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Negotiators at the UN’s International Maritime Organisation are honing in on a revised emissions strategy for shipping, with officials finalising draft text on Thursday that is more ambitious than the IMO's 2018 version but still adrift from aligning the sector with Paris Agreement climate objectives.

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) has received a $12 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund to support an international system to independently ensure the accuracy of satellite monitoring of forest biomass.

Zambia is following in the footsteps of other African nations and will regulate its carbon market and take a share of revenues.

Next generation cells surpass limits of today’s cells and will accelerate rollout of cheaper, more efficient solar power

Solar power cells have raced past the key milestone of 30% energy efficiency, after innovations by multiple research groups around the world. The feat makes this a “revolutionary” year, according to one expert, and could accelerate the rollout of solar power.

Today’s solar panels use silicon-based cells but are rapidly approaching their maximum conversion of sunlight to electricity of 29%. At the same time, the installation rate of solar power needs to increase tenfold in order to tackle the climate crisis, according to scientists.

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World Athletics president says climate crisis and poor air quality may cause havoc to the sporting calendar

London will not be considered as a host for large sporting events such as the World Athletics Championships because of its poor air quality, Sebastian Coe has warned.

The World Athletics president and two-time Olympic gold medallist, who led the capital’s successful bid for the 2012 Games, added that rising temperatures would force sports bodies to change their calendar of events.

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The EU will need additional investments of over €620 billion annually will be needed to meet its climate and energy security objectives, the European Commission said in a report on Thursday, flagging that the private sector will need to meet the bulk of the funding and stressing the importance of ETS revenues.

Archaeologists use a new technique to discover that a high-status tomb contained a woman not a man.

Gabriel Barajas and Malea Tribble thought ‘it was all over for us’ – but marine expert suggests shark was merely being ‘inquisitive’

A pair of paddleboarders raising money for charity had a frightening encounter with a hammerhead shark that circled them near Florida’s coast – and the entire incident was caught on video.

Gabriel Barajas and Malea Tribble were paddling from Florida to the Bahamas, an 80-mile journey, to raise money for cystic fibrosis awareness, WJZY reported.

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Portugal is considering linking its yet-to-be-launched domestic voluntary carbon market (VCM) with that of Spain for liquidity purposes, a government official told a conference on Thursday.

South Pole has taken a stake in a start-up tracking and trading platform that specialises in the procurement of hourly matched renewable energy certificates.

Carbon credit certifier Gold Standard has released a new methodology for projects that reduce methane emissions from rice cultivation, five months after a popular UN protocol was embroiled in controversy.

The country generates more solar energy than all other countries combined, but burns half the planet’s coal. There are lessons here for the rest of us, though

Big numbers are a hallmark of China’s economy and now its energy transition: they thrill, they mystify, and at times they contradict, at least on the surface.

China’s solar capacity is now 228 gigawatts (GW), more than the rest of the world combined, according to Global Energy Monitor. And wind capacity, at a whopping 310GW, also leads the world. With another 750GW of new wind and solar projects in the pipeline, China will hit its 2030 target of 1,200GW – an unimaginable number when proposed just a few years ago – five years early.

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Large corporations with net zero pledges are offering better terms and extended contracts for buying carbon credits, and are increasingly seeking removal credits, a Dutch project developer announced in a bullish update on Thursday.

Captain of tourist boat from Baja California, Mexico, says grey whales return repeatedly for ‘grooming’

Grey whales have learned to approach whale-watching boats to have parasites removed by human beings, it has been claimed.

Video footage documenting the behaviour in the Ojo de Liebre lagoon, off the coast of Baja California, Mexico, shows a grey whale having whale lice picked off its head by the captain of a small boat. “I have done it repeatedly with the same whale and others,” Paco Jimenez Franco told a US news site. “It is very exciting for me.”

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A weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

European carbon prices eased further on Thursday morning, as bearish technical indicators and slumping gas markets continued to pressure EUAs, and UK Allowances continued their fall in the wake of key reform documentation published earlier this week.

Japan on Thursday announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kyrgyzstan, making the Central Asian nation its 27th partner country under the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM).

The climate activist blocked a port handling fossil fuels with a group of young activists in June.

Exclusive: Scientists hope success of growing carnivorous plants without peat will convince ministers not to water down ban

The proposed ban on using peat on private gardens and allotments is in danger of being weakened as opponents argue it is more difficult to grow carnivorous plants and other flowers without the environmentally damaging compost products.

However, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is hoping a successful experiment in which carnivorous plants grown peat-free outshone those grown in peat will convince ministers not to water down the ban.

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Two Tokyo-listed companies have launched an initiative to simplify the lengthy process of creating government-issued J-Credits while facilitating carbon credit trading through the use of IoT and blockchain technology, as the country is seeking ways to boost the supply of domestic offsets.