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Environmental groups say new regulations on ships carrying polluting oils in the Arctic don't go far enough.

UN body ICAO's Council this week fully approved a new jurisdictional REDD programme to supply carbon credits under the pilot phase of the CORSIA global aviation offset scheme that alongside an update to a previously-recognised standard will see a compliance-based carbon market accept international deforestation reduction units for the first time.

A California watchdog group plans to hold a mid-December meeting on its recommendations for the WCI-linked cap-and-trade programme, including possible automatic supply triggers to address growing concerns about the scheme's allowance surplus, regulatory sources told Carbon Pulse.

The EU’s failure to conclude negotiations on a budget and stimulus package this week could derail efforts to agree an increase the bloc’s 2030 emissions target by year-end, though experts say that lawmakers increasingly linking the two issues could smoothen their passage.

The undercover policing inquiry was on shaky ground before it started, and victims are right to be concerned

The abuse carried out by undercover “spy cops” working in two police units over 40 years took many forms. The deception practised by at least 20 officers who had sexual relationships with their targets – mostly women, at least three of whom had children as a result – was a gross breach of the women’s human rights, as the force acknowledged when it apologised and paid substantial compensation to seven of them. The harm caused to the children of these deceitful unions is still unfolding: last month it was revealed that compensation has also been paid to a man who had his life turned upside down by the discovery in 2012 that the father who abandoned him as a child was a police officer, Bob Lambert.

Others had their trust violated in different ways. The first month of Sir John Mitting’s public inquiry into the work of 139 officers has heard evidence about how they passed details of trade union activists to a blacklisting organisation used by companies to stop them getting work. A leftwing writer, Tariq Ali, was spied on by at least 14 officers, and said he was shocked by their “prurient” reports. For Stephen Lawrence’s family, the discovery that police spied on their justice campaign was a profound insult that has been compounded by the Metropolitan police’s failure over the past six years to release documents about what happened.

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The best of the week’s wildlife pictures from around the world, including baby bears and a stowaway owl

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A government promise to ban gas boilers from new homes by 2023 has been withdrawn from its website.

An allowance price cap in the proposed Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) carbon market may restrain member jurisdictions from reaching the regional US programme’s overarching GHG reduction goal, according to a study published Thursday.

Pork giant Smithfield has settled with North Carolina residents who sued over stench, flies and truck traffic from Kinlaw Farms

A US judge has issued a blistering condemnation of industrial farming practices. The judgment comes as one US meat giant finally settles after a six-year legal battle with plaintiffs who sued the company over the stench, flies, buzzards and truck traffic coming from its industrial swine farms in North Carolina.

J Harvie Wilkinson III, one of the judges in a case that pitted locals against the Smithfield subsidiary formerly known as Murphy-Brown, decried the “outrageous conditions” at Kinlaw Farms, the operation at the center of the lawsuit – “conditions that there is no reason to suppose were unique to that facility”.

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Humans now known to have polluted Earth from deepest ocean to highest peak

Microplastic pollution has been discovered in snow close to the peak of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain. With plastic debris revealed in 2018 at the deepest point on Earth, the Mariana Trench, it is now clear that humanity’s litter has polluted the entire planet.

The tiny plastic fibres were found within a few hundred metres of the top of the 8,850-metre mountain, at a spot known as the balcony. Microplastics were found in all the snow samples collected from 11 locations on Everest, ranging from 5,300 metres to 8,440 metres high.

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Fritillaria delavayi, used in traditional medicine, turning grey to blend into rocks

For thousands of years, the dainty Fritillaria delavayi has grown slowly on the rocky slopes of the Hengduan mountains in China, producing a bright green flower after its fifth year.

But the conspicuous small plant has one deadly enemy: people, who harvest the flower for traditional Chinese medicine.

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China's environment ministry has tightened the overall benchmark for large coal-fired power plants in the national emissions trading scheme, but introduced loopholes that cancel out most potential CO2 cuts from the stricter standard, according to an updated draft released Friday evening. 

Now owned jointly by UK taxpayers and an Indian conglomerate, OneWeb formally emerges from bankruptcy.

Climate experts say UK should aim to cut emissions by more than 70% as crucial summit looms

Boris Johnson is facing a fresh test of his green commitments as the UK prepares to submit its national plan on future carbon emissions, ahead of crucial UN climate negotiations.

Pressure is growing on the prime minister to come up with an ambitious national target – known as a nationally determined contribution, or NDC – on cutting emissions substantially by 2030, because the UK will host the postponed Cop26 climate summit next year.

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New Forests (www.newforests.com.au) seeks a motivated and experienced person for the Manager, US Forestry Operations (Carbon) position. In this role you will support the Director, Operations in the management of Forest Carbon Partners, a portfolio of US forestry carbon projects, for targeted financial returns and measurable climate impact.

Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China's regional pilot carbon markets this week.

China needs to immediately halt construction of new coal-fired power plants and aim for a 200 yuan ($30) per tonne price of carbon in its emissions trading scheme to get on track to meeting its target of reaching net zero emissions by 2060, according to a report released Friday.

As Victoria unveils an Australia-leading package focusing on solar, batteries and energy efficiency, the Solar Coaster nearly sank in deep waters off the coast of NSW.

The post Solar Insiders Podcast: How the electric Solar Coaster nearly sank in deep water appeared first on RenewEconomy.

UNSW will lead a study designed to test the viability of establishing a renewable energy-based hydrogen supply chain between Australia and Germany.

The post UNSW to study hydrogen viability supply chain between Australia and Germany appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Solar and wind projects in NSW and Victoria warned of further constraints after modelling by Transgrid discovered new risk of "voltage collapse" in region.

The post Solar and wind farms face more production cutbacks in NSW and Victoria appeared first on RenewEconomy.