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ACT consumers face minimum rise in electricity bills thanks to its 100 pct renewable policy as households in other states blown away by soaring costs of fossil fuels.

The post Low cost wind and solar protect ACT consumers from bill shock once again appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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

The governor of Kenya's Kajiado has ripped up all carbon offset deals signed with projects in the county on grounds they were too opaque for local communities, local media reported, in another signal of growing government intervention in the global voluntary market.

Singapore-based carbon Climate Impact X (CIX) on Thursday launched its planned spot trading platform for voluntary carbon credits, CIX Exchange.

Wind and solar combined produced more electricity than fossil fuels in May across in the EU for the first time, a new report has revealed.

A Virginia regulatory board on Wednesday voted to rescind the state’s RGGI-linked cap-and-trade regulation after considering the legal implications of doing so during an unprecedented closed-door session of a public meeting, with the final repeal headed to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s (R) desk for review amid the spectre of probable lawsuits in the coming months.

Spot carbon credit prices under Alberta’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) regime inched down in May as the programme’s annual true-up neared, with newer vintage credits attracting a slight premium, according to a report published Wednesday.

When the rainforests burned, the leaf litter did too – and with it, billions of invertebrates vital to healthy ecosystems. Heloise Gibb, Professor, La Trobe University Nick Porch, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Earth Science, Deakin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A public survey found 86% of people want more space for nature in the city. The city council is already taking steps to add green space and increase biodiversity, which should boost public wellbeing. Matthew Selinske, Senior Research Fellow, RMIT University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The EU’s flagship emissions trading scheme (ETS) led to a reduction of carbon emissions of around 10% between 2005-12 with no adverse impact on employment, according to a recent study.

The second current vintage auction of Washington state’s WCI-modelled cap-and-trade programme sold all allowances above the scheme’s lower reserve tier trigger price, though the first advance sale settled well below that, according to results published Wednesday.

COP28 UN climate talks host UAE on Wednesday backed an EU-led effort to set near-term global clean energy goals, taking a further step to bolster efforts to wean the world off fossil fuels despite the Gulf state's reluctance to explicitly call for an end to oil and gas use.

The UAE on Wednesday launched an alliance to advance carbon market involvement as a means of supporting the nation’s transition to a green economy, with a voluntary carbon market (VCM) exchange named as a founding member.

Brazil's Amazonas state has called on public conservation units to submit applications to create carbon credits from avoided deforestation projects, while Tocantins state formalised its previously-announced deal with commodity trader Mercuria to certify hundreds of millions of jurisdictional REDD+ units.

Majid Al Suwaidi says governments not in agreement yet over whether issue should be on agenda

UN climate talks this year might skirt the vital question of whether and how to phase out fossil fuels, as nations have not yet agreed to discuss the issue, one of the top officials hosting the talks has said.

Majid Al Suwaidi, director-general of the Cop28 climate talks for its host nation, United Arab Emirates, said governments were not in agreement over whether the phase-out of fossil fuels should be on the agenda for the conference, which begins in November.

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Reptile had been in captivity for 16 years when zookeepers discovered eggs, journal reports

Scientists have recorded the first known case of a “virgin birth” in a female crocodile that had no contact with males for about 16 years.

The reptile was able to produce a fully formed foetus that was 99.9% genetically identical to her.

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Advocates are eyeing the prospective for carbon dioxide removals (CDR) stemming from fermentation industries to contribute to EU climate targets, with one large biorefinery noting its potential to generate 500,000 CDR credits annually.   

Poor pollination caused by destructive farming methods leads to loss of biodiversity and is a threat to food production, inquiry told

Fruit growers in the UK are already seeing less yield and lower-quality produce because of the loss of insects, scientists have told MPs, warning that a further loss of pollinators could have “significant” impacts on all crops.

As part of a parliamentary inquiry into insect decline and UK food security, Prof Simon Potts from the University of Reading told MPs at the science, innovation and technology committee that there is already good evidence of a shortfall of pollinators and a threat to food production.

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Eastern US states including New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut issue alerts as hundreds of wildfires burn in Canada

• Canada wildfires smoke: latest updates

Tens of millions of people in the US were under air quality alerts on Wednesday, as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted south, turning the sky in some of the country’s biggest cities a murky brown and saturating the air with harmful pollution.

States across the east, including New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, issued air quality alerts, with officials recommending that people limit outdoor activity.

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A London-based ‘carbon-to-value’ startup that transforms CO2 and hydrogen into industrial and consumer products, including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), has raised £18 million in Series A funding.