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The No Mow May campaign has persuaded local authorities to protect biodiversity. But bigger changes are needed

This time last year, residents of the council estate where I live in Greenwich were left in tears after local authority contractors mowed down scores of newly planted purple alliums on our shared lawn just days after they’d bloomed. In minutes, one man with a strimmer had reduced the flowers that my neighbours, many of whom do not have private gardens, had grown over months to mere mulch.

Shamefaced, this year the council sought to make amends by sowing a biodiversity meadow near where the alliums had met their fate. The new wildflowers were doing well – on track to compensate for the previous year’s blunder – until, to the consternation of residents, they were yet again mown down by council contractors. Even the local authorities’ own efforts to improve the biodiversity of the borough proved no match for its trigger-happy lawnmower men.

Phineas Harper is a writer and curator

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South Korea should consider more policy arrangements for domestic cities to utilise carbon market mechanisms, such as the creation of a regional carbon trading framework, to drive down emissions from the urban sector, researchers have suggested.

A debate on Tuesday among lead contenders for the post of European Commission President made little room for green considerations, with discussions focusing mostly on defence spending and the need to protect Europe’s interests in the face of China's aggressive economic policies.

The UN-backed Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA) on Wednesday released a paper seeking to give a definition of biodiversity credits and associated terms, in an attempt to avoid the market making a false start.

Migratory birds could bring the lethal bird flu variant that is assailing the rest of the world’s birds. Michelle Wille, Senior research fellow, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

One farmer in Lincolnshire told the BBC that a third of his farm could not be planted in time this year.

Market participants are scrambling to submit methods to develop Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) to the government’s interim process, as Canberra itself is still finalising methods that have been in the works for a long time.

Former PM turned aspiring pumped hydro developer calls for changes to the Capacity Investment Scheme, arguing long duration storage needs a separate category with looser time constraints.

The post Turnbull says CIS won’t work for long duration storage, nuclear support is “religion” for Coalition appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Winter downpours also made 20% wetter and will occur every three years without urgent carbon cuts, experts warn

The seemingly “never-ending” rain last autumn and winter in the UK and Ireland was made 10 times more likely and 20% wetter by human-caused global heating, a study has found.

More than a dozen storms battered the region in quick succession between October and March, which was the second-wettest such period in nearly two centuries of records. The downpour led to severe floods, at least 20 deaths, severe damage to homes and infrastructure, power blackouts, travel cancellations, and heavy losses of crops and livestock.

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Photographer Gideon Mendel has filmed and photographed floods around the world extensively. He travelled by boat through the historic town centre of Port Alegre, documenting the reflections across a city that had become a liquid landscape

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Stanwell says most of the heavy lifting is done at the 300MW, two-hour big battery it is building at the site of its Tarong coal power plant in Queensland.

The post Heavy lifting complete, as final 38 tonne Tesla Megapack installed at battery project next to coal plant appeared first on RenewEconomy.

BNEF is calling time on fossil fuels, saying even at current rates of investment the days are numbered for oil, coal and gas. And no, it doesn't see nuclear coming to Australia.

The post Coal and gas use must peak and decline, “starting today:” BNEF outlook warns world headed to 2.6°C appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Russian satellite launched last week may be capable of attacking other satellites, the Pentagon says.

Australia will release the first Nature Repair Market methodology in January, a government official said Wednesday, officially kicking off the world's first government-regulated voluntary biodiversity credit market.

To attract more long duration energy storage, Australia must provide the right market incentives. One of the key mechanisms for doing this is the Capacity Investment Scheme.

The post Capacity Investment Scheme: Why it must play the long duration storage game  appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Changes to Australia's carbon credit unit scheme will allow farmers to propose new carbon reduction methods, but critics say it could undermine the scheme.

The post “Back to the future” for Australia’s carbon credit scheme appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The WA remote power provider says fossil fuel is out and renewables are in for five towns in the north.

The post Horizon Power goes renewables-first in latest remote standalone power tender appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The New Zealand Department of Conservation has released vision of a man appearing to attempt to 'body slam' an Orca, describing the behaviour as 'shocking and stupid'. The 50-year-old Auckland man has been fined $600. Hayden Loper, a principal investigator at the department, says the man showed reckless disregard for his own safety and that of the orca. “The video speaks for itself, it is shocking and absolutely idiotic behaviour."

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• New Zealand man filmed trying to ‘body slam’ an orca in actions described as ‘idiotic’

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Major green hydrogen, green ammonia and advanced fuels project backed by up to 10GW of electrolyser capacity takes crucial step forward in South Australia.

The post Amp locks in contracts for massive 10GW Cape Hardy green hydrogen and ammonia project appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Only 35% of afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) initiatives within the voluntary carbon market (VCM) reviewed by a US-based carbon management firm was found to revert ecosystem degradation, the company said Tuesday.