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The European Commission is set to propose an upgraded 2030 target of at least 55% below 1990 levels, the EU executive's President told EU lawmakers on Wednesday.

New potential base price for the China-made Tesla Model 3 could be as low as $57,000 in Australia.

The post China-made Tesla Model 3 price could undercut Hyundai Kona Electric appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The protest movement’s call for meaningful participation highlights the failings of dysfunctional Westminster politics

It’s good entertainment, but that’s all it is. Seeing Boris Johnson ritually dismembered in parliament might make us feel better, but nothing changes. He still has an 80-seat majority, though less than 30% of the electorate voted for the Conservatives. We are reduced, for five long years, to spectators.

Our system allows the victorious government a mandate to do what it likes between elections, without further reference to the people. As we have seen, this can include breaking international law, suspending parliament, curtailing the judiciary, politicising the civil service, attacking the Electoral Commission and invoking royal prerogative powers to make policy without anyone’s consent. This is not democracy, but a parody of democracy.

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Plans for a 5MW community solar and battery farm in central-western NSW face opposition from … the community, amid concerns the panels will be a blight on the landscape.

The post “Like a scrapyard of old cars:” Orange farmers try to stop community solar farm appeared first on RenewEconomy.

8Minute to partner in massive new solar and storage project in California, saying it is cleanest and smartest way to boost grid reliability.

The post 8minute Solar Energy unveil another massive Californian solar plus storage project appeared first on RenewEconomy.

BP's Energy Outlook predicts renewable energy and a global low-carbon shift to be the dominant features of the future.

The post BP predicts up to 550 gigawatts of new wind and solar each year appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Our medicine, cosmetics and other everyday products contain compounds taken from nature. But Traditional Owners may not have given permission for the materials or their knowledge to be used. David Jefferson, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Daniel Robinson, Associate Professor, UNSW David Claudie, Invited User, Indigenous knowledge Jocelyn Bosse, PhD candidate in Law, The University of Queensland Margaret Raven, Senior Scientia Lecturer (Research), UNSW Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Conservation experts urge the prime minister to take a lead on reversing the decline in nature.

Push for strict new rooftop solar controls gains new muscle, with the CER adding checks of inverter settings to its inspection program.

The post Clean Energy Regulator promises crackdown on solar inverter installations appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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

Cannon-Brookes says he is talking to Musk again. Is this just about a Newcastle battery, or plans for the world's biggest solar and battery project in the NT?

The post Are Cannon-Brookes and Elon Musk about to team up for big battery plans? appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Grants will promote ideas to detect, characterise and track the millions of objects moving overhead.

Absolute temperatures are expected to rise more slowly in the tropics than in higher latitudes and polar regions, but the combination of heat and rising humidity will make life more challenging. James Shulmeister, Professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Canterbury Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The Netherlands will apply from next year a carbon tax on EU ETS-covered heavy industries, the government announced Tuesday, though high EUA prices and wide initial exemptions mean the levy may have little impact at first.

The Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB) on Tuesday moved the state’s draft RGGI-aligned cap-and-trade rulemaking ahead to a public comment period, though resistance from the legislature may stand in the way of the state linking with the Northeast US power sector ETS.

Dominion Energy’s Virginia subsidiary is seeking to increase utility rates next year to account for RGGI compliance obligations, while the company is already procuring allowances for future carbon exposure, according to documents filed this week.

The European Parliament should put in place measures to cut emissions from MEP travel and energy use as part of an institution-wide 2030 carbon footprint reduction target, according to a study published by the assembly's secretariat on Tuesday. 

Review of EPBC Act was delivered to government 11 days after process of drawing up legislation had begun

The Morrison government started preparing controversial legislation to amend Australia’s environmental laws before it had received a report from a formal review into whether the act was working.

The environment department instructed the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to begin drafting the changes to the legislation on 19 June, 11 days before the government received the interim report of the review of Australia’s national environment laws.

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Oil and gas companies make far more money churning out new plastic than reusing old. Meanwhile, the public gets the blame

Plastic recycling is a scam. You diligently sort your rubbish, you dutifully wash your plastic containers, then everything gets tossed in a landfill or thrown in the ocean anyway. OK, maybe not everything – but the vast majority of it. According to one analysis, only 9% of all plastic ever made has likely been recycled. Here’s the kicker: the companies making all that plastic have spent millions on advertising campaigns lecturing us about recycling while knowing full well that most plastic will never be recycled.

A new investigation by National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) reports that the large oil and gas companies that manufacture plastics have known for decades that recycling plastic was unlikely to ever happen on a broad scale because of the high costs involved. “They were not interested in putting any real money or effort into recycling because they wanted to sell virgin material,” Larry Thomas, former president of one of the plastic industry’s most powerful trade groups, told NPR. There is a lot more money to be made in selling new plastic than reusing the old stuff. But, in order to keep selling new plastic, the industry had to clean up its wasteful image. “If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they are not going to be as concerned about the environment,” Thomas noted. And so a huge amount of resources were diverted into intricate “sustainability theatre”.

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European carbon prices consolidated near €30 on Tuesday, holding on to most of Monday’s stellar gains and coming within a hair of their 14-year high as buying continued ahead of this week’s release of the EU’s new climate strategy.