Feed aggregator

A coalition of consumer advocacy groups has lodged a formal complaint to the European Commission and consumer protection authorities against 17 airlines, including major carriers such as Ryanair, Lufthansa, and Air France, over their sustainability claims.

European carbon prices clawed back early losses after the market had started the day by extending Wednesday's decline and the daily auction cleared at a sizeable discount, before speculative buyers emerged to fuel a rally towards midday, while energy markets were weaker for a second day.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed the world moves towards a global carbon pricing system to close the gap in climate finance and channel funding to developing economies and those to be the most impacted by global warming, speaking at the Paris Summit for a New Global Financing Pact.

A weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

France and the UK announced on Thursday they are initiating a broad consultative process for the creation of an international biodiversity market with the intention of having a framework ready by the UN's COP16 summit in Turkey next year.

A think-tank has called for the UK to set up a new office for carbon removals, which it says will be key to the effective governance of scaling technologies considered crucial for net zero goals.

Court has been told states are legally responsible for tackling sector’s emissions as IMO talks loom

Governments are coming under growing pressure to tackle the huge climate impact of the shipping industry, ahead of a key International Maritime Organization (IMO) meeting in the summer.

With talks about regulating the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions looming, the world maritime court has been told that states are legally responsible for tackling the climate impact of shipping.

Continue reading...

Plans to launch a $1.5 billion public and private climate finance platform were proposed on Thursday at the opening of the Paris Summit for a New Global Financing Pact as talks started of easing the flow of investment from the Global North to the Global South.

Anglo-Australian miner BHP has limited technologies at its disposal to reduce its Scope 1 emissions, but its compliance obligations to the government’s reformed Safeguard Mechanism are modest, a company official has told investors.

An Australia-headquartered global investment manager on Thursday announced it has purchased a 19,000-acre forest in California, in which it plans to generate carbon credits eligible for the state’s cap-and-trade scheme.

The lower house of Australia’s parliament passed the nature repair bill on Wednesday evening after independent MPs had ensured several key amendments to improve the proposed biodiversity market, but the government still lacks the support required to get the legislation through senate in August.

Arena-backed Yadlamalka Energy solar farm will be able to produce a 6MW peak, but the real magic is in the battery component which holds 2MW/8MWh.

The post Largest vanadium flow battery in Southern Hemisphere ready to go live at Port Pirie appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Foresters who voluntarily joined a government working group to redesign the New Zealand ETS permanent forestry category say they have been left in the dark about why it was disbanded, and the policy options raised in a new consultation document did not reflect the views that were raised in the group’s first discussions.

Ocean temperatures have been off the charts since mid-March 2023, and the impact is breaking through in disruptive ways around the world.

The post Ocean heat is off the charts – what it means for humans and ecosystems around the world appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Queensland provides another $1 billion for the 1,100km link connecting North Queensland to the state's renewables SuperGrid and vast mineral resources, including vanadium.

The post From coal to vanadium batteries: Copperstring gets another $1bn from fossil fuel royalties appeared first on RenewEconomy.

As climate change ministers, we urge multilateral banks to come together to help vulnerable nations, who face cascading challenges

The science is clear. The climate crisis is the biggest single threat we face as a global community. In turn, meeting the goals of the Paris agreement and realising the opportunities of climate action is the task of the 21st century.

No single government can address this alone. Together, we can rise to the challenge.

Continue reading...

As one of the world’s top three petro-states, exporting climate change in the form of coal and LNG, it is high time to flip the script. This was a missed opportunity.

The post Missed opportunity: Critical minerals strategy falls drastically short on funding appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Pouring these products down the sink causes society-wide problems for the entire sewerage system and the workers who maintain it. Ian A Wright, Associate Professor in Environmental Science, Western Sydney University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Water company to have regular meetings with environment secretary after failing to meet promised targets to fix leakage rates

The leakage rate from Thames Water pipes is the highest for five years and the company will not meet its target to plug them this year, according to information released under freedom of information laws.

The company, which serves 15 million customers across London and Thames Valley, has to have regular meetings with the environment secretary because it is considered to be lagging in its performance.

Continue reading...

The action by the Environment Protection Authority follows alarming results from testing of rainwater tanks and the blood and hair of residents living near to the mine. Ian A Wright, Associate Professor in Environmental Science, Western Sydney University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.