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A ‘certificate of origin’ scheme could counter concerns about renewables supply chains, says Clean Energy Council

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The Australian clean energy industry has warned of growing evidence linking renewable energy supply chains to modern slavery, and urged companies and governments to act to eliminate it.

A report by the Clean Energy Council, representing renewable energy companies and solar installers, has called for more local renewable energy production and manufacturing and a “certificate of origin” scheme to counter concerns about slave labour in mineral extraction and manufacturing in China, Africa and South America.

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About 2.6 million Uyghur and Kazakh people have been subjected to coercion, “re-education programs” and internment in the Xinjiang region of north-west China, which is the source of 40-45% of the world’s solar-grade polysilicon. A report by the United Nations office of the high commissioner for human rights three months ago found Xinjiang was home to “serious human rights violations”, and the US has listed polysilicon from China as a material likely to have been produced by child or forced labour.

On batteries, there were major issues with the mining of between 15% and 30% of the world’s cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Amnesty International found that children, some as young as seven, were working in artisanal cobalt mines, often for less than $2 a day. Mining conditions were reportedly hazardous, and workers often did not have adequate protective equipment and were exposed to toxic dust that contributed to hard metal lung disease.

On wind energy, there had been rapid growth in demand for balsa wood used in turbine blades that had reportedly led to workers in Ecuador’s Amazon region being subject to substandard labour conditions, including payment being made with alcohol or drugs. The demand for balsa has also reportedly increased deforestation, and affected the land rights of Indigenous people in Peru. Some balsa wood suppliers have more recently provided Forest Stewardship Council certifications, which verifies responsible forest management and fair wages and work environments.

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Prompt carbon credit prices edged lower over the past week, but the slight moves masked a much heavier bearish step identified by data aggregator AlliedOffsets, which flagged a slide in transactional value that likely reflects bargain hunting at the expense of fresher and more expensive vintages.

The European Commission is honing its support policies for clean hydrogen and other low-carbon solutions – with the first pilot Contract for Difference (CfD) expected next year – but uncertainty over the future volume of the Innovation Fund leaves questions hanging over the best design details.

A multi-gigawatt tender for wind and solar capacity in Spain flops due to a "secret" price cap that failed to take into account rising costs.

The post Multi gigawatt wind and solar tender flops, undermined by “secret” price cap appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The new Guardian US editor sets out some of our key priorities for 2023, including abortion rights, the climate crisis and investigations into the powers shaping American life

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On election night this November, the Guardian’s reporters fanned out across the country, keeping close watch on key races targeted by the election-denial movement instigated by Donald Trump. Candidates who embraced Trump’s “big lie” about the 2020 election sought control over pivotal offices that would allow them to tip the balance toward Trump when he tries to reclaim the presidency in 2024.

To the relief of our readers, as well as millions of Americans, their efforts failed spectacularly.

Abortion rights. There are few areas where Trump’s damaging legacy is more evident than reproductive rights. His appointments to the supreme court, made with the intention of ending the constitutional right to abortion, will profoundly affect the health and freedom of people in this country for years to come. We’ll be reporting on the human impact of abortion bans – and the inspiring movement that is fighting back.

The climate crisis. Despite the Biden administration’s landmark law to decarbonize the US economy, fossil fuel emissions continue to rise, and Republican control of the House of Representatives will bring with it aggressive attempts to roll back progress. We’ll be closely tracking the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, including efforts by the fossil fuel industry and the right wing to stymie change. We will also double down on our groundbreaking environmental justice coverage, exposing how communities that lack racial and economic privilege bear the brunt of government and corporate negligence.

Investigations. In 2023, we’ll be digging deeper into the powers secretly shaping the contours of American life. We know a lot, for example, about the toxins tainting our food and water – but it takes a different kind of reporting to pin down the corporate actors responsible for spreading them, and the government regulators who have failed to protect the public. From police unions to gun manufacturers to crypto titans to rightwing pressure groups, we will reveal the influential networks whose machinations lie at the root of the crises we report on every day, whether it’s racism in the criminal justice system or soaring economic inequality.

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Amid Russia’s war on Ukraine, spiralling inflation and energy shortages, tackling climate change has been central to the recovery plans of the world’s biggest economies. Katherine Lake, Research Associate at the Centre for Resources, Energy and Environmental Law, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Could tectonic processes in the early Earth have contributed to the rise of oxygen? David Mole, Postdoctoral fellow, Earth Sciences, Laurentian University Adam Charles Simon, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan Xuyang Meng, Postdoctoral Fellow, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

US biofuel credit (RIN) values lifted on Monday to levels not seen since June 2021, as traders said steady demand from obligated parties and the imminent release of blending quotas for the US Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) were driving prices higher.

The potential of carbon capture and storage bioenergy (BECCS) carbon removal projects is being inflated, campaigners said in a report published on Monday as Brussels prepares a proposal on how carbon removals can integrate into EU climate policy.

Green Alliance says the high price of gas means fossil fuel companies should be capturing more of their methane emissions

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Opposition to unveil plan to reverse biodiversity loss rather than simply halting it, which is government’s current target

The government will not be able to achieve its nature targets by 2030, even though they are “embarrassingly poor”, the shadow environment minister and leading wildlife groups have said.

Next week at the Cop15 biodiversity conference in Montreal, Labour will unveil a detailed “science-led, joined-up plan to tackle the climate and ecological emergency”. The plan will aim to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, rather than simply halting it, which is the government’s current target.

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Experts from Unesco and IUCN find climate change threatens reef’s values and work to improve water quality is too slow

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A UN-backed mission to the Great Barrier Reef has concluded the world’s biggest coral reef system should be placed on a list of world heritage sites in danger.

The long-awaited report on the 10-day mission that took place in March said climate change was presenting a “serious challenge” to the values that saw the reef inscribed as a global wonder in 1981.

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Carbon prices retreated on Monday, breaking a three-day winning streak as gloomy macroeconomic sentiment prevailed, while some profit taking was also identified after prices reached a four-week high on Friday.

Former archbishop of Canterbury says richest nations and individuals must take lead on loss and damage

Rich countries and wealthy individuals must urgently consider how to come up with the cash needed to help poor countries afflicted by climate disaster, the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has said.

At the Cop27 UN climate summit in Egypt, which finished a week ago after a marathon final session ran more than 50 hours over deadline, the first steps were taken to establish a loss and damage fund for vulnerable countries stricken by extreme weather.

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Saudi Arabian energy company ACWA Power has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with two state-owned Thai companies to launch a $7 billion deal to develop green hydrogen capacity in the Southeast Asian country for domestic use and exports, it announced over the weekend.

A natural gas subsidiary of state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) has teamed up with a local government in Hainan province to jointly work on forestry carbon sink projects, as it prepares to get into the domestic offset market despite the years-long absence of national voluntary regulations.