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CFC chemicals once used in refrigerators would have driven 2.5C of extra warming by 2100 if they had not been outlawed, researchers claim

The ozone-wrecking chemicals once commonly used in refrigerators would have driven 2.5C of extra global heating by the end of the century if they had not been banned, research has found.

Modelling by climate scientists found that the 1987 Montreal protocol curbing chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) gave humans a fighting chance of limiting global heating to 1.5C as set out by the Paris agreement.

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Europe's biggest utility plans to add another 1,000MW of renewables capacity in Australia and is seeking a retail licence to focus on industrial customers.

The post Italian energy giant plans another 1,000MW renewables in Australia, seeks retail licence appeared first on RenewEconomy.

BHP is banking profits from its failing assets, while washing its hands of the responsibility for its past and ongoing contribution to climate change. Jeremy Moss, Professor of Political Philosophy, UNSW Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

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

A second member of a gang of Oxbridge-educated forest carbon investment fraudsters has been handed another decade in a British jail for failing to repay £10 million in ill-gotten gains.

Australian National University researchers set new efficiency record for double-sided solar cells and hope deliver a boost solar farm output.

The post Australian researchers set new efficiency record for double-sided solar cells appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Studies show some animals can recognise the threat of fire, and behave in a way that increase their chance of survival. But what about wildlife who have evolved in areas where fire was once rare? Dale Nimmo, Associate Professor in Ecology, Charles Sturt University Alex Carthey, Macquarie University Research Fellow, Macquarie University Chris J Jolly, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Charles Sturt University Daniel T. Blumstein, Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Tearing down old structures and throwing up new ones is how we usually make our streetscapes. It’s also ruinous for the climate

A new and highly swanky hotel lands in Edinburgh, a mass of shimmering bronze-coloured coils, and all anyone can think to say is: doesn’t that look like a giant poo emoji? Londoners are confronted with plans for a giant burning-red orb, which will supposedly serve as a concert venue, and it brings on the shudders.

New buildings can amuse or repulse us, induce awe or yawns, but there is a case for thinking of them less as objects to walk around and more as processes to worry about – because the process of building is one of the most wasteful and carbon-hungry engaged in by humanity. We tear down old houses or shops, and to create new ones, we cover the Earth with materials that have gobbled up fossil fuels: Concrete, of which the world pours enough each year to patio over every park and mountain and back garden, every square inch, in England; steel, of which every tonne produced emits nearly two tonnes of carbon dioxide; plastics. While Conservative MPs argue over who is going to foot the bill for green energy for our homes, hardly anyone in Westminster discusses the upfront carbon costs of building houses and office blocks and shopping malls. Yet construction directly accounts for about 10% of our carbon emissions. Turning approximately 50,000 buildings to rubble every year creates two-thirds of all the waste produced in this country. If the UK is ever to translate its net zero ambitions into reality it will need to change the entire building industry.

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This year there will be a special focus on the species many of us are likely to see in lockdown

Bird of the year is back! The Guardian/BirdLife Australia poll for 2021 will begin on 27 September with a list of 50 shortlisted species.

In 2017 the magpie fought off strong support for the white ibis to win. In 2019 the highly endangered black-throated finch, which is under threat from the expansion of the Adani Carmichael coalmine, triumphed after backing from a highly organised online campaign.

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A global treaty banning ozone-depleting chemicals in 1987 may have averted a climate catastrophe today.

Country’s vice-president’s remarks after investigation highlighted concerns about ExxonMobil deal

Guyana will seek much better terms for any future oil deals than their contract with ExxonMobil, the country’s vice-president said on Tuesday.

The tiny South American country has become one of the most desired oil exploration spots after an ExxonMobil-led group, which also includes the US-based exploration firm Hess Corp and the Chinese oil company CNOOC, discovered about 9bn barrels of recoverable oil and gas off the coast.

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Hundreds of dead fish have appeared along shores of one of Europe’s largest saltwater lagoons

Prosecutors in the southern Spanish region of Murcia have launched an investigation after hundreds of dead fish began washing up along the shores of one of Europe’s largest saltwater lagoons.

Residents in the area sounded the alarm this week, posting footage on social media that showed scores of small fish and shrimp littering the beaches of the coastal lagoon known as Mar Menor in south-east Spain.

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Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston saw his party win an unexpected majority government in Tuesday’s election, rendering uncertain the future of the Canadian province’s cap-and-trade programme.  

Cop15 negotiations to set this decade’s targets on nature to be split into two, with face-to-face meetings delayed until 2022

A key United Nations biodiversity summit has been delayed for a third time due to the pandemic, the Chinese environment ministry has announced, as environmentalists pledged the delay would “not mean taking our foot off the pedal”.

In a statement, the Chinese ministry of ecology and environment confirmed that Cop15, the biggest biodiversity summit in a decade, would be delayed, and that negotiations for this decade’s targets will be split into two phases so that governments can meet face-to-face in Kunming, China, in the first half of 2022.

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WCI carbon traders anticipate the August current vintage auction on Wednesday will settle below the secondary market, with some participants expecting a steeper discount than the Q2 sale despite allowance prices surging over the summer.

More than any other legislation in US history it will transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and into sustainable energy

The latest International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is clear and foreboding. If the United States, China and the rest of the world do not act extremely aggressively to cut carbon emissions, the planet will face enormous and irreversible damage. The world that we will be leaving our children and future generations will be increasingly unhealthy and uninhabitable.

But we didn’t really need the IPCC to tell us that. Just take a look at what’s happening right now: A huge fire in Siberia is casting smoke for 3,000 miles. Greece: burning. California: burning. Oregon: burning. Historic flooding in Germany and Belgium. Italy just experienced the hottest European day ever. July 2021 was the hottest month ever recorded. Drought and extreme weather disturbances are cutting food production, increasing hunger and raising food prices worldwide. Rising sea levels threaten Miami, New York, Charleston and countless coastal cities around the world in the not-so-distant future.

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Australia’s carbon offset market was worth A$226 million ($164 mln) in FY2020-21, according to analysts Reputex, as pressure on major corporations to set net zero emission targets helped add 20% to total demand year-on-year.

Carbon was moderately firmer in early Wednesday trading on the back of a strong daily auction, while most European energy markets recovered from Tuesday's declines.

Mayors such as Newham’s Rokhsana Fiaz say they do not have the investment or powers they need

• Retrofitting: why carbon-reducing renovations are going to be big business

The government is failing to provide local leaders with the investment and resources they need to achieve net zero, according to the mayor of Newham.

Rokhsana Fiaz, the first woman to become a directly elected mayor of a London borough, said her council’s “appetite [to achieve net zero] is high: we’ve got the knowhow and we know where the problems are” but, she said, the government isn’t providing local leaders with what they need.

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Trading company Itochu on Wednesday announced it will develop Japan’s first mangrove project in a boost for the country’s fledgling blue carbon market.