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As the gas and oil industry gathers in Brisbane for the annual APPEA summit, data shows some member companies paid no income tax for past seven years.

The post Gas giants paying zero income tax on Australian operations, new data shows appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Despite the magnitude of Australia’s environmental decline, we still have the opportunity and ability to turn things around

It’s 1996 and I’m in my last year of undergraduate studies at James Cook University, in Townsville. World coral expert Prof Terry Hughes cautions our class that on current trajectories, climate change and coral bleaching threaten destruction of the Great Barrier Reef. In another class, rainforest expert Prof Stephen Williams shares his concerns that increasing temperatures will force highly climate-sensitive animals – including the golden bowerbird and lemuroid ringtail possum – to move higher and higher up mountains in the ancient rainforests of the Wet Tropics, to cling to survival in cooler refuges. Of course, once trapped on a mountain top, there’s nowhere further for many wildlife species to retreat to.

As an optimistic 21-year-old, their warnings are unsettling, but I’m not panicked. I’m still hopeful science will help provide answers to the challenges at hand, and naively, I trust that our political leaders will act swiftly. In doing so we’ll avoid any genuinely dire outcomes for the wildlife and ecosystems so many Australians, and indeed people globally, hold so dear. After all, we are entwined with and completely dependent upon nature, so allowing its demise would be genuinely reckless, right?

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Australia's biggest wind and solar hybrid energy project signs long term supply deal with retailing giant Woolworths.

The post Australia’s biggest wind and solar hybrid signs supply deal for Woolworths appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New chief executive named at Synergy as state owned utility prepares to close first coal units and charge up its first big battery.

The post Synergy names new CEO as it prepares first big battery and coal closures appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New Zealand announces “landmark” Emissions Reduction Plan designed to set country on pathway for net zero by 2050.

The post “We must wean ourselves off fossil fuels:” New Zealand launches “landmark” climate plan appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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

Lobbying is mounting in shipping markets to dedicate revenues from a proposed global carbon levy into decarbonising the maritime sector.

A decision on whether to block RGGI compliance obligations from taking effect on Pennsylvania’s power generators will occur after the cap-and-trade programme’s June auction, according to a Commonwealth Court order published Friday.

The Quebec environment ministry (MELCC) has proposed limiting the level of free allowances for industrial emitters in the province’s WCI cap-and-trade programme, while also including a consignment-based structure for companies that implement GHG-cutting projects.

Utility Dominion Energy expects the Virginia government will leave RGGI by the end of July, though acknowledged in a filing on Friday that this date could change.

Despite being in the grip of an "energy war," Europe mostly provides the renewables policy framework Australia should aspire to.

The post Energy transition: How to combine great renewables resources with even better policies appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Three years ago, Australia was much more divided on climate and environmental issues. Unprecedented fires and floods might have changed minds, our new polling suggests. Michelle Baddeley, Associate Dean Research/Professor in Economics, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Our research shows NZ’s potential to burn forestry waste and capture the emissions in geothermal wells. But we’ll need new partnerships between power generators, manufacturers and the forestry sector. David Dempsey, Senior lecturer, University of Canterbury Karan Titus, PhD Student, University of Canterbury Rebecca Peer, Lecturer, University of Canterbury Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Mount Isa Mines responsible for 91% of emissions in the outback city despite having an ‘industry-leading air quality management framework’

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Mount Isa has been named the most polluted postcode in Australia in a new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF).

The ACF said the outback city is one of four Queensland locations listed among the Top 10 most polluted postcodes in the country, alongside Gladstone, Stanwell and Tarong.

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The UAE is to buy 500 gas decarbonisation devices over the next five years which will cut the equivalent of half a million tons of CO2 over the next decade, with the gas-rich Gulf nation aiming to make good on the multilateral pledge it signed up to at last year's UN climate negotiations.

Buying sentiment remained extremely weak across the voluntary carbon market (VCM) as the value of technology-based credits in particular continued to plummet, with multiple standardised exchange-traded offset contracts falling to their lowest end-of-week settlement since August.

A carbon credit ratings agency has awarded ratings to two more hydro projects, while a REDD forest protection project remained on firm's “watch” list for a potential change.

This role is a key contributor to Shell’s global carbon market analysis with a focus on offering comprehensive and regular fundamental analysis and forecasting of the global carbon offset market.

EUA prices made moderate gains on Monday as the market eyed proceedings in the European Parliament's environment committee (ENVI), where lawmakers were preparing to vote on proposed amendments to the ETS  reform bill and other Fit for 55 climate policy proposals.

Canadian company Carbon Streaming, the main seller of credits from the large Indonesian Rimba Raya REDD+ project, now expects a complete halt in offset issuances for the scheme until the government has finalised its new carbon market policy, according to news reports.