throw their closet clutter in the rubbish, according to the first national survey of clothing use and disposal habits.

The RMIT-led survey of 3,080 Australians found 84% of people owned garments they hadn’tworn in the past year, including a third who hadn’t touched more than half of their wardrobe.

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A cookstove project developer is set to expand operations  from Kenya across ten countries in Africa after securing $5 million of investment.  

Brazil’s renewable energy-based grid stands ready to ratchet up economic growth in a world entering the age of carbon border tariffs and a tech scramble for low-carbon electricity.

A Netherlands-headquartered environmental company plans to develop its first nature credits under Verra’s Nature Framework in mid-2025 as part of a restoration project in Portugal, Carbon Pulse has learned.

A UK energy company has submitted plans for the country’s first utility-scale green hydrogen project to be built in Aberdeenshire.

An automotive company is encouraging its suppliers to buy removal credits that meet a defined set of criteria, as it awaits further clarity from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) on whether carbon removals will be allowed to meet Scope 3 emissions.

The European Commission is looking into extending its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to imports of goods further down the value chain, in a bid to keep downstream manufacturing and processing from leaving the EU.

The Australian government on Tuesday launched two one-month consultations on the biodiversity assessment instruments and methodology determinations of its Nature Repair Market (NRM) scheme, including eligible lands, activities, and monitoring guidelines.

Aggregated ecosystem condition metrics remain relevant for measuring the impacts of nature funds despite misunderstandings about their application, French data provider CDC Biodiversite said in a paper on Monday.

Existing plant-based cheeses often fail to deliver the textures that dairy lovers prize

Stretchy dairy cheese could now be made without any cows, after the development of yeast strains that produce the crucial milk proteins.

The key to the development, by Israeli company DairyX, is producing casein proteins that are able to self-assemble into the tiny balls that give regular cheese and yoghurt their stretchiness and creaminess. Existing plant-based cheeses often fail to deliver the textures that dairy lovers prize, and the company believes it is the first to report this breakthrough.

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A carbon market ecosystem has partnered with a tax credit platform provider to assess the potential for issuing and trading clean energy tax credit future contracts under the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). 

European carbon prices fell for a third day on Tuesday morning, weighed down by a growing focus on fundamentals among market participants, weaker energy markets and an increase in spread trading as traders moved more positions into the December 2025 contract.

‘Sound bathing’ can benefit more than just humans, with a study from an Australian university finding even microorganisms enjoy white noise that can help restore degraded landscapes.

A US-based carbon refiner is in the process of commercialising a way to address food security issues by producing a nutrient-rich alternative to plant and animal-based proteins directly from CO2, according to a Tuesday announcement.

One of Japan’s largest steelmakers is not on track to meet its own stated climate commitments, an Asia-focused think tank has found, saying net zero will be “impossible”.