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‘Triple La Niña’: Australia may face another summer of flooding rains, US expert warns
Scientists are watching an area in Pacific Ocean that has been unusually cool – a signal current La Niña could linger
Australia’s east coast could be hit by a rare “triple La Niña” that brings flooding rains and cooler weather for the third summer in a row, a senior US government scientist says.
Experts say the prospect of a triple La Niña is real, but there is disagreement between different computer models and Australia could yet avoid a return of summer floods.
Continue reading...A greener greenhouse: solar panels trialled on Wimbledon berries farm
Energy crisis has made Kent scheme aimed at unobtrusively building up solar output more timely
Tennis fans tucking into strawberries at Wimbledon this month may find their fruit has an unusual origin – a solar-powered greenhouse.
Transparent panels have been attached to the sides of glasshouses in Kent as part of a trial to build up solar power supplies without using more land.
Continue reading...‘Fantastic giant tortoise’ species thought extinct for 100 years found alive
Identification of Galápagos tortoise celebrated by scientists as a big deal for island’s biodiversity
A rare Galápagos species, the “fantastic giant tortoise”, long thought extinct, has been officially identified for the first time in more than a century in what scientists called a “big deal” for the famed islands’ embattled biodiversity.
The animal is the first Chelonoidis phantasticus to be seen since a male specimen was discovered by the explorer Rollo Beck during an expedition in 1906. The newcomer has been named Fernanda, after the Fernandina Island, a largely unexplored active volcano in the western Galápagos Archipelago that she calls home.
Continue reading...EU ETS in line for volatility after Parliament failure to agree on reforms, say analysts
Oil refineries need CO2 price above $100/tonne for green hydrogen switch
Carbon marketplace to display more ratings from VCM offsets on its site
The disappearance of journalist Dom Phillips in Brazil should leave you incandescent with rage | Lucy Jordan
Jair Bolsonaro’s dog-whistle politics is risking the lives of Indigenous people and the reporters who tell their stories
It’s now more than four days since veteran Brazil correspondent Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Araújo Pereira disappeared in the Javari Valley, a remote part of the western Amazon thought to have the world’s highest concentration of uncontacted people.
Pereira, a longtime defender of Indigenous rights who previously worked for Funai, Brazil’s government Indigenous rights agency, had reportedly received threats for his work monitoring illegal activities in the region.
Continue reading...Euro Markets: Midday Update
Buyers to earn compound interest from VCM tokens for first time
Europe's 'largest ever' land dinosaur found on Isle of Wight
Hyundai to design “world’s largest” LCO2 carrier as Asia-Pacific eyes greater role for CCS
Climate policy dragged into culture wars as a ‘delay’ tactic, finds study
Researchers call for recognition of latest online strategies used to derail climate action
Climate policy is being dragged into the culture wars with misinformation and junk science being spread across the internet by a relatively small group of individuals and groups, according to a new study.
The research, released on Thursday, shows that the climate emergency – and the measures needed to deal with it – are in some cases being conflated with divisive issues such as critical race theory, LGBTQ+ rights, abortion access and anti-vaccine campaigns.
Elitism and hypocrisy: these posts focused on the alleged wealth and double standards of those calling for action, and in some cases referenced wider conspiracies about globalism or the “New World Order”. The study identified 199,676 mentions of this narrative on Twitter (tweets and retweets) and 4,377 posts on Facebook around the time Cop26 took place
Absolution: it found 6,262 Facebook posts and 72,356 tweets around Cop26 which absolved one country of any obligation to act on climate by blaming another. In developed western countries this often focused on the perceived shortcomings of China and, to a lesser extent, India, claiming they were not doing enough so there was no point in anyone acting.
Unreliable renewables: over a longer period – from 1 January to 19 November 2021 – the study found 115,830 tweets or retweets were shared, alongside 15,443 posts on Facebook, that called into question the viability and effectiveness of renewable energy sources.
Continue reading...China weakens ETS allocation standards, extends data submission deadline
Energy crisis: Government has been thinking about batteries the wrong way
We have to start thinking about batteries in completely new ways. They aren’t just our backstop insurance policy, they are the pathway to energy independence and a decarbonised economy.
The post Energy crisis: Government has been thinking about batteries the wrong way appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Japanese gas company buys stake in Australian offset developer
James Webb Space Telescope hit by tiny meteoroid
Our entire civilisation depends on animals. It’s time we recognised their true value | Tony Juniper
We must restore our largely broken relationship with nature if we are to ensure the planet’s future – and our own
Asked to consider the value of animals, many people’s first thought would be about money. During the Covid-19 pandemic, for example, the price of dogs became a popular talking point. Others might think of the less tangible, but also very real, value they place on their relationships with companion animals, especially pets such as cats and dogs. Fewer would immediately consider the ways in which our entire civilisation rests on animals. The fact is, though, that our society and economy are embedded in a natural system that is maintained by the activities of animals, and without them, we would not be here.
Animals are vital to the functioning of the biosphere in innumerable ways. Their interactions with plants, fungi and microbes sustain the conditions on which we, along with all other life, depend. For example, the great whales that sit at the pinnacle of marine food webs are linked to some of the most fundamental processes that shape conditions in our world. They eat other marine creatures, including krill, and in the process take nutrients from deeper water to be released via their faeces into the ocean, where they fertilise blooms of planktonic algae.
Continue reading...“Tax excess profits:” Higher taxes, not subsidies, could be key to solving energy crisis
Taxing the 'super profits' of gas companies could help governments cut the energy costs of consumers, and fund energy efficiency improvements.
The post “Tax excess profits:” Higher taxes, not subsidies, could be key to solving energy crisis appeared first on RenewEconomy.
EU regulators ‘dismissed evidence’ linking glyphosate to rodent tumours
European Chemical Agency’s positive assessment for continued sale of substance is flawed, say environmental campaigners
EU regulators dismissed key scientific evidence linking glyphosate to rodent tumours in a positive assessment they gave for continued sales of the substance last week, according to a new report by environmental campaigners.
Glyphosate is the world’s most widely used weedkiller and its EU relicensing has become a touchstone in a wider battle between environmentalists and agribusiness over the future of farming.
Continue reading...“They are clearly afraid of scrutiny:” Dispute deepens over carbon offset integrity
Former head of Australia's carbon offset watchdog defends claims most offsets lack integrity, and says regulators are "clearly afraid of scrutiny".
The post “They are clearly afraid of scrutiny:” Dispute deepens over carbon offset integrity appeared first on RenewEconomy.
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