VEN – Good News on Climate Action – Blog
Out of 1,500 global climate policies, only 63 have really worked. That’s where green spin has got us
Image: Fig. 4. Effective policies and policy mixes. (A) On the basis of point estimates for country-specific breaks in emissions (tables S12 to S19), we compared the average effect sizes of all breaks in which a policy instrument appears individually with that of all breaks in which this policy instrument appears in a mix. For…
Read MoreSuccesfully deploying offshore renewable energy
Image WWF report: Figure 2: Projected installation of wind energy capacity (gigawatts) 2022-2026, Source: Global Wind Energy Council, Global Wind Report 2023 The Global Wind Energy Council expects 680 GW of wind capacity to be added globally between 2023 and 2027, of which 130 GW will be offshore. This represents more than half of the…
Read MoreWA and NT undermining Australia’s climate targets
Image: SBS News and Climate Council The two places ‘undermining’ Australia’s efforts to cut emissions Australia is making “impressive” progress on transitioning to renewable energy — but not every state and territory is pulling their weight, according to a new report. Two parts of Australia are “undermining” national efforts to embrace renewable energy and cut…
Read MoreThe IRA’s wins in climate, public health, and economic equity—and where we must go next.
The Inflation Reduction Act Turns Two AUGUST 16, 2024 in Roosevelt Report How the IRA Is Shaping a Better Economy Two years ago, President Biden signed one of the most ambitious pieces of legislation in decades: the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). On the landmark law’s second birthday, Roosevelt’s Alí R. Bustamante reflects on how the…
Read MorePrisoners doing environmental projects could reduce reoffending.
Landcare project gives Broken Hill inmates hope for the future while restoring Imperial Lakes environment By Oliver Brown ABC Broken Hill Topic:Prisons and Punishment Mon 29 JulMonday 29 July (see original article for images) This prisoner from the Broken Hill Correctional Facility hopes this prison term will be his last. (ABC Broken Hill: Oliver Brown)…
Read MoreExtracting lithium just got cheaper and more sustainable
Image: from Rong Xu et al. Continuous lithium extraction from brine by efficient redox-couple electrodialysis. Matter, 2024 New electricity-driven chemical process filters out lithium from brines efficiently and for less than half the cost of current techniques By Anthropocene Team August 29, 2024 A new method to extract lithium from salty brines is more efficient…
Read MoreWe can restore our continent’s landscape to its pre-European state with less than a quarter of what we spend annually on our pets
Repairing landscapes, growing food, sequestering carbon Posted on 30 July 2024 by Peter Boyer in South Wind magazine A new assessment by eminent scientists of Australia’s degraded environment has worked out that we can restore our continent’s landscape to its pre-European state with less than a quarter of what we spend annually on our pets.…
Read MorePeople turn to making and mending their own clothes to save money as cost of living crisis looms large
By Holly Tregenza Monday 29 July in ABC news (See original article for image) Sophie Parry’s sewing studio in Redfern has seen a 40 per cent increase in interest for repair and alteration classes. (ABC News: Holly Tregenza) In short: A sewing studio in Sydney has seen a 40 per cent increase in interest in their…
Read MoreFossil fuel windfall selling cheap: link between fossil fuel political donations and project environmental approvals
Give, and thou shalt receive. Million dollar links between donors and environmental approvals by Kim Wingerei | Sep 5, 2024 | Energy & Environment, in Michael West Correlation does not always imply causation, but the link between fossil fuel companies’ multi-million political donations and projects receiving environmental approvals is no coincidence. Kim Wingerei reports. Between…
Read MoreWaste-to-energy: 2 birds with one stone? or a threat to the circular economy?
Harnessed waste heat from cremations, sewage sludge could soon power our homes By Bianca Hall in The Age September 9, 2024 Cremating bodies is an energy-intensive process: the sheer amount of energy required to cremate an individual body can generate more than 250kW in wasted heat. But what if we could harness that excess heat,…
Read MoreSouthern ocean is the world’s engine room
Image: from article Closing the Loops on Southern Ocean Dynamics: From the Circumpolar Current to Ice Shelves and From Bottom Mixing to Surface Waves https://doi.org/10.1029/2022RG000781 Notes: Carbon sink – the ocean’s dense water absorbs carbon then sinks it. Ice – the Antarctic ice sheet is the largest ice mass on earth. It flows onto the…
Read MoreWorld’s first loss and damage fund relocates cyclone survivors with direct payments
AND World bank president visits Tuvalu. From Scotland to Malawi: climate survivors are rebuilding with world first loss and damage fund This article is more than 1 month old Cyclone Freddy left a trail of destruction when it hit southern Africa last year. Sixteen months later, 2,695 households have received relocation payments with no strings…
Read MoreWind and solar energy overtake fossil fuels to provide 30% of EU electricity, more than 50% if include hydropower and other renewables
Image: Guardian graphic from Ember electricity data This article is more than 1 month old Report finds 13 member states generated more energy from wind and solar power than coal and gas for first time in 2024 Ajit Niranjan Tue 30 Jul 2024 14.00 AEST in the Guardian Wind turbines and solar panels have overtaken…
Read MoreGreat climate policies in 7 countries
Diagram from article: Climate policies that achieved major emission reductions: Global evidence from two decades (article). They identified 63 successful policy interventions with total emission reductions between 0.6 billion and 1.8 billion metric tonnes CO2. 01/08/2024 From Spain to South Korea, seven countries leading the way on climate-friendly policy Great policies: Electrify everything LED lightbulbs…
Read MoreWhy suburbia is the new green – and the saviour of sustainability
By Tone Wheeler September 2, 2024 in smh news Suburbia is unsustainable. It’s the planners’ dogma: suburbs require too much land, energy, cars and infrastructure to support too few people in oversized houses. And we are world champions: our cities have the lowest densities in the OECD. Now, through a combination of technology and design,…
Read MoreTime to invest in clean energy!
Looking for stability in a volatile stock market? Try green energy A novel statistical technique used to track global financial markets reveals the potential of clean energy investments to buffer against losses By Sarah DeWeerdt August 27, 2024 Anthropocene Investments in green energy can help optimize investment portfolios and ‘hedge’ against volatile markets, according to…
Read MoreHow climate change accelerated spring winds
By Caitlin Fitzsimmons in SMH Updated September 2, 2024 — 5.55pm Strong winds in eastern Australia this week are being driven by climate change interfering with jet streams, the powerful high-altitude winds that encircle the globe. Australia’s two jet streams – subtropical and polar – have combined over the continent’s south-east. This has caused strong…
Read More“Turning point:” Share of coal in Australia’s main grid falls below 50 pct for first time
Giles Parkinson Sep 2, 2024 4Renew Economy CHART OF THE DAY COAL WIND The share of coal power – traditionally the biggest source of generation in Australia’s main grid – has fallen below 50 per cent, averaged over a whole week, for the first time in what industry observers are hailing as a “turning point.”…
Read MoreBig 4 banks continue to fund climate crisis
Australia’s big banks lent $3.6bn to fossil fuel expansion projects in 2023, report shows Lending puts banks in ‘complete violation’ of commitments to Paris agreement, climate group says, even as overall funding to sector ebbs Peter Hannam Tue 16 Jul 2024 01.00 AEST in The Guardian Australia’s big four banks are in “complete violation” of…
Read MoreSoil biodiversity
Fig. 3. Graphical overview of the share of species living in soil. Doughnuts reflect the per- centage of species in soil versus all other ecosystems combined (e.g., marine, freshwater, built en- vironment, host organisms such as humans). The larger doughnut on top shows the total share of species, and smaller doughnuts show individual shares for…
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