Feed aggregator

Australia's biggest carbon traders defend the troubled Emissions Reduction Fund, as doubts raised around Australia's ability to achieve emissions targets.

The post Big carbon traders dig in to defend Australia’s troubled carbon market appeared first on RenewEconomy.

ERF changes mean government could be up to 112 million tonnes of CO2-e behind on its emissions reduction task, facing further financial and climate risk.

The post ERF changes means taxpayers will have to fork out to meet even modest emissions targets appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Plans for a 400MW wind farm in NSW central west have been jacked up to 600MW-plus after WaterNSW opted in on the project.

The post Epuron bumps NSW wind farm up to 600MW in dam land deal appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Pilot Energy says feasibility studies confirms “significant opportunity” to develop blue hydrogen, with green hydrogen relegated to second place.

The post Pilot Energy puts blue hydrogen before green with “first-to-market” CCS technology appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The direction a beach faces, relative to wind direction, largely determines how many bluebottles are pushed to shore. Amandine Schaeffer, Senior lecturer, UNSW Sydney Jasmin C Lawes, Adjunct associate, UNSW Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The senate delivers a pre-election blow to Angus Taylor, cancelling out controversial ARENA regulations for a second time.

The post Senate again blocks Angus Taylor’s bid to redirect ARENA funds to CCS projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australian fossil fuel subsidies will top $11.6 billion this financial year, pushed higher by the Morrison government's 'gas led recovery'.

The post “Perverse:” Australian fossil fuel subsidies will top $22,000 a minute this year appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australian start-up unveils its own take on gravitational energy storage technology that will use super-heavy weights in legacy mine shafts to capture and release energy.

The post Australian start-up eyes disused mine shafts for giga-scale gravity energy storage appeared first on RenewEconomy.

While there are plans to expand airports, railways have been dismantled – so how will the country decarbonise domestic travel?

For a people represented by a unique flightless bird, Kiwis do a lot of flying. While globally, aviation emissions represented just under 3% of carbon dioxide emissions in 2019, for New Zealand the figure was 12%. New Zealand ranks sixth in per capita aviation emissions, at one tonne of carbon dioxide per person, about 10 times the world average. It ranks fourth for per capita emissions in domestic aviation – just ahead of Canada, even though Canada is 40 times the size of New Zealand.

Perhaps this is not surprising. New Zealand is far away from most population centres. It has a large tourist industry and a population with globally dispersed families – 27% of the population was born overseas, and an estimated one million Kiwis live overseas.

Robert McLachlan is a professor in applied mathematics at Massey University

Continue reading...

Many of the accusations directed at Australia’s carbon offset market in recent days are “sensational” and not backed up by research, the lead industry body said on Sunday, though calls are picking up pace to reform the market and the role of the Clean Energy Regulator.

Laboratory studies suggest sunscreen chemicals are dangerous to coral reefs. But in real world conditions, that’s not true. Bleaching must have another cause. Nial Wheate, Associate Professor of the Sydney Pharmacy School, University of Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Chris Thorogood had to venture deep into the Luzon rainforest to set eyes on the extraordinary Rafflesia banaoana

It was after travelling 6,600 miles and battling through the tropical assault course of the Luzon rainforest that Chris Thorogood set his eyes upon the rare and extraordinary flower that ignited his childhood imagination 30 years ago.

Thorogood, 38, last month became the first westerner to see the Rafflesia banaoana – an otherworldly-looking red spotted species that spans half a metre across – in an experience that reduced him to tears.

Continue reading...

Former employees arrested for ‘extremist activities’, fuelling fears for conservationists’ safety and the future of protected areas

One of the oldest and largest wildlife NGOs in Belarus is being forced to shut down after accusations of “extremist activities”, as conservationists warn of “darkness” engulfing a region known for its rich natural heritage.

Former employees of BirdLife Belarus (APB) were arrested and one has been in jail for six months under suspicion of attempting to destabilise the political situation in the country under the guise of protecting birds. The organisation has been ordered by a court to close next month after 24 years of work.

Continue reading...

Complex agreements have done little to reduce emissions in the last 30 years, but a universal tariff could avert catastrophe

In 1994, I wrote an article for Time magazine noting that property and casualty insurers would provide an early warning about the costs of climate change and also serve as a white knight. My white knight turned out to be very timid and the reasons why help explain why it has been so hard for the world to take action on global warming.

The reinsurance side of the industry, the side that underwrites insurance for catastrophic risks, understood early on that climate change could bankrupt the industry and reinsurers produced some of the best reports on the costs climate change will likely impose on society. At the same time, however, the retail side of the industry continued to provide coverage for home and businesses at risk from climate-related fires and wind storms. Indeed, since the climate risks surfaced, millions of people have moved into wildfire zones in the US west and to coastal properties at risk of hurricanes, storm surges and sea level rise. That influx of people continues, even though the Florida coast has eight of the 20 cities in the US most threatened by sea level rise.

Continue reading...

Germany says renewables, green hydrogen and energy efficiency key to cutting imports of Russian coal, gas and oil. "We don’t have to let ourselves be blackmailed."

The post Germany can go without Russian gas by 2024, thanks to renewables, hydrogen, efficiency appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A company that produces Chernobyl’s ‘Atomik vodka’ releases new products, donating profits to Ukraine's refugees.

Boat dwellers stage demonstration about new moves by the Canal & River Trust to restrict mooring spaces

Hundreds of boaters converged in west London’s Little Venice area on Saturday to protest about what they say is a “cull” of a traditional way of life along the capital’s waterways.

The boat dwellers staged a demonstration about new moves by the Canal & River Trust (CRT), a charity which manages the waterways in England and Wales, to restrict mooring spaces in some parts of the capital and to issue enforcement notices against some who officials say are mooring their boats in the wrong areas. The CRT began issuing enforcement notices in January of this year.

Continue reading...

Backyard hives have taken off in Australia. But have we got enough habitat, and what does the boom in honeybees mean for native bees?

Every spring, longtime beekeeper Tony Wilsmore will start getting phone calls. Usually people see his phone number on the side of the cargo bike that he rides around the Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds, tending to various backyard hives in the inner north as part of his business Suburban Bees. As their garden starts blooming and thoughts turn to outside, people want to register their interest in keeping hives.

“The first thing I do,” says Wilsmore, “is try to convince them that they should not keep bees.”

Continue reading...

Waiting lists of thousands, cars selling out in seconds, welcome to the frustrating world of the Australian EV buyer

• Follow our Australia news live blog for the latest updates
• Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing

Matt Holding set an alarm on his phone so he wouldn’t miss out on a limited release of electric vehicles, but by the time he jumped online to buy one they had sold out.

In six and a half minutes, all 109 of Hyundai’s electric SUVs had sold – 18,000 Australians had registered their interest.

Continue reading...

Proposed theme park the size of 136 Wembleys will threaten protected species and local jobs, say campaigners

It promises to be one of Britain’s most unusual planning battles. On one side is an array of endangered wildlife that includes a species of jumping spider. On the other are backers of a theme park that they claim will rival Disneyland in its size and ambition.

The park, called the London Resort, would be built on the Swanscombe peninsula on the Thames, near Gravesend, where it would cover land equivalent to 136 Wembley stadiums and would include themed rides, a water park, conference venues, hotels and a shopping centre.

Continue reading...