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Allegra Stratton, Boris Johnson’s former press secretary, responds to question on Tories’ ‘unambitious’ climate policies

Boris Johnson’s former press secretary, who is now his spokesperson for the Cop26 climate summit, has said people could join the Green party as a way of saving the planet – while also saying joining the Tories would help as well.

Allegra Stratton, who moved from Downing Street to the Cop26 team in April, after plans were axed for daily TV briefings which she had been expected to front, made her comments to the Independent.

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Hungary-based airline Wizz Air expects its passenger capacity to reach pre-pandemic levels this summer, it said on Wednesday while criticising Brussels' proposals for an EU-wide tax on jet fuel.

This project would rapidly deforest large areas of the Amazon, which would wreak havoc on the planet

Despite increasing global concern, Jair Bolsonaro is determined to expand his exploitation of Brazil’s crucial natural resources. His latest project, one of the most destructive yet, would rapidly deforest large areas of the Amazon.

Bolsonaro’s plan? To construct a 1,000km railway system extending right into the heart of the Amazon rainforest – with trains passing within 500 metres of 726 official environmentally protected areas. The new railway, called Ferrogrão, would also entail construction within 10km of another 18 priority conservation areas established by the ministry of the environment.

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Carbon posted healthy gains in Wednesday morning trade, as a strong auction result coupled with firm energy prices acted to bolster sentiment.

Large oil and gas companies are behind most of the recent increase in demand for Australian carbon credits, which has seen prices rise by more than a quarter this year, according to analysts.

We asked a panelist of experts on when we need to start changing our economies and ways of consuming and producing. Their answer: now

We have zero years before climate and ecological breakdown, because it’s already here. We have zero years left to procrastinate. The longer we wait to act, the worse the floods, fires, droughts, famines and heatwaves will get.

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One company given grants worth $21m for drilling despite not having Northern Territory environmental approvals, senators hear

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The gas companies seeking to frack the Beetaloo Basin have been accused of sharing links to tax secrecy jurisdictions, the Liberal party and Russian plutocrats, a Senate inquiry has heard.

Opening up the Northern Territory to fracking is a key part of the Morrison government’s “gas-led recovery”, and the commonwealth is incentivising exploration through the $50m Beetaloo cooperative drilling program.

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New rules championed by Angus Taylor could benefit coal and stifle the pace of the clean energy transition. "It's terrible," said one insider.

The post Big win for coal generators as ESB pushes for Taylor’s favoured capacity markets appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Seven Chinese provinces will pilot a system that requires governments to take CO2 emissions into account when approving new projects in energy-intensive industries, most of which are on the list to be brought into the national emissions trading scheme.

The Orbital O2, which is anchored off Orkney, has the capacity to meet the annual power demand of 2,000 homes.

Conservation tool will focus on recovery efforts to give a fuller picture of threats to plant and animal populations

A new conservation tool could help put thousands of threatened animal and plant species on the road to recovery, allowing creatures such as the Sumatran rhino and the California condor to flourish once again.

Scientists have typically focused on monitoring how close endangered species are to extinction, regularly updating the severity of the risk on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list, which includes iconic wildlife such as the mountain gorilla and rare flowering plants such as the Bayard’s adder’s-mouth orchid.

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Australian zinc bromine flow battery maker raises just under $15 million in its latest capital raise, launched to help fund its push into the US market.

The post Redflow in “strong” position for US push, despite falling short on capital raise appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The first big battery in Queensland has obtained its registration and will begin delivering services to the grid in next few weeks.

The post Queensland’s first big battery gets registration, to begin charging soon appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Queensland government fast tracks new "state of the art" renewable energy training facility, complete with onsite wind turbine and solar farm.

The post Queensland greenlights $23m renewable energy skills centre appeared first on RenewEconomy.

This heavily exploited insect is the larva of the yellow mealworm beetle, whose numbers are declining in the wild

Mealworms seen in pet shops everywhere are the larva of a species of darkling beetle, the yellow mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor. They are heavily exploited and easy to breed – sold live for feeding fish, reptiles, and as bait, and dried for wild bird food. People also eat them in restaurants, baked, toasted or fried.

In the wild, however, the adult beetles – pale brown to black and shiny – are in short supply. Like so many other insects, numbers are declining. The beetles are 12-18 mm long and can be found between May and September occurring over most of the northern hemisphere, although in pockets. For example, in the UK they can be found in the Midlands, East Anglia and the south-east and only occasionally elsewhere. They are attracted to light and fly so may be found in houses before disappearing into dark corners.

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Two big solar and battery storage projects will replace a 522MW coal generator due to retire soon in Nevada.

The post Solar plus storage in Nevada to “fill the gap” left by retiring coal appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Vattenfall to trial a solar farm that will be combined with Dutch strip farming practices for organic crops.

The post Can solar and farming co-exist? Dutch trial hopes to prove a perfect match appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Head of solar developer sues against the construction of an offshore wind farm, apparently because he is worried about the view.

The post Solar developer sues to stop offshore wind farm to protect his views appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Responsible governments should be demanding an explanation of why supposed customer and welfare advocacy has gone so badly off the rails.

The post Solar tax debate needs government intervention, not a push-poll appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Spark Infrastructure to open its books to suitors after KKR consortium lifted its bid for the network and renewables investor to $5.2 billion.

The post Spark opens its books after suitors lift bid to more than $5 billion appeared first on RenewEconomy.