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Fans of wildlife photographs can pick their favourite for the Lumix-sponsored award from 25 images pre-selected by the Natural History Museum in London. The institution whittled down its shortlist from more than 48,000 submissions from 100 countries. Voting ends on 4 February

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Members of WeShutDown stand trial for blockading the Weisweiler plant. Some call it ‘ecoterrorism’, while others label it a masterstroke in the art of protest

A group of climate activists who shut down a lignite coal power plant in Germany said they had no regrets and were prepared to repeat the action, as they awaited the conclusion of their trial.

The activists from the group WeShutDown blockaded the Weisweiler power plant near Aachen for several hours on 15 November 2017, by halting its coal-carrying conveyor belts and diggers. The energy company RWE, which owns the plant, claims the shutdown cost it €2m.

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Europe’s environmental watchdog gives warning as climate crisis continues

Pursuing economic growth at the expense of the environment is no longer an option as Europe faces “unprecedented” challenges from climate chaos, pollution, biodiversity loss and the overconsumption of natural resources, according to a report from Europe’s environmental watchdog.

Europe was reaching the limits of what could be achieved by gradual means, by making efficiencies and small cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, with “transformational” change now necessary to stave off the impacts of global heating and environmental collapse, warned Hans Bruyninckx, executive director of the European Environment Agency.

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Wind and solar investors warn of rising costs and impacts on grid stability if the energy market rule maker does not change its approach on transmission losses.

The post Wind and solar developers plead with AEMC to reconsider loss factor decision appeared first on RenewEconomy.

APA officially opens Badgingarra solar farm in Western Australia wheatbelt region, where it is co-located with a larger wind farm.

The post APA officially opens new 20MW solar plant next to W.A. wind farm appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Samantha Tough appointed as Horizon Power chairperson, with Peter Clough appointed as a non-executive director of Synergy.

The post W.A. government makes new board appointments at state energy utilities appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Carbon emissions will hit a record high for the second year in a row, but there is a small silver lining: the rate of emissions growth has slowed dramatically. Pep Canadell, Chief research scientist, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere; and Executive Director, Global Carbon Project, CSIRO Corinne Le Quéré, Royal Society Research Professor, University of East Anglia, University of East Anglia Glen Peters, Research Director, Center for International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo Pierre Friedlingstein, Chair, Mathematical Modelling of Climate, University of Exeter Robbie Andrew, Senior Researcher, Center for International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo Rob Jackson, Chair, Department of Earth System Science, and Chair of the Global Carbon Project, globalcarbonproject.org, Stanford University Vanessa Haverd, Senior research scientist, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

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

RGGI market participants are anticipating the upcoming auction to settle in line with the secondary market as the future potential expansion of the scheme to neighbouring states is overshadowing declining emissions in the Northeast region.

The elm can be restored to its former glory despite Dutch elm disease, say experts.

Rooftop solar has unveiled voltage issues in the grid, but is not necessarily the cause. A new study shows how it can help address these voltage issues.

The post How Australia’s rooftop solar boom can be good news for the grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A record 60MW of rooftop solar installed in NSW in November – a new monthly high for any state in Australia – as 200MW national figure broken again.

The post NSW installs record 60MW of rooftop solar in November appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Morrison's preference for cricket over climate action sees Australia awarded first 'Fossil of the Day' at Madrid talks.

The post Morrison’s bushfire response nets Australia’s first ‘Fossil of the Day’ award at climate talks appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Emissions of CO2 have risen in 2019, say researchers, as oil and gas use continues to grow.

Greenpeace says efforts to restore seas’ ecosystems would boost their capacity to absorb heat and store carbon

Halting overfishing and the plastic pollution of the oceans could help tackle the climate emergency by improving the degraded state of the world’s biggest carbon sink, a report has found.

The oceans absorb both the excess heat generated by our greenhouse gas emissions, and absorb carbon dioxide itself, helping to reduce the impacts of climate chaos. But we are rapidly reaching the limits of the oceans’ absorptive capacity as our pillage of marine life is disrupting vital ecosystems and the natural carbon cycle.

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Slowdown this year in rising greenhouse gases does not negate long-term trend, finds carbon budget analysis

Carbon dioxide emissions rose weakly this year as the use of coal declined but natural gas took up the slack, a comprehensive study of the global “carbon budget” has found.

The rise in emissions was much smaller than in the last two years, but the continued increase means the world is still far from being on track to meet the goals of the Paris agreement on climate change, which would require emissions to peak then fall rapidly to reach net-zero by mid-century.

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Rising CO2 emissions from natural gas and oil in 2019 will more than offset abatement progress from lower coal usage in major economies, according to research published Wednesday.

Carbon allowance prices under Massachusetts' Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) power sector ETS remained high on the secondary market through the third quarter due to low liquidity and market participants expecting future price increases, according to a new report.

One in five Australian households have solar panels on their roof top. But solar consumers need to be vigilant and careful when installing a system and negotiating deals with energy suppliers. At the macro level, increased solar generation is causing some headaches for our power networks.

With much of Australia experiencing one of the driest years on record, Queensland's Gallery of Modern Art is launching a major exhibition on water.