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The latest Murray-Darling Basin scandal calls into question whether the government is using public money wisely. Lin Crase, Professor of Economics and Head of School, University of South Australia Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Australia’s opposition Labor party on Tuesday announced a plan to spend A$1.5 billion ($1.07 bln) on natural gas extraction projects that critics say would balloon carbon output despite the government running on a platform to strengthen the nation’s emissions targets.

A technical analyst to join our newly established energy analytics team in Singapore, covering price developments in electricity, natural gas, coal, carbon and crude oil markets.

Study shows how destabilised natural systems will worsen man-made problem

The release of methane and carbon dioxide from thawing permafrost will accelerate global warming and add up to $70tn (£54tn) to the world’s climate bill, according to the most advanced study yet of the economic consequences of a melting Arctic.

If countries fail to improve on their Paris agreement commitments, this feedback mechanism, combined with a loss of heat-deflecting white ice, will cause a near 5% amplification of global warming and its associated costs, says the paper, which was published on Tuesday in Nature Communications.

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Teenage activist Greta Thunberg has an uncompromising message on climate change.

Labor had threatened to call for a Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, instead they'll focus solely on Barnaby Joyce's handling of the 2017 water buy backs.

As the state is swept by a super bloom, these flowers are popping up – a silver lining for areas hit hard by intense fires

When wildfires swept through southern California last year they left a trail of destruction: leveling houses, historic Hollywood sets and sites of biodiversity. Now a rare flower is proving that great destruction can give rise to something spectacular.

Park ranger Ana Beatriz Cholo has been on a mission to find fire poppies – a rare and elusive species that only grows on the heels of major fires – in the Santa Monica Mountains, which were especially hard hit. She knew they were unusual, and that the 2018 Woolsey fire, which scorched more than 96,000 acres, made this a good year to hunt.

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

Teenage activist Greta Thunberg, who will meet UK politicians, also praises climate change protesters.

Bob Brown's march on Adani's coal mine coincides with yet another report underlying fact that renewables are cheaper than coal, and that the clean energy transition can and should happen quickly.

The post Renewables clearly the answer as Bob Brown marches on Adani mine appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Each year billions end up in landfill, but the world's largest nappy production company is now backing a scheme to recover the plastic and other materials inside them.

US study shows battery storage can compete with gas. But in Australia there is no federal policy to help that happen.

The post Battery storage metrics highlight Australia’s lack of de-carbonisation policy appeared first on RenewEconomy.

In 2007, over a friendly drink, the Guardian’s economics editor, Larry Elliott, came up with a radical plan to address the effects of the financial crisis and climate change. He called it the Green New Deal. Plus: the Guardian’s education correspondent on why schools are going to test four-year-olds

In 2007, Larry Elliott met a friend to discuss the financial crisis. Over the course of the evening, and several drinks, they cooked up the Green New Deal – a plan to deal with the effects of the economic crisis and the threat of climate change. They formed the Green New Deal Group and, though Gordon Brown and Barack Obama briefly flirted with the idea, it did not progress much further.

But in 2018, the youngest US congresswoman in history, the Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, picked it up and the idea has been gaining traction ever since. Ocasio-Cortez’s plan mixes old and new. She wants a living-wage job for anyone who wants one; universal healthcare; and basic income programmes as part of a “detailed national, industrial, economic mobilisation plan” that would ensure the US is powered by 100% renewable electricity, and eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing, agriculture and other industries.

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There’s about $3.5 trillion of revenue each year from the “mine mouth” value of global coal, gas and oil sales. All of that has to go away, and about half of it needs to be gone in the next 12 years.

The post Know your NEM: How to replace a $3.5 trillion industry appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Under an Early Contractor Involvement arrangement, Genex and UGL will work together to finalise the EPC and Operation and Maintenance contracts and complete the remaining development works required to reach financial close in June 2019 and commence construction in July 2019.

The post Genex appoints UGL as preferred EPC contractor finalising project delivery team for the 50MW Jemalong solar project appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australians agree the nation ‘is facing a climate emergency’ requiring emergency action and that, in response, governments should “mobilise all of society” like they did during the world wars.

The post Support for action surges, as majority say we face climate emergency appeared first on RenewEconomy.

First production delivered from Murra Warra wind farm near Horsham in Victoria, that will deliver cheap electricity to Telstra and other corporate buyers.

The post First production delivered from Murra Warra wind farm in Victoria appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A closer look at Extinction Rebellion's demands and how the government might try to achieve them.

Supporters say they can make it easier for people in rural areas to get around.

The Norwegian Government backed company Equinor wants to drill in the Great Australian Bight but one global oil and gas expert is questioning the proposal.