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With some of Australia's oldest wind farms occupying some of the best sites, "repowering" – replacing old turbines with new – is an important consideration. But how is it done?

The post Explainer: What do you do with an old wind farm? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Ergon Energy awards contracts for the installation of battery storage systems across six different sites on its solar soaked grid.

The post Evo Power wins contract for “solar soaking” utility batteries across network appeared first on RenewEconomy.

There is simply no way around it. Avoiding the worst of climate change means stopping the extraction and burning of fossil fuels.

The post A tonne of fossil carbon isn’t equal to a tonne of new trees: Why offsets can’t save us appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Offset registry Climate Action Reserve (CAR) on Wednesday released its methodology to issue credits for future emissions reductions that will occur through activities that prevent wildfires erupting across the American West.

Labor must resist the false promise of carbon offsets in its safeguard mechanism. The only thing that matters is actually cutting emissions Wesley Morgan, Research Fellow, Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A new legal order in the high seas must prevent marine riches from being monopolised or privatised

In his 1968 essay The Tragedy of the Commons, the ecologist Garrett Hardin argued that resources which do not clearly belong to anyone are likely to be overexploited, since protecting them is in no one person’s interest. That tragedy is unfolding on the high seas – the two-thirds of the ocean that lies beyond coastal states’ national jurisdiction. This is a commons, where fishing and mining have been opened to all. The result is serious damage to a vital resource that covers almost half the planet’s surface. The high seas are not entirely lawless. Yet only a tiny fraction of these waters are protected from exploitation, despite harbouring the world’s marine wilderness and its unique biodiversity.

Beneath the waves lies a rich prize. Many scientists think the high seas harbour novel disease-fighting chemistry that might lead to new drugs. Until this month, there was no mechanism to prevent nations or companies monopolising the world’s marine genetic resources. One study in 2018 pointed out that BASF, which calls itself “the largest chemical producer in the world”, owned nearly half of the 13,000 patents derived from marine organisms. Mining exploration licences in the Pacific alone span an area almost as wide as the US. If deep sea extraction were permitted to go ahead, many warn, it would lead to biodiversity loss on an enormous scale.

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Shell, fresh from last year's bumper fossil fuel profits, on Thursday outlined fears about how increasing scrutiny of its oil and gas operations in regard to climate change could seriously damage its business.

The European Commission on Thursday set out plans to extend the relaxation of state aid rules and simplifying processes for member states to support key green sectors, aiming to rid the bloc of costly red tape in an increasingly heated global clean technology race. 

Germany's economy ministry (BMWK) will consider imposing Contracts for Difference (CfDs) to promote renewable energies, as part of a new industrial plan presented on Thursday.

The EU’s energy commissioner Kadri Simson announced Thursday that member states will be asked to prolong the current 15% voluntary gas demand reduction goal for another year amid ongoing supply concerns. 

The ICE exchange has announced more offset auctions as it attempts to drum up corporate demand to lay the groundwork for standardisation in the voluntary carbon market (VCM).

Climate crisis to deliver ‘ongoing systemic shocks’ to production as hot conditions become more frequent, researchers say

Climate conditions that reduce coffee yield have become more frequent over the past four decades, with rising temperatures from global heating likely to lead to “ongoing systemic shocks” to coffee production globally, new research suggests.

Researchers analysed the impacts of climate factors such as temperature, rainfall and humidity in the top 12 coffee-producing countries globally between 1980 and 2020.

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The UK's independent climate advisors recommended on Thursday that the government phase out controversial subsidies for unabated biomass by 2027, touching on an area that will form a key part of the country's soon-to-be updated net zero strategy.

Singapore has added ACR and ART TREES as its fourth and fifth global carbon offset standards to supply carbon credits that domestic companies can buy to count towards their carbon tax obligations.

European carbon prices reversed direction on Thursday morning after an early tilt at €100 as the daily auction garnered the lowest total demand of the year to date and triggered a sizeable sell-off, while energy prices drifted lower.

Exclusive: One-fifth of money given directly to fossil fuel industry was to support new extraction and mining

The UK government has given £20bn more in support to fossil fuel producers than those of renewables since 2015, the Guardian can reveal.

The research, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, found that while renewable energy was given £60bn in support over that time, fossil fuel companies were given close to £80bn.

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The island province of Hainan has become the latest Chinese jurisdiction to release regulations for a so-called “inclusive” small-scale carbon offset scheme, reiterating the regional government's focus on the development of blue carbon and other nature-based projects.

A weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

The Australian government has gained enough parliamentary votes to ensure its A$15 billion ($9.9 billion) National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) is passed thanks to support from the Greens in the Senate, while the issuance of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) remains modest.

Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and steel manufacturer Kobe Steel have offset CO2 emissions from the fuel used in the ocean transport of iron ore from Australia to Japan with the purchase of carbon credits for the Rimba Raya forestry project in Indonesia, the two companies announced on Thursday.