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Amid the heat and humidity, energy bills in New Orleans are surging – but the options for low-income residents are severely limited

Darlene Jones spends most of her time holed up in the bedroom to minimize the amount of electricity she uses to cool and light her home in downtown New Orleans.

Air seeps out from the doors and windows of the 1890 one-bedroom shotgun house – and through the bashed-up floorboards and ceiling that Jones cannot afford to repair. She has wrapped foam around the leaky air-conditioning pipes, and taped handwritten signs on the front door above the metal letterbox that read “Please close the slot”.

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The implications of policy are felt very differently depending on how well-off you are. It’s time for politicians to recognise this

Many of Rishi Sunak’s political decisions are baffling, but one that’s easy to understand is his recent rowing back from the UK’s climate commitments: he, like many creatures of Westminster, thinks working-class people don’t care much for climate action. This is a lazy stereotype and, predictably, did nothing for his poll numbers.

The simple truth is this: when it comes to the climate crisis, working-class people are often the first to spot the changes occurring because even slight fluctuations can make or break family finances. That doesn’t mean this is the first subject working-class people raise when a canvasser knocks at the door or a pollster asks, but it is there in the background when deciding who to trust with our futures.

Roger Harding is the founding director of Round our Way

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Australian miner Fortescue took another step to trying to realise its vast clean energy hopes Monday with the sanctioning of two hydrogen projects prior to its annual general meeting in Perth at a cost of over $700 million.

Indonesia has launched its Comprehensive Investment and Policy Plan (CIPP) under the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), which includes a $20-billion plan to invest in renewables as part of efforts to rid its power sector of coal.

Chris Bowen also says climate disaster fund will need to be bankrolled by broader-than-expected range of countries in speech ahead of Cop28

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Australia’s climate minister, Chris Bowen, says Pacific nations and other countries vulnerable to climate catastrophe should be the major beneficiaries of “loss and damage” funding, and a broader range of countries should bankroll the international effort along with the private sector.

Bowen used a speech to a foreign policy thinktank on Tuesday night to signal Australia’s position ahead of Cop28, the looming United Nations-led climate talks, which get under way in the United Arab Emirates later this month.

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A major carbon credit project developer and trader in South Korea on Tuesday made its debut on a major domestic exchange, with plans to secure more carbon credits under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

An emissions reduction requirement in Australia’s National Energy Objectives (NEO) came into effect as of Tuesday, however analysts say key questions remain around its implementation. 

A Malaysian state has become the nation’s first to pass legislation that will support the generation and sale of carbon credits, and impose a carbon tax of companies failing to report on their emissions.

Jealous Mpofu wins Tusk’s ranger of the year award for his work with a maligned and misunderstood species

When Jealous Mpofu was a boy, he overheard his father’s bosses talking negatively about painted dogs, wild African canines with distinct marble coats that are among the world’s most endangered species.

“They said they didn’t kill an animal, they grabbed the flesh. They said they were rough animals,” Mpofu said.

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Nature Talks presents the results of the nature photographer of the year 2023 competition. Jacquie Matechuk, from Canada, is the winner in the contest, an initiative from the organisation also responsible for the annual Nature Talks photo festival in the Netherlands

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Surfers Against Sewage finds 60% of representative sample of popular locations to be unsafe for swimming

The majority of popular inland bathing spots in the UK surveyed in a report have been found to be unsafe for swimming.

In a representative sample of popular swimming and water sports locations, 60% were found to have pollution at unsafe levels, the annual report from campaign group Surfers Against Sewage found.

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Andrew Forrest's Fortescue Metals Group has announced three of the first green hydrogen deals to reach a final investment decision in the United States and Australia.

The post Fortescue presses go on more than $1.1 billion of green hydrogen and iron projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Nearly two months since the official launch of Indonesia’s national carbon exchange the platform has seen little trading activity, with its operator and market participants raising several key issues holding it back, however growing international interest and further regulatory development will see the market grow, they said. 

A Southeast Asian gas lobby group has launched a new carbon capture and storage accreditation study that will look at the best way to earn carbon credits.

The sudden spike in warming in 2023 comes from a combination of factors. It's not a sign of total climate failure – but the emissions gap with current policies is still hellish.

The post In September we went past 1.5°C, in November we tipped over 2°C. What’s going on? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Neoen's huge Collie battery could be paid more than $100 million a year to help squash solar duck curve in world's biggest isolated grid, but state-owned battery will get paid much less.

The post The eye-watering payments being made to big batteries to squash huge solar duck appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Greater pressure should be placed in COP28 negotiations on countries to deliver fast and effective emissions reductions by phasing out fossil fuels and transitioning to low-carbon industry, seeing as a small number of high-emitting, high-income nations are overly reliant on land use to offset emissions in their climate pledges, according to a report published on Tuesday.

The Carbon Project Manager will join AGL’s growing in-house carbon project development team to advise and lead the development of carbon (Australian Carbon Credit Units / ACCU) projects throughout the project lifecycle across a range of current and future methodologies.

Daily global temperature records keep falling. It’s a sign we’re on a rapidly warming planet. Andrew King, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Gavin Collis from the CSIRO discusses the future of Australia's battery recycling industry.

The post SwitchedOn Podcast: Why batteries need an end of life plan appeared first on RenewEconomy.