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Nineteenth-century European settlement is often depicted as a triumphal ‘taming of nature’. But does that collective memory impede more honest appraisals of the environmental risks we face today? Olli Hellmann, Senior Lecturer in Political Science and International Relations, University of Waikato Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Protesters from the coalition have staged disruptions at major British museums five times in the past week

Five supporters of the Just Stop Oil coalition have glued themselves to a 500-year-old depiction of The Last Supper in London’s Royal Academy, the fifth time in a week that it has disrupted a major British art institution.

The activists struck just before noon, supergluing their hands to the frame of the 3-metre-long painting – a reproduction of the Leonardo da Vinci original attributed to his pupil, Giampietrino.

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Brokerage Vertis has hired a well-known emissions trading expert as its new head of research, Carbon Pulse has learned.

Peak at Sonnblick in Austrian Alps has melted more than a month before previous record time

The snow at the highest observatory in the world to be operated all-year-round is expected to completely melt in the next few days, the earliest time on record.

Scientists at the Sonnblick observatory in the Austrian Central Alps, which is 3,106 metres (10,190ft) above sea level, have been shocked and dismayed to see the snow depleting so quickly.

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Swiss-based fuel supplier Varo Energy announced on Tuesday a plan to reach net zero emissions by 2040 via a strategy that will plough most of its earnings into clean energy while acquiring carbon removals via its experience-laden intermediary business.

More than 100,000 carbon credits have been delivered from a South African cookstoves project to a large energy and chemicals firm as part of an agreement signed last year for offsets able to be used under the country's carbon tax regime, according to an announcement on Tuesday.

ARENA swamped by applications for $100 million big battery grant round, shortlists 12 projects looking to provide "advanced" inverters essential for renewable grid.

The post ARENA shortlists 3GW of “advanced” big batteries essential for 100pct renewable grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Carbon weakened for a third day on Tuesday morning as trading activity continued to languish, while most energy markets rose for a third session on the back of continuing worries over natural gas supply.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has partnered with a number of major banks and other corporations aiming to carve out a strategy for turning Hong Kong into a major international carbon trading hub, based around its position as a link between Mainland China and the rest of the world.

We may be approaching a legal tipping point for fossil fuel companies and the spin masters that work for them

In 2005, I was the lead counsel on behalf of the US in one of the biggest corporate accountability legal actions ever filed. That trial proved that the tobacco industry knew it was selling and marketing a harmful product, that it had funded denial of public health science, and had used deceptive advertising and PR to protect assets instead of protecting consumers.

Today, the fossil fuel industry finds itself in the same precarious legal position as the tobacco industry did in the late 1990s. The behaviour and goals of the tobacco and petroleum industries are pretty similar – and there are many similarities in their liabilities.

Sharon Y Eubanks served as lead council in the federal tobacco litigation United States v Philip Morris USA, et al. She is the co-author of Bad Acts: The Racketeering Case Against the Tobacco Industry

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More than 50 experts say proposal redefining forest degradation could undermine net zero emissions plans

More than 50 scientists have warned MEPs that a high-level move to water down EU legislation on deforestation could undermine Europe’s net zero emissions plans.

European environment ministers rewrote a draft regulation last week to define “forest degradation” as the replacement of primary forest by plantations or other wooded land. In the EU, which has about 3.1m hectares of primary forest amid 159m hectares of overall forest, it would limit the law’s reach to just 2% of the total area.

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For a long time, Australian governments have dreamed of making stuff again. Australia now has the opportunity for new industry and to flourish in a net zero world.

The post Once in a lifetime green industry opportunity needs once in a lifetime policy appeared first on RenewEconomy.

In the glare of history, failure on climate will overshadow any other fact about their tenure. Let’s hope they feel the heat as much as we do

On Thursday, the supreme court of the United States struck down the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, sharply limiting the federal government’s ability to fight climate change.

With Earth’s temperature rising steadily, with the scientific community shouting at the top of its lungs for more aggressive action, with fires and hurricanes pushing entire regions beyond the bounds of human habitability, the court’s Republican-appointed supermajority has chosen to actively inhibit our ability to respond to the crisis. The decision was in keeping with the Republican party’s deepening climate nihilism: as the train careens off the rails, they strangle the conductor, destroy the brakes.

Daniel Sherrell is the author of Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World (Penguin Books) and a climate activist

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Australia is positioning itself to be a key hydrogen exporter to markets in Europe, as major energy-importing economies such as Germany aim to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels over the longer term to meet their emissions reduction and energy security goals, however the need to identify where hydrogen can best be used as a low carbon solution needs to be addressed, according to analysts.

They hope they will help us understand the "strong force" that holds the insides of atoms together.

Unpublished government records show rise in poultry products testing positive for salmonella infantis

• Potentially deadly superbug found in British supermarket pork

A dangerous strain of salmonella is becoming more common in meat in the UK, unpublished government records show.

Test results obtained by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ) and the Guardian reveal a rise in poultry products contaminated with salmonella infantis, with raw and processed meat found to be affected. Beef, pork and animal feed have also tested positive for the bacteria, which can cause serious illness that sometimes proves fatal.

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Two whales that became entangled in shark nets in Queensland have been freed after being stuck for several hours. The two humpbacks were found on Tuesday at Kirra beach on the Gold Coast and Marcoola beach on the Sunshine Coast where shark nets intersect with a major whale migration pathway. Dr Leonardo Guida, a shark specialist at the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said entanglements happened every year like 'clockwork' and could cause major physiological trauma for the whales even if they were freed. He called for the complete removal of shark nets, which he said harmed marine life without actually making anyone safer

• Two whale rescues in one day prompt fresh call for removal of shark nets in Queensland
  

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The cat-sized nocturnal marsupials, which are unique to Australia, live in areas from north Queensland to central Victoria

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One of the world’s biggest gliding mammals – the once common greater glider – has been pushed closer to extinction and is now officially endangered.

The cat-sized gliding marsupial has been moved from vulnerable to endangered on the federal government’s list of threatened species.

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A Hong Kong-listed investment holding company specialising in carbon markets is poised for an expansion in Southeast Asia with two newly formed subsidiaries in Singapore, while the renewables and carbon trading arm of a major Chinese SOE eyes a listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has minted just over 1 million new Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), a noticeable uptick in issuance, while revoking four existing projects from generating units.