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A massive 200MW/2GWh long-duration iron flow battery energy storage system will be installed in the US city of Sacramento.

The post California utility claims biggest flow battery deal in the world appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Lake Eyre Basin contains one of the few pristine river systems left in the world. But new research shows oil and gas activity is extending its tentacles into these fragile environments. Richard Kingsford, Professor, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credit prices continued to slide on Monday, dropping 14% over the week, as market participants considered action from regulator ARB that is necessary for an improvement in supply-demand fundamentals.

The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (IC-VCM) completed its 60-day public consultation last week on setting the bar for VER quality, receiving public submissions including a scathing submission from the largest carbon offset programme administrator Verra.

Quebec GHG output in 2021 partially rebounded from earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to overshoot the limits of the state’s WCI-linked cap-and-trade programme once again, according to provincial data published Monday.

Priority targeting includes many of Australia’s best-known native animals but will also help others in the same habitats, environment minister says

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The federal government has set a goal to prevent any new extinctions of Australian wildlife.

It is the first time a federal government has announced a zero extinctions target for the country’s plants and animals. The goal forms part of a 10-year plan to improve the trajectory of 110 species and 20 places, and protect an additional 50m hectares of land and sea area by 2027.

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The voluntary carbon market’s chances of success are slim but it is useful for early mover companies to get ready for the advent of compliance markets, a US government official told a carbon conference on Monday.

This role will engage and interact with new and existing buyers in the booming Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) in a variety of capacities from initial  outreach, to contracting and follow-up for repeat purchases to ensure a smooth sales process.

Populations of Fleay’s barred frog in Australia’s ancient rainforests were decimated by the chytrid fungus. Now, the frogs have developed a natural resistance. Matthijs Hollanders, PhD candidate, Southern Cross University David Newell, Senior Lecturer, School of Environment, Science & Engineering, Southern Cross University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Standard nature-based spot and nearby futures continued to slip lower over the past week, battered by the deepening economic gloom and headlines warning of sharply higher interest rates, although fresher vintages held steadier as large volume sellers shied away from the market.

Proposal to make all water firms publicly listed is not a cure-all but would force them to be more transparent

To the surprise of nobody who follows the English and Welsh water sector, the two companies that have been hit with the heaviest penalties for missing performance targets this year are the usual suspects: Southern Water and Thames Water. The dirty duo last year had to return £99m between them to customers after Ofwat’s annual tally of outcomes in areas such as water supply interruptions, pollution incidents and sewer flooding. This time the figure is £80m.

The top end of the league table, note, is also familiar. Severn Trent and United Utilities outperformed targets, as last year, and thus get rewarded by being allowed to recover more money via bills (which may feel less rewarding from the point of view of customers). Correlation doesn’t always imply causation, but it’s worth asking: do different ownership models help to explain the persistent gulf in operational performance?

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West Burton A will be the site of the prototype fusion energy power plant, the government announces.

Key European lawmakers are expected in an interim vote late on Monday to stick to a compromise that would part-finance the REPowerEU strategy with €20 billion worth of carbon allowance sales solely sourced from frontloaded member state auctions over three years.

Unusual diplomatic intervention prompted by fears over Liz Truss’s commitment to net zero

The Egyptian government, host of the next UN climate summit, has warned the UK against “backtracking from the global climate agenda”, in a significant intervention prompted by fears over Liz Truss’s commitment to net zero.

The warning before the Cop27 conference, which will take place in just over a month in Sharm el-Sheikh, to the host of Cop26, which took place in Glasgow last November, is highly unusual in diplomatic terms. The hosts of successive Cops are responsible for a smooth handover of the talks.

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The European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI) compromise on funding for the REPowerEU initiative is  the “least bearish” of the options being discussed by co-legislators, according to analysts assessing the impacts on the EU ETS.

The World Bank $17.2 billion climate finance public sector portfolio could be off by as much as $7 bln or 40%, according to a report published by an NGO on Monday as COP27 hosts Egypt urged rich nations to make good on their climate aid commitments at next month's UN summit. 

Documents show zones with ‘liberalised’ planning laws could get go-ahead even in the most environmentally protected areas

Investment zones with “liberalised” planning laws to accelerate development could be designated within national parks and in the most environmentally protected areas of the UK, government documents reveal.

Details of the government’s new zones to increase housebuilding and commercial development reveal councils can apply for zones in national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty, (AONBs) sites of special scientific interest, (SSSIs) and green belt land.

A national park.

An area of outstanding natural beauty.

A site of special scientific interest, or equivalent designation.

The buffer zone of a world heritage site.

Designated green belt.

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EUA prices consolidated at lower levels on Monday morning as the market eyed the evening's meeting of the European Parliament's environment committee (ENVI) at which lawmakers were expected to adopt a position on funding measures for the REPowerEU initiative.

George Eustice warns against scrapping post-Brexit subsidies aimed at improving biodiversity and meeting climate targets

A former environment secretary has urged the UK government not to drop its nature recovery farming schemes, as the Guardian can reveal the more ambitious parts of the post-EU subsidy programme are set to be dropped.

George Eustice made the intervention, telling the Guardian that farmers are keen to be signed up to schemes in which they improve biodiversity, and that his replacement, Ranil Jayawardena, should not scrap them.

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Sweden's Svante Paabo wins the prize for discoveries on humanity's extinct relatives.