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Relaxation of constraints in South Australia allows wind energy to set second output record in a week in Australia's main grid.

The post Australia sets new wind output record, breaks through 6,000MW for first time appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Never before had the world heritage committee been asked to list a site mainly because of climate impacts – and it wasn’t willing to

There are tens of billions of corals on the Great Barrier Reef that knit together to form a giant mass that is most certainly, definitely, no doubt about it, in danger.

Nobody at the world heritage committee late on Friday night thought otherwise.

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Friday's decision from the World Heritage Committee doesn't change the irrefutable evidence that dangerous impacts are occurring on the Great Barrier Reef. Jon C. Day, PSM, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University Scott F. Heron, Associate Professor, James Cook University Terry Hughes, Distinguished Professor, James Cook University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

The US government has tightened rules on which space-goers can claim their astronaut wings.

Gazprom’s trading arm has parted ways with its head of environmental products, while a London-based emissions trader at a carbon hedge fund appears to have left his role.

WCI speculative firms added to their California Carbon Allowance (CCA) position over the past week, as emitters slightly increased their holding over the period to mark the second consecutive week-on-week gain, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.

There are concerns a new UN biodiversity framework is not ambitious enough and calls for Australia to take a leading role

Can nature have its own Paris moment?

It’s the question facing countries negotiating a new United Nations agreement aimed at stemming the global loss of wildlife.

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Floods, fires and droughts show the global urgency. But the prospects are not looking good for the COP26 conference

The global reality of the climate crisis could hardly be more stark. A common theme is clear, from western Germany, where about 200 people perished in floods, to Henan province in central China, where at least 50 have died and about 400,000 have been evacuated after overwhelming downpours, to western Canada and the US, where a blistering set of heatwaves has provided the tinder for wildfires on a growing scale, through to the Middle East, where drought threatens communities from Algeria to Yemen, triggering unrest and regional disputes. On this planet there is no hiding place.

A hundred days now remain before the nations gather in Glasgow at the United Nations Cop26 climate conference on 31 October. More than 190 world leaders are expected. The UK government calls the summit the world’s last best chance. That is true. Yet words are cheaper than actions and sustained effort, especially when Boris Johnson is involved, and the last best chance is at serious risk of being lost. As things currently stand, the governments of the world, the UK included, are heading to Glasgow without having made the ambitious strategic decisions and collective sacrifices that might enable Cop26 to mark a genuine turning point that is needed in the battle to contain and reverse global heating.

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The country’s perilous waters have made or broken past leaders. The climate crisis will only make things worse

The footage of a torrent of muddy water engulfing the broad thoroughfares of Zhengzhou, China, may look like a scene from an apocalyptic sci-fi movie. But for China’s leaders, these images speak not only to a dystopian future but also to the struggles of the past – and to the issue of the Chinese Communist party’s mandate to rule.

Related: China floods: thousands trapped without fresh water as rain moves north

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Greek capital is first in Europe to create role, which will involve finding new ways to cool the city

Athens has appointed a chief heat officer to protect people from soaring temperatures and try to find ways to adapt the city to the heatwaves and extreme weather that are striking the capital more frequently as the result of the climate emergency.

The appointment, made on Friday by the mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, is the first in Europe and believed to be only the second in the world, after Miami-Dade county in Florida appointed a chief heat officer earlier this year.

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• California official: ‘Water stealing has never been more severe’

• Water taken from hydrants, homes, rivers and wells

Extreme and prolonged drought in the American west is prompting water thieves to tap into other people’s scarce supplies.

More than 12bn gallons of water have been stolen in California in the past eight years, according to state officials, but the issue has been further exacerbated by the ongoing drought and recent searing early summer heatwaves.

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A summary of legislative and regulatory action on carbon pricing, clean fuel standards, and clean energy at the US subnational and federal level this week, including in Washington state and federal legislation regarding a carbon tariff.

Researchers suggest net increase would mostly occur in renewables sector, with decline in fossil fuels

If some politicians are to be believed, taking sweeping action to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement would be calamitous for jobs in the energy sector. But a study suggests that honouring the global climate target would, in fact, increase net jobs by about 8 million by 2050.

The study – in which researchers created a global dataset of the footprint of energy jobs in 50 countries including major fossil fuel-producing economies – found that currently an estimated 18 million people work in the energy industries, which is likely to increase to 26 million if climate targets are met.

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New European banking regulations could unduly hamper global carbon trading by assigning an excessive risk weighting and penalising allowance carry trades in the EU ETS, a major trade organisation representing financial market participants has warned.

Protesters filled Parliament Square in London on Friday morning, calling on Boris Johnson to make the climate crisis his top priority, as the UK prepares to host UN talks that will determine whether the world tips into environmental catastrophe this decade. A giant alarm clock showed time running out, while protesters chanted that the prime minister and his chancellor, Rishi Sunak, are 'missing in action' on the climate crisis

• 100 days to Cop26: protesters urge Boris Johnson to take climate talks seriously
• COP26 will be most important summit ever, but the UK’s leadership is already falling short

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Unesco says ‘the facts are the facts and the science is the science’ after its recommendation is ignored

The Great Barrier Reef will not be placed on a list of world heritage sites “in danger” after a global lobbying effort from Australia against the proposed listing.

The 21-country World Heritage Committee on Friday ignored a scientific assessment from the UN’s science and culture organisation, Unesco, that the reef was clearly in danger from climate change and so should be placed on the list.

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EUAs slid to test a major support as buying interest evaporated and participants speculated over reports that some EU member states had issued free allowances to industrial installations.

From fossil fuels to carbon offsetting, the British government must practise what it preaches if it is to inspire others to step up

This summer alone has seen scorching heat domes smother parts of the US and Canada with record temperatures, and blistering heatwaves sweep across Pakistan. Torrential rain has caused devastating floods in China, as well as India, Germany, Belgium and Austria. And while fires are raging in Siberia, Madagascar is experiencing the world’s first famine caused solely by the climate crisis. Even here in the UK, the first extreme heat warnings were issued earlier this week.

New extreme-weather events linked to the climate crisis have become rolling news. Their destruction and death tolls are a daily reminder that the UK-hosted Cop26 this autumn isn’t just the most important climate conference ever held, but the most important international summit of all time.

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The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a bear cub, a released howler seal and hot dogs

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