Feed aggregator

Every additional tonne of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere costs society nearly four times more than the US government's central estimate currently used under President Joe Biden's administration, according to a multi-year study published Thursday.

Judgment is huge victory for campaigners concerned about effect of seismic waves on marine life

A South African court has upheld a ban imposed on the energy giant Shell from using seismic waves to explore for oil and gas off the Indian Ocean coast.

The judgment delivered in Makhanda on Thursday marks a monumental victory for environmentalists concerned about the impact the exploration would have on whales and other marine life.

Continue reading...

The European Commission is considering additional measures to help shield the bloc’s heavy industry from soaring energy prices, a senior official told parliamentarians on Thursday, admitting that regulation is falling short of providing the needed level of support to energy-intensive manufacturers.

The head of business development at a Dutch trading firm has joined the staff of a North American carbon hedge fund, while a California Carbon Allowance (CCA) and Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) market participant is joining a New York-based commodity and energy trader, Carbon Pulse has learned.

The skeleton of a long-necked Mbiresaurus raathi is believed to be more than 230 million years old.

EUAs made a robust recovery late Thursday morning after sliding to a one-month low as the market nervously awaited the resumption of full auction volumes, before a better-than-expected sale rallied sentiment, while energy markets slid as reports emerged suggesting industrial energy consumption has fallen sharply.

New border controls on travellers bringing in pork, in bid to keep out African Swine Fever.

The California Assembly on Wednesday night declined to approve a bill to increase the stringency of the state’s 2030 GHG goal, though lawmakers passed a suite of other climate and energy-related bills as the legislative session came to a close.

Amid mounting energy and climate crises, the would-be prime minister is burying her head in an eternal culture war

How best to describe wilfully vandalising the planet and threatening human life to satisfy ideological bloodlust? Liz Truss – already a plausible contender for the “worst prime minister ever” gong before she even assumes office – apparently intends to issue up to 130 drilling licences for oil and gas firms. If the purpose of this is to confront the looming social catastrophe of energy bills, to describe it as an exercise in futility would be generous: it takes the best part of three decades to pump fossil fuels out of the ground and put them onstream.

As Russia switches off Europe’s flow of gas via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline – it implausibly cites maintenance work as the reason – the need for drastic, swift action could not be more obvious, yet our soon-to-be prime minister has nothing meaningful to offer.

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist

Continue reading...

Part of the key to collective action may be to overcome the ‘false social reality’ that makes us assume no one else cares about the climate

America is polarized, but a new study has revealed one issue on which the nation is surprisingly united: mitigating climate change.

Yet Americans themselves underestimate the US population’s concern for the state of the climate and support for major climate mitigation policies – by a whopping 80–90%, according to researchers from Boston College, Princeton University and Indiana University Bloomington.

Adrienne Matei is a freelance journalist

Continue reading...

The world's largest completed wind farm, the 1.3GW Hornsea 2 project off the coast of Yorkshire, is now in full operation,

The post World’s largest wind farm begins full operation off the coast of Yorkshire appeared first on RenewEconomy.

China saw a record 8% fall in CO2 emissions in the April-to-June quarter, as the economy is being dragged down by an embattled property sector and Covid disruptions, according to an analysis published Thursday. 

Japan on Thursday opened a second registration window for companies that want to participate in its planned domestic voluntary carbon market.

He risks ruining his legacy for a project that will bring more pollution to some of London’s worst-hit areas

‘I am the first green mayor of London,” Sadiq Khan proclaimed last year during the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. The Labour party mayor has built a reputation for tackling air pollution. In 2019, he introduced ultra-low emission zones in the nation’s capital. New cycle infrastructure has appeared throughout the city, alongside cycling training courses, and London is brimming with electric buses. It’s no surprise that since 2016, the year Khan was elected, air pollution in London has plunged dramatically.

So it makes little sense that Khan has refused to reverse the Silvertown tunnel. The 1.4km twin-bore road tunnel under the Thames is due for completion in 2025 and will connect the boroughs of Greenwich and Newham. The project is a Johnson mayoral-era solution to the severe delays at the Blackwall tunnel that links Greenwich to Tower Hamlets. TfL claims that the Silvertown tunnel will “help reduce the environmental impact of traffic congestion on some of London’s most polluted roads”, but Greenwich and Newham locals argue that it will do the exact opposite, bringing more pollution to the area.

Diyora Shadijanova is a journalist and writer

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com

Continue reading...

NatureCo is currently looking for an experienced General Manager of Commercial Development to drive growth through stakeholder engagement and working with clients to address their climate change needs.

George Monbiot criticised ‘chefs and foodies’ like me for focusing on regenerative grazing. But alternative, lab-grown foods, could have terrible consequences

I have huge admiration for George Monbiot, a columnist of this newspaper. His work has highlighted the urgent need to reduce our CO2 emissions and switch to greener energy. He has also shown intensive farming’s role in the dramatic levels of species decline and biodiversity loss. Much of what he writes I wholeheartedly agree with – but when it comes to the solutions we need to change our farming and food systems, we have radically different takes.

It is indisputable that the farming “revolution” of the 1950s, with its widespread use of ammonia fertilisers and herbicides, pesticides and fungicides, has waged war on nature. These intensive, monocultural ways of producing food are not only contaminating our land and waterways, but are heating up our planet and contributing to a crisis in human health (more people die of diet-related disease globally than smoking, according to a study published in the Lancet). The animals in factory farms don’t have a great time either. The decline of insect life is incredibly worrying: without the earthworm, beetle and bee, life as we know it could cease. Topsoils, which we use to grow 95% of the world’s food, are depleting at an astonishing rate. We need to change the way we eat and produce food, and we need to do it quickly.

Thomasina Miers is a cook, writer and restaurateur

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com

Continue reading...

A joint venture (JV) led by Australian oil and gas operator Woodside has been awarded a permit for the potential development of an offshore CO2 storage site in Western Australia, it announced on Thursday.

By embracing renewables, Australia's miners could lead the world in extracting "green minerals" needed to power global decarbonisation.

The post Australian miners seen in top spot to lead global sector green appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Is carbon capture and storage a realistic climate solution, or a subsidy harvesting exercise to extend the life of fossil fuel assets? We review 13 projects to find out.

The post Carbon capture remains a risky investment for achieving decarbonisation  appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australia's energy market rule maker has bowed to pressure to lift price caps on the wholesale electricity prices in one of the biggest reforms to the market in years.

The post Energy price caps lifted in major market shift to accommodate expensive fossil fuels appeared first on RenewEconomy.