Most recent 40 articles: Guardian - Energy
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Third pilot of household hydrogen heating shelved by UK government - Guardian - Energy (May 9) |
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May 9 · Move suggests homes will rely on electricity for low-carbon heating well into the future
A third pilot project to test the use of hydrogen heating in homes has been shelved by the UK government in the clearest sign to date that households will rely on electricity for low-carbon heating in the coming decades.
The government said it would shelve plans to develop a “hydrogen town” to test whether hydrogen could help to heat homes at scale before taking a final decision after 2026.
The decision comes after the government abandoned plans for two smaller “hydrogen village” trials – in Redcar, on Teesside, and at a village near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire – after months of ... Read more ...
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I understand climate scientists’ despair – but stubborn optimism may be our only hope - Guardian - Energy (May 9) |
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May 9 · Fighting spirit helped us achieve the Paris accords in 2015 – and we need it now the world is on course to overshoot 1.5C
'Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair
Christiana Figueres was the head of the UN climate change convention from 2010 to 2016
“Hopeless and broken”: that is how a top scientist interviewed by the Guardian described feeling as she and hundreds of other climate experts shared harrowing predictions of the future of the planet this week.
I resonate with her feelings of despair. Even as the former head of the UN climate change convention that achieved the Paris agreement in 2015, I, like many, can succumb ... Read more ...
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Trump promised to scrap climate laws if US oil bosses donated $1bn – report - Guardian - Energy (May 9) |
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May 9 · Donald Trump dangled a brazen “deal” in front of some of the top US oil bosses last month, proposing that they give him $1bn for his White House re-election campaign and vowing that once back in office he would instantly tear up Joe Biden’s environmental regulations and prevent any new ones, according to a bombshell new report.
According to the Washington Post, the former US president made his jaw-dropping pitch, which the paper described as “remarkably blunt and transactional”, at a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago home and club.
In front of more than 20 executives, including from Chevron, Exxon and Occidental Petroleum, he promised to increase oil drilling in the Gulf of ... Read more ...
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Anthony Albanese faces internal revolt from inner-city Labor MPs over gas strategy - Guardian - Energy (May 9) |
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May 9 · Resource minister Madeleine King released the party’s future gas strategy which says new sources will be needed 'to 2050 and beyond’
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is facing an internal revolt with Labor backbenchers pushing back against the government’s support for new gas production.
Five inner-city MPs have criticised the government’s gas strategy, arguing it will overshadow progress on clean energy.
The backbench MPs Josh Burns, Jerome Laxale, Sally Sitou, Josh Wilson and Carina Garland issued statements that either criticised or urged caution about the government’s future gas strategy, released on Thursday. Late on Thursday Ged Kearney, the assistant ... Read more ...
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Vermont poised to become first US state to charge big oil for climate damage - Guardian - Energy (May 9) |
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May 9 · Vermont is poised to pass a groundbreaking measure forcing major polluting companies to help pay for damages caused by the climate crisis, in a move being closely watched by other states including New York and California.
Modeled after the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program, which forces companies to pay for toxic waste cleanup, the climate superfund bill would charge major fossil fuel companies doing business within the state billions of dollars for their past emissions.
The measure would make Vermont the first US state to hold fossil fuel companies liable for their planet-heating pollution.
“If you contributed to a mess, you should play a role in ... Read more ...
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Labor’s strategy is to reduce emissions from gas – but not if that means doing anything to cut its use - Guardian - Energy (May 9) |
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May 9 · The plan announced on Thursday offers the gas industry – and Western Australia in particular – everything it could want
The bottom line of the “future gas strategy” isn’t what it might mean for the government’s political fortunes, despite what Labor pollsters and political commentators might argue.
It’s this: the gas industry, one of Australia’s biggest greenhouse gas polluters, is getting what it wants. What it wants, in simple terms, is government approval to make multibillion-dollar investments in new gas reservoirs that will lead to billions of tonnes of emissions.
The strategy’s central claim adopts language used by the industry. It says gas is an important ... Read more ...
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Renewable energy passes 30% of world’s electricity supply - Guardian - Energy (May 7) |
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May 7 · Report says humans may be on brink of cutting fossil fuel generation, even as demand for electricity rises
Renewable energy accounted for more than 30% of the world’s electricity for the first time last year following a rapid rise in wind and solar power, according to new figures.
A report on the global power system has found that the world may be on the brink of driving down fossil fuel generation, even as overall demand for electricity continues to rise.
Clean electricity has already helped to slow the growth in fossil fuels by almost two-thirds in the past 10 years, according to the report by climate thinktank Ember. It found that renewables have grown from 19% ... Read more ...
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Sizewell C in Suffolk granted nuclear site licence - Guardian - Energy (May 7) |
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May 7 · Campaigners 'appalled’ as French energy company EDF gets go-ahead for next stage of project
A planned nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk has been granted the first site licence in more than a decade as investors and government officials race to finalise a deal for the multibillion-pound project this year.
The licence from the nuclear regulator is considered a milestone for EDF, which plans to build Sizewell C as a replica of its Hinkley Point C project in Somerset, which has been dogged by delays and cost overruns.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has granted only two site licences to build new nuclear plants in more than 35 years: the first for ... Read more ...
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'It’s going to be messy’: advocates balance climate action and conservation amid Queensland’s green energy boom - Guardian - Energy (May 4) |
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May 4 · 'Some negative projects will get up, but we have to keep our eyes on the broader goals’, says WWF Australia
A map of operating windfarms in Queensland does not take too long to survey – of the 100 or so across Australia, only six of them are in the sunshine state.
But this is about to change in a very big way. According to state government data, there are 46 separate proposals for windfarms in Queensland with four more already under construction.
Many of those plans target the winds that sweep across the spectacular mountains and ridge tops of the Great Dividing Range from central Queensland to the state’s far north.
While this wind-grab will help wrench the ... Read more ...
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Sunak to allow oil and gas exploration at sites intended for offshore wind - Guardian - Energy (May 2) |
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May 2 · Exclusive: decision to grant licences condemned by critics as a stunt that shows Tories are 'playing politics with climate’
Fossil fuel companies will be allowed to explore for oil and gas under offshore wind-power sites for the first time, the government will announce on Friday, in a move that campaigners said is further proof that ministers are abandoning the climate agenda.
The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), which regulates North Sea oil and gas production, will confirm that it is granting licences to about 30 companies to look for hydrocarbons on sites earmarked for future offshore windfarms.
The move has brought renewed criticism of Rishi Sunak from ... Read more ...
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Methane emissions from gas flaring being hidden from satellite monitors - Guardian - Energy (May 2) |
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May 2 · Use of enclosed combustors leaves regulators heavily reliant on oil and gas companies’ own flaring data
Oil and gas equipment intended to cut methane emissions is preventing scientists from accurately detecting greenhouse gases and pollutants, a satellite image investigation has revealed.
Energy companies operating in countries such as the US, UK, Germany and Norway appear to have installed technology that could stop researchers from identifying methane, carbon dioxide emissions and pollutants at industrial facilities involved in the disposal of unprofitable natural gas, known in the industry as flaring.
Flares are used by fossil fuel companies when capturing the ... Read more ...
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Australia risks being 'world’s nuclear waste dump’ unless Aukus laws changed, critics say - Guardian - Energy (May 1) |
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May 1 · Labor-chaired inquiry calls for legislation to rule out accepting high-level nuclear waste from US and UK submarines among other recommendations
Australia risks becoming the “world’s nuclear waste dump” unless the Albanese government moves to rewrite its proposed Aukus laws, critics say.
A Labor-chaired inquiry has called for the legislative safeguard to specifically rule out accepting high-level nuclear waste from the US and the UK. One of the members of a Senate committee that reviewed the draft laws, independent senator Lidia Thorpe, said the legislation “should be setting off alarm bells” because “it could mean that Australia becomes the world’s nuclear waste ... Read more ...
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Banks have given almost $7tn to fossil fuel firms since Paris deal, report reveals - Guardian - Energy (May 1) |
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May 1 · Among world’s top 60 banks those in US are biggest fossil fuel financiers, while Barclays leads way in Europe
The world’s big banks have handed nearly $7tn (£5.6tn) in funding to the fossil fuel industry since the Paris agreement to limit carbon emissions, according to research.
In 2016, after talks in Paris, 196 countries signed an agreement to limit global heating as a result of carbon emissions to at most 2C above preindustrial levels, with an ideal limit of 1.5C to prevent the worst impacts of a drastically changed climate.
Many countries have since promised to reduce carbon emissions, but the latest research shows private interests continued to funnel money to ... Read more ...
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Jim Chalmers claims there won’t be 'any new money’ for gas in budget as Labor faces caucus revolt - Guardian - Energy (May 1) |
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May 1 · Albanese government has already telegraphed budget will include $566m over 10 years to map Australia’s soil and seabed for gasfield exploration and $100m to speed up environmental approvals
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has attempted to head off a caucus backlash against the Albanese government’s future gas strategy by promising there “won’t be any new money” for the plan in next week’s budget.
The resources minister, Madeleine King, released the government’s gas roadmap on Wednesday, which sets out plans for gas to be used in Australia to 2050 and beyond, including the exploration and opening of new gas fields as a priority.
However, the announcement created ... Read more ...
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England could produce 13 times more renewable energy, using less than 3% of land – analysis - Guardian - Energy (Apr 9) |
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Apr 9 · Onshore wind and solar could provide 226GWh of electricity without impairing food production, says Friends of the Earth
England could produce 13 times more renewable energy than it does now, while using less than 3% of its land, analysis has found.
Onshore wind and solar projects could provide enough electricity to power all the households in England two and a half times over, the research by Exeter University, commissioned by Friends of the Earth (FoE), suggested.
Currently, about 17 terawatt hours of electricity comes from homegrown renewables on land. But there is potential for 130 TWh to come from solar panels, and 96TWh from onshore wind.
These figures ... Read more ...
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World’s biggest economies pumping billions into fossil fuels in poor nations - Guardian - Energy (Apr 9) |
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Apr 9 · G20 countries spent $142bn in three years to expand operations despite a G7 pledge to stop doing so, study finds
The world’s biggest economies have continued to finance the expansion of fossil fuels in poor countries to the tune of billions of dollars, despite their commitments on the climate.
The G20 group of developed and developing economies, and the multilateral development banks they fund, put $142bn (£112bn) into fossil fuel developments overseas from 2020 to 2022, according to estimates compiled by the campaigning groups Oil Change International (OCI) and Friends of the Earth US.
Canada, Japan and South Korea were the biggest sources of such finance in the ... Read more ...
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Shower power: Australian bathrooms are wasting energy and increasing your costs - Guardian - Energy (Apr 6) |
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Apr 6 · Experts say 'bare minimum’ building codes and a lack of interest from builders are making Australian bathrooms less energy-efficient
A long shower at the end of the day might be a relaxing escape from reality, but there is a reason to stay alert. Energy efficiency experts say the way Australian bathrooms are being built will drain your wallet – and the environment.
Alan Pears, a senior industry fellow at RMIT who helped develop Australia’s appliance energy star ratings, describes showers as “almost perfectly designed to waste energy and make you feel uncomfortable”. He says bathrooms lack “basic design principles” and are often cold and poorly ventilated, which ... Read more ...
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Southern frontlines: Latin America and the Caribbean - Guardian - Energy (Apr 5) |
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Apr 5 · A few years ago, as age began to take its toll, Rosa Velásquez decided it was time to leave the restaurant she owned in the coastal town of Cabo de la Vela and move back home for a peaceful retirement.. However, when she returned to the tiny rural community of Jotomana, on the arid plains of Colombia’s northernmost tip, she found the place she and her ancestors had called home for generations littered with giant wind turbines.
Towering white turbines punctuate the horizon a few miles from Cabo de la Vela. The region, in the northern state of La Guajira, is home to all of Colombia’s windfarms and its largest Indigenous population, the Wayúu.
“We live among turbines. The ... Read more ...
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China braced for rise in air pollution deaths - Guardian - Energy (Apr 5) |
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Apr 5 · Country needs to speed up environmental response to protect its ageing population, multinational study finds
In 2005 Beijing was crowned the smog capital of the world. Concerns about air pollution and athlete health overshadowed preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games and required industry and traffic shutdowns to clean the air during the event itself.
Now, a team of researchers at Chinese, German and Canadian universities have tracked the impacts of deteriorating air at that time. They found that particle pollution deaths in China were increasing at about 213,000 a year and peaked at 2.6mn people in 2005.
More positively, the impact of rapid improvements in ... Read more ...
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Mercury pollution at Eraring power plant rose 130% in 12 months - Guardian - Energy (Apr 3) |
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Apr 3 · Environment groups say increased pollution levels means it would be 'absurd and harmful’ to extend life of Eraring, which is due to close in August 2025
Mercury and particulate pollution from Australia’s largest coal-fired power station soared last year, prompting an environmental group to argue it would be “absurd and harmful” for the New South Wales government to extend its operations.
Origin Energy’s 2,880-megawatt Eraring power station, slated by the company to close in August 2025, reported mercury pollution jumped 130% in 2022-23 compared with the previous year, according to data from the national pollution inventory. The heavy metal permanently damages brains and ... Read more ...
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The age of extinction - Guardian - Energy (Apr 3) |
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Apr 3 · Up to a third of Africa’s great apes are threatened by a boom in mining projects for minerals required for the renewable energy transition, new research shows.
An estimated 180,000 gorillas, bonobos and chimpanzees are at risk due to an increase in demand for critical minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel and cobalt, a study has found. Many of those minerals are required for clean energy technologies such as wind turbines and electric cars. Researchers say the boom in demand is driving destruction of tropical rainforests which are critical habitats for Africa’s great apes.
“Africa is experiencing an unprecedented mining boom threatening wildlife populations and whole ... Read more ...
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Big oil privately acknowledged efforts to downplay climate crisis, joint committee investigation finds - Guardian - Energy (Apr 3) |
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Apr 3 · Big oil has privately acknowledged its efforts to downplay the dangers of burning fossil fuels, US Democrats have found.
Major fossil-fuel firms have also pledged support for international climate efforts, but internally admit these efforts are incompatible with their own climate plans. And they have lobbied against climate laws and regulations they have publicly claimed to support, documents newly revealed by the committee show.
The tranche of subpoenaed communications were unveiled on Tuesday morning by Democrats on the House oversight committee before a Wednesday hearing.
“For decades, the fossil-fuel industry has known about the economic and climate harms of ... Read more ...
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G7 agree to end use of unabated coal power plants by 2035 - Guardian - Energy (Apr 3) |
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Apr 3 · Agreement gives leeway to countries heavily reliant on coal and allows power plants fitted with carbon-capture technology
Ministers from the G7 countries agreed on Tuesday to end the use of unabated coal power plants by 2035 – but left the door open for those heavily reliant on coal to breach the deadline.
After two days of talks in Turin, Italy, they published a pledge to “phase out existing unabated coal power generation in our energy systems during the first half of 2030s” to curb the rise in global greenhouse gas emissions.
The communique marks a key climate milestone for the G7 nations – the UK, US, Canada, France, Italy, Germany and Japan – who had been ... Read more ...
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NSW to announce life extension of Eraring, Australia’s largest coal-fired power station - Guardian - Energy (Apr 3) |
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Apr 3 · Exclusive: Decision to keep the ageing plant operating for up to four more years could cost taxpayers as much as $150m a year
The New South Wales government will announce within days that it will extend the operations of Australia’s biggest coal-fired power station for as long as four more years.
The decision involves providing taxpayer subsidies to Origin Energy’s Eraring power station for two years with permits to run for two more, according to several people who have been briefed on the plans.
The cost of the subsidies are due to be discussed by the Minns government’s expenditure review committee as soon as this Friday. Environmental groups and local MPs were ... Read more ...
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US aiming to 'crack the code’ on deploying geothermal energy at scale - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · Recent $74m investment made alongside assessment that 10% of electricity could be generated by geothermal by 2050
A limitless supply of heat exists beneath our feet within the Earth’s crust, but harnessing it at scale has proved challenging. Now, a combination of new techniques, government support and the pressing need to secure continuous clean power in an era of climate crisis means that geothermal energy is finally having its moment in the US.
Until recently, geothermal has only been viable where the Earth’s inner heat simmers near the surface, such as at hot springs or geysers where hot water or steam can be easily drawn to drive turbines and generate ... Read more ...
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'Leave politics to the politicians’: why rural Queensland is a hotbed of renewable energy - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · Agriculture was once king in Glen Beasley’s neighbourhood on Queensland’s Darling Downs, a vast agricultural area about 200km west of Brisbane. “It was all grain, beef, timber and a bit of coal,” he says.
Then a high voltage power line was built through his family farm outside Chinchilla in 1984. The whispers of gas came with the turn of the millennium, and by the early 2010s, the coal seam gas industry was booming. Gas company Arrow Energy now holds a tenement over his property and a few doors down, there’s a coal seam gas waste facility.
“Now we have traffic lights in town, more shops, and there’s a lot more people around,” Glen’s wife, Barbara Beasley, says. “But when ... Read more ...
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'Privileged access’: pro-plastic lobbyists at UN pollution talks increase by a third - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · Fossil fuel and petrochemical campaigners at Ottawa summit outnumber scientists, EU and Indigenous delegates
The number of fossil fuel and petrochemical industry lobbyists has increased by more than a third at UN talks to agree the first global treaty to cut plastic pollution, analysis shows.
Most plastic is made from fossil fuels via a chemical process known as cracking, and 196 lobbyists from both industries are at the UN talks in Ottawa, Canada, where countries are attempting to come to an agreement to curb plastic production as part of a treaty to cut global plastic waste, according to analysis by the Center for International Environmental Law (Ciel).
The 196 ... Read more ...
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Activist groups not directly involved in Tiwi Island lawsuit must hand over documents to Santos, court rules - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · Broad terms of subpoenas a 'chilling’ precedent that could undermine future climate litigation, legal experts say
A federal court judge has allowed Santos to subpoena paperwork held by three activist groups who were not directly involved in a lawsuit against the oil company.
Justice Natalie Charlesworth ruled on Wednesday afternoon that Santos could pursue financial records and communications between activist groups – Sunrise, Jubilee Australia and the NT Environment Centre – and the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) in order to determine whether the company will also pursue the campaign organisations for costs for the lawsuit carried out by the EDO on behalf of Tiwi ... Read more ...
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Biden marks Earth Day with $7bn 'solar for all’ investment amid week of climate action - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · Funds will be targeted at disadvantaged areas to create 200,000 jobs, after last week’s oil and gas lease restrictions in Alaska
Joe Biden will mark Monday’s Earth Day by announcing a $7bn investment in solar energy projects nationwide, focusing on disadvantaged communities, and unveiling a week-long series of what the White House say will be “historic climate actions”.
The president is traveling to Virginia’s Prince William Forest Park to deliver a speech touting his environmental record, including measures to tackle the climate crisis and increase access to, and lower costs of, clean energy.
Today’s centerpiece is the announcement of $7bn in grants through the ... Read more ...
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First Nations woman one of seven global winners of prestigious Goldman prize for environmental activism - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · Murrawah Johnson recognised for role in landmark legal case to block coalmine backed by Clive Palmer
For Murrawah Johnson, the impacts of the climate crisis and the destruction of land to mine the fossil fuels that drive it are more than simple questions of atmospheric physics or environmental harm.
“What colonisation hasn’t already done, climate change will do in terms of finalising the assimilation process for First Nations people,” the 29-year-old Wirdi woman from Queensland says.
“[It is] totally destroying our ability to maintain a cultural identity, cultural existence and to be able to pass that on.”
Johnson is one of seven global winners of the ... Read more ...
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Global battery rollout doubled last year – but needs to be six times faster, says IEA - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · Energy watchdog warns pace must accelerate to hit targets after new batteries increased capacity by 130%
The rollout of batteries across the global electricity industry more than doubled last year but will need to be six times faster if the world hopes to meet its renewable energy targets, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
A report from the global energy watchdog found that new batteries totalling 42 gigawatts (GW) were plugged into electricity systems around the world last year, increasing total capacity by more than 130% from the year before to 85GW.
However, the IEA warned that an estimated 1,500GW of energy storage would be required worldwide ... Read more ...
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Guardian Essential poll: voters back Labor’s Future Made in Australia plan while overestimating cost of renewables - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · Results highlight the difficulties government faces in selling energy transition to sceptical public
Voters have backed Anthony Albanese’s Future Made in Australia plan but are under the misapprehension that renewables are the most expensive form of power.
Those are the results of Guardian’s latest Essential poll of 1,145 voters, illustrating the difficulty for Labor of selling the energy transition to sceptical voters.
Albanese’s net approval was steady at -5%, with 48% disapproving of the job the prime minister is doing and 43% approving.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, received a positive rating of +3%. Some 44% approve of the job Dutton is doing, up ... Read more ...
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High interest rates could add billions to UK green energy transition, says report - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · Resolution Foundation calls for fourfold increase in renewable power investment to reduce pressure on household bills
A permanent shift to higher interest rates could add billions of pounds to the UK’s renewable energy transition, a leading thinktank has warned.
Borrowing costs have soared since the easing of pandemic lockdowns and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the world’s leading central banks raised interest rates to tackle inflation – pushing up the costs of investment in infrastructure across advanced economies including for green power generation schemes.
The Resolution Foundation said £29bn a year could therefore be added to household energy bills in 2050 ... Read more ...
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How divestment became a 'clarion call’ in anti-fossil fuel and pro-ceasefire protests - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · The divestment movement has a long history among US student activists, including in the overlapping movements of today
Cameron Jones first learned about fossil fuel divestment as a 15-year-old climate organizer. When he enrolled at Columbia University in 2022, he joined the campus’s chapter of the youth-led climate justice group the Sunrise Movement and began pushing the school in New York to sever financial ties with coal, oil and gas companies.
“The time for institutions like Columbia to be in the pocket of fossil fuel corporations has passed,” Jones wrote in an October 2023 op-ed in the student newspaper directed toward the Columbia president, Minouche ... Read more ...
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Major investors leading push against Woodside’s climate plans ahead of AGM - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · Norway’s KLP and the UK’s LGIM among those who say they have concerns over energy giant’s carbon transition goals
Woodside Energy is facing the prospect of an overwhelming protest vote against its climate plans when shareholders meet on Wednesday, as global investors pick apart the emissions strategy of Australia’s biggest oil and gas company.
Norway’s largest pension fund, KLP, and Britain’s biggest asset manager, LGIM, are the latest investors to disclose they will vote against Woodside’s climate report, citing concerns over its carbon transition plans.
Critics have described Woodside’s strategy as overly reliant on offsets and not aligned with Paris climate ... Read more ...
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Net zero has become unhelpful slogan, says outgoing head of UK climate watchdog - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · Chris Stark says populist response and culture war around the term is inhibiting environmental progress
The concept of “net zero” has become a political slogan used to start a “dangerous” culture war over the climate, and may be better dropped, the outgoing head of the UK’s climate watchdog has warned.
Chris Stark, the chief executive of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), said sensible improvements to the economy and people’s lives were being blocked by a populist response to the net zero label, and he would be “intensely relaxed” about losing the term.
“Net zero has definitely become a slogan that I feel occasionally is now unhelpful, because it’s so associated ... Read more ...
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New rule compels US coal-fired power plants to capture emissions – or shut down - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · New EPA directive will cut pollution equivalent to the emissions of 328m cars, but industry group decries it as a 'reckless plan’
Coal-fired power plants would be forced to capture smokestack emissions or shut down under a rule issued on Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
New limits on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired electric plants are the Biden administration’s most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the power sector, the nation’s second-largest contributor to the climate crisis. The rules are a key part of Joe Biden’s pledge to eliminate carbon pollution from the electricity sector by 2035 and ... Read more ...
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Powering down: end times for the UK’s final coal-fired station - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · At Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, the turbines will stop spinning for good this year as the UK meets its pledge to ban coal use. We meet staff proud of the site’s 56-year history
From the northernmost reaches of the River Soar in Nottinghamshire, the towers of Britain’s last coal-fired power station emerge from the flat countryside like concrete monuments to another time.
For more than half a century Ratcliffe-on-Soar has burned millions of tonnes of coal to generate the electricity needed to power the British economy. But one by one Britain’s coal power stations have closed, leaving Ratcliffe the sole survivor. In less than six months it, too, will finally power ... Read more ...
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Share of electricity generated by fossil fuels in Great Britain drops to record low - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · Gas and coal accounted for just 2.4% of power generation for an hour last week, data shows, amid 'zero-carbon grid’ plans
The share of Great Britain’s electricity generated by burning fossil fuels plummeted to unprecedented lows this month, ahead of plans to begin running a “zero-carbon grid” for short periods from next year.
Electricity generated by burning gas and coal fell to a record low of just 2.4% for an hour at lunchtime on Monday 15 April, according to an analysis of data from National Grid’s electricity system operator (ESO).
The same data has revealed that earlier this month the share of fossil fuels in the generation mix taken over an entire day fell to ... Read more ...
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Taxing big fossil fuel firms 'could raise $900bn in climate finance by 2030’ - Guardian - Energy (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · Levy on oil and gas majors in richest countries would help worst-affected nations tackle climate crisis, says report
A new tax on fossil fuel companies based in the world’s richest countries could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to help the most vulnerable nations cope with the escalating climate crisis, according to a report.
The Climate Damages Tax report, published on Monday, calculates that an additional tax on fossil fuel majors based in the wealthiest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries could raise $720bn (£580bn) by the end of the decade.
The authors say a new extraction levy could boost the loss and damage fund to ... Read more ...
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