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CO2 output under the US Northeast and Mid-Atlantic RGGI cap-and-trade programme rose by 17% during the first quarter of 2021 even when excluding new member Virginia, as the return of several coal plants to the grid boosted emissions, according to data updated Friday.

International team of researchers also found that deforestation rose nearly four-fold in 2019

The Brazilian Amazon released nearly 20% more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the past decade than it absorbed, according to a startling report that shows humanity can no longer depend on the world’s largest tropical forest to help absorb manmade carbon pollution.

From 2010 through 2019, Brazil’s Amazon basin gave off 16.6bn tonnes of CO2, while drawing down only 13.9bn tonnes, researchers reported Thursday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

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Regulated entities came closer to holding a cumulative California Carbon Allowance (CCA) short position this week for the first time in over a year, while financial entities continued their months-long permit accumulation, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.

Credit generation under the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) grew by nearly 5% during the fourth quarter of 2020, with record volumes from biofuels and electric vehicles propped up by a fall in deficit generation from petroleum-based options.

NSW mine’s owner Whitehaven Coal allowed to buy extra properties for offsets in what’s being called a ‘lukewarm’ victory

Environmental activists have dropped a legal challenge to Whitehaven Coal’s Maules Creek coalmine in New South Wales after a new agreement on environmental offsets was approved in what has been described as a “lukewarm victory”.

South East Forest Alliance and its legal representative, the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO), say the decision vindicates community members who accused Whitehaven of not acquiring enough critically endangered land to compensate for destroying habitat. .

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Nasa is so pleased with the success of the Ingenuity helicopter, it is extending its mission.

Germany and Russia have signed a €2 billion memorandum of understanding (MoU) to leverage the controversial gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 for the eventual distribution of hydrogen, even as the European Parliament called for the project to be halted due to rising tensions with Moscow.

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Exclusive: Frans Timmermans says older people need to make sacrifices to protect the future

Older people will have to make sacrifices in the fight against climate change or today’s children will face a future of fighting wars for water and food, the EU’s deputy chief has warned.

Frans Timmermans, vice-president of the EU commission, said that if social policy and climate policy are not combined, to share fairly the costs and benefits of creating a low-carbon economy, the world will face a backlash from people who fear losing jobs or income, stoked by populist politicians and fossil fuel interests.

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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 Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

EUAs briefly dropped below €48 on Friday after a weak auction and as traders adopt a more cautious outlook for the coming month following the passing of the end-April ETS compliance deadline.

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Study finds more relatively warm water is reaching Thwaites glacier than was previously understood

An Antarctic glacier larger than the UK is at risk of breaking up after scientists discovered more warm water flowing underneath it than previously thought.

The fate of Thwaites – nicknamed the doomsday glacier – and the massive west Antarctic ice sheet it supports are the biggest unknown factors in future global sea level rise.

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There are ambitious new goals in the US and UK. But governments also need to decarbonise the economy and rethink how it’s planned

Last week was a critical time in the global response to the climate emergency: the US vowed to cut its emissions by at least 50% by 2030, while the UK government committed to reducing emissions by 78% by 2035, relative to a 1990 baseline. Both announcements were important steps that reflected the significance of one particular tool in climate governance: the target. From the legally binding targets in the UK’s Climate Change Act (2008) to those of the 2015 Paris agreement, targets define a sense of direction and signpost of ambition. Alone, however, targets are not enough. We need more than just targets to transition to a post-carbon future. We need planning.

Despite what free-market economists may suggest, markets are not “free”, nor do they emerge spontaneously. They are created and sustained by governments, laws and political institutions, which plan how they operate and whose interests they serve. What’s more, the global economy, far from being organised by the anarchy of competition, is itself structured by institutions with vast planning power. Targets may dominate the headlines, but it’s these institutions of planning that are central to the climate struggle.

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Three claimants in their 20s say their rights to life have been breached because of inadequate roadmap to solve emergency

The UK is being taken to court by three young people who claim their human rights are being breached by the government’s failure to act decisively on the climate crisis.

Adetola Stephanie Onamade, Marina Tricks and Jerry Amokwandoh, all students in their early 20s, will on Saturday ask for a judicial review of government actions to cut national carbon emissions.

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The European Commission is not ruling out presenting its EU climate package in July as it is still finalising work on a number of policy proposals, a senior EU official said Thursday, which may delay by several weeks proposals including the review of the bloc’s carbon market.

A study of likes on the photo-sharing app has (perhaps surprisingly) deemed the Australian and south-east Asian native ‘most aesthetically appealing’

If someone were to ask what the most “Instagrammable” bird in the world would be, it’s unlikely that the frogmouth – whose main aesthetic goal is to look like a jagged tree branch – would be front of mind.

But it seems science says otherwise, the dishevelled looking Australian and south-east Asian native taking out the top spot in a study from Germany’s University Hospital Jena, which aimed to see which bird species reigned supreme on the photo-sharing app.

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Eating fewer animal products and less dairy would make a huge difference to carbon emissions

Something is cooking in the world of climate politics. Or, perhaps more accurately, something isn’t.

This week, the American recipe website Epicurious announced that, for environmental reasons, it wouldn’t publish any new beef recipes. No more steaks, burgers or creative ways with mince; no more juicy rib. Since about 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock farming, with beef responsible for nearly two thirds of those, it wanted to help home cooks do their bit.

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A small release of water for the environment from Menindee Lakes will begin this week to give young fish living in the lower Darling/Baaka an extra helping hand.