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Applying artificial intelligence (AI) at a coal-fired power station could help capture 17% more carbon dioxide while reducing energy use by 36%, according to research published Monday.

Campaigners condemn decision as regressive, saying ‘climate change affects whole world, not half of it’

The organising committee for the Cop29 global climate change summit in Azerbaijan in December comprises 28 men and no women, the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has announced.

The decision was called “regressive” by the She Changes Climate campaign group, which said “climate change affects the whole world, not half of it”. In contrast, 63% of the members of the organising committee for the Cop28 climate summit, held in the United Arab Emirates last month, were women.

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‘Voracious predators’ threaten honey production and pose risk to biodiversity, says Salvatore De Meo

Italian MEPs are calling on the European Commission to crack down on Asian hornets, which are spreading across some EU countries and killing off bees.

The yellow-legged hornets, native to south-east Asia, were first identified on the continent two decades ago, arriving in France before spreading to Spain, Belgium, Holland, Portugal and Italy, where after first appearing in 2012 they are causing havoc in the country’s northern regions.

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We are searching for a US-based CEO to lead our client’s renewable energy development initiatives across North America. Our client, an IPP, boasts an impressive track record with projects spanning Europe, Africa, and the Americas with a range of large utility-scale projects. They are passionate about utilizing natural resources to make a positive impact in the world.

A Libyan oil firm will embark on a reforestation initiative in the first quarter of 2024, aiming to plant one million trees and remove 10 MtCO2 once the programme is complete, it said over the weekend.

German farmers blocked the road leading up to the Brandenburg gate in Berlin in the latest wave of anger against efforts to protect Europe's nature from farming pollution. Government plans have included increasing taxes for farming solutions and cutting subsidies for agricultural products. Farmers in western Europe have fought with increasing ferocity against greener policies, with protests in the Netherlands and Belgium. After previous protests in Berlin in December the government watered down plans to cut subsidies for diesel in farmyard vehicles, but lobby groups are calling for them to scrap them entirely

• Why Europe’s farmers are protesting – and the far right is taking note

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Carbon Pulse has grown its European management team with two new hires and an internal promotion, as the company prepares for the departure of one of its co-founders.

European carbon prices were little changed at midday as the first auction of the year cleared close to the prevailing secondary market price, providing some support after levels had earlier dropped to a new 15-month low, while traders predicted a quiet session due to the closure of US markets for a public holiday.

Octopus Energy invests in scheme which recycles heat from computer data processing centres

Up to 150 public swimming pools in the UK could be offered an innovative way to cut their energy bills by recycling heat from computer data processing centres after a £200m investment by Octopus Energy into a green tech firm.

Tech startup Deep Green has already piloted using energy from processing centres to heat swimming pools, with the concept trialled last year in Exmouth, Devon.

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Federal and New South Wales governments tip $206m into energy upgrades for social housing, and launch Solar Banks scheme for homes unable to access solar.

The post Solar banks and efficiency upgrades promise to address energy inequality appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The world’s second-largest steel producer ArcelorMittal and the French state will invest €1.8 billion to reduce the carbon footprint at its two primary steelmaking sites in France, shaving the country’s industrial emissions by 6%, the French economy and energy minister has said.

Cyclone Belal is expected to remain a strong storm through the coming week

Active weather is expected to affect northern Australia and parts of the Mascarene Islands in the south Indian Ocean this week, with the monsoon trough a triggering factor in both cases.

The monsoon trough is an area of the Intertropical Convergence Zone that interacts with the larger scale monsoon circulation. This trough is marked by an area of relative minima in sea level pressure, as well as a local maximum of vorticity (a measure of the spin of the atmosphere).

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A Korean power company is planning to make a foray into the international carbon market by implementing a boiler replacement project to help cut emissions in Vietnam.

Creating carbon nanofibres can offer a novel way to store CO2, with green hydrogen as a useful byproduct, according to recently released study.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has appointed a major shipping company to conduct a study on the potential of ocean thermal energy in Mauritius.

Conservation groups target ‘impossible dream' of eradicating invasive predators after success of East Anglia trial

American mink – the mustelids escaped from fur farms who have decimated populations of water voles and other native birds, fish and amphibians – have been eradicated from a swath of East Anglia.

Until now, mink have never been successfully removed from any large area of Britain but the success of a trial using drops from the invasive predator’s pungent anal scent gland to lure animals into hundreds of traps raises hopes that the species can be eradicated from the whole country.

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Australia’s most prominent companies and industry associations are failing to translate their headline climate aspirations into actions that support national policies to address it, a report released Monday found.

Australian oil and gas company Santos has won its second court case against Traditional Owners and can proceed with gas pipe-laying at its Barossa gas project and the associated carbon capture and storage (CCS) project.

For some farmers already struggling, paying for more of their pollution is a step too far. Germany is the latest country to see anger boil over

The columns of tractors that have blocked roads in Germany, causing chaos in cities and headaches for commuters, are the latest wave in a growing tide of anger against efforts to protect Europe’s nature from the pollution pumped out by its farms.

In recent years, farmers in western Europe have fought with increasing ferocity against policies to protect the planet that they say cost too much. In the Netherlands, where the backlash has been strongest, a court ruling on nitrogen emissions in 2019 triggered furious and recurring protests over government efforts to close farms and cut the number of animals on them. In Belgium, similar fights led to convoys of tractors clogging the EU quarter of Brussels in March last year. In Ireland, which has seen smaller protests, dairy farmers angry at nitrogen restrictions marched with their cows to the offices of three government ministers last month.

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Federal treasurer Jim Chalmers says proposed changes to the PRRT will mean the offshore gas industry "pays more tax sooner."

The post Fossil tax tweak promises to squeeze more money from gas super profits appeared first on RenewEconomy.