Feed aggregator

For years, the ‘safeguard mechanism’ has been widely criticised for lacking teeth. Labor’s new reform doesn’t change that much. Rebecca Pearse, Lecturer, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Welsh government considers whether to block plan after experts say manure from intensive units is turning Wye into ‘pea soup’

The Welsh government is under pressure to block a new mega chicken farm in the Wye catchment, in what campaigners call a “crucial moment in the life or death of the Wye”.

The River Wye has become synonymous with the intensive poultry industry, with more than 20 million chickens in its catchment area, producing more manure than the land can absorb and turning the river the colour of “pea soup”.

Continue reading...

It’s lost 73% of its water and is unable to sustain some wildlife – and could soon negatively affect human health

Emergency measures are required to avert a catastrophe in Utah’s Great Salt Lake, which has been drying up due to excessive water use, a new report warns. Within years, the lake’s ecosystems could collapse and millions will be exposed to toxic dust contained within the drying lakebed, unless drastic steps are taken to cut water use.

A team of 32 scientists and conservationists caution that the lake could decline beyond recognition in just five years. Their warning is especially urgent amid a historic western megadrought fueled by global heating. To save the lake, the report suggests 30-50% reductions in water use may be required, to allow 2.5m acre-feet of water to flow from streams and rivers directly into the lake over the next two years.

Continue reading...

Members who set up group say past policies have been ‘trite’ and social justice case needs to be clearly made

Labour MPs have joined a lobby group in an attempt to push Keir Starmer into making nature and climate a key part of his election manifesto.

Previous Labour nature policies have been “trite”, MPs have said, arguing that the social justice case for climate and nature needs to be made more clearly by the party.

Continue reading...

The Australian government has launched a consultation on its final proposed policy framework for its overhauled Safeguard Mechanism, designed to cut emissions from the country’s most polluting facilities.

Labor unveils proposed suite of reforms to make the Safeguard Mechanism fit for purpose. Greens say, try again.

The post “Coal truck-sized loopholes” loom as Labor floats Safeguard Mechanism reforms appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The governor of Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province plans to auction carbon credits for emissions reductions that have not yet been compensated for by the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) agreement with Indonesia, local media has reported.

Plan that is key to Albanese government’s 2030 target will focus on emissions intensity to encourage cleaner practices rather than cutting production

• Follow our Australia news live blog for the latest updates
• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Australia’s big polluting sites will have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 5% a year but will face no limits on the use of carbon offsets under the Albanese government’s plan to deal with industrial emitters.

The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, on Tuesday released the government’s plan to revamp the safeguard mechanism, a Coalition policy that was promised to limit emissions from more than 200 industrial facilities, but in practice has failed.

Continue reading...

The first ever satellite mission launched from UK soil has a technical problem on its climb to space.

Utility-scale solar generation notches up biggest month ever in Australia in December of 2022 and helps send NSW black coal output to new low.

The post Big solar smashes Australian generation record, crunches coal, to close out 2022 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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

An independent review of Australia’s controversial carbon credit system concluded it is largely sound. How the panel reached this conclusion is hard to fathom.

The post Carbon credit scheme review falls short – and problems will continue to fester appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Engineers are working on building solar farms robust enough to survive in the open ocean.

RGA prices took a sizable step back to start the new year, amid continued uncertainty on the scheme's programme review and as unseasonably warmer weather permeated the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic US states.

A New York senator on Friday brought back legislation that would build support for establishing a carbon price in the state’s wholesale power market, following the finalisation of the state’s Scoping Plan climate strategy that said such a measure may be necessary.

Selling pressure during the second half of the week weakened most standardised carbon credit prices with a return to thin traded volume as many of the gains made during a bullish final week to last year were undone when end of year compliance obligations had caused a jump in demand.

Residents are living with the impacts of climate change and know it’s happening. But leaving their homes would strike at the heart of their identity. Merewalesi Yee, PhD Candidate, School of Earth and Environment Sciences, The University of Queensland Annah Piggott-McKellar, Research Fellow, School of Architecture and Built Environment, Queensland University of Technology Celia McMichael, Senior Lecturer in Geography, The University of Melbourne Karen E McNamara, Associate Professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A global agreement in 1987 to ban chemicals harming the ozone layer is working, scientists say.

Scientists describe as ‘very alarming’ research that shows severe weather events were made more likely by climate change

Relentless drought in California, extreme rainfall in the UK, record heat in China – some of the most severe weather events that have occurred around the world in the past few years were made far more likely due to the climate crisis, new research has found.

The analysis of extreme events in 2021 and 2022 found that many of these extremes were worsened by global heating, and in some cases would have been almost impossible in terms of their severity if humans had not altered the climate through the burning of fossil fuels.

Continue reading...

Despite a month-long sell-off on European gas prices, it is not likely that there will be a quick return to EUA buying for industrials that have suspended operations amid extreme energy costs, nor a sustained ramping up of coal-to-gas fuel switching, analysts have told Carbon Pulse.