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It’s time for a national grid that serves the public and meets the challenges of a warming world. A new government-owned and operated body should take control of Australia’s electricity system. John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

An inflated price paid for carbon removal credits is going to enable a Finnish biochar project to scale over the next few years and hopefully drive its cost of removing a tonne of CO2 down to around $200 a tonne, a webinar heard on Tuesday.

Two Gold Standard-accredited reforestation projects have been placed on watch for a potential change in their grading by a carbon credit ratings agency in its latest update.

The EU could consider phasing out free allowances in the EU ETS more quickly to help meet the bloc’s greater investment needs in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission’s former top climate official told a conference on Tuesday.

Former ADF chief backs study saying threats ‘continue to escalate in the absence of far stronger climate action than we have seen thus far’

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Anthony Albanese will ask Australia’s most senior intelligence chief, Andrew Shearer, to personally lead a review of the security threats posed by the climate crisis.

The move has been backed by a former Australian defence force chief, retired Admiral Chris Barrie, who warned the government to plan for climate risks including disruptions to trade, more severe drought, and increasing demands on emergency services and the military.

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Australian Conservation Foundation says global heating from fossil fuel development will compound coral bleaching on Great Barrier Reef

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An environment group has launched a legal bid to halt a $16bn gas development in Western Australia, arguing the effect of its greenhouse gas emissions on the Great Barrier Reef will be significant and should be assessed under national environment law.

Documents lodged by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) in the federal court on Tuesday said Woodside’s Scarborough gas project would likely affect the 2,300km reef system’s world and natural heritage values by adding to mass coral bleaching.

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Participants in emissions trading mechanisms around the world have near-doubled their outlook for carbon prices when compared last year, according to an annual report published on Tuesday, but their expectations still fall well short of levels thought needed to limit global warming to 1.5C.

With G7 leaders due to gather in less than two weeks in the Bavarian Alps, many expect Berlin to champion a long-trumpeted idea of a climate club to spur climate cooperation beyond the EU.

NSW-based energy software company closes $A15 million fundraising round led by FRV-X, and says new federal government is a green light for investors.

The post Evergen to invest more in solar and battery controls after fund raising led by FRV appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Oil and gas giant Woodside is being taken to court by environment groups, seeking to halt the development of the Scarborough gas project.

The post Woodside sued over Scarborough gas plans, as fears raised over spill risk appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Two Canadian-based offset companies have partnered to scale up a series of domestic ‘grouped’ decarbonisation projects.

The steel industry in China and India is set to shun the move away from blast furnaces to less polluting electric arc furnaces (EAF), while the global industry has ignored the impact of metallurgical coal mining from its carbon accounting, according to a report published on Tuesday.

Trade in the EU ETS was quieter than usual on Tuesday with numerous participants attending an industry event, while prices advanced ahead of the expiry of the June options contract on Wednesday.

Environment groups welcome long-awaited deal to curb harmful subsidies but say key measures to curb overfishing were dropped

After 20 years of failed negotiations, the World Trade Organization has secured a deal to curb harmful subsidies that contribute to overfishing. Conservationists and campaign groups welcomed last week’s agreement as historic, despite criticism of “big holes” in the agreement.

The deal was the first concluded in Geneva for all 164 member states of the WTO with “environmental sustainability” at its core, the organisation’s director general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said in her closing speech.

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Aviation industry group IATA urged governments to adopt an aspirational net zero emissions goal with a diminishing role for offsets, as a report has found that a growing market share for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) can be achieved with manageable costs to industry provided there is policy support.

Gas stations are environmental liabilities and hugely expensive to remediate. Electric cars are making gas stations obsolete

Whether or not we’ve all realized it, the era of gasoline-powered cars is rapidly winding to a close – and with it, gas stations and the pollution they bring to communities.

People are tired of being forced to pay obscene amounts of money for fuel every time there’s an international incident. Meanwhile, the cost of battery tech is just 10% of what it was a decade ago, and is expected to continue dropping as the decade wears on. And just this month the Biden administration announced its plan for making EV charging stations accessible across the US.

Nathan Taft is the digital and communications lead for Stand.earth’s Safe Cities initiative

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Faroese firm Bakkafrost claims direct flights to US will cut carbon but critics say air transport is not the answer

A salmon farming company has bought a Boeing 757 in a race to get its fresh fish on to the plates of diners in Manhattan in less than 24 hours.

The Faroese firm Bakkafrost, which also owns the Scottish Salmon Company, argues it can cut its carbon footprint by flying its own jet across the Atlantic and minimise waste by getting its fish to its US customers faster.

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Experts warn ambitious targets for nature must be agreed at UN meeting, moved from China to Canada after two-year wait

The date for a key UN nature summit has finally been confirmed after more than two years of delays and amid fears momentum to halt biodiversity loss across the globe has been lost.

Ahead of the latest round of negotiations in Nairobi this week, the UN convention on biological diversity confirmed that the Cop15 biodiversity conference will now take place in Montreal, Canada, from 5 to 17 December, after it became clear China would not be able to host the event in Kunming due to the country’s zero-Covid policy.

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Indonesia’s state-owned energy company Pertamina has signed an agreement with a local carbon project developer to pursue nine domestic carbon offset projects which could deliver almost 12 MtCO2e/year, it claims.

Bureau of Meteorology says winter will be wetter than average and a rare three-in-a-row La Niña is still on the cards

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The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has announced an end to the 2021-22 La Niña in the tropical Pacific – but it could return with the BoM changing its status to “watch”.

La Niña, which involves warming ocean temperatures in the western Pacific, typically delivers increased rainfall across much of Australia along with cooler daytime temperatures south of the tropics and warmer night-time temperatures in the north.

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