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The August auction for Washington’s WCI-modelled cap-and-invest programme sold out at a new high and triggered its second reserve sale this fall, according to results published Wednesday, though permit values tumbled on the secondary market after the Department of Ecology (ECY) revealed millions of these forthcoming cost containment allowances would be sold exclusively at the scheme’s lower reserve tier price well below recent levels.

The European Commission is set to introduce EU ETS allowance transaction limits as part of security measures for the market's Union Registry, with a regulation due to enter into force on Sunday that includes a provision to charge a new fee for registry access.

Compared to roughly 80% in the US, UK and NZ, only 11% of Australian homes have high-performance windows. Installing them can transform a household’s comfort, energy use and emissions. Trivess Moore, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University Lisa de Kleyn, Research Fellow, Climate Change Adaptation Lab, La Trobe University Tom Simko, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Our research has found 30,000 farm dams which could be used as energy storage. Solar by day, hydro by night. Nicholas Gilmore, Lecturer in Engineering Design, UNSW Sydney Martino Malerba, ARC DECRA Fellow, Deakin University Thomas Britz, Senior Lecturer, UNSW Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Despite suffering some of the worst impacts of climate change, the continent only gets 12% of financing.

Some 13% of approximately 1,000 banks covered by ISS ESG’s data service are linked to biodiversity controversies, according to an executive at the company.

Tens of thousands of UK buildings should be safety checked because of RAAC concrete, experts warn.

A group of REDD project developers and experts are backing a new standard body that will provide an alternative to Verra’s proposed consolidated methodology for avoided deforestation, a well-placed source has told Carbon Pulse.

An announcement is likely soon on the UK becoming a fully-fledged member of the multi-billion euro programme.

A group of UN finance organisations have launched voluntary principles to guide market participants for bond instruments in an effort to increase biodiversity and climate-focused investment in marine projects.

A coalition comprising some of the largest environmental organisations and business groups has banded together to define the term 'nature positive', in a bid to clear up its meaning for stakeholders in nature and biodiversity.

States face challenges getting federal aid amid dwindling Fema funds and laws that don’t consider heat a climate disaster

The spiraling costs of extreme weather in the US are hitting hard as more than 60 million Americans are under heat alerts this week, experts say, even though federal law does not explicitly consider heatwaves to be climate disasters.

Temperatures on Tuesday climbed toward record highs across the north-east, upper midwest and mid-Atlantic, with the south also bracing for soaring temperatures later in the week.

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Decision on regulations for ground-level ozone – AKA smog – avoids election-year battle with industry groups and Republicans

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is delaying plans to tighten air quality standards for ground-level ozone – better known as smog – despite a recommendation by a scientific advisory panel to lower air pollution limits to protect public health.

The decision by the EPA Administrator, Michael Regan, means that one of the agency’s most important air quality regulations will not be updated until well after the 2024 presidential election.

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Two German carmakers and a large e-fuels firm announced at a summit in Munich that they will develop a direct air capture facility to be installed in Chile in 2024.

Michael Gove, who pledged to boost protections, now plans to scrap them. No wonder natural habitats are threatened

• Stella Creasy is the chair of the Labour Movement for Europe and the Labour and Cooperative MP for Walthamstow

This week politicians have again been talking crap – the kind that ends up clogging our waterways and streams and making them toxic. Nutrient neutrality sounds like something a health food drink promises. In layperson’s terms, these policies ensure that the materials leaching into our natural water sources help to maintain a healthy oxygen balance so that all – fish, fowl or human – can imbibe it safely. This can be put at risk by sewage discharges into our rivers. In political terms, however, these debates are proof that this government is happy to sell our precious environmental standards down the river.

As a result of farming and development, phosphates and nitrates get discharged into the soil and then to rivers, leading to eutrophication – waterways choking with algae.

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A large energy and chemicals firm based in South Africa has partnered with a voluntary carbon project developer, the firms announced in a release Wednesday, which will see historically one of the largest corporate buyers of credits secure fresh supply.

European carbon continued to trade in a narrow range, moving slightly higher over the morning as the market took account of the two-day pause in daily auctions while positioning data showed that speculative traders had increased their net short holdings.

New solar installations around the globe are expected to reach nearly 400 gigawatts (GW) in 2023, driven by China and record low prices for solar modules.

The post New solar installations to hit nearly 400GW this year as module prices hit new lows appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The climate crisis and soaring temperatures are worsening air quality, WMO says, with ‘knock-on effects’

Heatwaves across the world are worsening air quality and pollution, scientists have said.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said extreme temperatures are not the only hazard from heatwaves but that they also cause pollution-related health problems.

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The Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) Alliance has partnered with impact data and analytics provider GIST Impact to help investors access its information.