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So it’s official – the UK will launch its own emissions trading system in 2021. Of course, it won’t actually begin on January 1, as the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – the regulator – has yet to work out what the free allocations should be, how many UK Allowances (are we OK with UKA as an abbreviation?) will be auctioned, etc etc. But we know a few things...

EUAs held around €32 on Thursday, ending a four-day streak of setting new records with traders questioning whether carbon's massive six-week rally could withstand a larger bout of profit-taking.

Local authorities deferring schemes to reduce toxic emissions as calls rise to put WHO targets into UK law

Measures to tackle illegal air pollution, which kills tens of thousands of people a year in the UK, are being delayed or shelved despite growing evidence of the health risks.

Several local authorities have deferred or put a hold on the introduction of clean air zones, which are designed to reduce toxic air from traffic in town and city centres.

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The European Commission on Thursday released the annual emission limits per country in sectors not covered by the bloc’s carbon market, although caps governing output from non-ETS sectors are set to tighten significantly as a result of the bloc’s higher emissions reduction target agreed last week.

Responsible for leading the development of carbon trading activities of the GM&T business in Europe and beyond. The primary objective of the role is to identify and develop trading strategies in carbon markets with a particular interest in the EU ETS and project-based emissions reductions. The role is also responsible for hedging all EU ETS sales flow for the desk.

US President-elect Joe Biden is expected to nominate North Carolina environmental regulator Michael Regan to led the EPA, Reuters reported Thursday.

Danish company plans to fit ships with small nuclear reactors to send energy to developing countries

Floating barges fitted with advanced nuclear reactors could begin powering developing nations by the mid-2020s, according to a Danish startup company.

Seaborg Technologies believes it can make cheap nuclear electricity a viable alternative to fossil fuels across the developing world as soon as 2025.

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The Gold Standard Foundation seeks a highly motivated individual to join our technical team, reporting to the Technical Director. This is a full-time position responsible for managing the Gold Standard Assurance System to ensure that projects/programmes are certified in line with standard requirements and assurance related risks are identified and mitigated.

A girl who died in 2013 has had air pollution listed as a cause of death; what are the implications?

EU climate ministers on Thursday adopted a unified negotiating position for the European Climate Law including a higher 2030 emissions target, while formally endorsing an updated nationally determined contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement.

A forensic examination of the cargo reveals the devastation of populations caused by the trade.

One task for the Austrian will be managing the interests of EU and non-EU states, such as the UK.

ICE Futures Europe has been appointed to host carbon allowance auctions under the UK’s new emissions trading scheme, the London-based exchange announced Thursday.

Member states blame uncertainty over Brexit as reason for breach of next year’s limits

Fish populations will continue to be over-exploited in EU waters, partly as a result of Brexit, after a decision on next year’s fishing quotas among EU countries fell well short of scientific advice.

Fishing limits are set to exceed scientific advice for about a third of EU fish stocks, after EU ministers met on Thursday morning, with EU member states citing the uncertainty regarding fishing rights after Brexit as a reason for breaching limits on sustainable catches.

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For the first time, air pollution has been recognised as a cause of death. The dangers are known, and people of colour are most at risk

I live less than five minutes from the road that killed Ella Kissi-Debrah. Like so many in our community, I spend much of my life near the South Circular, a major road that runs through south London, whether I’m walking to the train station or catching a bus, and I can often hear the traffic. In a landmark ruling, Ella has now become the first person in the UK to have air pollution officially recognised by a coroner as a cause of death.

The result of the inquest will, first and foremost, give some sense of justice to the family. I was in Ella’s year at primary school. After she died at just nine years old in February 2013, I saw her mum, Rosamund, spend years fighting for the death to be examined by a second coroner. Thanks to this courageous campaign, which included finding expert medical advice, the second coroner concluded that “air pollution was a significant contributory factor to both the induction and exacerbation of her asthma”. As Rosamund has said, the judgment means that the family can finally rest – and have a Christmas knowing that some justice is done.

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Chemicals called PFAS and PFOS – known as forever chemicals – are in the blood of virtually every person on the planet. And they will only accumulate

Imagine that a small group of people coordinated the intentional manufacture and release of a lethal poison – and imagine they knew this poison had special properties that meant, once released into the world, it would be inevitable that it would make its way into the blood of virtually every person on the planet, even babies in their mother’s womb, and stay there, like a ticking time bomb.

Well, that “ticking time bomb” waiting to explode into serious, even fatal, disease is not a fictional device from some doomsday thriller; it is real, it is inside virtually all of us, right now. Tick, tick, tick.

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Bloomberg New Energy Finance reveals that, for the first time, battery pack prices have dipped below $US100/kWh in China’s e-bus market.

The post Battery prices dip below $US100/kWh, down 90 per cent from levels a decade ago appeared first on RenewEconomy.

US President-elect to appoint former Environmental Protection Agency head Gina McCarthy as domestic climate adviser, and Pete Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary.

The post Biden adds to dream “green team” to lead on climate and clean energy appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Scientists find 156 new plants and fungi, including six new species of toadstool in British woodlands.

Sumitomo writes off stake in WA’s Bluewaters due to difficulty in refinancing loans for coal projects

The Japanese part-owner of Australia’s newest coal-fired power plant has written off its investment amid dimming prospects for coal.

The conglomerate Sumitomo and another Japanese company, Kansai, each own half the Bluewaters power plant, which provides about 15% of Western Australia’s electricity, after buying it for a reported $1.2bn in 2011.

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