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

This breed of seal is facing extinction but conservationists in Finland are trying to save it.

Declining coal generation delivered a 2% fall in global power sector emissions. But we need 11% falls each year to 2030 to have any hope of meeting climate targets.

The post Biggest drop in CO2 emissions in 30 years in 2019 – but it’s not nearly enough appeared first on RenewEconomy.

FH2R project completed at former nuclear hub, able to produce "green" hydrogen powered by a 20MW solar farm and some grid power.

The post Japan begins solar powered hydrogen production at Fukushima plant appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Brussels pledged a state aid review and support for clean hydrogen in its latest industrial strategy, which was unveiled on Tuesday even as the EU institutions cancelled multiple meetings amid efforts to contain the coronavirus.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D) signed an executive order Tuesday to set a declining emissions cap for several sectors, double the state’s Clean Fuels Program (OCFP) target, and boost energy efficiency goals after the legislature failed to pass a cap-and-trade bill for the second straight year.

Concentrations of carbon dioxide are now 147% above pre-industrial levels, according to a definitive report by the World Meteorological Organisation released today. Blair Trewin, Climate scientist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology Pep Canadell, Chief research scientist, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere; and Executive Director, Global Carbon Project, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Government failing on pledge to plant 30,000 hectares by 2024, says Friends of the Earth

Tree-planting is one of the government’s key strategies for fighting the climate crisis, but ministers have got off to a slow start that shows little sign of speeding up, according to the latest figures: just £5.2m will be spent on new trees in England under the countryside stewardship scheme for the current financial year.

That is enough for only 1,260 hectares, according to Friends of the Earth, which is calling for far more effort on tree-planting to absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

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German-based utility Uniper's EU ETS-covered emissions fell 21% in 2019 amid lower coal output, it said in financial results on Tuesday, while flagging a pick-up in power hedging in recent weeks.

British bank RBS and its commodities trading division have been found liable for dishonestly assisting and knowingly facilitating tax fraud linked to the EU ETS after two emissions traders at the subsidiary ignored obvious risks, a UK High Court ruled Tuesday.

Transitioning to zero-carbon industry must be used to address the geographical imbalance of our economy at the same time

This week’s budget will be the first passed by parliament since MPs declared a climate emergency, but it could be the last before the UK hosts the Cop26 climate talks later this year.

Many people have drawn legitimate comparisons between the respective responses to coronavirus and the climate crisis – both big shocks to the economy. But it’s important not to lose sight of why the response to Covid-19 has been so rushed and dramatic – we were caught by surprise. We have not, however, been taken by surprise by the climate crisis.

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Exclusive: Australia needs the expertise to predict changes which have a major impact across the country, a review finds

A government-backed review of Australia’s climate science capability has identified “critical gaps” in the nation’s ability to understand the processes that underpin climate change, with atmospheric modelling lagging other countries.

It found Australia was in danger of losing “critical expertise” needed to predict changes in major climate patterns, such as El Nino and the Indian Ocean Dipole, that have a major impact across the continent.

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Deadly heatwaves, floods and rising hunger far greater threat to world than coronavirus, scientists say

The world is “way off track” in dealing with the climate emergency and time is fast running out, the UN secretary general has said.

António Guterres sounded the alarm at the launch of the UN’s assessment of the global climate in 2019. The report concludes it was a record-breaking year for heat, and there was rising hunger, displacement and loss of life owing to extreme temperatures and floods around the world.

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RGGI market participants anticipate the first quarterly sale of 2020 this week will largely mirror past trends and align with the secondary market price, despite the inclusion of New Jersey in the Northeast US ETS for the first time in eight years.

Large biomes can break down like Jenga bricks once tipping point reached, research finds

Even large ecosystems the size of the Amazon rainforest can collapse in a few decades, according to a study that shows bigger biomes break up relatively faster than small ones.

The research reveals that once a tipping point has been passed, breakdowns do not occur gradually like an unravelling thread, but rapidly like a stack of Jenga bricks after a keystone piece has been dislodged.

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Utility Nova Scotia Power’s CO2 output increased in 2018 ahead of the initial start of the Canadian province’s cap-and-trade programme, while emissions from fuel suppliers and industrials fell, new government data showed.

The climate crisis can’t be averted, it’s here. And with human suffering now a reality, governments can no longer stand idly by

You may have read that there are just eight, or 10, or 12 years to save the world from the climate crisis. There are not. It is already here, gaining strength every day as carbon emissions pour into the atmosphere. It is a slow-motion disaster. Action to avert the worst should have started last week, last year, last decade.

This is not a message of despair, though, but one of measured hope. The gap between the action we could take to reduce global heating and the action we are actually taking can be measured by a brutally simple metric: human suffering. That means every action that closes that gap, however small, is meaningful.

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EUA prices lifted towards €24 early on Tuesday as wider financial markets rebounded on stimulus hopes following the previous session's massive oil collapse and quickening spread of COVID-19 coronavirus.

ANU research team use tandem solar cell technology to achieve a conversion efficiency of 27.7% and are aiming to go above 30% for their next goal.

The post Australian researchers smash efficiency record for ‘tandem solar cells’ appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Polish researchers find violet coloured native flowers are favoured by urban-dwelling bumblebees.