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Why breathe life back into one of Australia's most heavily polluting technologies? Queensland's big broken coal plant should be replaced with new tech.

The post Callide’s future is a test of climate ambition and urgency for Queensland appeared first on RenewEconomy.

After more than 300 years of effort, scientists have documented fewer than one-third of Australia's species. The remaining 70% are unknown, and essentially invisible, to science. Kevin Thiele, Adjunct Assoc. Professor, The University of Western Australia Jane Melville, Senior Curator, Terrestrial Vertebrates, Museums Victoria Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

EUA prices lifted above €52 in thin trade on Tuesday amid higher prices in energy and equity markets and as traders said Brussels appears to have made limited progress in handing out this year's free allocations.

Climate crisis makes mammoth task of recording all of Australia’s species over the next 25 years critical, academy says

Australia needs to embark on an urgent mission to formally document more than half a million undiscovered plants and animals before they are lost to science and the planet.

The Australian Academy of Science says some $824m will be needed over the next 25 years to complete a mammoth task becoming more urgent as the climate crisis puts more species at risk of extinction.

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California regulator ARB initially viewed a non-compliance issue at a Wisconsin dairy farm as a significantly longer period than it ultimately determined, with the offset project developer arguing the position would result in a financial loss of more than $600,000.

Carbon contracts for difference (CCfDs), an increasingly touted measure across the EU to decarbonise heavy industries, could have “potentially distortive effects” on the bloc’s carbon market, according to a network of European energy exchanges.

Spain's government has introduced plans to curb windfall profits that nuclear and hydropower plants earn from the wholesale power market as a result of higher carbon prices, a measure designed to shield household and industrial consumers from soaring EU carbon market costs.

Domestic offset prices in China’s carbon market remained firm throughout May, though volumes halved as investors took a step back after liquidity had spiked the previous month, while most of the action in the pilot schemes again took place in Guangdong.

Eve is the intimate story of a nine-year-old girl living in Tinkers Bubble, one of the oldest off-grid communities in the UK. A fledgling environmental activist, we follow her as she navigates her way back into traditional schooling and stands up for what she passionately believes in: the environment

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US stock exchange Nasdaq has taken a controlling stake in Finnish-based carbon removals platform Puro.earth, the latest deal reflecting soaring demand for high-end carbon credits based on eliminating rather than merely avoiding emissions.

European Environment Agency judges only 110 British coastal and inland sites to be excellent

Swimmers in the UK hoping to enjoy waters certified clean and healthy this summer have been let down again. Only 110 coastal and inland sites were judged excellent in the latest bathing water quality data from Europe’s environmental watchdog.

Most of the UK’s bathing sites were not classified in 2020, however, because Covid-19 restrictions prevented sampling. This meant that out of 640 sites, 457 received no verdict in the rankings, compiled annually by the European Environment Agency and published on Tuesday.

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Study reveals toxicity of the world’s most venomous fish is potent enough to cause cardiac arrest and paralyse other muscles

New research into the venom in stonefish – the world’s most venomous fish – may lead to better treatments for beachgoers who are stung when they unwittingly step on them.

Though reef stonefish don’t look like heartstoppers, their venom is potent enough to cause cardiac arrest and paralyse other muscles, scientists at the University of Queensland and Ghent University in Belgium have found.

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The oil giants that have helped drive the climate crisis are finally being forced to take responsibility for their actions

On a rainy afternoon in The Hague, the district court delivered a judgment against Royal Dutch Shell, the parent company of the Shell group. It refuted the excuses regularly relied on to continue extracting oil and gas and vindicated longstanding calls to keep fossil fuels in the ground. The court held that Shell’s current policy of merely reducing the “carbon intensity” of its products by 20% by 2030, and aiming to reach net zero by 2050, would contribute to climate impacts that endanger the human rights of the plaintiffs.

The extraordinary events preceding the oil industry’s so-called Black Wednesday bring to mind the proverbial path to bankruptcy: it happens gradually, and then all at once. Hot on the heels of a landmark report by the global energy body the International Energy Agency warning against new fossil fuel production, Wednesday’s historic ruling has blown another hole in the defences of an industry that has overwhelmingly failed to accept responsibility for driving the climate emergency.

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Stunning images as Nasa's Perseverance continues its mission to seek signs of past microbial life.

Jessica Auer moved to a small community in Iceland’s eastern fjords to photograph the tourist boom that some see as a blessing, others a curse

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One of the world’s great natural spectacles is under way in the eastern US, stretching from the deep south to upstate New York

At first, the noise pulsing from the drooping elm tree boughs seemed to be coming from the power lines erected nearby. Like a surging electrical current, the sound fizzed to a crescendo on the ears before receding slightly, only to build up again to a loud, vibrating whirr.

It was only on the approach to the tree, as desiccated bodies crunched underfoot and small but sturdy creatures sporting wings and orange eyes suddenly clung on to our calf muscles, that it became apparent what was causing such a huge racket: millions of cicadas had just erupted from the earth.

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I didn’t realise that when I moved to the suburbs I would be pushed into a war with so many felines intent on menacing the birds and my plants

I have been wondering why no one eats the bird seed at the front of the house: my husband has the answer. He recently sent me a picture captioned “This is why”: three muscular cats draped over the wall, inches from my feeders. Seemingly relaxed, they nevertheless project an aura of lazy homicidal menace. I wouldn’t want to walk past them myself, so it’s hardly surprising birds are put off.

I am learning that, when you move to the suburbs, you are allocated a quota of cats. Not your own: just some cats that are now part of your life, like it or not. By my calculations, it’s approximately 1.5 cats per head. We have the front yard gang, plus a sleek black puma-sized one that sits next to my small hens, appraisingly. The vegetable patch also has a cat tenant: a judgmental tabby who gets annoyed when I interrupt his busy schedule of digging up and defecating on my seedlings. Then there’s Derek, 20, confused and bony, often found by the back door emitting the haunting wail of a lost toddler (he’s my favourite).

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Former PM joins the rush to clean energy, investing in a new funding round to back innovative solar business 5B.

The post Former PM Turnbull backs 5B’s modular solar expansion appeared first on RenewEconomy.

ARENA CEO suggests Australia's electricity production could grow ten fold, and all from renewables, while becoming a global clean energy supplier.

The post 1000 per cent renewables for Australia? ARENA boss says that is the goal appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australia is focusing its storage options on lithium ion batteries and pumped hydro. It needs to look at other options.

The post We need to go with the flow and invest in different storage technologies appeared first on RenewEconomy.