Feed aggregator
Government gambles on carbon capture and storage tech despite scientists’ doubts
Controversial technology is at centre of ‘powering up Britain’ strategy, but critics argue it has ‘little merit’ and ‘delays real cuts in emissions’
The UK government will defy scientific doubts to place a massive bet on technology to capture and store carbon dioxide in undersea caverns, to enable an expansion of oil and gas in the North Sea.
Grant Shapps, the energy and net zero secretary, will on Thursday unveil the “powering up Britain” strategy, with carbon capture and storage (CCS) at its heart, during a visit to a nuclear fusion development facility in Oxford.
Continue reading...Too much solar, not enough wind: Australia’s big renewable dilemma
Australia's main grid has too much solar and not enough wind. And the reality is that wind plus transmission is cheaper than solar plus storage.
The post Too much solar, not enough wind: Australia’s big renewable dilemma appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Quality standards to hold carbon offsetting industry to account
New guidelines for $2bn carbon offsetting industry aim to guide buyers towards high-quality credits
New quality standards for the $2bn carbon offsetting industry have been published to help guide buyers to high-quality credits following widespread concern that many are just hot air.
On Thursday, new guidelines for a “good” carbon credit programme were announced by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), an initiative that aims to reassure buyers about the quality of offsets they are buying for climate commitments and help them avoid credits that do nothing to mitigate climate change or might be linked to human rights violations.
Continue reading...ICAO Council greenlights two offset programmes for next CORSIA phase, sets vintage range
Home battery installs jump 55 pct as solar households turn to storage in record numbers
Home battery installations charted a 55% increase in 2022, a new record and the sign of a turning point for consumer energy independence.
The post Home battery installs jump 55 pct as solar households turn to storage in record numbers appeared first on RenewEconomy.
The 70s nuclear relic that may be about to open at last
New York planning cap-and-invest programme with future RGGI linkage in mind
Torrents of Antarctic meltwater are slowing the currents that drive our vital ocean 'overturning' – and threaten its collapse
Fear and Wonder podcast: how scientists know the sea is rising
ANALYSIS: EU urged to incorporate engineered removals into ETS “as soon as possible”, but big questions remain
*Business Analyst, Verra – Remote
Thousands of shellfish wash up dead on north-east England’s coast
Incident at Saltburn-by-the-Sea occurs in same area as number of die-offs reported in 2021 and 2022
Thousands more dead or dying shellfish have washed up on a beach on the same stretch of coast that saw a number of crustacean die-offs in autumn 2021 and last year.
Visitors to Saltburn-by-the-Sea, a few miles south-east of the River Tees, were met by the sight of hundreds of thousands of dead mussels on the shoreline, as well as starfish, crabs and razor clams.
Continue reading...The Guardian view on a water crisis: targets need to be binding | Editorial
The global response to an escalating water crisis is belated and inadequate. But last week’s UN conference was an important marker
The more than 700 pledges that emerged from the UN water conference, which concluded last weekend, were an insufficient response to the worsening global water crisis. But the scientific panel that the UN has committed to create, along with a new water envoy, should help bring greater clarity and raise awareness of the multiplying risks. These include sea level rises, floods, droughts and other extreme weather caused by global heating, and the lack of access of about 2 billion people to clean drinking water. The trouble is that the commitments made by attenders – who included very few world leaders – are voluntary and unenforceable. Given the broken climate pledges of the past, there is every reason to worry that the promises will not be kept.
Many participants in the three days of talks in New York were angered by the prominent role played by corporations, including manufacturers who are heavy users of water, and the lack of representation of grassroots organisations from the poorer countries that are the worst affected. As with recent reports of the influence of oil companies in US universities, there are growing concerns about the ways in which businesses are seeking to shape environmental legislation, and public understanding of the threats, to promote their own short-term economic interests.
Continue reading...Shipping sector not yet ready for looming EU ETS phase-in, say experts
EU legislators to face yet another trilogue talk to finalise renewables directive
United Nations adopts landmark resolution on climate justice
Resolution hailed as ‘win for climate justice of epic proportions’ should make it easier to hold countries accountable for failures
A UN resolution was adopted on Wednesday that should make it easier to hold polluting countries legally accountable for failing to tackle the climate emergency, in a vote which was hailed as a historic victory for climate justice.
The UN general assembly adopted by consensus the resolution spearheaded by Vanuatu, a tiny Pacific island nation vulnerable to extreme climate effects, and youth activists to secure a legal opinion from the international court of justice (ICJ) to clarify states’ obligations to tackle the climate crisis – and specify any consequences countries should face for inaction.
Continue reading...EU experts look to avoid multiple methodologies for removal activities
Switzerland and France accused of lack of climate action in ECHR hearing
Group of Swiss women and French ex-mayor suing their governments in first such cases heard by rights court
The governments of Switzerland and France have been accused of breaching the human rights of their citizens by not acting decisively enough on climate change, at a landmark legal hearing in Strasbourg.
A panel of judges at the European court of human rights heard petitions from a group of Swiss women and a French former mayor seeking to bolster climate action in their countries. Although climate litigation has spread quickly around the world, these are the first such cases to be heard by the ECHR.
Continue reading...