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Recent policy changes, globally, have shifted the scales heavily in favor of clean energy technologies. The race to meet Paris climate targets is on.

The post How 2022 has substantially, and favourably, changed the global climate outlook appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Oregon Clean Fuels Program (OCFP) continued to generate a credit shortfall through the second quarter of 2022, with a new quarterly high net deficit generation from petroleum-based gasoline, while volumes from renewable diesel dropped significantly compared to the prior quarter, according to state data published Wednesday.

EU energy ministers dismissed the gas market correction mechanism proposed by the European Commission during a heated discussion on Thursday that also leaves in limbo a series of other emergency measures designed to tackle the bloc's energy crisis.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) values slid in the days running up to and after Q4 WCI results results were published on Wednesday, while RGGI Allowance (RGA) prices seesawed back and forth over the past week on high spread volume.

Canada's federal government has announced funding for three Canadian collaborative projects between conservation agencies, academia, and industry to quantify the carbon capture potential of wetlands, peatlands, and agricultural solutions that would contribute to the development of national and regional carbon protocols.

With several pointed issues better crystallised at the COP27 UN climate talks last week, stakeholders weighed in on Thursday about how these rules may be applicable to the voluntary carbon market (VCM).

Hopes weren’t particularly high that this would be a blockbuster COP. Glasgow had done the hard yards of finalising the overarching rules on carbon markets, and even the Egyptian hosts were billing this as the “implementation COP”. But the markets seemed to come away full of optimism, writes Alessandro Vitelli.

Europe's scramble to secure gas from alternative sources after Russia turned off the taps will see an increase in greenhouse gas emissions due to the ramping up of LNG imports that have an overall higher value-chain footprint than pipeline supply, with the additional discharges set to fall outside of the current scope of EU mechanisms.

Plans unveiled for biggest vanadium redox flow battery in Australia and for a local manufacturing facility to tap into country's rich vanadium reserves.

The post Plans unveiled for Australia’s biggest vanadium flow battery and gigawatt factory appeared first on RenewEconomy.

About 20 Conservative MPs want to end longstanding de facto block on new wind farms in England

Boris Johnson and Liz Truss have joined a growing Tory backbench rebellion against Rishi Sunak’s refusal to allow new onshore wind projects in England, in another challenge to the levelling up bill.

The former prime ministers are among about 20 Conservative MPs to have signed an amendment tabled by Simon Clarke, who served as a minister under Johnson and Truss, that would end the de facto ban on new onshore wind that has been in place since 2014.

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The best thing to do is to stop emitting carbon. However, preserving a safe climate will likely require us to go further. Jonathan Symons, Senior Lecturer, Macquarie School of Social Sciences, Macquarie University Matt McDonald, Associate Professor of International Relations, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Seeing an animal in distress after disaster makes us want to help. But feeding them doesn’t always make the situation better. Samantha Finnerty, Postdoctoral Research Associate - Wildlife Ecology, University of Sydney Catherine Herbert, Associate professor, University of Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A reviled Australian bird has figured out how to eat one of the few animals locals hate more - cane toads.

Exclusive: No 10 hopes management consultant and former spad will burnish PM’s image on environment

• UK politics live – latest news updates

Rishi Sunak is hiring a vegan former special adviser to be his head of environmental policy as part of an effort to improve his green credentials, the Guardian can reveal.

No 10 has approached Meera Vadher to overhaul the prime minister’s image on the environment.

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Climate policy sequencing has played an important role in the eventual adoption of carbon pricing policies as well as their level of stringency, with research showing that countries have normally implemented a series of climate policy measures before ultimately placing a price on emissions, an article published in an academic journal has found.

EUAs extended Wednesday's gains as traders again targeted a key technical level, though trading volume remained lacklustre, while energy markets were weaker after the European Union delayed the introduction of a price cap on gas.

Never mind the yuck factor: precision fermentation could produce new staple foods, and end our reliance on farming

So what do we do now? After 27 summits and no effective action, it seems that the real purpose was to keep us talking. If governments were serious about preventing climate breakdown, there would have been no Cops 2-27. The major issues would have been resolved at Cop1, as the ozone depletion crisis was at a single summit in Montreal.

Nothing can now be achieved without mass protest, whose aim, like that of protest movements before us, is to reach the critical mass that triggers a social tipping point. But, as every protester knows, this is only part of the challenge. We also need to translate our demands into action, which requires political, economic, cultural and technological change. All are necessary, none are sufficient. Only together can they amount to the change we need to see.

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The European Parliament sent a strong signal to the EU to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) on Thursday, passing by a large margin of 303 votes a non-binding resolution urging the bloc to exit the pact due to its incompatibility with EU climate law and policy.

CEC says renewable investment has been throttled by uncertainty, and at lowest levels for five years just as the nation needs to accelerate.

The post Investment in storage projects jumps, but wind and solar “throttled by uncertainty” appeared first on RenewEconomy.

This year’s temperatures would have been virtually impossible without climate crisis, scientists say

More than 20,000 people died across western Europe in this summer’s heatwaves, in temperatures that would have been virtually impossible without climate breakdown, figures show.

Analysis of excess deaths, the difference between the number of deaths that happened and those expected based on historical trends, reveals the threats posed by climate change-induced global heating, scientists said.

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