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Why rely on unproven technologies when we can store carbon and cut emissions through Country-based and nature-based solutions? Rachel Morgain, Senior research fellow, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Brendan Wintle, Professor in Conservation Ecology, School of Ecosystem and Forest Science, The University of Melbourne Judy Bush, Lecturer in Urban Planning, The University of Melbourne Michael-Shawn Fletcher, Associate Professor in Biogeography, The University of Melbourne Thami Croeser, Research Officer, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Bulb has become the biggest energy supplier to go under since August. Its collapse brings the crisis to a new climax

The crisis in the UK’s energy market has been growing in scale and seriousness for months. This week it claimed its latest corporate victim – and reached a tipping point. Bulb is the 23rd energy supplier to fail since August, but, unlike minnows such as Igloo and Neon Reef, it cannot easily be taken over by a rival. With turnover of £1.5bn, it is simply too big.

Bulb will instead enter “special administration” and be run on behalf of the government until it can be broken up or sold off. Meanwhile, its 1.7 million customers will remain with the company and get the same corporate branding on their bills, even while taxpayers stump up for any immediate costs. Any final losses will be passed on to households through their fuel bills.

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Conservationists hail move as ‘critical breakthrough’ to protect endangered shortfin mako, prized for meat, fins and sportfishing

North Atlantic fishing nations have pledged to ban catches of the shortfin mako, the world’s fastest shark, in an attempt to save the endangered species.

Conservationists, who have for years sought to better protect the mako, said the ban was a “critical breakthrough”. The effort to ensure agreement between fishing nations was led by the UK, Canada and Senegal.

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The US-led release of millions of barrels of oil from strategic reserves by major consumer nations this week goes in the opposite direction to what climate experts say will help shift the world off fossil fuels.

Report shows raw sewage spillages into coastal swimming waters increased by more than 87% in the last 12 months

Water companies spilled raw sewage into coastal bathing waters used by holidaymakers and families 5,517 times in the last year, an increase of more than 87%, new data reveals.

The discharges via storm overflows hit beaches that are supposed to be the cleanest and safest in England and Wales, used by children, tourists, surfers and swimmers.

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New deal between SDP, Greens and pro-business party calls for coal exit by 2030, and an 80 per cent share for renewables.

The post New German government aims for coal exit, and 80 pct renewables, by 2030 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Olaf Scholz will head a three-party coalition with broad plans for transition to a green economy.

Exclusive: Natural Resources Commission report not released by state government calls for suspension of timber harvesting in three ‘extreme risk’ zones

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The New South Wales government has kept secret a document calling for a halt to native logging in regions hit hard by the black summer bushfires and recommending revising agreements to account for the increasing threat of global heating .

The Natural Resources Commission report on the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (IFOA), a copy of which was obtained by Guardian Australia, called for the suspension of timber harvesting for a minimum of three years in three zones it deemed to be “extreme risk”. These are Narooma and Nowra on the south coast and Taree on the mid-north coast.

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Germany’s newly-formed coalition government has provisionally agreed a deal to introduce national measures to ensure the carbon price applied to its emitters under the EU ETS will not fall below €60 in the long term, media reported on Wednesday.

EUA prices consolidated on Wednesday morning after a weak auction erased early gains. Energy prices rose slightly as gas withdrawals from storage rose amid falling temperatures.

Cheap renewables will continue to push down wholesale power prices, and consumer bills, despite exit of more fossil fuel generators.

The post Cheap renewables to keep pushing power bills down, even after Liddell exit appeared first on RenewEconomy.

International Maritime Organization lacks urgency needed to tackle climate crisis, say campaigners

A decision by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and its member states not to revise its emissions reduction strategy until the spring of 2023 has been criticised as “dangerous” by environmental campaigners.

At the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting, convened by the IMO, one of the first global green summits after Cop26, Kitack Lim, the UN body’s secretary general, told delegates: “The world is watching us.” And on Tuesday, the meeting chair, Hideaki Saito, spoke of the “urgency” of all sectors accelerating their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in light of the Glasgow climate pact earlier this month.

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A group of technology companies have begun work on a large-scale direct air capture (DAC) facility that could capture and store as much as 1 MtCO2 annually off the coast of western Norway.

Prime minister tells Business Council of Australia he ‘could not be more thrilled’ about Woodside proceeding with Scarborough gas development

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Scott Morrison has told the country’s most senior business leaders he “did a bit of a jig” after hearing one of the biggest fossil fuel projects in Australia in the last decade had achieved final investment approval by the energy giant Woodside.

The prime minister told the Business Council of Australia on Wednesday afternoon the government welcomed Woodside’s decision on Monday to green light the $16.2bn Scarborough gas development – a project that has been labelled a “disaster” by environmentalists.

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Only 10% of the world’s largest 140 energy companies have 2050 climate targets aligned with a 1.5C global warming pathway, according to the first assessment of energy transition plans since the COP26 Glasgow UN climate negotiations published on Wednesday.

From mattresses to oily waste and syringes, mountains of illegal waste is piling up as the government stands by

They made millions from it. They threatened our health and poisoned the land. Among the filth they buried were industrial quantities of syringes, bloody bandages, oily waste from scrapped cars, shredded plastic and asbestos. Fleets of lorries travelled from as far afield as Birmingham to drop their loads at the sites the two men ran in south Wales, to avoid paying landfill tax. Yet these men, though responsible for one of the biggest illegal dumping crimes ever prosecuted, suffered nothing worse last week than suspended sentences, community service and fines and confiscation orders that together amount to around a tenth of the money they are known to have made.

Over the past few months, we have begun to notice the scarcely regulated pollution of our rivers and seas. But hardly anyone is aware of what’s been happening to the land. If anything, it’s even worse. The illegal dumping of waste, much of it hazardous, most of it persistent, is now a massive crisis in the UK, caused by shocking failures of government. Large areas of land and crucial groundwater sources are being contaminated by illegal tipping, and barely anyone in power seems to give a damn.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

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The Manager Forestry ETS Operations is accountable for ensuring the effective management of the service delivery operation required to administer the Forestry ETS.

Thousands of people have answered the call from WWF and British Antarctic Survey (BAS) to search for walruses in satellite images taken from space, as part of a project aimed to improve understanding of how the walrus will be affected by the climate crisis. On World Walrus Day – 24 November – the organisations leading the project are calling for more ‘walrus detectives’ to get involved

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Farm animals are being used to prevent bird strikes as numbers of geese boom around Schiphol, one of Europe’s busiest flight hubs

A group of animals has been drafted in to combat a hazard in the skies above the runways of Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, the Netherlands’ aviation hub.

A six-week pilot project is studying whether a small herd of pigs can deter flocks of geese and other birds attracted to discarded sugar beet on nearby farmland.

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National Trust says tree giving growing in popularity but only 7% know best season to plant

For centuries people have said it with flowers but research suggests a new tradition is gaining popularity in the UK – expressing love, thanks, perhaps even regret with the gift of a tree.

A third of people said they would consider saying it with a tree rather than a bouquet and more than one in 10 had already done so, according to the research commissioned by the National Trust.

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