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After the election, Labour must end the attacks on a watchdog that is simply trying to protect what little wildlife we have left

England likes to think of itself as a green and pleasant land, yet the Conservatives have been waging a vicious political war against Natural England, the watchdog that is supposed to protect the countryside. During the past decade and a half, Natural England has been undermined by austerity and rendered toothless by deregulation. The Conservative government slashed the organisation’s already insufficient budget by two-thirds, rendering it incapable of carrying out even basic functions. Almost half of England’s nature reserves have not been monitored by government ecologists in recent years, and only 39% of our sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) are now in “favourable condition”.

It’s much the same story as what has happened to the Environment Agency. Yet in recent years, spending cuts have been the least of Natural England’s worries. The watchdog has also had to withstand a barrage of attacks from Tory MPs, landowners, developers, the shooting lobby and even environment ministers. And under Rishi Sunak’s government, it has come close to being destroyed entirely – simply because it tried to do its job.

Guy Shrubsole is an environmental campaigner and the author of The Lost Rainforests of Britain, Who Owns England? and the forthcoming The Lie of the Land

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A recently-launched coalition has partnered up with a digital monitoring, reporting, and verification (dMRV) provider as it looks to develop its new forest carbon standard.

South Korea plans to roll out carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technology across industrial facilities in what the government has dubbed a “mega project”, designed to help decarbonise country’s biggest-emitting industries and reach its greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals.

Experts say invertebrates are exposed to range of chemicals, some of which are 10,000 times more toxic than DDT

• What are highly hazardous pesticides and how are they used in the UK?

Prof Lynn Dicks has had her hands in the soil for almost three decades – and she has watched it slowly become stripped of invertebrate life.

“In my life, I have seen the decline,” says Dicks, an ecology professor at the University of Cambridge. She knows it from the data: “The data we have of long-term trends in insect abundance over time, that the decline rates are, on average, about 1% a year.

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European carbon prices continued to move in their recent narrow range as trading in the June options contracts entered its final hours on Wednesday morning, with the sideways price action shrugging off a third consecutive increase in investment funds' net short positions, while UKAs rose to their highest level in eight months as speculation over the next government's ETS strategy continued to mount.

Two French companies say they have successfully completed the pouring of the world’s first wind turbine foundation made from decarbonised concrete.

The post World’s first wind turbine foundation poured from decarbonised concrete appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Fortescue invests in Spanish company that is working on wind energy innovations including a "self-erecting" turbine tower.

The post Fortescue invests more in “self-erecting” wind tower innovator appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Australian government on Wednesday published a Sustainable Finance Roadmap that lays out the next steps of its reforms on climate reporting and a green finance taxonomy.

Industry promotion of recycling through instruments like plastic credits distracts from the urgent need to reduce overall production, with less than 10% of plastic recycled globally, according to a sustainable finance think-tank.

A carbon removals registry has teamed up with over 10 platforms to expand the reach of its credits in a bid to drive sales to new buyers, it announced Wednesday.

Japanese carbon project developer has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a second provincial government in Vietnam to reduce methane emissions resulting from rice cultivation in the Southeast Asian nation. 

Sacre bleu!

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Speaking in Sydney on the Coalition's proposal to build seven nuclear power plants, opposition leader Peter Dutton says 'the first two' would be complete 'between 2035 and 2037, depending on which technology you use', with the rest to be completed 'into the 2040s' and 'ahead of 2050'. Dutton says this is 'achievable' and a 'sensible rollout'

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• Peter Dutton names seven potential nuclear power station sites but avoids questions on cost

• If regional communities don’t want a windfarm, why would they accept a nuclear power station?

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Amid all the insults about the stupidity of the Coalition's nuclear plan, Chris Bowen probably best summed it up: "It’s a joke, but a serious joke because it threatens the renewable transition."

The post Dutton’s big nuclear plan: “A serious joke” that is mad, bad and dangerous appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Nuclear costs for large or small reactors would need to be reduced by two thirds for nuclear power to compete with firmed renewables. There is no reasonable expectation that this could or would ever occur.

The post Dutton races to the polls with coal-to-nuclear fantasy appeared first on RenewEconomy.

In announcing the Coalition's proposal to build seven nuclear power plants, opposition leader Peter Dutton says the government's energy policy is 'not fit for purpose'. Dutton says the Coalition wants to make use of existing assets and that coal-fired power station sites can be used to distribute energy generated from the latest-generation nuclear reactors

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• Peter Dutton names seven potential nuclear power station sites but avoids questions on cost

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Andrew Forrest-owned wind farm has gained approval from the federal environment minister, in a decision that has sparked debate over the impact of wind turbines on biodiversity.

The post Andrew Forrest wind farm gets federal green tick as debate rages over biodiversity threat appeared first on RenewEconomy.

If the first episode of Australia’s climate wars was a tragedy, the second is an expensive and dangerous farce, writes Malcolm Turnbull

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Back in the early years of the climate wars, the opponents of renewables would argue that coal-fired generation was cheaper and, in any event, global warming was a hoax. Those of us who took global warming seriously would argue that the additional cost of renewable energy was worth paying to save the planet.

Fast forward to today and we know that the cheapest form of new generation is wind and, above all, solar PV. The energy sector knows that and has zero interest in building new coal-fired power stations. And Australian families know that too, which is why we have the highest rate of rooftop solar PV in the world.

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It beggars belief that opposition leader Peter Dutton proposes nationalising a nuclear public debt bomb and detonating it at the heart of energy policy in this country. 

The post Nuclear plan is fiscal irresponsibility on an epic scale and rank political opportunism appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The gas power station is supposed to run partially on green hydrogen – if any becomes available to buy.

The post Tallawarra B gas generator finally ready for the grid, just in time for cold snap appeared first on RenewEconomy.