Around The Web

The UK will contribute a further £720 million ($881 mln) to the Green Climate Fund, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced at the ongoing G7 summit on Monday, doubling the country’s total contribution to the fund.

President Donald Trump reportedly suggested bombing hurricanes before they made landfall.

Data gleaned by ClimateWorks with Victorian councils shows there are already EVs that are within or below normal council operating costs.

The post Electric vehicles already cheaper for fleet owners than petrol cars appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Does diversity training do what it's supposed to? How can you tell? Should Australia invest in nuclear energy or is that a step too far? What does it mean to be woke and is mindfulness the answer to our problems?

BloombergNEF report suggests that rather than lithium being in short supply, there is a glut which will force prices down. But it may be short lived.

The post Electric vehicle costs set to fall as lithium glut hits appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A Canberra-bound car carrier was spotted on Saturday full to the brim with some of the first Model 3s destined for Australian customers.

The post Tesla Model 3 Australia invasion has begun appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Reforms will oblige Cuba to work more closely with its US neighbours – in spite of US President Trump’s frosty attitude

Cuba has introduced sweeping reforms of its fishing laws in a move seen as smoothing the way for possible collaboration with the US on protecting their shared ocean, despite Donald Trump’s policy of reversing a thaw in relations.

The move is the first time the text of an environmental law in Cuba specifies the need for scientific research, which experts say will mean greater reliance on state-of-the-art US technology.

Continue reading...

Australia's slow uptake of electric vehicles could blow out the carbon budget, and a target of 50% EV sales 2030 was needed to keep the country on track.

The post Australia’s carbon budget at risk from slow shift to EVs appeared first on RenewEconomy.

G7 leaders stepped up presure on president Jair Bolsonaro to tackle destruction of precious rainforest

Brazilian warplanes have begun dumping water on burning forest in the Amazon state of Rondonia, responding to an outcry over the destruction of the world’s largest tropical rain forest.

President Jair Bolsonaro authorised military operations in seven states on Sunday to combat raging fires in the Amazon, responding to requests for assistance from their local governments, a spokeswoman for his office said.

Continue reading...

To IEEFA’s contrarian perspective, Indian investors in the main are not looking to replicate the Australian thermal coal graveyard.

The post Coalition report on coal exports to India is missing the backstory appeared first on RenewEconomy.

How can Australia's new Inspector General be expected to inspect waterways without a firm grasp of how much water in in them? Quentin Grafton, Director of the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University John Williams, Adjunct Professor Environment and Natural Resources, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Building nuclear power stations used to be an effective cover for nuclear weapons programs. So what is it now, with the credibility of nuclear power so very low?

The post Is the push for nuclear power a covert push for nuclear weapons? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

In Australia's climate policy void, an ever increasing number of corporations are stepping up to show leadership on this critical financial risk. IFM is the latest.

The post IFM Investors becomes latest asset manager to shun coal, align with Paris appeared first on RenewEconomy.

W.A. Garden Island Microgrid – a cornerstone project for wave power developer Carnegie Clean Energy – officially powers up, supplying solar and storage for Australia’s largest naval base.

The post Carnegie turns on Garden Island micro-grid, switches focus back to wave power appeared first on RenewEconomy.

ARENA spends $15 million to help fund the roll-out of 50 ultra fast EV charging stations by Evie Networks.

The post ARENA gives $15 million to Evie Networks for ultra fast charging network appeared first on RenewEconomy.

In the coming decade, billions could face a critical shortage of water. Here's what we can do about it.

Spider did not bite Kansas City woman Susie Torres, who woke up hearing a ‘bunch of swooshing and water in my ear’

A Kansas City woman woke one morning this week thinking she had water in her left ear. It turned out to be a highly venomous brown recluse spider.

Related: Experience: I was nearly killed by a spider bite

Continue reading...

Australia Institute argues that South Australia would receive few benefits and would be exposed to huge risks

The South Australian government needs to prepare itself for decades of subsidies if it wants to develop an offshore oil and gas industry in the Great Australian Bight, according to a new report.

Analysis by the progressive thinktank the Australia Institute draws on industry modelling to argue South Australia is unlikely to receive any noticeable benefit from tax payments as a result of oil and gas production in the Bight, with the benefits mostly flowing to the commonwealth. It says in the exploration phase, production would be minimal, paying no royalties or taxes.

Continue reading...

If we can’t sort out recyclable plastic from non-recyclable, we should incinerate waste, says David Reed, while Janet Poliakoff responds to criticism of Amazon using plastic bags

Westminster councillor Tim Mitchell draws attention to a key issue in the plastics recycling debate: contamination by “wrong items”, such as the compostable bags now becoming widely used by the Guardian, Waitrose and others (Letters, 24 August).

As he says, just one or two such bags can contaminate an entire batch and even I, a former journalist working in the plastics sector, find it hard to be certain of the exact composition of many of the bags I receive.

Continue reading...

An estimated 100 million sharks are killed every year, many for shark fin soup.