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The world will have released more planet-heating emissions than have occurred since the industrial revolution, analysis found

Burning the world’s proven reserves of fossil fuels would emit more planet-heating emissions than have occurred since the industrial revolution, easily blowing the remaining carbon budget before societies are subjected to catastrophic global heating, a new analysis has found.

An enormous 3.5tn tons of greenhouse gas emissions will be emitted if governments allow identified reserves of coal, oil and gas to be extracted and used, according to what has been described as the first public database of fossil fuel production.

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Is it possible to make an industry average scheme work? Yes, with enough gaffer tape. Is it the best pathway to take? Maybe not.

The post Safeguard Mechanism: What to make of the “industry-average” baseline scheme appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Solar is doing well – and particularly associated home battery uptake; wind power is struggling; and China is rapidly becoming the main factor limiting global decarbonisation.

The post Three global renewables trends to watch for – and what they mean for Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australian renewables champion Miles George joins non-executive ranks of AGL Energy, as part of major overhaul of the board at the big three gen-tailer.

The post AGL board clean-out continues, with new chair – and a new renewables champion appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Origin Energy says it is getting out of the gas exploration business, starting with its share in the controversial Beetaloo Basin project, as it shifts its focus to the energy transition.

The post Origin announces exit from gas exploration, starting with Beetaloo Basin appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Presbyterian Ladies’ College in Sydney’s inner west is taking part in the Turtles in Schools program which aims to encourage future generations to take care of the environment. Led by Western Sydney University, the program is currently in a trial phase, with select New South Wales schools. By 2023, up to 10 turtle tanks will be installed in schools. By 2024, the program will be available to all year 5 and 6 classrooms across the country

• Teaching with turtles: the NSW program turning school students into conservationists

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Cyclones, floods and other climate-linked events are threatening Indigenous heritage tens of thousands of years old. Unless we act, they’ll be gone for good. Anna M. Kotarba-Morley, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, Flinders University Enid Tom, Kaurareg Elder and director of Kaurareg Native Title Aboriginal Corporation, Indigenous Knowledge Marcus Lacey, Senior Gumurr Marthakal Indigenous ranger, Indigenous Knowledge Shawnee Gorringe, Manager at Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation, Indigenous Knowledge Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

UK supermarket chains have dropped the use of “best before” date labels to reduce the amount of food being thrown out when it’s still perfectly edible. It’s just as big a problem in Australia. Louise Grimmer, Senior Lecturer in Retail Marketing, University of Tasmania Nathan Kilah, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, University of Tasmania Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Winning the 2024 climate talks could pressure Australia to rejoin the Green Climate Fund, increase its 2035 emissions target, and ditch new coal and gas developments

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If the Albanese government has its way, in two years’ time up to 20,000 people – political leaders, diplomats, lobbyists, activists and professional greenwashers – will spend a fortnight in Sydney (or maybe Brisbane or Melbourne) in what will inevitably be described as an attempt to save the planet.

Labor promised before the election that if it won power it would bid to host a Cop (a conference of the parties to the United Nations framework convention on climate change), hopefully in partnership with Pacific island neighbours.

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Schools host the reptiles and visit them in wetlands. Environmental groups say it augurs well for an activist future

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When students from Lithgow visited wetlands near their primary school west of Sydney, they quickly picked up on a problem: there was nowhere for turtles.

“A bunch of students said there are no logs or rocks here, so where are they going to bask?,” Assoc Prof Ricky Spencer, from Western Sydney University, said. “I thought, that is a good point.”

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Along with subsidising big polluters, governments are setting in place repressive anti-protest laws to protect them

The climate crisis accelerates. Anti-protest laws proliferate.

These developments are not unrelated.

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Labor's climate modeller says proposal to award free credits to big polluters who do better than an industry average could kill integrity of Safeguard Mechanism.

The post Labor modeller says plan for free credits could kill integrity of Safeguard scheme appeared first on RenewEconomy.

An analysis firm has cautioned that one of the proposed designs of the Australian government’s reformed Safeguard Mechanism is fundamentally flawed, and could lead to the country missing its climate targets if it was used.

Trevor St Baker and Brian Flannery sell out of Vales Point coal generator at massive profit, and new buyer shows no signs of contemplating an early closure.

The post St Baker and Flannery cash in on Vales Point coal plant in sale to Czechs appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Researchers hope to learn about movement of small birds using solar-powered devices tracked by satellite

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A joint plan to save an endangered bird species from extinction is benefitting from an experimental tool – tiny solar-powered backpacks.

Plains wanderers are small, fawn-coloured, ground-dwelling birds with speckled throats that live in the semi-arid grasslands of north-western Victoria and the New South Wales Riverina.

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Wind and solar hit new record peaks in main grid, pushing coal and fossil fuels to record lows, but curtailment also hits new high in South Australia.

The post Wind and solar records tumble again, as coal and fossil fuel hit another low appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Behavioural ecologist says 77-year-old Western Australian owner was probably seen by the hand-reared animal as a fellow marsupial

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Kangaroos are often considered friend, not foe. But the marsupial’s reputation took a hit this week when a 77-year-old Western Australian man was killed by the pet western grey he hand-reared from a joey.

As Peter Eades lay dying on his Redmond farm, 398km south of Perth, police were forced to shoot the three-year-old male kangaroo, which was preventing an ambulance crew from reaching the injured man.

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A new film celebrates the 1980s battle to protect the Tasmanian environment, but now protest rights in Australia are under attack

The imagery is iconic, etched into the Australian national consciousness. Pristine Tasmanian wilderness. Bulldozers trying to destroy it. A man with nothing more than a placard, desperately trying to stop heavy machinery with his bare hands. Masses of people taking to city streets. Bodies, and campsites, in the path of construction. Heavy-handed police intervention. The power of the people against the power of the state.

This past comes rushing back through archival footage in Franklin, a new feature-length documentary on the most significant environmental protest campaign in Australian history: the battle to save Tasmania’s wild, white-water river. The film has a happy ending: the protesters won and the Franklin still runs today.

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The US presidential envoy says the King can "leverage" the action needed to tackle global warming.

Fury as ‘explosive’ files reveal largest oil companies contradicted public statements and wished bedbugs upon critical activists

Criticism in the US of the oil industry’s obfuscation over the climate crisis is intensifying after internal documents showed companies attempted to distance themselves from agreed climate goals, admitted “gaslighting” the public over purported efforts to go green, and even wished critical activists be infested by bedbugs.

The communications were unveiled as part of a congressional hearing held in Washington DC, where an investigation into the role of fossil fuels in driving the climate crisis produced documents obtained from the oil giants ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP.

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