For most of the world’s large economies, the sharp decline in oil and energy prices is great news. Cheaper energy will help boost economic growth and is especially welcome for lower- and middle-income…
It should be possible to enjoy your holiday and give the planet a break.
lazyllama/Shutterstock
Australians love to travel. About 9 million Australians travelled overseas last year, 60% of them on holiday. For most tourists, sustainable development and climate change were probably not high on their…
The Castelao stadium in Fortaleza was the first of Brazil’s World Cup stadiums to receive green certification.
Pedroichimaru/Wikimedia Commons
This year’s World Cup was supposed to be the “greenest ever”, with FIFA taking measures to account for the event’s greenhouse gas emissions, including an estimated 2.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide…
While QANTAS offsets go to protecting forests, other carbon offsets can do more harm than good.
Claudio Jofré Larenas/Flickr
When was the last time you booked a flight? That extra A$1 in the final stages of booking may seem a small price to pay for offsetting the carbon emissions you generate travelling by air. But globally…
It is still not clear how emissions reductions will be measured.
Marcus Wong/Wikimedia Commons
You could be forgiven for missing it, but on the Friday afternoon before Christmas, federal environment minister Greg Hunt released the draft details of the Emissions Reduction Fund – the centrepiece of…
Many Australian consumers and businesses are working on ways to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. For some, the carbon tax meets their needs: it’s designed to specifically motivate changes in behaviour…
Seagrasses store carbon more efficiently than rainforests, making them a crucial part of climate change mitigation.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alessiodl
Sunanda Creagh, La Conversation Canada et Will Mumford, La Conversation Canada
Seagrass stores carbon 35 times faster than rainforests, preventing billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases escaping every year, but its crucial role in slowing climate change has been largely overlooked…
What role will Australia play in a network of individual carbon markets?
fdecomite
Anyone observing the climate change debate from Australia might think the world is moving away from carbon trading schemes. That would be understandable, but wrong. International carbon markets exist…
Under the carbon tax, Australia will be doing some of its emissions reductions overseas.
Truthout.org/Flickr
Australia is set to use international emissions trading to meet part of an emissions reduction target. Is this sensible and necessary? And how can we achieve investment in real reductions, rather than…
Locking carbon dioxide in soils and crops also stimulates emission of other greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide, a study found, meaning the capacity of land ecosystems to slow climate warming may have been overestimated.
Flickr/AndyCarvin
The ability of land ecosystems like crops and soils to slow down climate change may have been overestimated because some of these ‘carbon sinks’ actually emit more greenhouse gases than first thought…
Planting trees on farmland can offset emissions, but does it add up?
Fabio Strozzi/flickr
Planting trees in cleared agricultural landscapes is one way for the land use sector to help offset emissions of atmospheric carbon dioxide. But will it displace agriculture? Establishing trees is a robust…
What is the potential for Australia to reduce emissions through carbon farming?
Rod Keenan
The Final Report of the 2011 Garnaut Climate Change Review made a strong case for including land based reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and biosequestration activities in a carbon pricing scheme…
Brahman cattle fed a wide range of tropical grasses emit up to 30 per cent less methane than previously thought.
Flickr
Tropical grass-fed cattle in Australia’s north, which constitute half of the country’s beef industry, emit up to 30% less of the greenhouse gas methane than first thought, CSIRO scientists have found…
Should we really be relying on trees and soil to suck up our emissions?
Flickr/Sascha Grant
Rod Keenan, The University of Melbourne; Peter Grace, Queensland University of Technology et Snow Barlow, The University of Melbourne
Carbon farming - or biosequestration - seems to be the only climate change mitigation measure that both sides of politics can agree on. But its effectiveness may be sorely overstated. Biosequestration…
With the political debate over climate change getting muddier, many people who used to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by buying carbon offsets are no longer doing so. The market for carbon offsets…