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Rare flower reappears on Tean after disappearing in the absence of human inhabitants

The tiny island of Tean was once home to a single resident, a modest chapel, diminutive grazed fields and a dwarf pansy smaller than the tip of a pencil.

All these things vanished from the 0.16 sq km Scilly island in the years after it was abandoned by humans seeking larger things.

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Hairdressers from UK and Ireland sign up to initiative to protect environment and power National Grid

Hair cuttings from salons are being used to mop up oil spills and hair bleaches, and dyes are being burned to create energy as part of a scheme to make the hairdressing industry greener.

Over the past 10 months, 550 salons across the UK and Ireland have signed up to the Green Salon Collective (GSC), an initiative that reduces salon waste through recycling and education programmes.

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The solar tower that rises at Sundrop Farms shines like a beacon from above the saltbush landscape.

The post Good taste and food security: How Sundrop used solar to bring tomatoes to the desert appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Campaigners sense turning point as shareholders, boards and The Hague act to force Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell to cut pollution

The world’s patience with the fossil fuel industry is wearing thin. This was the stark message delivered to major international oil companies this week in an unprecedented day of reckoning for their role in the climate crisis.

In a stunning series of defeats for the oil industry, over the course of less than 24 hours, courtrooms and boardrooms turned on the executives at Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron. Shell was ordered by a court in The Hague to go far further to reduce its climate emissions, while shareholder rebellions in the US imposed emissions targets at Chevron and a boardroom overhaul at Exxon.

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A hot-water heat pump can be the cheapest way to heat water at your home or business, with or without rooftop solar.

The post Explainer: Why hot-water heat pumps are great for homes with or without solar PV appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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

Speculators’ California Carbon Allowance (CCA) length surged to an all-time high over the past week, as emitters held a cumulative net short across the V20-22 contracts for the first time since last spring, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.

Scientists have tracked 4,000 years of human influence on the planet - all from long tubes of mud.

An Australian engineer-turned climate activist hosts Coal Miners Driving Teslas, a YouTube and Twitter channel heavily spiced with unbridled swearing

What happens when you take an electric car into a town full of petrolheads and coalminers, and film them planting their steel-capped boots on the accelerator?

“Fuck me … it’s like a rocket ship,” says one miner, who usually spends his time driving V8s or manoeuvring a giant coal scoop.

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EUAs slumped to a one-week low just above €50 on Friday to notch a 1.4% weekly loss, while UKAs also sank as it emerged Britain was considering boosting this year's auction supply.

A summary of legislative and regulatory action on carbon pricing, clean fuel standards, and clean energy at the US subnational and federal level this week, including developments in California and Massachusetts.

EU carbon will average €50 for the remainder of this year, analysts predict, with a number of bullish factors leading them to raise their forecasts for both 2021 and 2022.

Heat from industry and warmth from the sea feature in advice to government on future home heating.

Fossil fuel firms are being held responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. That’s a good thing

History was made in the Hague district court this week. Judge Larisa Alwin ruled that Shell, one of the world’s biggest oil companies, must cut its emissions by 45% by 2030 relative to 2019 levels. Until Wednesday, courts in the Netherlands, France and Germany had concentrated on holding governments to their commitments under the Paris climate deal of 2015. States were found guilty of denying basic rights to future citizens, triggering more ambitious climate plans. The landmark Hague ruling shows that corporations can now be ordered to comply with the goals of the Paris agreement.

Governments are supposed to design the regulatory frameworks and put in place the laws so that companies and households steadily reduce their carbon emissions. But this relies on private entities playing their part. If they do not, preferring to hide behind slick PR, the law can step in. The judge accepted the argument that Shell had failed in its duty to respect human rights by failing to adequately curb its role in global heating. Shell’s goals to mitigate its climate impact, the court found, “largely amount to rather intangible, undefined and non-binding plans for the long term”.

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Increased hardship for small farmers as close to a billion pounds wiped off UK’s farming economy in 2020

Farm incomes dropped drastically last year, as poor weather combined with the impact of the pandemic and Brexit-related issues wiped close to a billion pounds off the UK’s farming economy and increased hardship for many small farmers.

Total income from farming, calculated annually by the government, fell from nearly £5.2bn in 2019 to just over £4.1bn in 2020, the lowest value in real terms since 2007.

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The Nova Scotia government is mulling its options for post-2022 carbon pricing, according to a discussion paper released Thursday, suggesting the Canadian province could choose an alternative to its cap-and-trade scheme going forward. 

The UK government may significantly increase the amount of carbon allowances to be sold under the country's new emissions trading scheme this year, Carbon Pulse has learned.

An offset retailer has rejected around 90% of nature-based projects it has examined and is insisting clients buy almost four carbon credits for every tonne emitted from a chosen few initiatives to ensure an effective contribution to climate action.

Germany selected 62 green hydrogen projects as eligible for state financing on Friday, with a large share intended to decarbonise the country's energy-intensive industries.

How do you heat your home cheaply and efficiently if you don't use gas? There are renewable options.

The post Explainer: What’s the cheapest way to heat my house if I get off gas? appeared first on RenewEconomy.