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Guardian given details about next generation of marine nature reserves where all fishing is banned

Five highly protected marine areas (HPMAs) will this week be created by the government to ban all fishing and rewild the sea, the Guardian has learned.

The new generation of marine nature reserves, which are governed by tougher regulations to allow decimated sea life to recover, are being set up close to the coast of Lindisfarne in Northumberland and at Allonby Bay, Cumbria, and at three offshore sites, two in the North Sea and one at Dolphin Head in the Channel.

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Switching EU steel mills to electric arc furnaces and optimising the use of domestic scrap metal could cut the sector's bloc-wide emissions by up to 73% by 2030, according to a study published by an environmental think-tank on Monday.

A subsidiary of a major Chinese state-owned aviation conglomerate is establishing a carbon asset management firm to help push the sector’s decarbonisation process.

The UN’s new centralised market mechanism has confirmed appointments to its Supervisory Body, unlocking the opportunity to get started on a heavy workload that will help set the rules of government-level emissions trade in the Paris Agreement era.

EnergyAustralia reveals huge losses due to coal plant outages and soaring prices, highlighting how coal generators were big beneficiaries of price cap and market suspension.

The post EnergyAustralia takes $1.3 billion hit due to coal outages and soaring prices appeared first on RenewEconomy.

EUAs surged early on Monday morning as the market digested the news that Germany's government will bring reserve coal plants back on line and reward industries that reduce gas consumption.

Campaigners say nature in England faces ‘perfect storm of threats’ with eight promised bills yet to appear

Nature faces a “perfect storm of threats”, campaigners say, after eight wildlife bills promised by Boris Johnson since coming to power have so far failed to see the light of day.

The government has been accused of reneging on commitments by failing to deliver policies on nature-friendly farming, the use of peat and pesticides, reintroducing beavers and other lost species, and protecting rare marine life.

Post-Brexit farming reforms – The government has broken its promise to reform farming post-Brexit. In its national food strategy for England published earlier this month the government’s commitment to provide a third of its farming budget for landscape recovery has been abandoned.

Ban on horticultural peat use – The government has consulted on the ban on the sale of peat and products containing peat in England and Wales after the failure of voluntary targets. Over 12 weeks (the usual time limit for responding) have passed and the government has yet to respond to the consultation. There was also no clear legislative vehicle in the recent Queen’s speech to enact the ban.

Beaver reintroductions – Last year, the government consulted on further reintroductions of beavers in England following the successful River Otter beaver trial. The government has yet to publish its response to the consultation or announce its approach to the reintroduction of beavers in England. This was part of the secretary of state’s announcement at Delamere Forest in May 2021.

Species reintroduction taskforce – Also part of that announcement was the commitment to establish an England species reintroduction taskforce to consider reintroductions of lost species such as wildcats, as well as the release of declining species such as the curlew, into areas from which they have been lost to help populations recover.

National action plan on the sustainable use of pesticides – The UK government consulted on the draft national action plan in December 2020 but has yet to publish the final version of its plan to replace the 2013 version.

Landscapes review – Despite responding to the landscapes review, the government has yet to legislate for the recommendations it accepted, such as amending the statutory purpose to ensure the core function of protected landscapes should be to drive nature recovery in England.

Integrated pest management – The government has yet to confirm whether key components of the new agricultural system, such as integrated pest management, will be included in the new sustainable farming incentive from next year.

Bycatch mitigation initiative – A policy to protect rare marine life from being unintentionally caught by fishers was approved in March but has not come to fruition, after being expected in May.

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Forecast models are already hinting at area of significant heat taking hold across Iberia next week

Thankfully, the heatwave is coming to an end this week across western Europe, with temperatures returning nearer to normal. But this may only be a temporary reprieve, as forecast models are already hinting at an area of significant heat taking hold across Iberia by the start of next week.

The extent of the recent heatwave across parts of central and western Europe has been widely reported. Temperature records have been broken and, in France and parts of Spain, it is the earliest point in summer during which a heatwave of this magnitude has been recorded. A temperature of 39.2C (102.6F) observed in Cottbus, Germany, also came within 0.4°C of the June record. Large fires, resulting from parched vegetation, are ravaging parts of Spain. The observed heat is very much in line with the predictions of scientists in that heatwaves in Europe will occur earlier and with greater ferocity due to climate change.

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Two Australian resource companies have agreed to explore the possibility of developing nature-based carbon offset projects in Papua New Guinea.

Jamie Cooper planned for days to capture the moment, which lasted for less than a second.

From 2001 to 2021, Nigeria lost 1.14 million hectares of forest, equivalent to a 11% decrease in tree cover and equal to 587 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, according to Global Forest Watch. Cutting down trees for logging, opening up farmland or to feed energy demand for a growing population is putting pressure on Nigeria’s natural forests

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Advice that allowed farmers to spread manures in a way that risked polluting waters has been changed by Defra

Guidance that would have allowed farmers to spread manures and slurry on land in a way that would overload it with nutrients and risk pollution of rivers, lakes and coastal waters has been changed by Defra, after a challenge over its lawfulness.

Manures, which include sewage sludge, abattoir waste and slurries, are a leading source of water pollution. Their application is strictly controlled under what are known as the Farming Rules for Water. But Defra’s guidance had directed the Environment Agency not to enforce a breach of the rules if a farmer produced its own manures or used imported manures that could lead to nutrient overload.

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Australian airline Qantas will collaborate with Airbus in a $200 million investment aimed at establishing Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production in Australia, the two companies announced.

Scientists are given one year to develop new ways of preventing future spillover to humans

In a perverse way, the Coalition government can take much of the credit for renewables progress over the past decade, grossly inadequate as it was.

The post Whose fault is the energy and climate fiasco? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Bowen says individual states will decide which technologies are in or out of a proposed capacity mechanism, but they must help deliver emissions targets.

The post Bowen handballs capacity mechanism fossil fuel choice to states appeared first on RenewEconomy.

From Somerset to Derby, councils are rewilding rivers, parks and golf courses, despite claims by some that it is only for wealthy landowners

One in five county councils have embraced rewilding on public land in Great Britain, with a growing number setting aside former golf courses, post-industrial scrubland and recovering waterways for nature.

From Rhondda Cynon Taf to Brighton, 43 councils in England, Wales and Scotland have launched rewilding schemes or are planning to do so in rural and urban areas, a joint investigation by the Guardian and the wildlife magazine Inkcap Journal found.

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The government pretends that farming and the countryside are synonymous – and our environment suffers as a result

We have a problem. The environment secretary, George Eustice – the highest green authority in the land – is, in a crucial respect, a climate denier. In an interview with the Telegraph, he claimed that “livestock, particularly if you do it with the right pastoral system, has a role to play in tackling climate change”.

Though such claims are often made, there is no evidence to support them. A wide-ranging review of the data by the Oxford Martin School found no case of a livestock operation sequestering more greenhouse gases than the animals produce. Moreover, because of the very large land area required for grazing livestock, pastoral systems carry a massive carbon opportunity cost (this means the carbon that would be captured if the land were returned to wild ecosystems). According to the government’s Climate Change Committee, “transitioning from grassland to forestland would increase the soil carbon stock by 25 tonnes of carbon per hectare (on average across England) … This is additional to the large amounts of carbon that would be stored in the biomass of the trees themselves.”

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

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ACCC says it is looking into potential "misconduct" by generators during the recent price cap on electricity markets and forecast supply shortages.

The post ACCC to probe potential generator “misconduct” during market price cap appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australian renewables outfit reveals plans for $A500 million-plus capital raise, to underwrite its large and diverse development pipeline.

The post Energy Estate seeks $500m in capital to fast-track huge development pipeline appeared first on RenewEconomy.