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New mines won’t boost world demand for Australian coal — but they will cannibalise jobs from existing coalmines

The New South Wales government is simultaneously committed to a net-zero emissions target for 2050 at the same time as new coalmines in the Hunter Valley with the capacity to produce 10 times more coal than Adani’s Carmichael mine are being proposed by the industry. Welcome to the topsy turvy world of Australian climate policy.

Australia is the third-largest exporter of fossil fuels, behind only Saudi Arabia and Russia. But because of the way that international accounting rules for greenhouse gas emissions work, the emissions from burning the enormous amounts of coal and gas we export do not “count” towards Australia’s emissions. When Australia exports iron ore and coal to be turned into steel, cars and fridges that are sent back to Australia, it’s China that gets blamed for the emissions, not Australia. Cool, huh?

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UK’s ‘bag for a week’ habit is no green alternative – rather, it has created more problems for the environment

Green campaigners have urged higher prices for so-called bags for life after dramatic sales increases at some retailers since the ending of sales of single-use plastic carrier bags.

Marks & Spencer sold six times as many bags for life in 2019 as the year before, up from 13.4m to 82.6m, according to figures from Greenpeace and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Iceland tripled its sales, to 107.3m from 34m the previous year.

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The US and China announced actions to tackle climate change following meetings in Shanghai last week.

An exhibition at London’s Science Museum shows how far carbon capture research has come

Tackling climate change may bring unexpected benefits, London’s Science Museum will reveal next month. A special exhibition on carbon capture, the fledgling technology of extracting greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and emissions from factories, will display bottles of vodka, tubes of toothpaste, pens and yoga mats made from carbon drawn out of thin air.

In addition, the exhibition – Our Future Planet – will showcase prototypes of the gas-harvesting machines that can provide this carbon. They include the Lackner artificial tree which mirrors the actions of living plants by breathing in carbon dioxide and exhaling oxygen. This Heath Robinson-like device – made up of dangling panels of carbon-absorbing material – was built by Klaus Lackner at Arizona State University and will be the first to be displayed in Britain.

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Project is part of national plan to help the endangered species prosper after numbers plunge by half

For the first time in 100 years, dormice have the freedom to roam among the rolling hills of the Yorkshire Dales, thanks to a project to restore their delicate natural habitat.

Landowners and farmers in Wensleydale have grown a six-mile continuous stretch of woodland and hedgerows to provide a highway to join up two fledgeling populations of the charming native mammals.

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German utility Uniper drops plans for Gas import terminal in port of Wilhelmshaven, aims to build a green hydrogen hub at the site instead.

The post German utility drops plans for gas import terminal, to focus on green hydrogen instead appeared first on RenewEconomy.

World’s biggest polluters release joint commitment to climate action following John Kerry visit to Shanghai

The US and China are “committed to cooperating” on the pressing issue of climate change, the two sides said in a joint statement Saturday, following a visit to Shanghai by US climate envoy John Kerry.

“The United States and China are committed to cooperating with each other and with other countries to tackle the climate crisis, which must be addressed with the seriousness and urgency that it demands,” said the statement from Kerry and China’s special envoy for climate change Xie Zhenhua.

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These teenage climate activists are pushing for change in Australia.

Tesla drops price of all variants of Model 3 by up to 6% in Australia.

The post Tesla drops price of Model 3 by up to $4,000 in Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Human-generated sounds faded substantially at height of Covid lockdown, studies show

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The Covid-19 lockdown has produced the quietest year for the world’s oceans in recent memory, according to a group of scientists working on a global map of underwater soundscapes.

Noise pollution from ship engines, trawling activities, oil platforms, subsea mining and other human sources declined significantly last spring, say the researchers, who are part of a collaborative network of 231 non-military hydrophones.

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UK officials are exploring restrictions on product after minister described it as ‘unbearably barbaric’

The head of France’s foie gras producers’ association has said she is “shocked and outraged” that the British government is considering banning imports of the product.

And she has invited MPs to visit French farms producing foie gras to see the force feeding of ducks and geese and judge for themselves whether it is “cruel and torturous”, as animal rights campaigners claim.

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

SpaceX will build a lander that the US space agency will use to return humans to the Moon this decade.

Financial entities increased their California Carbon Allowance (CCA) position this week by the greatest amount since late 2019, while regulated entities maintained their recent trend by continuing to shed permits, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.

Fossil-fuel companies, long accused of using carbon offsets to avoid instead of accelerating the transition to a low-carbon future, may be structurally incapable of making that transition, according to a peer-reviewed paper published Thursday.

The EU carbon market's compliance season is almost over. A large proportion of industrials have by now completed their 2020 purchases, and the market seems to be on the verge of crossing €45/t at the same time. So we turn to the question of “what next?” Here are some of the factors that carbon reporter Alessandro Vitelli thinks are at play.

Ley understood to have told state counterparts coordinating with them on climate mitigation beyond her portfolio

The environment minister, Sussan Ley, has rebuffed a push by her state counterparts to be kept in the loop about the Morrison government’s plans for climate action ahead of international talks in Glasgow in November – telling them she is not responsible for mitigation efforts.

Several sources have confirmed to Guardian Australia there was a stoush in Thursday’s meeting between Ley and a number of state ministers, both Liberal and Labor.

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Directors of company linked to firm that advised government on western Sydney development and claimed millions in offset credits deny any conflict of interest

There are calls for multiple investigations into the New South Wales government’s purchase of millions of dollars in conservation offset credits from a company linked to a firm that was advising the government on major road developments in western Sydney.

Labor has called on the Berejiklian government to launch an independent investigation into the transactions, while the independent MLC Justin Field said the purchases and the state’s entire biodiversity offsetting regime should be reviewed by the NSW auditor general.

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China dominates supply of the elusive metals, which are vital to modern technology, but finding new sources is becoming a global priority

There are an estimated 1.4bn cars on the world’s roads today. Around 78m new cars are sold every year. To head off the worst effects of climate change, every single one will need to go electric eventually.

Whether it rolls off a production line in Fremont, California, or comes together in a vast megafactory in Qinghai, China, a colossal amount of human effort must go into building the components and obtaining their base minerals. In each car, for instance, there is roughly a kilogram of magnet providing the motion needed to fire engines and electrify windows. Roughly 30% of this material is made up of rare earth material known as neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr).

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The Colombian Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (Minhacienda) on Thursday put forth a long-awaited plan to include coal in the scope of the country’s roughly $5/tonne CO2 tax, though the full cost of the carbon fee on the fuel will not be fully phased in until the end of the decade.