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Funding comes as part of government’s heat and buildings strategy, but campaigners say plan lacks ambition

Ministers have unveiled plans for £5,000 grants to allow people to install home heat pumps and other low-carbon boiler replacements as part of a wider heat and buildings strategy that some campaigners warned lacked sufficient ambition and funding.

Labour also condemned the plans as “more of Boris Johnson’s hot air”, without sufficient substance.

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A decision to bring forward California’s carbon neutrality goal by a decade could lead the state to alter its yearly allowance budgets under the cap-and-trade programme to meet this greater ambition, an official from state regulator ARB said Monday.

Standardised, CORSIA-grade voluntary emissions reduction (VER) prices came under further pressure this week, consolidating the downturn of a week earlier amid signs of a ramp-up in issuances.

International cooperation is crucial if we are to have the best chance of limiting global warming. So who are the key players? Matt McDonald, Associate Professor of International Relations, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

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British diets are as bad as ever, so policymakers must find ways to reduce harm to our health and the planet

It was reported this month that meat consumption in the UK has decreased by 17% over the past decade, and even Prince Charles has urged people to stop eating meat and dairy products on certain days of the week. Although still considered a contentious subject by policymakers and the public, there is strong scientific consensus that high meat consumption is extremely harmful to us and the environment. What could be seen as welcome news should really be taken as a call to action for decisive policymaking that prioritises the health of British citizens and the planet.

Despite the headlines, British diets are as bad as ever. The new data on self-reported intake suggests that, on average, every citizen consumes one serving of meat every day of the week, including four servings of red and processed meat. Meaningful policy support is required to make healthy and sustainable diets accessible, affordable and appealing for all of the British population.

Dr Marco Springmann is a senior researcher in population health at the University of Oxford

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The Russian government has taken more steps towards the development of a domestic carbon market, including setting MRV rules for companies and establishing a network of internationally-recognised emissions auditors.

Prof Phil Jones, portrayed in BBC drama The Trick, says climate scientists must be protected.

Former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon appeals to Joe Biden and Xi Jinping to meet and find common ground

US president Joe Biden and the president of China, Xi Jinping, have been urged to meet before the UN Cop26 climate talks to search for common ground by the former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and other prominent global voices.

“We are appealing to the leaders of the US and China to see their common interest and find a way to work together. We need an ambitious 2030 [carbon] target from China and the US to deliver what they have pledged,” said Ban, speaking on behalf of the Elders group of former world statespeople and prominent community and business leaders.

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News comes day after the Guardian revealed data that lists 120,000 sites in US that may be, or may have been, handling the chemicals

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday announced a “strategic roadmap” it said would help restrict a class of toxic chemicals from being released into the environment and accelerate the cleanup of existing contamination of so-called “forever chemicals” that are associated with a range of human health dangers.

The news comes a day after the Guardian revealed an EPA data set that lists roughly 120,000 industrial sites around the country that may be, or may have been, handling PFAS chemicals. The data set includes facility locations and operation details, and was compiled by EPA researchers to help state and local officials work with the federal government in addressing contamination concerns.

“Aggressive” timelines to set enforceable drinking water limits under the Safe Drinking Water Act “to ensure water is safe to drink in every community”.

Timelines for actions involved in the establishment of “effluent guideline limitations”, for nine industrial categories.

Establishment of a hazardous substance designation under the federal Superfund law that enhances the government’s ability to hold PFAS polluters financially accountable.

A review of past actions on PFAS taken under the Toxic Substances Control Act to address those that are insufficient.

Increased monitoring, data collection and research so that the agency can identify what actions are needed and when to take them.

A final toxicity assessment for a type of PFAS called GenX used in manufacturing nonstick coatings that has been found in drinking water, rainwater and air samples.

Continued efforts to address PFAS emissions into the air.

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South Korea on Monday as expected approved its upgraded 40% emissions reduction target by 2030, which contains steep cuts for sectors in the emissions trading scheme and a shared role for government and the private sector in buying carbon credits from abroad.

Cancellation follows reports local estate owners were worried about predator’s impact on other birds

A pioneering project to return white-tailed eagles to Norfolk for the first time in 200 years has been cancelled at the last minute to the dismay of conservationists.

The UK’s largest birds of prey were to be released at Wild Ken Hill, the estate that is home to the BBC’s Autumnwatch programme, from next year, with plans to set 60 birds loose over 10 years.

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EUAs reversed early losses on Monday morning in the run-up to the latest auction of gas transshipment capacity through Ukraine, while natural gas rose strongly after Russia's Gazprom declined to book any capacity in the sale.

In a greenhouse in Worcestershire, Shockingly Fresh grows towers of leafy veg for supermarket shelves

The largest naturally lit vertical farm in Britain has begun harvesting and the creators plan to build 40 more.

It looks nothing like a traditional farm, with bright white towers of leafy green vegetables stacked as high as the eye can see. But Shockingly Fresh’s first giant greenhouse, in Offenham, Worcestershire, is harvesting thousands of bunches of pak choi and lettuce destined for supermarket shelves. The farm is suited to a variety of leafy greens, as well as strawberries and herbs.

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French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has vowed to end all subsidies for renewable energy and tear down all France’s wind turbines, if she is elected the country’s next President. The far-right National Front, recently renamed the National Rally, or Rassemblement National, is better known outside of France for its anti-immigration stance, and is led […]

The post France far right candidate Marine Le Pen vows to tear down country’s wind turbines appeared first on RenewEconomy.

People don’t need catchprases: they need resources and empowerment so they can secure good green jobs

• Anna Markova is the Trades Union Congress’s co-lead on climate and industrial policy

If you really want to know what a just transition looks like, don’t start with the official speeches of Cop26. Ideally, don’t even ask me. Ask those who need it most.

Ask a teenager in south Wales, where coal mining jobs have not been replaced by alternatives and unemployment levels are among the highest in the UK. Ask the oil rig worker who has been travelling to work by helicopter for 15 years but is having to pay £2,000 for yet another helicopter safety training course to be able to work on a wind turbine. Ask the Eurostar driver who does not know if the train she drives will still be running in two months’ time. Ask, if you can, one of the Uyghur people forced by Chinese authorities to work in a labour camp to make polysilicone for solar panels.

Anna Markova is the Trades Union Congress’s co-lead on climate and industrial policy

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Failure to pass legislation to cut emissions before the UN summit in Glasgow could be catastrophic for efforts to curb global heating

With furious environmental activists at the gates of the White House, and congressional Democrats fretting that a priceless opportunity to tackle catastrophic global heating may be slipping away, Joe Biden is facing mounting pressure over a climate agenda that appears to be hanging by a thread.

Biden’s allies have warned that time is running perilously short, both politically and scientifically, for the US to enact sweeping measures to slash planet-heating emissions and spur other major countries to do the same. Failure to do so will escalate what scientists have said are “irreversible” climate impacts such as disastrous heatwaves, floods, wildfires and a mass upheaval of displaced people.

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Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan’s largest trading company with ten business units, will target a halving of its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and aim for net zero operational emissions by 2050, the company announced on Monday.

China's thermal power growth picked up in September from the 10-month low recorded the previous month, official data showed Monday, but the numbers were still moderate as coal shortages and curbs on energy-intensive industries continued to weigh on the market.

Industrial conglomerate INEOS plans to make a big investment in developing Europe’s green hydrogen capacity, with an announcement on Monday to commit €2 billion in what will be the region’s largest investment to date in electrolysis projects.