Feed aggregator

Cruise ships kill whales, leak gray water, and are largely exempt from US taxation. When they violate the law, they pay the equivalent of a parking ticket

Decades ago, when I worked as a ranger in Alaska’s Glacier Bay national park, each cruise ship that entered the bay carried hundreds of passengers. Today, they carry thousands. They don’t look like ships any more. They look like the boxes the ships came in, huge floating milk cartons – ponderous and white.

But once they get moving, they’re a force. One that occasionally strikes whales.

Continue reading...

New Zealand carbon allowances rose another NZ$1.50 in Thursday trade as buyers continued to pick up all available supply.

The Netherlands has handed out 38.3 million EUAs to its industries, the government said on Thursday, confirming distribution of 2021 units following a delayed allocation process.

British Columbia scientist says heat essentially cooked mussels: ‘The shore doesn’t usually crunch when you walk’

More than 1 billion marine animals along Canada’s Pacific coast are likely to have died from last week’s record heatwave, experts warn, highlighting the vulnerability of ecosystems unaccustomed to extreme temperatures.

The “heat dome” that settled over western Canada and the north-western US for five days pushed temperatures in communities along the coast to 40C (104F) – shattering longstanding records and offering little respite for days.

Continue reading...

In the midst of a climate crisis with 8 billion humans on the globe, it’s absurd to say that what’s lacking is babies

Fertility rates are falling across the globe – even in places, such as sub-Saharan Africa, where they remain high. This is good for women, families, societies and the environment. So why do we keep hearing that the world needs babies, with angst in the media about maternity wards closing in Italy and ghost cities in China?

The short-range answer is that, even though this slowdown was predicted as part of the now 250-year-old demographic transition – whose signature is the tumbling of both fertility and mortality rates – occasional happenings, such as the publication of US census data or China’s decision to relax its two-child policy, force it back into our consciousness, arousing fears about family lines rubbed out and diminishing superpowers being uninvited from the top table.

Continue reading...

The fossil-fuel multinationals fund ‘thinktanks’ and ‘research institutes’. But it’s gullible public service broadcasters that give them credibility

Yes, we should rake over the coals. And the oil, and the gas. Democratic accountability means remembering who helped to stoke the climate crisis. We should hold the fossil fuel companies to account.

In 1979, an internal study by Exxon concluded that burning carbon fuels “will cause dramatic environmental effects before the year 2050”. In 1982, as the Guardian’s Climate Crimes series recalls, an Exxon memo concluded that the science of climate change was “unanimous”. Then it poured millions of dollars into lobby groups casting doubt on it.

Continue reading...

Funding for offshore kelp forest, butterflies, beavers and wetlands among other schemes will help address climate crisis

Restoring a kelp forest off the Sussex coast, creating new habitat for heat-sensitive butterflies and connecting fractured wetlands for the reintroduction of beavers are among 12 new projects receiving funding to help the UK tackle climate change, the Wildlife Trusts has announced.

Planting new seagrass pastures in the Solent, expanding salt marshes on the Essex coast and restoring peatlands in Cumbria, Durham, Yorkshire, Northumberland and Somerset are some of the “high-impact” schemes that the nature charity said will help mitigate the impact of global heating on land and at sea.

Continue reading...

Rule changes will make it easier for big wind and solar projects to be built in stages, and for projects to share connection points to the grid.

The post Wind and solar farms to be allowed to share connection points to grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Neoen confirms that Australia's biggest battery project is midway through construction near Geelong as Tesla Megapacks are lifted into place.

The post Tesla Megapacks lifted into place at Australia’s biggest battery project appeared first on RenewEconomy.

We test drive the second electric offering from Mercedes in Australia - the EQA 250.

The post Video: The new electric SUV from Mercedes appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Federal Court orders federal environment minister must consider the risks posed to Australia's young people when granting approvals to coal projects.

The post Federal Court says minister owes duty of care to young people over carbon emissions appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australian carbon credits tipped to jump to $50 per tonne, riding surge in corporate demand even as federal government sits idle on climate policy.

The post Australia’s de-facto carbon price at record high, may reach $50 per tonne appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Environment minister has 28 days to appeal historic ruling that carbon emissions from coalmine should not cause young people ‘personal injury or death’

• Download the free Guardian app; get our morning email briefing

Australia’s federal court has formally declared the nation’s environment minister has a “duty to take reasonable care” that young people won’t be harmed or killed by carbon dioxide emissions if she approves a coalmine expansion, in a judgment that could have wider implications for fossil fuel projects.

In the federal court case, brought by eight schoolchildren and an octogenarian nun, Justice Mordecai Bromberg on Thursday also ordered the minister pay all costs.

Continue reading...

Rooftop solar systems are getting bigger, thanks to business interest, but the market still remains tough, and complicated.

The post Solar Insiders Podcast: Why the solar coaster never stops appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New Zealand’s environment ministry on Thursday proposed a number of adjustments to the emissions trading scheme designed to ensure industrials don’t receive too many carbon allowances, a move that might see some manufacturers lose its right to receive free permits.

Environmental groups criticise grant to Empire Energy, which had lobbied ministers for information on funding, as a ‘brazen misuse of taxpayer funds’

• Download the free Guardian app; Get our morning email briefing

The Coalition handed three grants for fracking in the Beetaloo Basin to a political donor and Liberal-linked company, which had earlier lobbied federal ministers for information on the funding scheme.

On Wednesday, resources minister Keith Pitt announced that Imperial Oil and Gas, a subsidiary of Empire Energy, would receive $21m in grants through the $50m Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program.

Continue reading...

Regulator spells out four ways that rooftop solar and distributed energy benefit the grid.

The post Four ways rooftop solar and household batteries can help the grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Construction begins for a 1.5GW project off the coast of the Netherlands, the first offshore wind farm to be built without subsidies.

The post “New chapter:” Construction begins on first subsidy-free offshore wind farm appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Nearly three years after it was built, the world first solar, wind and battery hub at Kennedy is finally sending power to the grid.

The post “World first” wind, solar and battery project finally starts production after 3-year wait appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Hon Sussan Ley MP has approved co-regulatory arrangements administered by Sustainable Product Stewards Pty Ltd and The Activ Group Solutions Pty Ltd to participate in the National Television and Computer recycling Scheme.