Around The Web

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

The world's largest rainforest is fast losing its ability to bounce back from human impacts, researchers say.

Danish company proposes a massive 3GW offshore wind farm, which would rank as the biggest proposed so far in Australia.

The post Plans unveiled for Australia’s biggest offshore wind project by Danish company appeared first on RenewEconomy.

German research centre claims a new world record for 2-terminal tandem solar cell efficiency, besting previous record set by Australian researchers.

The post German researchers set new tandem solar cell efficiency world record, edging out Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Colombia has the potential to be a major global player in the international carbon market, President Ivan Duque told a conference on Monday, citing plans to develop nature-based credits for use at home and abroad.

GGGI is seeking a senior level Program Manager to lead and direct the overall management of the SPAR6C Program. S/he will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day activities of program implementation by GGGI and the consortium members including the monitoring and reporting of delivery progress.

One of the architects of Brexit is calling for another UK referendum, this time on the country’s climate change plans.

The EU is in no position to embargo Russian oil and gas imports in response to the war waged by Moscow on Ukraine, the European Commission's climate chief Frans Timmermans said late on Monday, adding that such a scenario would leave some member states in real trouble if gas was halted overnight.

The mechanism tasked with responding to price spikes in the EU ETS contains too many ambiguities and is in dire need of certainty and transparency in order to give the market more credibility and investors more confidence.

A Macquarie Group led consortium has bought a French solar developer and its 16GW development portfolio for $A3.7 billion.

The post Macquarie leads $3.7bn purchase of French solar developer and 16GW project pipeline appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Standardised, exchange-traded voluntary emissions reduction (VER) prices continued to plough multi-month lows this week amid a bearish trend in global carbon and equities markets, while voluntary carbon market (VCM) participants said values on the over-the-counter (OTC), project-specific market were holding up far better.

Two of the most contentious issues of the EU's proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) will be dealt with separately by member states, a leaked draft showed on Monday, a move that could allow France to broker an “early deal” on the flagship file without getting stuck on controversies.

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) will no longer accept commitments or validate targets from fossil fuel companies, the partnership said on Monday, adding that it aims to complete its much-delayed methodology for the sector later in the year.

Switzerland has delayed the deadline for emitters surrendering ETS permits against last year’s emissions, the government announced Monday.

Floods allow aquatic animals to venture into places you wouldn’t expect, from crocs in swimming pools to bull sharks in a golf course. Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Chris J Jolly, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Macquarie University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

If the UK is going to need gas well into the 2030s, it would surely be better to get it close to home

The first lesson of the gas crisis is old and boring: the UK should get serious about insulating its leaky properties. If all homes that have energy performance certificate band D were upgraded to band C, the UK’s total gas demand would fall by 7%, and imports by 15%, the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit calculates. Given the UK’s wretched record in insulation versus European peers, that sounds a small but easy win.

The second part – the supply side – is where the trickier stuff starts. The broad energy direction has been set towards nuclear and renewables, but there’s no getting away from the fact that gas will be in the mix for a long time yet. Virtually all transition scenarios imagine it, and you have to be an extreme optimist to believe UK consumers can quickly be converted to the joys of heat pumps.

Continue reading...

Major emitters such as China, India, and Mexico need to sharpen their 2030 climate pledges ahead of longer-term efforts, US climate envoy told a conference on Monday, flagging prospects for a further roll-out of public-private funding.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) values plummeted by nearly 9% on Monday morning as WCI permits remained tethered to pervasive bearish pressure in global equity markets and EU Allowances (EUAs).  

PM insists move will not undermine push for net zero; critics say it would have little effect on consumer bills

Boris Johnson has said the UK may have to increase domestic gas and oil production as a response to the need to wean the world off Russian resources, despite the opposition of climate campaigners and some scepticism in the cabinet.

The prime minister said the UK was looking at increasing North Sea output, although critics say it would take two decades to ramp up and would have little immediate effect on the impending rise in domestic energy bills.

Continue reading...

Sydney man who ate ‘thumbnail-sized’ piece of toadstool on his lawn says he ‘never felt that sick in my life’

• Follow our Australia news live blog for the latest updates
• Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing

Wet weather along the east coast of Australia has led to an early bumper mushroom season, prompting warnings about the risks of poisoning.

Toadstools have grown abundantly in urban parks and back yards in New South Wales in recent weeks, driven by the wettest summer in three decades in parts of the state.

Continue reading...