Feed aggregator

Water shortages across the continent, from France through Italy, Spain and beyond, are creating a critical situation

• Europe’s worst ever drought in pictures

Europe’s most severe drought in decades is hitting homes, factories, farmers and freight across the continent, as experts warn drier winters and searing summers fuelled by global heating mean water shortages will become “the new normal”.

The EU European Drought Observatory has calculated that 45% of the bloc’s territory was under drought warning by mid-July, with 15% already on red alert, prompting the European Commission to warn of a “critical” situation in multiple regions.

Continue reading...

Roads closed in borough of Islington as video shows streets under more than a metre of water

Thames Water is facing criticism and anger from customers after one of its water mains burst, causing street flooding at the height of a drought crisis.

The burst 91cm (36in) water main prompted many road closures around Hornsey Road, north London, as video of the incident showed streets submerged in more than a metre of water.

Continue reading...

CEFC pledges another $200 million to provide discounted loans to ANZ customers for solar panels, recycling, energy efficiency and electric vehicles.

The post CEFC commits $200m to help small business take up solar, efficiency and EVs appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Exclusive: plant at Suffolk port is slated to produce 100megawatts a year of fuel from 2026

ScottishPower is planning to build a £150m green hydrogen plant at the Port of Felixstowe to power trains, trucks and ships, the Guardian can reveal.

The energy company has drawn up proposals for a plant at the Suffolk port to produce the fuel using renewable electricity from 2026, in quantities equivalent to 100megawatts a year – enough to power 100,000 homes.

Continue reading...

The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is hosting auctions of voluntary carbon market (VCM) credits for the first time, starting with sales of half a million US reforestation offsets, it announced Monday.

EUAs opened the week on a quiet note on Monday morning, with prices little changed from Friday's settlement as volume and price volatility fell near to year-to-date lows, while energy markets were mixed as traders braced for another week of high temperatures across the region.

EnergyAustralia posts big loss and receives $1 billion cash injection from parent after coal problems cripple results, but hope lies in battery and pumped hydro plans.

The post Coal failures cripple EnergyAustralia, but future hope lies in storage projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The US Senate passed a $430 billion climate change, healthcare, and tax bill late on Sunday, paving the way for a major uptick in the nation's climate action following a House vote due this week.

England’s water and sewage chiefs awarded themselves £27m amid leakages of 2.4bn litres a day

Water company bosses should be banned from giving themselves bonuses until they fix their leaky pipes, the Liberal Democrats have demanded.

New figures uncovered by the party found that England’s water and sewage company bosses have awarded themselves about £27m in bonuses over the past two years.

Continue reading...

A Chinese hydrogen company has teamed up with the country’s biggest state-owned wind power producer and main carbon exchange to register a new hydrogen baseline and monitoring carbon crediting methodology under the CDM.

Americans throw away an estimated 2.5m plastic water bottles an hour. We need international cooperation to protect our planet and our health

Every great movie has at least one scene that stays with you.

In the 1967 classic The Graduate, directed by Mike Nichols, that scene could be when Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft) first seduces our protagonist, young Ben (Dustin Hoffman), a newly minted college graduate. Or when Ben, crazy in love, pounds the glass walls of a church. What haunts me, though, is the earlier scene in which one of Ben’s parents’ friends offers him some unsolicited advice. The man tells him that a “great future” awaits him in one word: “Plastics.”

Kim Heacox is the author of many books, including The Only Kayak, a memoir, and Jimmy Bluefeather, a novel, both winners of the National Outdoor Book Award. He lives in Alaska

Continue reading...

The Guangdong provincial government has asked local departments to collaborate on the introduction of carbon futures, though timelines for a potential product launch remain unclear.

From toucans and puffins to iridescent hummingbirds, the most unique creatures are the most vulnerable to human impacts

For decades ecologists have been warning about the homogenisation of diversity – species becoming more alike – in the living world. Now, researchers at the University of Sheffield have published research predicting that bird species with striking and extreme traits are likely to go extinct first. “The global extinction crisis doesn’t just mean that we’re losing species,” says the study’s leader, Dr Emma Hughes. “It means that we are losing unique traits and evolutionary history.”

This shows that human activity is not just drastically reducing numbers of species, it is probably disproportionately destroying the most unique, unusual and distinctive creatures on Earth.

Continue reading...

Meanwhile heavy rainfall predicted to far exceed annual averages in South and North Korea

While it feels as though Europe should be starting to see the end of its heatwaves, scorching temperatures are expected to continue across the north and west of the continent this week. As high pressure becomes established, parts of France and Spain could experience temperatures of 38C (100.4F) between Wednesday and Saturday. A prolonged hot period is also forecast to hit the UK with temperatures exceeding 30C, and maximum temperatures possibly hitting as high as 35C.

Meanwhile, low pressure and a slack south-westerly wind across the East China and Yellow seas will bring heavy rain across the Korean peninsula over the coming week, the second monsoon spell of the season. Daily rainfall totals of 100mm to 150mm could hit South Korea’s capital, Seoul, on Monday, with high levels of precipitation extending north-eastwards across northern Chungcheong and North Gyeonsang provinces.

Continue reading...

A global energy and commodity trading firm has recruited a carbon trader from Shell for its APAC environmental markets team.

Two Australian senators are withholding their critical votes on the Labor government’s climate change bill until it addresses their concerns around several Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) methodologies.

The US Senate has passed a landmark climate bill - the biggest in its history, although a fraction of what Joe Biden wanted to do.

The post “Unprecedented:” US Senate passes landmark bill to tax billionaires to fund clean energy appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Greg Balkins from Transit Systems was not sure what to expect when the first electric buses rolled out on Sydney routes. It turns out he needn’t have worried - they have performed far better than expected, and the passengers, drivers and mechanics love them.

The post The Driven Podcast: Electric buses and range anxiety appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Senate Democrats passed their climate and healthcare spending package on Sunday, sending the legislation to the House and bringing Joe Biden one step closer to a significant legislative victory ahead of crucial midterm elections in November.

'To the tens of millions of young Americans who spent years marching, rallying, demanding that Congress act on climate change, this bill is for you,' said Chuck Schumer, the US Senate majority leader. 

'The time has come to pass this historic bill'

• Senate passes $739bn healthcare and climate bill after months of wrangling
• Climate bill could slash US emissions by 40% after historic Senate vote
• What does the US-China row mean for climate change?

Continue reading...

Before the pandemic, our cities had a simple plan: let population growth drive economic activity. But the world is changing and the perpetual growth mindset has to change with it. Kate Shaw, Honorary Senior Fellow in Urban Geography and Planning, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.