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Five Massachusetts-based power plants exceeded their annual CO2 limit under the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) cap-and-trade programme last year, but data suggests that surplus allowances in circulation will enable those facilities to meet their upcoming compliance deadline.

As PM announces Glasgow plan, much diplomatic work remains to be done

Boris Johnson’s first steps on the international stage after Brexit will be to hail Britain’s role in forging a new global consensus on the climate crisis – although he has not yet said who will lead that charge.

The UK will host the crunch UN climate talks, COP 26, this November in Glasgow, in what experts say is the last chance for international cooperation on the crisis. The prime minister, in launching the UK’s strategy for the talks on Tuesday, stops short of promising to “get climate done”, but in making his own involvement clear he will at least reassure climate activists and governments concerned at a hitherto confused and chaotic start to the UK’s presidency.

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For many Australians, the bushfire disaster could represent a turning point: the moment they adopt new, long-term behaviours to help nature. Denise Goodwin, Research Fellow, BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University Abby Wild, Research fellow, BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University Melissa Hatty, PhD candidate, BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

• Inundation and flooding are steadily becoming more likely
  
• Worldwide rise being driven by melting of large glaciers
  

The pace of sea level rise accelerated at nearly all measurement stations along the US coastline in 2019, with scientists warning some of the bleakest scenarios for inundation and flooding are steadily becoming more likely.

Of 32 tide-gauge stations in locations along the vast US coastline, 25 showed a clear acceleration in sea level rise last year, according to researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (Vims).

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Discovery by salvage divers off Romania raises new questions over EU exports of live animals

Secret decks for extra animals have been found in a livestock carrier that sank off the Romanian port of Midia in November drowning thousands of sheep, according to the company carrying out the massive salvage operation.

Only 180 sheep survived out of the 14,600 initially believed to have been onboard the Queen Hind, which was carrying them from Romania, the EU’s biggest exporter of the animal, to Saudi Arabia.

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PM is wrong to dismiss concerns over post-Brexit influx of low-quality food

British farmers are not often called hysterical. For Boris Johnson to dismiss their concerns over food imports post-Brexit seems to show he is willing to see an influx of cheap, low-quality food that British farmers will not be able to compete with. That would hasten the decline of family-run farms, and open up the countryside further to the sort of “megafarms” common in the US.

Cheap food sounds good, but Johnson has glossed over the dangers. Chlorine-washing chicken is partly an issue of animal welfare – poultry in the US are kept in filthy conditions that would be illegal here, then the carcasses are dipped in bleach. But it is one of food safety too, contrary to Johnson’s claims.

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Bulldozed trees on Ron Greentree’s property caused loss of habitat for koalas and brolgas, NSW authorities allege

The biggest wheat farmer in Australia, Ron Greentree, is again facing charges of illegal land clearing, this time in relation to a property in western New South Wales.

Greentree, the former chair of Graincorp, along with his business partner Ken Harris and their companies trading under the name the Greentree Partnership, are facing 32 charges of unauthorised land clearing at Boolcarrol, near Moree, which is alleged to have occurred between 2016 and 2019.

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While the EU carbon market welcomes long-awaited clarity regarding the resumption of the UK’s suspended allowance allocations and auctions, experts were mixed over the short-term impact on EUAs - though they all flagged the sheer amount of volume to come as a major price pressure.

EU carbon prices hit a four-month low on Monday as the prospect of additional supply from post-Brexit Britain weighed on an already fragile market, which is also dealing with tumbling energy prices and wider pressures from China's coronavirus.

Claire O’Neill, an ex-minister, had been due to preside over the UN climate meeting in Glasgow.

We want your help documenting the situation as record temperatures bring early signs of spring across Europe

With warmer winters and seasonal changes we would like to know about any early signs of spring you have spotted near you.

From joy at seeing beautiful scenes to concern about what it means for the environment, you can see what Guardian readers told us last year.

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Hundreds of people people have been infected with a newly-discovered virus.

Australian Resources Minister Matt Canavan resigned on Monday evening, declaring he would back MP Barnaby Joyce’s challenge to lead the National party - the junior Coalition partner - because he would be a more staunch defender of the coal industry.

China’s eight pilot emissions trading markets will remain shut for at least another week as governments have prolonged the national Lunar New Year holiday until Feb. 10 as they fight an uphill battle to control the spread of the coronavirus.

New rules do not contain same level of safeguards as under common agricultural policy

Britain’s hedgehogs could be at greater risk after Brexit because hedges may no longer be protected by agriculture regulations, a report says.

Under EU law, hedgerows cannot be cut during the bird nesting season and two-metre wild “buffer” strips cannot be doused with pesticides or ploughed up. This is designed to protect hedgerow habitats that provide refuge for 80% of woodland birds and 50% of all mammals.

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Clive Palmer spent almost $90 million to re-elect the Morrison government as the fossil fuel industry split its donations between the major parties.

The post Dirty Politics: Palmer spent $89m on election, fossil fuel lobbies back LNP and Labor appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Digital energy trading Renewable Energy Hub aims to drive project finance and investment in renewables and “firming technologies” like battery storage.

The post New trading platform aims to unlock investment in renewables, big batteries appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Mercedes-Benz all-electric EQC claims top Australian car award ahead of Tesla Model 3 for "normalcy in the face of futuristic technology".

The post Mercedes Benz electric car chosen above Model 3 for top Australia car award appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Battery metals could be for Australia in the 21st century, what oil and gas was to Norway in the 20th.

The post Tesla’s “crazy” battery targets, environmental risk and Australia’s mine of opportunity appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Slump in renewables investment could cut short electricity price declines – and potentially send them back in the opposite direction – under current federal policy settings.

The post Coalition energy policy void could reverse wind and solar price gains appeared first on RenewEconomy.