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Electric cars are hailed as the best way to cut transport emissions, but it’s an illusion to think we can reduce our environmental impact without changing the way we design and move about in cities. Timothy Welch, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, University of Auckland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

With the rapid growth in carbon markets driving a new wave of innovative new approaches, Verra is seeking a Finance Registry Assistant to support the finance team!

The US earlier said Russia "recklessly" destroyed a satellite, endangering astronauts in space.

Australia during the Glasgow COP26 summit launched its Indo-Pacific Carbon Offset Scheme (IPCOS), though analysts expect voluntary buyers will continue to prefer cheap UN-issued credits unless next year’s election brings a new government wanting to incentivise more compliance buying.

EUAs leaped to a new record high on Tuesday after Germany said it had suspended the certification process for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, and carbon traders continued to report strong demand, including from non-compliance players.

Around 256,000 Americans live in areas where incidences of cancer caused by air pollution exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s current upper limit of ‘acceptable risk’

How do you calculate the price of a human life? What about 256,000 human lives?

Around a quarter of a million Americans are living in parts of the United States where rates of cancer caused by air pollution exceed the US government’s own limit of “acceptable risk.” Environmental experts have a chilling name for these sites:

Adrienne Matei is a freelance journalist

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Steve and Dee Allen say sponsorship deal and ‘gagging clause’ show it is no longer a credible scientific institution

Two prominent scientists are refusing to allow their work to be included in the Science Museum’s collection because of the institution’s links to Shell.

Steve and Dee Allen, who have carried out some of the most important research into global plastic pollution, say the museum’s sponsorship deal with the fossil fuel company – and a subsequent “gagging clause” – meant it was no longer a credible scientific institution.

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Green group WWF is urging regulators to scrutinise a massive forest carbon deal that Malaysia's Sabah state government is negotiating with a Singaporean investor for a project the size of Israel.

Former US vice president says Australia’s 2050 net zero target ‘has very little meaning’ without nearer term goal

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The former US vice president Al Gore has criticised the Morrison government for failing to increase the ambition of Australia’s 2030 emissions reduction target and warned coal workers to be deeply sceptical about “hollow words” from politicians.

Gore told a virtual conference organised by Engineers Australia on Tuesday he was glad Scott Morrison took a pledge to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 to the Cop26 summit in Glasgow, given the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s most recent assessment of the climate crisis deemed the problem a “code red for humanity”.

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The summit exposed a world looking beyond a broken neoliberal model

• Adam Tooze is a professor of history at Columbia University

Cop26 delivered no big climate deal. Nor, in truth, was there any reason to expect one. The drastic measures that might – at a stroke – open a path to climate stability are not viable in political or diplomatic terms. Like climate breakdown itself, this is a fact to be reckoned with, a fact not just about “politicians”, but about the polities of which we are all, like it or not, a part. The step from the scientific recognition of a climate emergency to societal agreement on radical action is still too great. All that the negotiators at Cop26 could manage was makeshift.

When it comes to climate finance, the gap between what is needed and what is on the table is dizzying. The talk at the conference was all about the annual $100bn (£75bn) that rich countries had promised to poorer nations back in 2009. The rich countries have now apologised for falling short. The new resolution is to make up the difference by 2022 and then negotiate a new framework. It is symbolically important and of some practical help. But, as everyone knows, it falls laughably short of what is necessary. John Kerry, America’s chief negotiator, said so himself in a speech to the CBI. It isn’t billions we need, it is trillions. Somewhere between $2.6tn and $4.6tn every year in funding for low-income countries to mitigate and adapt to the crisis. Those are figures, Kerry went on to say, no government in the world is going to match. Not America. Not China.

Adam Tooze is a professor of history at Columbia University

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Schemes such as carbon trading favored by polluting nations lead to ecologically destructive projects like biofuels and dams

Indigenous communities facing an upsurge in land grabs, water shortages and human rights violations as a result of the Cop26 deal have accused world leaders of sacrificing them in order to postpone meaningful climate action and shield corporate profits.

The Glasgow deal creates a regulated global carbon trading market – a move widely supported by the world’s biggest polluters including the US – allowing countries to partially meet their climate targets by buying credits representing emission cuts by others.

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Singer and activist supports protest by Kent residents over firm’s continued discharges into sea

A water company fined a record £90m for dumping raw sewage is facing a ratepayers’ revolt over its continued discharges into the sea. A non-payment campaign against Southern Water, initiated by four residents of Whitstable in Kent, is understood to be growing.

The protesters this week were given the support of Bob Geldof, who lives in nearby Faversham. According to the Kent Online website, Geldof told an audience in the town: “Don’t pay your water bills to Southern Water – they can fuck off. God bless the people of Whitstable. I’m straight there to join them. In fact, I’ll join them immediately.”

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Simon Corbell says Australia’s green energy transition will be harder, slower and more expensive due to federal government’s lack of leadership.

The post Transcript: Energy Insiders Podcast interview with Simon Corbell appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New study reveals huge declines in once common species amounting to loss of one in six birds since 1980

There are 247m million fewer house sparrows in Europe than there were in 1980, and other once ubiquitous bird species have suffered huge declines, according to a new study.

One of every six birds – a net loss of 600 million breeding birds in total – have disappeared over less than four decades. Among the common species that are vanishing from the skies are yellow wagtails (97m fewer), starlings (75m fewer) and skylarks (68m fewer).

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Tag Energy, led by former Neoen Australia head, doubles its battery storage portfolio in the UK.

The post Tag Energy to use Tesla Megapacks in two new battery storage projects in UK appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Electric cars are expensive in Australia partly because European emission standards reward manufacturers for selling them there. There’s an obvious fix. Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

While major questions will remain over the Morrison government's climate policies, focus will shift to Labor for it to deliver its alternative plan.

The post Labor juggles policy and politics as it mulls response to Morrison’s chaotic climate calls appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Gas industry says if they use solar to power the massive LNG plants it will halve emissions. Sun Cable is supportive.

The post Gas industry proposes big solar to halve LNG emissions, with support of Sun Cable appeared first on RenewEconomy.

In the 2nd of our Energy Transformed podcast series, we look at the role hydrogen will play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and what we’ve learned from early-stage hydrogen projects.

The post Energy Transformed Podcast: How close is the green hydrogen economy? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Early feedback on framework for proposed 3.3GW first-stage build-out of Queensland's renewable energy zones is that it is too little, and too slow.

The post Queensland outlines plans for 3GW of new renewables, but it’s not nearly enough appeared first on RenewEconomy.