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A blockchain-based ESG finance platform will launch tokens to preserve in-ground gold deposits from a Canadian mine, and may look at ways for token holders to earn carbon credits from this practice.

Every California Carbon Offset (CCO) project that received new credits or a reduced invalidation period on existing units over the past two weeks provided direct environmental benefits to the state (DEBs), according to state data published Wednesday.

US biofuel credit (RIN) prices extended multi-month highs on Wednesday as Indonesia expanded its previously-announced cooking oil ban and Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) importers were seen buying credits.

Finley solar farm lands a contract for its spinning machine to solve system strength issues, but the transparency ends there.

The post Finley solar farm reveals AEMO contract for big spinning machine appeared first on RenewEconomy.

In 2000, fossil fuels were 80% of total energy consumption. In 2019, they were 81%. Renewables are simply not growing fast enough. It’s time to talk about cutting energy consumption. Mark Diesendorf, Honorary Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Germany-based utility RWE, the EU’s top corporate emitter, reported a 10.5% drop in its ETS-covered thermal power output for Q1, it said on Wednesday, as government-mandated plant closures outweighed a stronger market signal.

EU ETS reforms designed to limit speculative trading could cut liquidity in the market, leading to less price transparency and making purchasing more difficult for compliance entities, market experts warned on Wednesday, as EU lawmakers consider proposals to restrict participation by financial firms.

The UN Secretary-General-appointed expert group tasked with scrutinising non-state net zero pledges is set to provide only high-level guidance rather than authoritative standards, a senior UN official said following the group's first meeting on Wednesday. 

Scott Morrison says Labor wants to use government safeguard mechanism as a ‘sneaky carbon tax’ but it is already making big business pay for offsets

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The Coalition last year required polluting businesses to buy 419,000 carbon credits at an estimated cost of $15m using a policy that Scott Morrison now falsely describes as “Labor’s sneaky carbon tax”.

Government data released last month shows that, under the Coalition’s so-called safeguard mechanism, major polluting companies had to buy 70% more carbon credits last financial year than in 2019-20.

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Two MEPs and several climate experts have rejected the benefit of including carbon removals (CDR) in the EU ETS as is currently under discussion in Brussels, pointing instead to the need to focus on emissions reductions and incentivising removals instead via separate investment funding.

Federal judge says farmers had been blindsided by a government order to shut down

Canada’s effort to phase out open-pen salmon farms has hit a roadblock after a federal judge said farmers had been blindsided by a government order to shut down.

Federal court judge Elizabeth Heneghan ruled earlier this month that former fisheries minister Bernadette Jordan had failed to grant farm operators the right to procedural fairness when she announced plans to phase out the farms, and criticized the minister’s lack of clarity surrounding the controversial decision that companies said would cost them millions in losses.

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An offset retailer has created a voluntary carbon market 'meta-credit' for corporate buyers, aiming to weed out the vast majority of carbon projects that it says fail to meet basic sustainability checks.

Crocodiles and turtles are in a particularly dire situation, according to a global assessment of risks.

Largest analysis to date on the state of the world’s reptiles warns of threat to ecosystems as more than 1,800 species fight to survive

More than a fifth of all reptile species are threatened with extinction, which could have a “devastating” impact on the planet, a new study warns.

The largest ever analysis of the state of the world’s reptiles, published in Nature, found that 21% of reptile species are facing extinction. From lizards to snakes, such a loss could have disastrous impacts on ecosystems around the world, the study says.

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A US-listed exchange-traded fund tracking CORSIA-eligible and nature-based offset futures contracts began trading on Wednesday, building on the asset manager’s existing suite of global carbon allowance-focused funds.

Australian Greens say billions could be raised through a levy on coal exports and help accelerate the phase out the fossil fuel.

The post Greens propose levy on coal exports to drive coal phase-out within a decade appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Rising damage, caused mostly by food production, puts ability to feed planet’s growing population at risk

Human damage to the planet’s land is accelerating, with up to 40% now classed as degraded, while half of the world’s people are suffering the impacts, UN data has shown.

The world’s ability to feed a growing population is being put at risk by the rising damage, most of which is caused by food production. Women in the developing world are particularly badly affected as they often lack legal titles to land and can be thrown off it if conditions are tough.

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Carbon prices dropped sharply in early Wednesday trading as the market reacted to news that Russia has suspended natural gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria after those countries refused to make payments for the fuel in rubles.

A group of staffers at the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange have been living in the office for nearly a month to ensure the Chinese carbon market operates as normal while the entire city is locked down due to a Covid-19 outbreak.

Hong Kong has set out plans to establish itself as the hub that will bring together the international carbon market and that of China, but the pathway to success is tricky and heavily reliant on decision-makers in Beijing.