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Big Butterfly Count records increase on 2022 but longer-term trends show declines for some of most common species

This year’s capricious summer weather has been an unexpected boon for Britain’s butterflies, with the biggest insect count in the world recording an increase on last year’s all-time low.

Red admirals dominated the Big Butterfly Count as citizen scientists recorded an average of 12 butterflies per 15-minute count, up from nine in 2022.

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AGL's former chief economist says an extension of the RET will get Australia's renewables transition back on track – while paying to keep open coal is just "bizarre."

The post Extend the RET, expert says, and don’t pay coal plants for a job they can’t do appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The wholesale market price cap is to jump to more than $22,000/MWh to encourage big batteries and open cycle gas generators to meet peak demand as coal exits grid.

The post Dramatic lift in market price cap to encourage batteries and gas to fill coal gap appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Albanese tells energy conference hosted by Rupert Murdoch's media organisation that Australia must move towards renewable energy or risk being left behind.

The post Albanese tells Murdoch conference that Australia risks being left behind on renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Reports of electric vehicle fires might lead some people to fear the growing numbers of these vehicles will increase fire risk. In fact, replacing petrol and diesel vehicles is likely to reduce it. Hussein Dia, Professor of Future Urban Mobility, Swinburne University of Technology Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Regulator concerned that Brookfield has access to information on connection proposals from AusNet, that could be used to "delay or frustrate connection processes" for its rivals.

The post ACCC questions Brookfield over AusNet control, insight into rival renewable projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Labor bins hundreds of millions of Kyoto "carryover" carbon credits, permanently removing the option to use them to shirk Australia's climate responsibilities.

The post “They’re gone:” Labor bins Kyoto carryover credits, shuts carbon accounting loophole appeared first on RenewEconomy.

But scientists warn that some species could decline in the long term due to habitat loss.

Australia announced on Friday it has cancelled its more than 700 million remaining Kyoto Protocol-era carbon credits to make sure no future government will be able to use them towards the country’s commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Jai Thomas, the co-ordinator of energy in Western Australia, on that state’s massive renewable plans, the end of baseload, and the rise of big batteries. Plus: News of the week.

The post Energy Insiders Podcast: The end of baseload in world’s biggest standalone grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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

In the base case scenario outlined by Wood Mackenzie’s new ‘Energy Transition Outlook’, an annual investment of $1.9 trillion is required to decarbonise the world's energy sector – a figure that escalates to US$2.7 trillion should the objective pivot to aligning with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C global warming limit.

Quebec distributed the remainder of its 2022 free carbon market permits on Thursday, with the year-on-year total seeing a slight decrease while the number of recipients remained the same, according to the data released by the province's environment ministry.

Confectionery and pet care titan Mars on Thursday pledged to invest over $1 billion over the next three years as it pursues a halving of its value chain CO2 emissions by 2030 and net zero by mid-century.

We used satellite data to create global maps of where and how fires are burning. Fire season lasts two weeks longer than it used to and fires are more intense. But there are regional differences. Luke Kelly, Associate Professor in Quantitative Ecology, The University of Melbourne David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania Ella Plumanns Pouton, PhD candidate, The University of Melbourne Grant Williamson, Research Fellow in Environmental Science, University of Tasmania Michael-Shawn Fletcher, Professor in Biogeography, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Four of the most popular forest protection offset methodologies give excessive flexibility and discretionary space to project developers, resulting in exaggerated climate impacts and overestimation of carbon credits issued, a policy watchdog detailed in a summary report of academic research released Friday.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) and Washington Carbon Allowance (WCA) prices both increased this week despite volume going in opposite directions, while traders said regulatory drivers in the former market and heightened permit demand in the latter were behind the gains.

California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) values dipped on Thursday afternoon to more than reverse a brief early-week rally, as traders said state regulator ARB’s extended timeline for implementing more ambitious carbon intensity (CI) reduction targets will come under pressure from the programme’s exploding surplus bank.

A global investment firm on Thursday announced the closing of one of the largest climate-focused funds to date, and will target investments in early- and growth-stage startups that drive timely decarbonisation.

A non-profit forest carbon measurement firm has launched a global radar-based alert system to detect tree-related disturbances, offering real-time information from forest in every biome worldwide.