News - Environmental Trading

Greenpeace criticises pledge from airlines, airports and manufacturers as ‘greenwash’

The UK aviation industry has pledged to cut its net carbon emissions to zero by 2050 – despite still planning for 70% more flights over the next three decades.

Members of the Sustainable Aviation coalition, which includes most major airlines and airports, as well as aerospace manufacturers, will sign a commitment to reach net zero by mid-century. More than a third of the proposed net reduction will be achieved through offsetting.

The high-speed rail project has become one of the most costly and controversial of the modern era – and may not even be good for the environment

One of the principal arguments in favour of HS2 was the positive effect it would have on the environment – and this was rooted in the belief that high-speed electric trains could help the UK cut its carbon emissions.

Related: Fears grow over HS2's potential impact on biodiversity

Related: Fears grow over HS2's potential impact on biodiversity

Potential emissions

Strongly worded appeal comes as new energy market analysis predicts Australia will hit 50% renewable electricity by 2030

A group of more than 200 scientists will on Monday urge returning parliamentarians to urgently reduce Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions, and work diplomatically to achieve coordinated global climate action, after a catastrophic summer of fires.

In an open letter timed to coincide with the resumption of the parliamentary year in Canberra, the group says scientific evidence unequivocally links human-caused climate change to the increasing risk of frequent and severe bushfires in the Australian landscape.

Related: Thomas Keneally: ‘These fires have changed us’

Related: Scott Morrison is stuck in a time warp – more gas is not the answer | Simon Holmes à Court

Firms may cut prices on plug-in electric hybrids to escape new EU emissions fines

Carmakers are bracing for a hybrid electric car price war this year as they try to avoid steep EU fines for carbon dioxide emissions.

Related: 2020 set to be year of the electric car, say industry analysts

Governments risk derailing global fossil fuel demand with ‘handbrake turns’ in future

The oil industry is at risk of a global market shock that could halve the value of fossil fuel investments if governments delay setting policies to tackle the climate crisis, according to new analysis.

A report by Carbon Tracker, a financial thinktank, warned that a “handbrake turn” in climate policy could have a “forceful, abrupt, and disorderly” impact on the global oil industry by derailing fossil fuel demand.

Related: Shell blames falling energy prices for plunge in profits

Related: BP looks to charismatic oil man to lead response to climate crisis

Today, the instruments of ratification of both Parties to the Withdrawal Agreement were deposited with the Secretary-General of the Council and the Withdrawal Agreement will enter into force on 1 February 2020. This Agreement ensures that UK operators remain subject to EU ETS compliance obligations for emissions in the years 2019 and 2020. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to maintain the suspension of relevant processes for the UK. In accordance with legal provisions in force, the suspension will no longer apply and allowances issued by the UK in respect of 2019 and 2020 will not be identified by a country code nor be excluded from use for compliance. This means that from 3 February 2020 all processes for the UK in the Union Registry can again be executed.

Agreement will underwrite grid interconnectors and cut emissions, Australian prime minister says

Scott Morrison has struck a $2bn deal with the New South Wales government to increase gas supply and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector.

The deal includes at least $450m of federal grants and $510m more of federal grants or loans for “NSW-based emissions reduction initiatives”, to be matched by $1.01bn in direct funding from Gladys Berejiklian’s government.

Related: Seven ways Scott Morrison can evolve his climate policy without a political brawl | John Connor

Netherlands study offers UK good indication how it would have fared without EU rules

For more than four decades the UK contributed to EU-wide environmental lawmaking, but what have these regulations and directives done for us? The nearest data that we have comes from the Netherlands. There, scientists compared two alternative realities for their country: one with no EU laws and a version of today’s reality. European-wide laws began with exhaust standards for cars in the 1970s. Acid rain and forest dieback led to industry regulation and limits for total air pollution that each country could produce. The final step was to set minimum standards for the quality of the air that we all breathe.

Without EU laws, particle pollution in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam and The Hague would have risen steadily to be about 10 times greater than they are today; only slightly better than cities across China, India and Iran. Average life expectancy across the Netherlands would be about six years shorter; that equates to about 66,000 extra Dutch deaths annually and a health cost of €35bn-€77bn (£30bn-£65bn) a year. The UK is further from some of Europe’s big pollution centres than the Netherlands, but with a population that is four times greater, we can be sure that the impact of EU laws on annual deaths would be larger.

Environment group says $4.5bn saving should be redirected to rural and regional renewal after bushfires

The Australian Conservation Foundation is calling on the federal government to cap lucrative fuel tax credits for big business, with the $4.5bn annual saving to be redirected to rural and regional renewal in the wake of the summer bushfire crisis.

The environment group’s pre-budget submission argues that reform of the fuel rebate – forecast to cost $34bn over the forward estimates – is urgently needed given the scale of devastation caused by the fires, which have seen more than 18 million hectares of land burned across the country.

Related: Industry superannuation funds want end to super tax breaks that favour the rich

Related: Food prices rise as drought hits Australian supplies, with inflation climbing to 1.8%

Scott Morrison says ‘we are playing our part’, and given climate change cannot be stopped, Australia needs to focus on bushfire resilience and adaptation

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has rejected suggestions Australia could increase its international advocacy on climate change, saying the country is already “carrying its load” and must adapt to a warmer climate regardless of emissions policy.

After indicating that the government would “evolve” its climate change policies to address heightened concerns about the role of global warming in Australia’s ongoing bushfire crisis, Morrison used a keynote speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday to talk up the government’s current policies, including its emission reduction targets.

Related: Finding a way through the Overton climate window is the only way forward | Peter Lewis

Related: Heal the land, secure our future | David Pocock's 2020s vision

The Australian has quoted MPs and run an editorial accusing NZ of Kyoto carryover credits hypocrisy. Are they right?

Coalition MPs and the Australian newspaper have accused the New Zealand government of hypocrisy over its objections to Australia’s use of what are known as carryover credits to meet climate targets under the Paris agreement. Are they right?

Related: Scott Morrison says the government is acting on emissions. Is it true?

Related: Australia changed its historical carbon emissions data: what happened?

Related: Australia is the only country using carryover climate credits, officials admit

Related: UN climate talks: Australia accused of 'cheating' and thwarting global deal

Adaptation to bushfires might not be achievable without stronger action to curb emissions, letter warns

Australia’s current position as “ground zero” for both the impacts of climate change and policy uncertainty presents an opportunity for the country to emerge as a leader in responding to the climate crisis, according to Australian Research Council laureates.

In a letter signed by 80 ARC laureate fellows, some of Australia’s top researchers said claims strong action to cut emissions would be economically destructive have no basis and are not “consistent with Australia’s traditional optimism and ingenuity, nor with historical experience”.

Related: Kindness is not enough: Australia needs a strategic national response to the bushfires | Audette Exel

From toxic wastewater to greenhouse gas emissions, the boom in vinyl has dangerous effects – but streaming isn’t as clean an alternative as it looks

Inside a US vinyl pressing plant – its owners have asked that I do not give its location – dozens of hydraulic machines run all day and night. These contraptions fill the building, as long as a city block, with hissing and clanking as well as the sweet-and-sour notes of warm grease and melted plastic. They look like relics, because they are. The basic technological principles of record pressing have not changed for a century, and the machines themselves are decades old.

While it is far exceeded by revenues from streaming, the vinyl market keeps growing – Americans now spend as much on vinyl as they do on CDs, while there were 4.3m vinyl sales in the UK last year, the 12th consecutive year of growth. So, if you’re one of the millions of people to re-embrace vinyl records, it’s worth knowing where they come from and how they’re made. There are containers called hoppers at each pressing station, brimming with the lentil-like polymer pellets that get funnelled down into the machinery, heated and fused to form larger biscuits that resemble hockey pucks, and squashed to make records.

Retailer’s plans include cutting down on waste and a plastic bottle deposit scheme

Sainsbury’s has pledged to spend £1bn to become a carbon-neutral business by 2040, 10 years ahead of the government’s target for a net-zero economy.

The supermarket chain said the 20-year programme would include cutting its carbon emissions, food waste, plastic packaging and water usage, while increasing recycling, promoting healthy and sustainable eating, and ensuring that its operations are net positive for biodiversity.

National Grid report says target needs to be met if projects to cut greenhouse gas emissions are to go ahead

The UK must recruit more than 100,000 people to fill green energy roles within a decade if the government hopes to meet its binding climate targets, National Grid has warned.

A report by the company found that Britain needs to fill 120,000 roles in the green energy industry by 2030 to help develop projects that can cut greenhouse gas emissions to near zero. That number is likely to reach 400,000 by 2050, when the government expects to have developed a clean energy system based on renewable electricity, green heating systems and electric vehicles.

Related: UK could tap into Africa's $24bn market for off-grid solar power

Remarks by Executive Vice President Timmermans, in charge of the European Green Deal,  at the Conference on the first European Climate Law, in Brussels

Conservatives love to talk up Australia ‘punching above its weight’, but they turn to self-hating cowards when it comes to climate change

I love Australia.

It’s not a thing you hear too often from progressives. Mostly this is because we don’t go in for the pathetic jingo-nationalist, quasi-militaristic “love it or leave it”-style patriotism that John Howard attempted to link with a love of country.

Related: Scott Morrison's stance on climate change makes it harder for future governments to undo his damage | Greg Jericho

This summer has shown how precarious our Australian lifestyle is

Related: Australian bushfires to contribute to huge annual increase in global carbon dioxide

Experts call for sweeping policy changes and warn against Heathrow expansion

Expanding Heathrow airport is unlikely to be compatible with the UK’s target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, leading scientists have said, adding that government policies are lacking in many other key areas from home insulation and transport to carbon capturing.

Achieving the net zero goal will require sweeping policy changes, but scientists are concerned that little has so far been forthcoming from ministers.

Activist says calls to break from fossil fuels have been ignored at World Economic Forum

Greta Thunberg has criticised world and business leaders for ignoring calls to break away from fossil fuels, as young people protested in Davos over the climate emergency.

Speaking on the final day of the World Economic Forum, the 17-year old climate campaigner said leaders were not reacting to the crisis, and were not being held accountable for their inaction.

Related: Greta Thunberg tells world leaders to end fossil fuel ‘madness’

Davos is a Swiss ski resort now more famous for hosting the annual four-day conference for the World Economic Forum. For participants it is a festival of networking. Getting an invitation is a sign you have made it – and the elaborate system of badges reveals your place in the Davos hierarchy. The meeting is sponsored by a huge number of international banks and corporations.

THIS IS WHAT I SAID TO ELITES AT DAVOS

It was a surreal experience to hand this candidly written activist manifesto to a few of the world’s most powerful people at the World Economic Forum in @Davos. https://t.co/dmuwyU0NJP#WEF2020

US Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin downplay risks posed by climate emergency

The US and Europe have clashed over the threat posed by global heating as Donald Trump’s finance minister downplayed the risks of a climate crisis during the final session of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Steve Mnuchin, the US Treasury secretary, said the debate should be about “environmental issues” rather than climate change, that the costs were being over-estimated and that climate was only one of several concerns that needed to be discussed.

Departure from the Paris climate agreement