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Energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio on Victoria’s ambitious switch to renewables and coal exit. Plus: Labor’s Rewiring the Nation and a multitude of new wind and storage projects.

The post Energy Insiders Podcast: Victoria’s big switch to 95 pct renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Imagine if you had to go through puberty four or five times, with each bodily change more dramatic than the last. Then you’d have a pretty good understanding of what it’s like to be an eel. Kylie Soanes, Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

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

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) and RGGI Allowance (RGA) prices gave back most of last week’s gains, falling back in step with broader market weakness after two weeks of respite from nearly two months of declining price action.

A huge marine reserve in the Pacific Ocean has benefits for both fish and fishers, scientists say.

Environmental markets platform IncubEx has hired another trading expert formerly with rival ICE.

An agricultural carbon removals startup has raised over $6 million in seed funding to scale up its business of using volcanic rock dust to capture CO2 and improve crop yields.

ARENA pledges $45 million in grants for world-leading proposal to use compressed air storage in huge Broken Hill renewable micro-grid plan.

The post ARENA backs world-leading 1600MWh compressed air storage plan for Broken Hill appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Both the voluntary carbon market (VCM) and international carbon trading under the Paris Agreement should be leveraged for their potential to drive private sector capital towards GHG mitigation, US climate experts said during a summit on Thursday.

EU leaders gathered for two-day talks in Brussels on Thursday seeking to debate new energy price-taming measures, with an idea for larger REPowerEU funding getting little attention as negotiations were set to continue late into the night.

Ireland intends to source both intergovernmental EU carbon units and international offset credits to meet its non-ETS EU emissions obligations, after EU data published this week revealed the nation as the only member state with a major shortfall for 2020.

For descendants of those stolen, restoring a special family place enables them to reconnect to the past, to people and identity. Alison Lullfitz, Research Associate, The University of Western Australia Eliza Woods, Goreng Noongar Elder and cultural research collaborator, Indigenous Knowledge Elsie Penny, Goreng Noongar woman, Indigenous Knowledge Eugene Eades, Goreng Noongar Elder and leader, Indigenous Knowledge Jeremy Lacco, Goreng man, Indigenous Knowledge Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Quinbrook and Primergy choose CATL to provide batteries for massive Gemini solar and storage project in Las Vegas, the largest of its type in the US.

The post CATL signs massive battery supply agreement for Las Vegas solar and storage project appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Zen Energy aims for tenfold lift in customer sales, largely through solar and battery storage, and commits to net zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by end of 2023.

The post Zen Energy shoots for ten fold leap in market share with focus on solar and battery storage appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The European Parliament passed a resolution on Thursday urging member states to raise the EU's 2030 emissions reduction target and disburse more money to developing countries starting this year. 

Voluntary emissions reduction (VER) prices slid lower Thursday, extending a sell off this week, as a combination of the increasingly gloomy macro-economic picture combined with wider concerns over the integrity of the market.

Royal Entomological Society to sponsor garden in effort to show importance of less glamorous creepy-crawlies

Stag beetles and hornets will be among the stars of Chelsea flower show next year as horticulturalists encourage people to welcome invertebrates into the garden.

Bumblebees and butterflies tend to get a lot of press, but in a 2023 garden sponsored by the Royal Entomological Society, less glamorous creepy-crawlies will take centre stage.

Don’t use pesticides. Massey says: “It’s about creating balance. Ladybirds eat aphids, for example, both are valuable in their own right, but it’s about being patient – if you get aphids causing a problem, don’t panic and spray them but know a ladybird will come soon and gobble them up. Create a garden that is attractive to all kinds of life.”

Embrace mess. “We don’t need to tidy everything up to the maximum degree … there has to be some kind of movement towards a looser, I suppose more patient style of gardening. Leave some leaves on the floor, don’t tidy everything up,” Massey says.

Welcome weeds. “Dandelions, for example, are a good source for insects and are actually a really attractive flower. Yes, they can sow seed everywhere but you can allow them to spread around and it creates less work for us and it’s very beneficial for wildlife at the same time.”

Accept and enjoy garden life. “Slugs and snails have been demonised but they are actually really important in breakdown of material and a food source for other types of animals that are more desirable, like frogs or toads. Be a bit more accepting of new sorts of life forms and maybe if you look at them closer, and you know more about them through things like science, they become more interesting and more fascinating and more appealing.”

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The preliminary result of a public call issued by the Brazilian state of Tocantins will see a major commodities trading firm progress to negotiate with the government over the sale of 200 million tonnes of jurisdictional forest carbon credits, according to a Thursday release.

It’s not enough to shock. Protesters need to win as many people over as possible – and it’s not clear they succeeded

Last week two activists from Just Stop Oil who threw tomato soup on a landscape painting by Vincent Van Gogh in the National Gallery and then glued themselves to the wall, symbolizing, um, well, ah… I’m really not quite sure.

The head-scratching disconnect between the activists’ tactics and the message they were trying to convey – linking oil to the climate crisis, in case you hadn’t figured it out – has been widely discussed, and ridiculed, in the media.

Stephen Duncombe, a lifelong activist, is professor of media and culture at New York University and co-founder of the Center for Artistic Activism, a non-profit organization that trains artists and activists around the world be become more affective and effective. His forthcoming book Æffect is on assessing the impact of arts and activism.

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Elms – seen by some as one of few promising Brexit dividends – has been put under review

Three hundred and 40 British farmers have signed a letter to Conservative MPs criticising plans to scrap plans to pay them for their stewardship of nature.

The environmental land management scheme (Elms), a set of subsidies to replace the EU’s common agricultural policy, had been due to be rolled out this year. But last month, ministers placed it under review. A result is expected in the next week – within the seven days that Liz Truss has to remain as prime minister.

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