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The UN's shipping branch will adopt a revised greenhouse gas strategy at its next meeting in July, its secretary general announced on Monday as the current negotiating session kicked off in London aiming to craft a detailed plan for decarbonising the sector.

French luxury goods firm Kering and beauty goods retailer L’Occitane have pledged €140 million to a new fund that will mobilise investments from the luxury fashion and beauty industries to protect and restore nature, focusing in particular on empowering women.

The government of China’s biggest coal-producing region has passed provincial regulations for the development of "clean coal", with a special focus on data quality, amid the province's continued coal expansion.

Sequestration of CO2 will be a “key component” for Australia to meet its emissions reduction targets, with nature-based methods already able to provide lower cost and scalable solutions, while engineered technologies such as direct air capture (DAC)  able to make a longer term impact with policy and investment backing to reach commercial maturity, according to a report released on Monday.

Since the sea was enclosed in 1982, it has been ravaged by profiteers – many of whose lobbyists are circling in Montreal

The sea covers 71% of the world’s surface. Two out of every five people live near to or depend on the sea for their livelihood. If the sea were a country, it would be the sixth biggest economy. Ocean-based activities, including offshore energy, shipping, tourism and fishing, account for more than 5% of global GDP, while the World Bank claims that future economic growth will be led by “blue growth”.

Yet the “blue economy” receives little attention from politicians or economists. A waffling section in the first draft of the Cop27 agreement in Egypt, mentioning informal meetings, quickly disappeared. Another United Nations circus is taking place Montreal this week, known as Cop15, which seeks to protect biodiversity. The danger is that ministers and diplomats will again be diverted from the economic causes of the crisis and let capital and finance continue to plunder nature.

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Three campaign groups challenge plans to award up to 130 new licences for exploration

The UK government is facing a fresh challenge in the courts over plans to award up to 130 new licences for North Sea oil and gas exploration, in the latest attempt to stop ministers’ proposed expansion of the country’s fossil fuel production.

Three campaign groups have written to the business secretary, Grant Shapps, explaining the grounds on which they consider the latest offshore oil and gas licensing round to be unlawful. They call for the decision to award the new licences to be reversed, arguing that new oil and gas exploration and development is incompatible with the UK’s own rules and international climate obligations.

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The number of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) issued inched downwards in the Clean Energy Regulator’s latest update, as the country’s gas industry has expressed outrage over the government’s plan to cap coal and gas prices in a bid to stave off soaring energy prices.

One of South Korea’s biggest asset managers has penned an MoU with Singapore exchange Climate impact X to broaden its presence in the voluntary carbon market, both internationally and as a provider of credits for Korean buyers.

The directors of an Australian renewable energy company have formed a new carbon project development business with a focus on nature-based projects to generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs).  

Aerial photos from reconnaissance mission reveal effort to smuggle excavators into Brazil’s largest Indigenous territory

The surveillance plane eased off the runway and banked west towards the frontline of one of Brazil’s most dramatic environmental and humanitarian crises.

Its objective: a clandestine 120km (75-mile) road that illegal mining mafias have carved out of the jungles of Brazil’s largest Indigenous territory in recent months, in an audacious attempt to smuggle excavators into those supposedly protected lands.

“I call it the Road to Chaos,” said Danicley de Aguiar, the Greenpeace environmentalist leading the reconnaissance mission over the immense Indigenous sanctuary near the Brazilian border with Venezuela.

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No point comparing years any more. Now we just want to know if next year is going to be the big one

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No wonder the fossil fuel industry is playing the blackout card once again. They have lost all moral perspective, and the price cap policy may actually work.

The post Dirty, unreliable and yet more blackout threats: Australia’s charming fossil fuel industry appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Philippines government will be reviewing the introduction of regulations to facilitate the development of a carbon market in the country, local media reported on Monday.

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology develop technique to make paper-thin and lightweight solar cells that can be applied to any surface.

The post “Thinner than human hair:” MIT develops solar cell to turn any surface into power source appeared first on RenewEconomy.

ACCC publishes issues paper to better understand fire risk from Li-ion batteries and how to reduce it, including from e-bikes, EVs and home batteries.

The post ACCC calls for feedback on how to limit fire risk from lithium-ion batteries appeared first on RenewEconomy.

In "a subdued month" for wind power, a Victorian wind farm has again topped the charts of most productive utility-wind asset in November.

The post Chart of the Day: Australia’s top performing wind farms in November appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Australian government has launched a consultation on its proposed mandatory climate disclosure requirements, designed to significantly increase transparency, fight greenwashing, and boost investor alignment with net zero emissions goals. 

A "black spot" program for the grid could help alleviate problems such as the "line of losses" that has curtailed nearly half the output of some solar farms.

The post Black Spot program needed to address solar’s “line of losses” and other grid bottlenecks appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Huge Robbins Island wind farm gets green light from EPA, on condition it is shut down for five months each year to protect endangered parrot.

The post Massive Tasmania wind farm approved – on condition it shuts down for five months a year appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Guatemala's Fuego forces authorities to close the country's largest airport and a major highway.