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Australia and the UK have committed £10.5 million ($13.1 mln) to initiatives for companies to research, develop, and launch renewable hydrogen projects focusing on the industrial and transport sectors, they announced Tuesday.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says current incentives are distorting world trade and hampering fight against climate breakdown

Governments must start to distinguish between the good subsidies they need to fight the climate crisis and the bad ones that are increasing greenhouse gas emissions, the world’s trade chief has said.

Subsidies and other incentives to burn fossil fuels and encourage poor agricultural practices, amounting to about $1.7tn a year, are distorting world trade and hampering the fight against climate breakdown, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director general of the World Trade Organization, told the Guardian.

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A symbol of spring and rebirth, the robin is a favourite of gardeners and inspiration for poets and dreamers

What is it about the poem “Who killed Cock Robin?” It is so sad, and so coolly dark: a miniature drama played out in the shade of a single tree. The sparrow confesses right away, and nobody minds. The fly – “I, said the fly, with my little eye, I saw him die” – is a witness of whom no questions are asked. Everyone seems eager for the burial, eager to help, insincere in their mourning, “a-sighing and sobbing”.

Everything is small. The fish catching blood in his “little dish”, the rook playing parson with his “little book”. The death of a little bird, and a funeral for a bird the size, and almost the shape, of an orange, and weighing no more than an orange segment.

One of the electrons migrates a few nanometers away, where it feels a slightly different magnetic field than its partner. Depending on how the magnetic field alters the electron’s spin, different chemical reactions are produced. In theory, the products of many such reactions across a bird’s eye could create a picture of Earth’s magnetic field as a varying pattern of light and dark.

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The first big solar farm in Tasmania obtains council approval, just as rooftop PV output hits a record high in the island state.

The post Tasmania approves first solar farm and giant battery as rooftop PV hits record high appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Experts had expressed grave concerns for the 15m-long animal after it came dangerously close to shore.

The world's petrol states and the fossil fuel lobby are steering the world towards climate catastrophe. And Australia's Coalition is cheering on from the sidelines.

The post Petro-states and fossil fuel lobby steer climate deal towards global catastrophe appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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

Koalas will need our help more than ever this summer as hot, dry conditions force them to seek water. Here’s how to help keep them safe and what to do if you encounter a koala in distress. Edward Narayan, Senior Lecturer in Animal Science, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Several stakeholders joined the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) community meeting on the draft Clean Heat Standard (CHS) to condemn compliance obligations for propane suppliers.

Pursuant to a draft request for amended legislation to facilitate linkage with California and Quebec’s carbon market, Washington’s Department of Ecology (ECY) proposed on Monday a slew of further updates to its cap-and-invest rulemaking amendments.

EY says solar PV remains cheapest source of new-build electricity, with a global weighted average levelised cost of electricity 29% lower than the cheapest fossil fuel alternative.

The post Solar costs are now nearly 30 per cent lower than cheapest fossil fuel option, EY says appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Electric cars, heat pumps and home storage systems will be able to deliver around 100 terawatt hours of flexible electricity in Germany.

The post EVs and heat pumps can make 10% of German electricity demand flexible by 2035 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

UN organizers allow groups that have obstructed fossil fuel regulations and other climate action to attend, watchdog finds

Influential industry trade groups, thinktanks and public relations agencies with a track record in climate denialism and misleading the public have been given access to the UN climate talks in Dubai, the Guardian can reveal.

Corporate Accountability, a transparency watchdog, has found that UN organizers greenlighted access to groups that have obstructed fossil fuel regulations and other climate action, giving them the same or greater access to the international negotiations as Indigenous communities, human rights groups and climate justice organizations.

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Three mothers from different continents say their love for their children has motivated them to take climate action.

Many see hydrogen as the green fuel of the future so underground deposits of the gas could be valuable.

It just goes round and round

• See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here

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A group of scientists has called for a retraction of research published earlier this year that called into question the climate impact of some  REDD forest protection projects, saying it contained “major flaws.”

New England solar farm reaches full output and now plays host to 2,000 sheep, a number that will treble in coming months, making it the biggest mob of sheep doing solar grazing in Australia.

The post Australia’s biggest solar farm reaches peak output, now to host 6,000 sheep appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A US direct air capture (DAC) technology firm announced Monday that it had used Department of Energy funding to design a system with the potential to capture 1 million tonnes of carbon per year.

The US Department of the Interior has announced new initiatives to employ nature-based solutions through strategies designed to preserve biodiversity, enhance resilience against natural disasters, and support climate adaptation.