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

If decision makers don’t have up-to-date information about urban water use and demand, any policies they design are unlikely to deliver for communities or the environment. Julia Talbot-Jones, Senior lecturer, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Thomas Benison, Research Analyst, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The Abbott-era policy hides its support for fossil fuel expansion behind a fig leaf of dodgy carbon credits and offsets

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The enormous PEP-11 gas project off Sydney’s northern beaches is back in the headlines and the timing couldn’t be worse for a federal Labor government trying to rush a new climate policy through the parliament; a policy that does nothing to stop new gas and coalmines being built and doesn’t even stop major polluters increasing their emissions. Labor’s Madeline King must now remake the decision made by our undercover resources minister, Scott Morrison.

The gas project is so unpopular that, with an upcoming New South Wales election, even the Liberal premier, Dominic Perrottet, is campaigning against it. And federally, Labor is in a mad, but unnecessary, rush to get its new climate policy through the parliament. Unfortunately for the climate minister, Chris Bowen, the loudest supporters for his so-called safeguard mechanism are the fossil fuel industry. Just last week, Beach Energy, which is preparing to expand the Waitsia gas project in WA by 250 terajoules a day (that’s a lot), spoke up in its defence. There are 113 other gas and coal projects seeking approval in Australia, and by design, the safeguard mechanism will do nothing to stop any of them going ahead.

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Fortescue Future Industries has added to its hydrogen technology portfolio, taking part in an early funding round for a New Zealand start-up.

The post Fortescue backs new green hydrogen technology start-up, this time in NZ appeared first on RenewEconomy.

HS2 Ltd's assessment of its impact on biodiversity is "riddled with inaccuracies" - say wildlife charities

The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday signed deals with two separate African countries to develop forest conservation projects on the continent and earn carbon credits.

ANU team sandwiches two solar technologies together to achieve cell efficiency at levels targeted by ARENA for 2030.

The post Australian researchers hit solar stretch goal with tandem cell breakthrough appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Birds stored haul of acorns over the years in Santa Rosa house’s chimney, where they spilled into a wall cavity

Exterminator Nick Castro was inspecting a home for mealworms when he discovered something … nuts. Tens of thousands of acorns came cascading out from behind a bedroom wall.

“Unreal,” Castro posted on his company’s Facebook page. As he reached behind the wall, the little oak nuts kept spilling out. Castro – who owns Nick’s Extreme Pest Control in Santa Rosa, California – said he filled a total of eight garbage bags with 700lbs of acorns.

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BMW, Renault and Peugeot PHEVs all exceeded carbon dioxide output claimed in standard lab tests, on-road tests show

Popular plug-in hybrid cars emit significantly more carbon dioxide than official measures suggest, according to new on-road tests by academics that add to concerns over the true impact of cars sold as better for the environment.

Cars from BMW, Renault and Peugeot all emitted much more than standard lab tests had claimed, with the BMW 3 Series in particular emitting more than three times advertised, according to the research by Switzerland’s Graz University of Technology.

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Fossil fuel lobby demands that new laws designed to force regulators to consider and environmental and emissions in their rulings be watered down.

The post “We might get sued:” Fossil fuel lobby wants environmental objective watered down appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Report forecasts tens of gigawatts of new utility-scale renewables capacity will be added to US grid in 2023, the majority of it solar and storage.

The post Solar and storage to dominate new US capacity additions in 2023 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Four researchers win the Queen Elizabeth Prize for their work between 1983 and 2023 improving the efficiency of solar cells.

The post Australian solar giants win “Nobel for engineering” for efficiency breakthroughs appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Wind turbine blade repairing robot yields a return on investment within six months, repairing turbine blades four times faster at half the cost of traditional methods.

The post Turbine blade robot makes wind farm repairs faster, cheaper, safer appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Costa Rican government has launched on Tuesday a national blue carbon strategy that it says will help the country meet its Paris Agreement climate goals, and reportedly will seek to develop guidance and criteria for registering projects in the next several years.

The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) on Tuesday announced the publication of standardised purchase agreements for bilateral transactions in primary and secondary carbon markets, and launched a new working group chaired by industry veterans in an effort to bring clarity to the voluntary carbon market (VCM).

A massive ramp-up in EU renewable power build-out in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine means the bloc is likely to achieve even the most ambitious 2030 clean power target being considered by legislators, while also easing carbon costs for emitters.

The people of the Hunter have a clear picture of the future they want. But to unlock the region’s future opportunities, we must first clean up the costly legacy of its coal-mining past. Kimberley Crofts, Doctoral Student, School of Design, University of Technology Sydney Liam Phelan, Senior Lecturer, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The largest reforestation project developer in the US, soon to auction carbon credits on the ICE exchange, is branching out globally with a new platform to advertise its expertise and attract new project developers into the nature-based removal market. 

Bernard Looney is ‘leaning in’ to his earlier pledge to cut hydrocarbons, but where will it end?

The calls from Labour’s shadow climate secretary, Ed Miliband, and others for a “proper” windfall tax on BP and its brethren after the oil supermajor revealed a near-doubling of its profits are the least of chief executive Bernard Looney’s worries. A more powerful influence is the company’s own shareholders, who have clearly demanded a rethink on previous pledges to slash hydrocarbon output by 40% this decade.

Three years ago, when he was fresh in the job, Looney sounded as if he’d made up his mind. “Today is about a vision, a direction of travel,” he declared to an audience of investors and industry analysts. “The direction is set. We are heading to net zero. There is no turning back.”

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Just four countries account for half of the total population at risk of catastrophic flooding.