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EU member states made scant progress over the past fortnight in handing this year's free EUA allocation to heavy industry, according to data released late Friday.

Gabon is in talks with the Nature Conservancy (TNC) to facilitate a $500 mln debt swap for a marine conservation project in the country arranged by Bank of America, according to a media report. 

UK-based SSE Renewables has given the green light for a 150MW battery energy storage system (BESS) at the site of a former coal-fired power plant.

Representatives of companies operating in Ukraine's agricultural, energy, steel, cement, chemical, woodworking and processing industries announced on Friday that they have commenced research towards implementing a carbon pricing system in the country once its brutal conflict with Russia ends.

France has announced a new tax credit for green investments and cash incentives for purchasing new electric cars made in Europe, while President Emmanuel Macron called for “a European regulatory pause” late on Thursday during a speech about reindustrialising the economy.

A carbon credit rating agency has upgraded a Verra-accredited afforestation project in Chile following a review, noting a low chance of over-crediting because of the project’s conservative approach to carbon accounting.

Officers arrest 27 people and seize tonnes of baby eels, seen as a delicacy but critically endangered

Police in Spain and France have arrested 27 people and seized 1.5 tonnes of live baby eels, as well as goods worth more than €2m (£1.7m), after breaking up a gang dedicated to breeding the critically endangered fishes and smuggling them to China.

Officers also recovered tonnes of frozen baby eels, called elvers, which are prized as a delicacy in Spain and parts of Asia, that had not been subject to any food safety checks and were not suitable for human consumption.

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European carbon prices on Friday clawed back much of the previous session's losses as strong demand in the final auction of the week before a reduced programme next week triggered more short-covering, sources said, while energy markets continued to weaken.

Land equivalent to an area half the size of Australia has been abandoned over the past five decades, though policymakers and conservationists have spent little time trying to understand how that impacts biodiversity and how such territory can contribute to the world meeting its targets under the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), according to research published this week.

Astronomers have discovered what they believe to be the largest explosion ever detected.

Allowance prices in China’s national emissions market edged up over the past week amid sustained liquidity, though bearish sentiment lingers as participants are still awaiting more guidance from the government.

Chemicals yield profit of about $4bn a year for the world’s biggest PFAS manufacturers, Belgium-based NGO found

The societal cost of using toxic PFAS or “forever chemicals” across the global economy totals about $17.5tn annually, a new analysis of the use of the dangerous compounds has found.

Meanwhile, the chemicals yield comparatively paltry profits for the world’s largest PFAS manufacturers – about $4bn annually.

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A US-headquartered offset developer has teamed up with a Shell subsidiary to finance one of the largest household energy efficiency lighting projects in the world, the company announced on Friday.

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs, including a pollinating bee, injured owls and a pelican hungry for ice-cream

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Until now, a limitation of records of past fires is that these have come from sediments laid down in lakes and bogs. Records for dryland regions have been lacking, but dune deposits can fill the gap. Nicholas R Patton, Postdoctoral Researcher, Integrated Terrain Analysis Program, Desert Research Institute James Shulmeister, Adjunct Professor, University of Queensland, and Professor and Head of School of Earth and Environment, University of Canterbury Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Businesses that put together bids for flood doors, non-return valves and waterproof floors say they have spent tens of thousands

A £50m scheme to protect thousands of homes from flooding by the autumn has been pulled by the Environment Agency.

Businesses that put together bids for the scheme to provide homes in England with flood defences including flood doors, non-return valves and waterproof floors, say they have spent tens of thousands preparing their bids.

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Surely we want to encourage more storage and firming, so we why don’t we have a NEM-wide policy like the LRET?

The post Australia needs a lot more four-hour batteries – but first we need the right policies appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Early stage plans to develop a 26 turbine wind farm in the NSW Riverina region have been dumped by developer Windlab.

The post “No Twiggy Turbines:” Locals celebrate after Windlab dumps NSW wind project appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Airborne ‘lidar’ survey would generate 3D map of the country and provide high-quality information on its ecosystems

Scotland may conduct an annual airborne laser scan of the country’s landscapes to monitor the health of its forest, peatlands and natural ecosystems, the Guardian can reveal.

The Scottish government is weighing up the benefits of annual 3D imaging flights to provide regular data on nature restoration across the temperate rainforests of the west coast to the peaks of the Cairngorms, akin to an annual CT scan for biodiversity.

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Draconian new powers allow the police to shut down every form of effective protest. It’s a green light for even greater abuses

The more unequal a society becomes, the more oppressive its laws must be. This, I think, explains new acts that would not be out of place in a police state. So vague and broad are the powers granted to the police under last year’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act and this year’s Public Order Act that it is no longer clear where their abuse begins and ends.

At two o’clock on the morning of the coronation, the Metropolitan police, using the Police Act, arrested three people in Soho for carrying rape alarms. The police claimed they were acting on intelligence that rape alarms might be used to frighten the horses that would later be parading elsewhere.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

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