Feed aggregator

Could we divert incontinence products from landfill? Yes – if we tackle social stigma and access to affordable health services, encourage biodegradable products and introduce supportive waste policies Beth Rounsefell, Casual Academic, The University of Queensland Emma Thompson-Brewster, Lecturer, Southern Cross University Kate O'Brien, Professor, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Australia cannot get its environmental act together. We don’t even have the information we need to fix environmental problems. But there is a better way. Michael Vardon, Associate Professor at the Fenner School, Australian National University Peter Burnett, Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Law, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Claims that introduced deer perform the same ecological function as ancient moa are outdated and wrong. Deer destroy forests, and large-scale culling is still the best solution. Nic Rawlence, Senior Lecturer in Ancient DNA, University of Otago Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

New data finds many solar projects are delivering lower production than forecast, with big impacts on investors.

The post One-third of solar projects over-promise and under-deliver on generation, report finds appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Four US improved forest management projects credited by the American Carbon Registry (ACR) have been downgraded to a low chance of avoiding or reducing CO2 by a ratings agency following a review.

One of the most famous scenes in the cosmos is viewed by the new, Nasa-led super space observatory.

Flawed or misleading reporting is masking the considerable gap in international climate finance flows, according to a report by a development charity published on Wednesday, pointing to inflated numbers behind claims that are already falling short of financial promises.

While publicly-listed companies are committing to net zero, privately-held firms are largely not, a study published Wednesday found, with the largest 100 private companies accounting for 5% of the global economy.

National-scale forest protection credits sold on the REDD.plus platform are “not rigorous enough to offset or compensate for emissions”, analysts said in a note on Wednesday, noting that the market does not seem to trust the marketplace.

Exclusive: Concern over government plans to relax environmental and planning rules to lure business

The government’s investment zones could put the UK’s ancient woodlands under threat, the head of the Woodland Trust has warned.

An ancient woodland is one that has existed continuously since at least 1600. They are a precious part of the country’s history, store large amounts of carbon and are important habitats for animals.

Continue reading...

Its call has freaked people out for centuries

Is there a scene more horrifying than the baby cuckoo alone in a nest: the waxy skin, the eyeballs covered in the skull, the sunken back – evolved to help it scoop the other eggs over the edge and on to the ground. Nobody has taught the baby how to eliminate its adoptive siblings. The cuckoo hatches with this instinct driving it: a natural born “obligate brood parasite”.

When a common European cuckoo has successfully laid her egg in a red warbler’s nest, she “gives a chuckle call, as if in triumph”: the call sounds like a sparrowhawk, a predator, which distracts the host. “The female cuckoo enhances her success by manipulating a fundamental trade-off in host defences between clutch and self-protection,” the authors who discovered this wrote, in a paper titled Female cuckoo calls misdirect host defences towards the wrong enemy. In one summer, a female cuckoo can lay 25 malevolent eggs.

Continue reading...

Global CO2 emissions from energy production are set to rise by a little less than 1% this year, slowing last year’s jump as more renewables and electric vehicle capacity outweighed a post-pandemic tilt to coal, the IEA said on Wednesday.

Switzerland has scheduled its first auction for carbon units from compliance year 2022 in its ETS.

Prof Aoife Foley says it would remain light for part of energy peak between 5pm and 7pm, reducing household bills

Households could save more than £400 a year on energy bills if clocks are not put back at the end of October, according to an expert, who said it would help people with the cost of living crisis and reduce pressure on the National Grid this winter.

Evening energy demand peaks between 5pm and 7pm during winter, when the sun has already set after daylight savings time (DST). If clocks didn’t go back, it would remain light for at least part of this time, reducing carbon emissions and energy demand.

Continue reading...

Suit claims the agency has yet to respond to legal petition demanding tighter Clean Water Act enforcement for factory farms

Dozens of advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), claiming the federal department has failed to come up with a plan to regulate water pollution from factory farms.

The suit claims the agency has yet to respond to a 2017 legal petition from more than 30 environmental groups demanding that the EPA tighten its Clean Water Act enforcement for factory farms, also known as concentrated animal feeding operations (Cafos), where thousands of animals are sometimes confined.

Continue reading...

European carbon continued to trade in a lacklustre fashion on Wednesday, with prices climbing early on as the market lacked its usual daily EUA auction supply while energy markets halted a five-day losing streak to post modest gains.

Climate change is largely a first world priority, while many poor and less developed countries, some facing the highest level of ecological threat from food insecurity, water shortages and natural disasters, rank many other issues higher, according to a study published on Wednesday.

Countries have submitted 139 new or updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) as of September this year, but global policy commitments still fall well short of getting on the pathway needed to limit global warming to 1.5C, according to research from a non-profit think tank released on Wednesday.

Government support to help Queensland’s beef industry to retain and regrow trees could generate A$4.4 billion ($2.7 bln) in carbon farming projects, according to a report released Wednesday.

Speculation had been rife that government would block Elms subsidies for creating wildlife habitats

Farmers in England say they are increasingly optimistic that the government may yet row back on its plans to cut funding for nature-friendly farming initiatives.

The farming minister, Mark Spencer, this week met the RSPB and the chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), both organisations that had been critical of plans to remove subsidies for creating wildlife habitats.

Continue reading...