Around The Web

Two of Europe’s biggest low-cost airlines increased their emissions in December compared to the previous month, as air travel picked up during the year-end holiday period.

Feral camels and horses will be shot dead as they are damaging settlements in search of water.

China’s environment ministry has ordered power plants set to be included in the national emissions trading scheme to provide 2019 data that will be used as basis for the allocation of CO2 allowances, signalling that those that miss the May 31 deadline will receive fewer permits.

South Korea’s first monthly CO2 permit auction of the year sold out above secondary market prices, but it cleared well below last month’s record high.

Bees are essential to the functioning of America’s titanic almond industry – and billions are dying in the process

Dennis Arp was feeling optimistic last summer, which is unusual for a beekeeper these days.

Thanks to a record wet spring, his hundreds of hives, scattered across the central Arizona desert, produced a bounty of honey. Arp would have plenty to sell in stores, but more importantly, the bumper harvest would strengthen his bees for their biggest task of the coming year.

Continue reading...

In a matter of weeks, the fires have subverted decades of dedicated conservation efforts for many threatened species. John Woinarski, Professor (conservation biology), Charles Darwin University Brendan Wintle, Professor Conservation Ecology, University of Melbourne Chris Dickman, Professor in Terrestrial Ecology, University of Sydney David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania David Keith, Professor of Botany, UNSW Sarah Legge, Professor, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Find out how national environmental law applies to firefighting and fire prevention activities.

Find out how national environmental law applies to firefighting and fire prevention activities.

The Harry Potter universe will be used to shine a light on nature's own amazing creatures.

Finnish scientists say the food could be grown with near-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

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

Surplus compliance instruments in the WCI cap-and-trade programme inched above the 275-million mark after accounting for California and Quebec emissions in 2018, according to the carbon market’s Q4 Compliance Instrument Tracking System Service (CITSS) report published Tuesday.

The Midwest should aim for harmonisation in the design of low-carbon fuel standards (LCFS) and potential credit fungibility across state lines, as well as incorporate a variety of regional factors to benefit agricultural communities in America’s heartland, according to a white paper released Tuesday.

Even on a dull December day my local patch yields snatches of song and glimpses of egrets

A spare hour at dusk, on the last day of work before Christmas, and after a wet month I took the chance for a walk around my local patch. As often happens here, I saw virtually nothing for the first half of the walk: a few blackbirds chinking along the wooded drive, the rooks in the rookery by the car park.

And then, after dusk had fallen, when it was almost too dark to see, it all kicked off. First, two marsh harriers, floating low over the reedbed; then, no fewer than half a dozen great white egrets, each heading purposefully south to roost on the main Avalon Marshes. These elegant birds arrived here from France just a few years ago, enabled by the warming climate to extend their range northwards. Cetti’s warbler, another relatively recent arrival from continental Europe, wren and robin – the three birds that do sing during the winter – all uttered snatches of song. And as darkness fell, the jink and twist and turn of a male sparrowhawk, shooting across the path in front of me before disappearing into the trees.

Continue reading...

Speculators' carbon allowance holdings in the WCI-linked ETS dipped to a three-month low at the end of the year, but the group still holds significant length in the California-Quebec cap-and-trade market, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data.

Astronomers find a vast structure in our galaxy, made up of many interconnected "star nurseries".

Wildlife can smell and hear a fire coming, and have developed novel ways to evade it. But they must watch out for cunning predators rushing in for a feed. Dale Nimmo, Associate professor/ARC DECRA fellow, Charles Sturt University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Australia has an outsized ability to influence others. Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

German power sector emissions fell 18.1% in 2019 as higher EU carbon prices helped make hard coal- and lignite-based generation unprofitable, though slowing renewables investment risks slowing the pace of decarbonisation, according to a report released Tuesday.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT OF DEAD ANIMALS
The once pristine environment of Kangaroo Island, including the Flinders Chase national park, is now a barren burned land after the weekend’s fires. Ecologists have grave fears for the future of many species, and for some the island is their only known habitat

Continue reading...