VEN – Good News on Climate Action – Blog
Statement from 200 Investors Managing €6 Trillion Urging the EU: Do Not Weaken Green Rules
The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), the European Sustainable Investment Forum (Eurosif), and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), along with 162 investors representing approximately €6.6 trillion assets under management, as well as 49 service providers and other supporting organisations (a total of 211 signatories), call on the European Commission to preserve the…
Read MoreYes, energy prices are hurting the food sector. But burning more fossil fuels is not the answer
Published: February 4, 2025 in The Conversation Vivienne Reiner PhD Candidate, Integrated Sustainability Analysis group, University of Sydney Months out from a federal election, the industry lobby is gearing up in opposition to the Albanese government’s renewable energy targets. In a salvo on Monday, food distributors urged the government to increase fossil fuel production, as…
Read MoreTips for selling second-hand clothes online
Image showing the carbon cost of new clothes from 8billion trees.com By Kellie Scott ABC Lifestyle Topic:Women’s Fashion Thu 23 Jan SEE ARTICLE FOR IMAGE Jo Bartley has tried many different platforms to sell plus-size clothing. (Supplied) Many of us have a bag of clothes stuffed in a corner or rolling around in our car…
Read MoreHere’s how fish farms could double as a climate solution
Fig. 1: Schematic sedimentary sulfur cycling and modelled rates of sulfate reduction from Fakhraee and Planavsky. “Enhanced sulfide burial in low-oxygen aquatic environments could offset the carbon footprint of aquaculture production.” Nature Food. 2024. A new study analyzes a potential win-win solution for fish health and carbon capture. The critical ingredient is something you might…
Read MoreWill new UK PM get away with economic growth at expense of climate/environment?
original title: Should Labour really value its economic ambitions over its environmental duty? by helena Horton in ‘Down to Earth’ Guardian magazine On the face of it, Rachel Reeves and Liz Truss have almost nothing in common. One is the Labour chancellor, the other a hard-right former Tory prime minister most recently seen courting Donald…
Read MoreFast, fair funding for critical climate action: ideas from the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force
06/02/2025 There’s a taskforce dreaming up radical climate solutions – and you can help Damian Carrington in Guardian Newsletter Fast, fair funding for critical climate action is desperately needed, and that makes the drive for levies on polluters and the ultrarich perhaps the most exciting climate idea floating around right now. The Global Solidarity Levies…
Read MoreHow long can fossil fuel dominance last?
The Stone Age didn’t end because the world ran out of stones By Mark Harris in ANthropocene In 1027, legend recounts that King Cnut of England set his throne on the seashore and commanded the incoming tide to halt. His feet still got wet. A thousand years later, America’s president seems to be drawing a…
Read MoreBermagui cafes collectively switch to reusable coffee cups
Image: The systemic mechanisms driving waste and hindering retailers’ engagement with waste reduction initiatives. From Koskela-Huotari, Kaisa & Svärd, Kristin & Williams, Helén & Trischler, Jakob & Wikström, Fredrik. (2023). Drivers and Hinderers of (Un)Sustainable Service: A Systems View. Journal of Service Research. 27. 1-18. 10.1177/10946705231176071. in abc.net.au by By Isla Evans and Floss Adams…
Read MoreHow US states are leading the climate fight – despite Trump’s rollbacks
Just two days after Donald Trump’s re-election, California lawmakers held a special session to prepare to defend its progressive policies from his administration in The Guardian by Dharna Noor Fri 31 Jan 2025 As the Trump administration rolls back decades-old environmentalprotections and pulls Biden-era incentives for renewable energy, state-level advocates and officials are preparing to…
Read MoreA new fungal battery can be tossed in the compost to biodegrade
Image: a fungal battery from impact lab.com Source: Carolina Reyes et al. 3D Printed Cellulose-Based Fungal Battery. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2024. Using fungi, cellulose, and carbon, researchers 3D printed small batteries, that can be stored dry and later activated with water and simple sugars. By Anthropocene Team January 16, 2025 Anthropocene Researchers have…
Read MoreWhat would happen if climate fees for food moved from political conversation to policy?
Changing the foods you eat can have a big impact on your carbon footprint. Many of these changes will also be beneficial for your health! For example, shifting to a vegetarian meal one day a week for one year could save the equivalent of driving 1,160 miles. But you don’t have to be fully vegetarian…
Read MoreGreen bank backing farmers on climate action journey
Image: pathfinder project identifying low emission activities to incentivise January 31, 2025 03:30 | Michael West and AAP News From planting carbon-sequestering windbreaks to feeding cows seaweed to stop them burping as much methane, Australia’s green bank wants to make it easier for farmers to cut emissions. The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has teamed…
Read MoreDrones to revolutionise bushfire fighting
in The Conversation Marta Yebra Iain Guilliard Nicholas Wilson Robert Mahony Australian National University Picture this. It’s a summer evening in Australia. A dry lightning storm is about to sweep across remote, tinder-dry bushland. The next day is forecast to be hot and windy. A lightning strike tonight could spark a fire that grows into…
Read MoreElection promise: incentives for ‘green’ aluminium
Portland’s aluminium smelter is the largest consumer of electricity in Victoria. (Supplied: Alinta Energy) Federal Labor to pledge $2 billion for ‘green aluminium’ in new election pitch By political reporter Tom Lowrey in abc.net.au Sun 19 Jan SEE ORIGINAL IMAGE IN ARTICLE The Tomago Aluminium plant near Newcastle has announced plans to switch to renewables…
Read MoreAdaptLog: a continually updated resource for conservation practitioners grappling with climate change
CSIRO, WWF and Australian government team up to launch AdaptLog conservation solutions project By Clancy Balen in ABC.net.au Mon 20 Jan SEE ORIGINAL ARTICLE PHOTO Dr Jess Melbourne-Thomas says AdaptLog is a “new tool that can help conservationists think about what to do when environments are changing incredibly quickly”. (ABC News: Jordan Young) In short:…
Read MoreNo time for despair: 3 reasons to fear humanity won’t reach net-zero emissions – and 4 reasons we might just do it
Nick Rowley Honorary Associate Professor, The Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, in The Conversation Within hours of taking office last week, President Donald Trump made good on his pledges to wind back the United States’ climate action – including withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement. This political show comes barely a…
Read MoreSuper-capacitor bikes!
They invented the first electric bike without a battery 🚲 🔋 (Major brands are paying attention) Every e-bike hides an uncomfortable truth: ↳ Europe imports 1.2 million e-bikes yearly ↳ Each one needing lithium batteries ↳ Most die within 5 years and join millions in landfill Adrien Lelièvre discovered something revolutionary. Supercapacitors could replace these…
Read MoreTax breaks for hybrids
Image: examples of EV incentives in Europe. For full list see ACEA report They’re cleaner and greener, so why won’t the government give hybrids tax breaks? By Mike Foley January 20, 2025 in The Age Penny Nelson is one of the hundreds of thousands of Australians who have switched from a petrol-powered car to a…
Read MoreClimate attribution science: a tool for climate action
Graphs: Christopher Callahan, an Earth system scientist and postdoc at Stanford, explored the challenges of linking specific fossil fuel emitters to measurable climate damages, citing examples like the 2021 Pacific Northwest heatwave, which led to a lawsuit brought by Multnomah County, Oregon, against major fossil fuel companies. from news.Climate.columbia.edu Advances in climate attribution science are…
Read MoreHow flora and fauna are evolving before our eyes, in the face of climate adversity
Image: from Wikimedia commons Patrick Greenfield 09/01/2025 in The Guardian Down To Earth Newsletter During Britain’s industrial revolution, the peppered moth became one of the most famous examples of rapid evolution. The black and white insect, widespread in the northern hemisphere, largely disappeared from urban areas in England as its habitat became covered with factory…
Read More