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More than 300 barriers were taken down last year, boosting the health of waterways and the wildlife they support, say experts

A record number of river barriers, including dams and weirs, were removed across Europe in 2022, with at least 325 taken down in 16 countries, allowing rivers to flow freely and migratory fish to reach breeding areas.

In its annual report, Dam Removal Europe said Spain led the way for the second year with 133 removals, followed by Sweden and France. The UK completed 29 removals, including Bowston Weir, which was built on the River Kent nearly 150 years ago for a paper mill. Its removal will help restore the health of the river, which is home to white-clawed crayfish, freshwater pearl mussels, and water crowfoot (an oxygenating aquatic plant).

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The southern lights surge over Christchurch's Port Hills, a place that would not usually get to enjoy them. Unusually high levels of solar storm activity meant the Aurora Australis could be viewed much farther north than the lights are typically seen, and in cities where light pollution would normally render them invisible

• Aurora Australis lights up New Zealand skies in spectacular ‘solar tsunami’

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

There’s growing concern that the oceans are heating up quickly – and scientists are unsure of the implications.

A California Assembly committee on Monday sent along legislation that would direct the state government to evaluate certain areas of the state’s WCI-linked cap-and-trade regulation and mandate that any resulting reforms take effect by 2025.

How re-wiggling artificially straightened rivers can give nature a boost.

The US may need to capture and store nearly 2 billion tonnes of CO2 per year in order to hit the country’s mid-century net zero emissions target, according to a government report published Monday.

Verified emissions covered under the EU ETS rose marginally last year, the European Commission said late Monday, confirming findings based on preliminary data released earlier this month.

Leaders from seven countries vowed to ramp up offshore wind power capacity to 120 GW by 2030 and 300 GW by 2050 at the second North Sea Summit in the Belgian town of Ostend on Monday, an event also attended by European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen.

Court to decide if judicial review of Liz Truss move to allow new oil and gas drilling should be permitted

Greenpeace has attacked the government’s “disastrous” decision to award new licences for oil and gas drilling in the North Sea as it prepares to challenge the move in the high court.

A court hearing on Tuesday will determine whether the environmental group will be permitted a judicial review of the decision, made during Liz Truss’s short-lived time as prime minister.

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RGGI Allowance (RGA) values slid over the week as demand fizzled out amid expectations for lower CO2 output and excess gas and coal stocks, and as traders anticipated upcoming federal electricity sector emissions rules to replace the scuttled Clean Power Plan.

California gasoline sales increased year-on-year in January amid lower retail prices, while diesel consumption slid, according to state data published Monday.

A veteran emissions market analyst has joined voluntary carbon marketplace operator Xpansiv.

Large solar farm in NSW damaged by grass fire burning under solar modules.

The post Australian solar farm hit by grass fire burning under modules appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Climate change is a real threat to national security. So why didn’t our armed forces review properly come to grips with this? Matt McDonald, Associate Professor of International Relations, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A global business organisation will launch a carbon credit buyers’ hub to help build confidence among companies that they are purchasing quality units, a conference heard on Monday, with other speakers noting the complementarity to the ongoing work under the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (IC-VCM).

Offset prices fell over the past week as the market was weighed down by another surge in available offsets, particularly in the REDD avoided deforestation market.

The way nature and biodiversity appear in global financial markets is on the edge of a revolution but they will be treated in a fundamentally different way to carbon, according to a senior member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), speaking at an event in the UK on Monday.

The UK government is supporting a call for proposals for projects to build resilience to sea level rise through innovative and scalable finance and insurance products.

Green groups are urging the UK government to include waste incineration in the UK ETS place a ban on new energy-from-waste units in the country.