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The public consultation period for assessment for export accreditation will be open until 26 August 2020.

The public consultation period for assessment for export accreditation will be open until 26 August 2020.

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

If there was life on Mars, how will the US space agency's next robot rover recognise it?

Ground vibrations produced by human activity took a big dive when Covid restrictions were in force.

Treasury and business committees to question whether policies will help or hinder sustainable recovery

MPs plan to scrutinise the government’s green economic plans and industrial strategy to test whether they are still fit for purpose in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

The government will face two separate inquiries into its plans, by the Treasury and business department parliamentary select committees, to question whether its existing policies will help or hinder sustainable post-pandemic economic growth.

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The UK government has awarded £50.9 million in compensation to 61 companies for their 2019 costs relating to the EU ETS, in an effort to shield them from carbon leakage risks.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices remained rangebound on the secondary market this week despite vehicle miles travelled (VMT) rising in the state, while RGGI allowances (RGAs) inched up on meagre activity. 

There has been a surge in people visiting waterways after the lockdown was eased, outdoor groups say.

Muir, who helped spawn the environmental movement, made derogatory comments about Black and Indigenous people

The Sierra Club has apologized for racist remarks its founder, naturalist John Muir, made more than a century ago as the influential environmental group grapples with a harmful history that perpetuated white supremacy.

Michael Brune, the group’s executive director, said Wednesday it was “time to take down some of our own monuments” as statues of Confederate officers and colonists are toppled across the US amid a reckoning with the nation’s racist history following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

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Ohio officials on Thursday proposed to withdraw legislation that bailed out several nuclear and coal plants and gutted the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), after the the Buckeye State’s House leader was arrested this week in connection with a $60-million bribery scheme related to the bill.

An estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of plastic is destined for the environment by 2040 unless global action is taken, scientists say.

The UK says the Russian satellite launched "a projectile with the characteristics of a weapon".

The proposed changes to be introduced to Parliament in August may ultimately damage the natural places they're designed to protect. Megan C Evans, Lecturer and ARC DECRA Fellow, UNSW Peter Burnett, Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Law, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has called for a harmonisation of carbon taxes among EU nations to promote additional CO2 removal measures to complement the bloc’s cap-and-trade system.

Current and planned waste-cutting efforts will reduce volume only by about 7%, say researchers

Plastic waste flowing into the oceans is expected to nearly triple in volume in the next 20 years, while efforts to stem the tide have so far made barely a dent in the tsunami of waste, research shows.

Governments could make drastic cuts to the flow of plastic reaching the oceans through measures such as restricting the sale and use of plastic materials, and mandating alternatives, but even if all the most likely measures are taken it would only cut the waste to little less than half of today’s levels, the analysis found.

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Exclusive: Federal government gave proponent of coal-fired power plant a $4m grant despite having no energy sector experience

The proponent of a coal-fired power station at Collinsville in north Queensland was asked to lodge an application for a $4m feasibility study grant two days after it had already been publicly announced as the recipient.

The government’s support for the project has broadly been considered a concession to pro-coal Nationals and an effective political wedge in Queensland coal country.

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The European Parliament on Thursday challenged the deal reached by EU nations on the bloc's seven-year Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and COVID recovery plan, citing concerns over governance and uncertainty about new sources of financing, including revenues from auctioning EU carbon permits.

California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credits bounced back from nearly three-month lows this week as recent-sell side pressure waned and buyers jumped in.

Study of mosquitoes’ biting preferences reveals that urbanisation is shaping behaviour

More species of mosquito may evolve to bite humans instead of other animals and spread disease because of urbanisation, according to a scientific study.

While the vast majority of the 3,500 species of mosquito do not bite humans, scientists studied Aedes aegypti, an invasive species which has evolved a taste for humans, and become the primary spreader of infectious diseases including dengue and yellow fever.

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