Feed aggregator

Dutch-headquartered trading firm Vitol has hired an experienced trader to head up its China carbon trading team.

Commodities trader Trafigura has hired a former Shell trader to lead its carbon trading operations in Asia, Carbon Pulse has learned.

Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), one of the world’s largest iron ore producers, will target net zero Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, the Perth-based company announced on Tuesday.

Elizabeth Maruma Mrema says access to Covid jabs for developing world will be critical to the success of in-person Kunming Cop15 summit

Governments hoping for a global agreement to halt biodiversity loss must put more effort into access to Covid-19 vaccines for developing countries, the UN’s biodiversity chief has warned.

Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said the Kunming Cop15 summit, at which governments will try to forge a “Paris agreement for nature”, was vital for halting the global crisis of species loss.

Continue reading...

MEPs call for EU ban on all outsourced labour after Guardian investigation finds unequal pay and terms

The EU is facing calls to ban outsourcing in the meat industry, after a Guardian investigation revealed how agency workers were exploited by companies that took no responsibility for pay and conditions.

Katrin Langensiepen, vice-chair of the European parliament’s employment and social affairs committee, said the EU should ban subcontracting across all economic sectors to ensure workers receive the same pay and conditions for the same work.

Continue reading...

Six of top 10, including China and Russia, yet to show ambition on emissions cuts before Cop26

Analysis of the total carbon dioxide emissions of countries since 1850 has revealed the nations with the greatest historical responsibility for the climate emergency. But six of the top 10 have yet to make ambitious new pledges to cut their emissions before the crucial UN Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow in November.

The six include China, Russia and Brazil, which come only behind the US as the biggest cumulative polluters. The UK is eighth and Canada is 10th. Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for centuries and the cumulative amount of CO2 emitted is closely linked to the 1.2C of heating the world has already seen.

Continue reading...

Taylor announces $30 million 'gas led recovery' funds for new power station, but Forrest says it will soon run entirely on renewable hydrogen.

The post Forrest punctures Taylor’s “gas-led recovery” grant with quick switch to green hydrogen appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The old ways of doing business will not deliver change – suppliers, retailers and consumers must all take responsibility

The global fight against the impacts of climate change is a generational challenge like no other. This is a shared mission, but it is increasingly clear that levels of distrust and scepticism are running high.

The strident campaign by youth activists – such as Greta Thunberg – has challenged the status quo and highlighted the collective responsibility on current leaders to deliver change.

Grant Reid is the CEO of Mars

Continue reading...

Views are polarised over whether the solar industry is over-regulated or under-regulated. Mathew Power and Mark Williamson from the Clean Energy Regulator discuss whether we've got the regulation balance right.

The post Great Solar Business Podcast: Over or under regulated? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

IEA report says Europe is leading global hydrogen electrolyser deployment, but Australia is gaining ground. What it needs is stronger policies and a more renewable focus.

The post Australia catching Europe in global hydrogen race, but it’s not all renewable appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New IEA report finds that a small shift in energy policy ambition could see China's CO2 energy sector emissions plateau in the mid-2020s instead of 2030.

The post China could meet energy emissions peak five years early, says IEA appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Gang-gang cockatoo and tawny frogmouth not far behind as voters eliminate ibis – while a vocal bird family emerges as a favourite

• Vote now in the Australian bird of the year poll 2021

Voting in the 2021 Guardian/BirdLife Australian bird of the year has been incredibly close so far, but the superb fairywren may be pulling away from the pack.

Voting starts afresh each day, with the bottom five birds eliminated at midnight, until only 10 birds of the original 50 are left for the final vote. Because votes are not cumulative, and fans of the eliminated birds must find a new favourite, it is hard to be certain that patterns will hold for the final rounds.

Continue reading...

The PM’s spin was in full flight in Washington DC. Unless he can commit to real climate action, whatever he does at Cop26 would be more empty announcements

Should Scott Morrison go to the climate conference in Glasgow?

It depends. In my view, he should only go to the Cop26 conference if he plans on making a decent contribution to increasing global climate action. And whether he would do that remains highly questionable.

Continue reading...

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

Approval granted for Mangoola Coal to extract 52m tonnes over eight years – weeks before major global talks on climate crisis

• Follow our Australia news live blog for the latest updates
• Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing

The Morrison government has been accused of demonstrating it is not taking the climate crisis seriously after approving a third new coalmine development in a month shortly before a major international conference on the issue.

With global climate talks in Glasgow less than four weeks away, the environment minister, Sussan Ley, has given a subsidiary of the mining giant Glencore the green light to expand the Mangoola mine near Muswellbrook.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Ingeteam has signed a supply contract with Green Light Contractors Pty Ltd. (subsidiary of Elecnor S.A.) for what is set to be, once completed, the largest solar farm in Australia.

The post Ingeteam to supply its technology for the largest solar farm in Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Fortescue aims for zero emissions steel production by 2040 as part of a new net zero scope-3 emissions target.

The post Iron ore giant Fortescue aims for green, coal-free steel by 2040 in new net zero target appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Record carbon permit prices and the emergence of new emissions trading markets around the world are leading to a surge in demand for emissions traders and analysts, with multinational banks, oil majors, and commodity merchants stopping at nothing to poach top staff and aggressively build out their desks.

When a plant is stressed, it mobilises its resources and often converts its starch reserves back to sugar. As soon as this happens, the stressed plant becomes sweeter than its healthier neighbours. Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Antarctic snowfall two-and-half centuries old forms the basis of a new artwork by Wayne Binitie.