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Standardised technology-based credits lifted for the first time in two months this week while nature-based units again stalled amid moderate trade.

Two startups hope to capture pricing benchmarks in the global shipping market ahead of the sector's expected entry into the EU ETS by offering a set of ocean freight and CO2 prices.

Governments kicked off a two-week UN negotiating session in Bonn on Monday, aiming to spur a boost in national commitments to tackle climate change and push forward on key issues ahead of the UN's main COP27 summit in November in Egypt.

CO2 has not been so high since before hominids walked upright – and are not dropping fast enough to avert catastrophe

The level of carbon dioxide in the world’s atmosphere is now more than 50% higher than during the pre-industrial era, further pushing the planet into conditions not experienced for millions of years, well before the emergence of humans, US government data shows.

The latest measurements showing the relentless upward march of CO2 follows scientists’ new warning that the world may still barrel into disastrous climate change even if planet-heating emissions are drastically cut, which governments are still failing to achieve.

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New research suggests aiming for net zero emissions by 2050 would likely see the world blow past 2 degrees of global warming.

The post “Limited time:” World will lock in 1.5°C warming by 2025 without big emissions cuts appeared first on RenewEconomy.

European carbon made a lacklustre start to the week, with prices tumbling by nearly 5% in very thin trading on Monday morning as traders absorbed reports that the European Parliament is seeking more stringent restrictions on financial EU ETS participation in the EU ETS.

World risks ‘sleepwalking to disaster’ officials told as climate summit kicks off in Bonn

Governments cannot use geopolitical tensions and soaring energy prices as an excuse for falling behind on their climate commitments, experts and diplomats warned as officials from around the world gathered for talks on the climate crisis in Bonn on Monday.

These are the first UN climate negotiations since Russia invaded Ukraine, and the first since the Cop26 summit in Glasgow in November ended with countries pledging to reconvene this year with strengthened commitments on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

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China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the world’s third-largest oil company, plans to peak its carbon emissions by 2025 and achieve net zero by 2050 helped by a steadily growing portfolio of forest carbon projects, it announced Monday, both targets well ahead of the Chinese government emissions pathway.

Stockyard Hill wind project in Victoria named best performing wind farm in Australia for second month in a row.

The post Chart of the Day: Australia’s best performing wind farms in May appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The New South Wales state government is opening up to partner with private sector investors on conservation initiatives that can become eligible to earn carbon credits, with telecom firm Telstra the first to strike a deal.

Singapore’s Temasek has launched an investment platform company that will invest an initial $5 billion to accelerate the low carbon transition, the state-owned financial giant announced on Monday.

Coalition of lawyers, journalists and campaigners challenge climate-busting mega projects exposed in Guardian investigation

• Revealed: the ‘carbon bombs’ set to trigger climate breakdown

A coalition of environmental lawyers, investigative journalists and campaigners has launched a group to challenge the “carbon bomb” fossil fuel projects revealed in a Guardian investigation.

After a meeting in May, more than 70 NGOs and activist groups from around the world have formed a “carbon bomb defusal” network to share expertise and resources in the fight to halt the projects and prevent the catastrophic climate breakdown they would cause.

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ACT is the only jurisdiction bucking the trend of soaring power bills now plaguing the rest of Australia

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The ACT will cut electricity prices this year, bucking a trend of soaring power bills for the rest of Australia, as the territory benefits from long-term contracts that locked in low-cost renewable energy.

Basic tariffs will fall by a minimum of at least 1.25% from 1 July, the ACT’s independent competition and regulatory commission said on Monday. “This is equivalent to a real decrease of 4.93% after excluding inflation,” it said.

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Exclusive: invasive red-billed leiothrix could threaten native bird populations such as robins and blackbirds, researchers warn

A brightly coloured subtropical songbird from Asia could colonise Britain’s gardens and change the dawn chorus for ever, a new paper warns.

The highly invasive red-billed leiothrix could threaten native bird populations, particularly competing with garden birds such as the robin and blackbird, researchers say. Early signs suggest this little bird – olive green with a bright red beak and yellow throat – may already be establishing itself in gardens and woodlands in southern parts of the country.

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Environmentalists fear a toxic disaster is occurring on the seabed, and government denials seem less and less plausible

With every passing week, it looks more like a cover-up. The repeated mass strandings of crabs and lobsters on the coast of north-east England, and the ever less plausible explanations provided by the government, are the outward signs of an undersea disaster and a grim new politics.

Last October, beaches around the Tees estuary and along the coast of North Yorkshire were suddenly covered in dead and dying crabs and lobsters. The government launched what it called an “investigation”. In January, hundreds of dogs reportedly fell ill after being walked on the same beaches. In February, a government press release announced that the mass death of sea creatures was caused by an “algal bloom” – a rapid increase in the population of algae that can release toxins into the water and affect other wildlife.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

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There is a long history of nuclear energy being used as a delaying tactic for acting on climate change in Australia

• Peter Dutton says he’s ‘not afraid’ of nuclear debate after advocate named shadow energy minister
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Last week, the Nationals’ new leader, David Littleproud, said it was time for Australia to have a “mature” conversation about nuclear energy while his predecessor, Barnaby Joyce, called for a national moratorium to be lifted and argued nuclear power would be “really important” if the country was serious about reaching net zero emissions.

On Sunday, the nuclear power advocate Ted O’Brien was appointed as the Coalition’s climate change and energy spokesperson. In an interview with ABC Radio National, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said he was “not afraid to have a discussion on nuclear” as the country should not be afraid to “talk about any technology that’s going to have the ability to reduce emissions and electricity prices”.

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Extinction, a new book by Marc Schlossman, explores endangered and extinct species and the factors threatening them through a rare behind the scenes look at one of the most important sets of natural history collections in the world at the Field Museum in Chicago

Conservation status chart:

Vulnerable

Endangered

Critically endangered

Extinct

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Controversial asphyxiation method used in 73% of culls this year despite vets urging its use to be limited

The US poultry industry has increasingly switched to “the most inhumane method available” to cull tens of millions of birds during the latest outbreak of avian influenza, according to government data.

Outbreaks of the disease, also known as bird flu, have wreaked havoc across Europe and the US this year, with 38 million birds killed in the US so far.

But how these birds are killed has generated controversy, with veterinarians and animal welfare campaigners urging an end to the use of the ventilation shutdown method, which kills animals by sealing off the airflow to the poultry sheds and increasing temperatures to lethal levels.

Workers have described the method as like “roasting animals alive”. European officials have said it should not be used in the European Union.

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For the first time, we calculated Australia’s share of planetary environmental boundaries and found we’ve shot past three already. Romy Zyngier, Senior Research Manager, Climateworks Centre Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Coal outages and supply shortfalls send coal generation to record lows in main grid, as price chaos continues despite record wind output.

The post Market chaos as outages push coal output to record low, despite new wind peaks appeared first on RenewEconomy.