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MEPs express concern for EU climate leadership as commission head confirms she will miss Baku summit

Ursula von der Leyen’s decision to miss the Cop29 climate summit is “a fatal signal” and raises questions about Europe’s commitment to the climate crisis, observers have said.

The European Commission confirmed on Tuesday that its president would not attend the UN climate talks in Baku, which start on Monday. “The commission is in a transition phase and the president will therefore focus on her institutional duties,” a spokesperson said.

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The newly confirmed EU environment commissioner at her hearing with the European Parliament on Tuesday evening said she will explore ‘well-designed’ nature credits during her tenure at the European Commission.

The UAE has included steeper emissions reduction levels in its third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), published Wednesday, pledging a 47% drop by 2035 compared to a 2019 baseline.

The voluntary carbon market (VCM) offers an opportunity to raise climate finance in Africa, but more needs to be done to raise the price of carbon and quell the volatility in order to unlock value on the ground, according to a high-profile African economist and former minister.

Big changes are needed in the UK’s agri-food system to reach net zero emissions and improve resilience to global shocks, including on carbon audits and reducing livestock numbers.

The EU’s sustainable finance policy for the next five years will focus on implementing legislation agreed under the European Green Deal, said the EU’s commissioner-designate for financial services during a confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

Overblown concerns about potential dangers of a common chemical threaten to undermine scientific evidence to the contrary

Because of his job as a dermatologist, Dr Deshan Sebaratnam frequently gets asked questions by friends, family and strangers about skin treatments. But lately, he says, he has been confronted by “a lot of myths around sunscreens”, especially on his social media feed.

Among the most frequent is “that sunscreen can actually cause skin cancer”, says Sebaratnam, a conjoint associate professor at the University of New South Wales.

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Murrumbidgee River, in New South Wales, had 55% less water in 2018 than it did in 1988, with the Lowbidgee Floodplain hardest hit

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A section of one of Australia’s longest rivers, the Murrumbidgee, lost more than half of its water over a 30-year period due to dams and other diversions, according to new research.

Scientists at the University of New South Wales examined the impacts of dam infrastructure and irrigation on natural water flows in the lower Murrumbidgee River since 1890.

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Millionaire points to Broken Hill’s blackout to attack the energy transition but experts say he should look at South Australia and Europe

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For 15 minutes on Sunday morning, ABC local radio listeners were treated to a rant from Dick Smith as the millionaire attacked Australia’s transition away from fossil fuels, claiming renewables would make electricity unaffordable and cause sweeping blackouts.

“It seems we have been sold a pup and we are not getting the full truth all the time,” responded Ian McNamara, the host of Australia All Over. “There are lots of people who will back you up.”

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The Green Climate Fund’s (GCF) recently adopted policy on REDD+ results-based payments could drive "hundreds of millions" to developing nations, the organisation said this week.

Trump's sweeping victory is bad news for climate action and the US energy transition, but it leaves China as the big winner.

The post Trump’s return is a catastrophe for climate and US energy transition, and China wins the cleantech race appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Warm air from the London Underground could be used to heat homes in the heart of the UK capital in a new £1 billion scheme that is expected to create 500 jobs and save 75,000 tonnes of CO2 every year.

European carbon prices fell for the fifth time in the last six days on Wednesday as energy markets reacted to the election of Donald Trump in the US, with an increase in selling interest also coming after weekly position data showed investment funds had reduced their bearish bets to the lowest total in more than two months.

A carbon standard will pilot its methodology for nature stewardship credits across two sites in Canada and Zambia, with plans to onboard additional projects in the coming months, the company told Carbon Pulse. 

Land reform charities call for better regulation of UK’s carbon market so profits can be shared with public

Nature campaigners have called for taxpayers to take stakes in forest and peatland projects designed to store carbon, to avoid all the profits from carbon credits going to private investors.

A report from the Revive Coalition, an umbrella group for Scottish land reform and conservation charities, says carbon credits also need to be used much more effectively to bolster demand and help the UK meet its net zero targets.

Government-owned banks such as the Scottish National Investment Bank should invest in carbon projects, including on public land.

It becomes mandatory for all large and medium-sized companies to have audited carbon reduction targets to avoid greenwashing.

All carbon offsetting projects must register with the official schemes, the Woodland carbon code and the Peatland carbon code.

A new land tax is set up that is reduced if the land is managed to protect the climate and promote nature recovery.

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The victory of Donald Trump in the US election on Tuesday has cast doubt among observers and negotiators over whether progress is still feasible on Article 6 at COP29 in Baku despite the previous optimism.

Donald Trump's re-election as US president will likely usher in another era of loosening environmental standards in the US and a bigger step-back in climate action internationally -- at a time when the Paris Agreement's 1.5C goal is slipping out of reach and emissions have yet to peak.

An India-based carbon credit developer and supplier has teamed up with a local partner to tap into the US market, targeting potential clients from the aviation sector.

Gold Standard has opened consultations on multiple guiding documents relating to carbon crediting projects this week as the registry builds on recent approval obtained from the UN to supply the current phase of the CORSIA international aviation offsetting scheme.

US e-commerce giant Amazon will support a new voluntary certification programme in Ireland aimed at restoring 700,000 hectares of degraded peatlands that could avoid up to 2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.