The top 10 bosses from hell
Fiction's very worst bosses - be very thankful they'll never turn up in your office.
Push for EU 2030 target for renewable energy
8:14am Ministers from Germany, France and six other countries call for the European Union to set a 2030 goal for renewable energy use, in opposition to their British counterpart who advocates a sole greenhouse gas emissions target.
Canada's Harper remains confident Keystone XL pipeline will be built
8:18am Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper hopeful the Keystone XL pipeline will eventually be built even as President Barack Obama delays making a decision on the $US5.4 billion project.
EU's rescue plan for carbon market likely to start by April
8:19am The European Union's emergency plan to help boost carbon prices may get all necessary regulatory approvals as soon as next month and start around April, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
China reaffirms support for solar PV industry
China pledges further support support for its ailing solar power industry as the government seeks to revive a sector struggling with with overcapacity and falling prices.
China to assign credit ratings based on environmental performance
China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, will assign credit ratings to companies in industries with heavy pollution or overcapacity based on their efforts to protect the environment.
Japan to tap smart meters, fuel cells to tackle climate change
Japan plans smart meters in every residence and factory by the early 2020s and 5.3 million fuel cells in homes by 2030 to tackle climate change, according to a report to be submitted to the United Nations.
China launches fifth carbon market
The Chinese city of Tianjin has launched the country's fifth emissions trading scheme as the world's biggest-emitting nation took another step towards reining in its impact on the environment.
Government approves Clive Palmer's coalmine in Queensland
PETER HANNAM Christmas has come early for mining billionaire and newly minted MP Clive Palmer, with the federal government approving his monster China First coalmine in Queensland's Galilee Basin.
Carbon
Busy first day for China's biggest carbon market
The first day's trading in what will be by far the largest carbon market in China kicked off briskly yesterday with pricing in line with expectations, as Beijing continues its drive to slow its rapid growth of heat-trapping emissions.
Santos faces fines for Pilliga coal seam gas salt spill
Gas giant Santos' NSW branch could be slapped with hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines after it admitted to failing to report contamination and excessive salt levels at a drilling site in the state's northwest.
Energy
Coal 'prime culprit' behind climate change but can we live without it?
John Kemp "There is no denying the controversial reality of coal," Maria van der Hoeven, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), wrote in its annual report on the coal industry, published on Monday.
Energy
UK to open region as big as Wales for shale exploration
The U.K. government is ready to open an area the size of Wales for shale drilling next year, doubling the space available for exploration.
Australian government cuts billions of dollars from social programs
Gareth Hutchens, Peter Hannam The federal government has cut billions of dollars from programs ranging from the environment to health and indigenous legal aid.
Protestors vow to save 'beautiful forest' from Whitehaven coal mine
Opponents of a northwest NSW coal mine vow to continue protesting, after human barricades stopped tree-clearing bulldozers entering the site.
Energy
Germany shifts priority to economy ahead of renewables
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s new cabinet sends a message on her priorities: Nurturing Germany’s economy takes precedence over the drive to renewables.
Markets
EU passes law to mop up carbon permit glut
The European Union adopts an emergency law change to alleviate a record glut of emission permits in the region’s carbon market and help prices recover from near all-time lows.
Uncertainty limits take-up of carbon farming credits
Australia this week surpassed 3 million credits issued under its carbon offset scheme for agriculture, forestry and waste, but uptake of new projects is low with regulatory uncertainty weighing heavily on project developers, experts say.
Suntech deal probe may delay restructuring of former solar PV giant
China's Suntech Power said its restructuring manager would investigate the planned sale of its main unit to Shunfeng Photovoltaic International for legal infractions - a move sources say could delay the $US495 million deal.
China's Guangdong province to debut carbon market with highest price
China's southern province of Guangdong will start auctioning 3 million metric tons of carbon permits on Dec. 16 with the highest debut price in the nation.
UK plan to halve carbon emissions affordable, adviser says
The U.K.'s ambition to cut carbon emissions by half is affordable and mustn't be watered down, the government's adviser on global warming said.
China tells grids to purchase all solar power in boost to PV industry
China’s government asks power grid companies to buy all the solar energy produced in their coverage areas, providing a possible boost to solar panel makers.
Obama names Keystone XL opponent John Podesta to inner circle
John Podesta’s return to the White House places an opponent of the Keystone XL pipeline within US President Barack Obama’s inner circle as the administration weighs whether to approve the project.
Markets
EU approves rescue plan for carbon market
The European Union approves a rescue plan for the world’s biggest greenhouse-gas market, ending more than a year of political squabbling during which prices slumped to a record low.
Senate vote gives Clean Energy Finance Corp a reprieve
The Senate has rejected the first of the government's carbon tax repeal bills with Labor and the Greens combining to vote it down.
China unprepared for climate change impacts, government says
China is poorly prepared to tackle the impact of climate change that presents a serious threat to the country, thanks to a lack of planning and public awareness, the government said.
Indigenous burning among ancient practices being studied to save eco-systems
Ancient farming practices, such as raising fish in rice paddies in China or indigenous Australian fire controls, will get a new lease of life under plans to slow extinctions of animals and plants, experts said.
Hydrogen short-cut may prove route to cleaner fuel
Scientists have produced hydrogen by accelerating a natural process found in rocks deep below the Earth's surface, a short-cut that may herald the wider use of what is a clean fuel, a study showed.
Policy
Abbott's direct action fund may waste $2 billion, analyst says
Australia risks wasting up to $2 billion of its planned Emissions Reduction Fund if it goes ahead with moves to give big polluters carbon credits based on historical efficiency levels, analysts Reputex said.
Energy
Xstrata bets on thermal coal's future as BHP, Rio scale back
Ivan Glasenberg, the billionaire running commodities supplier Glencore Xstrata Plc, is investing more in thermal coal than his three closest competitors combined even as investors warn the fuel's outlook is deteriorating.
Energy
Oil giants brace for much higher carbon emissions price
International oil producers are bracing for carbon emission costs to soar to almost 10 times current prices in Europe, the world's largest greenhouse gas market, as governments around the world escalate efforts to curb climate change.
Europe likely to extend aviation emissions freeze to 2020
Europe may decide in the next five months to extend a freeze on emissions limits for foreign flights to as long as 2020, a European Union adviser said.
Storm lifts Germany's renewable energy share above 2020 goal - for a day
Record output from wind farms lifted Germany's share of renewable electricity production above its 2020 target of 35 percent on Thursday as a storm from Scandinavia battered the nation's northern coast.
Energy
US solar giant rolls out battery systems to customers
SolarCity, the second-largest U.S. solar company by market value, is offering power-storage systems to commercial customers that will reduce utility bills and provide electricity during blackouts.
Arthur Sinodinos denies offering to reconsider scrapping the Clean Energy Finance Corporation
Jonathan Swan, Marija Taflaga Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos has backed away from his suggestion that he would reconsider the government’s decision to shut down Labor’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
Green climate fund hopes for a change in fortunes
The Green Climate Fund, designed as the United Nations' most important funding body in the battle on climate change in developing nations, launched its headquarters in South Korea, but uncertainty over finances clouded the event.
Investment
China doubles pace of new renewable energy
China doubled the pace of adding renewable energy capacity in the first 10 months of the year as the government worked to cut pollution in its largest cities.
UK to invest $73b in renewable energy by 2020
The U.K. government said it expects 40 billion pounds ($73 billion) of investment in renewables by 2020 after shifting incentives toward offshore wind power and away from projects on land in areas where residents object.
Carbon economy
Renewables surge before possible carbon tax demise
PETER HANNAM A rush to take advantage of the carbon price has allowed renewable energy to grab its largest share of eastern Australia's main electricity market since the 1970s.
Smart power consumers becoming 'worst nightmare' for electricity firms
Andrew Greenfield checks his home's solar power output against consumption through his computer and mobile phone dozens of times each day - no wonder utilities don't like him.
Beijing launches China's third carbon-trading centre
Beijing becomes the third Chinese city to launch a carbon trading scheme to regulate soaring CO2 emissions from its main power generators and manufacturers.
How China's carbon markets work
China's most populous province, Guangdong, will launch a CO2 emissions trading scheme in mid-December, hot on the heels of Shanghai and Beijing this week. A market in Shenzhen was launched in June.
Shanghai starts carbon emissions trading
The first carbon permits in Shanghai traded at 27 yuan ($4.9) on Tuesday, as the financial hub launched China's second such trading scheme in a bid to cut its fast-growing greenhouse gas emissions.
Harvard fracking study rings methane alarm bells in Australia
PETER HANNAM Australia's coal seam gas industry has rejected a peer-reviewed report that suggests greenhouse gas emissions from drilling and fracking are 50 per cent worse than thought.
Methane emissions from gas far exceed estimates, US study finds
US emissions of methane - a greenhouse gas - are probably 50 per cent higher than current estimates show, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Finance
Culling 'giant green hedge fund' will hit Abbott budget, body says
PETER HANNAM Scrapping the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corp will strip between $110 million and $171 million a year from the federal budget rather than save the government money, the fund will tell a Senate inquiry today.
Markets
China extends carbon trading to Beijing and Shanghai
China will launch two new pilot carbon trading schemes this week in Beijing and Shanghai as it strives to cut soaring rates of greenhouse gas, reduce choking smog and determine the best system for a nationwide roll-out.
Parliament's mid-winter sitting hints at carbon tax repeal wait
Federal MPs will be required for a rare mid-winter sitting of Parliament in July in a sign the government might wait for the new Senate to pass its carbon tax repeal bills.
Climate talks limp towards Paris pact
Almost 200 countries kept alive hopes for a global deal in 2015 to fight climate change after overcoming disputes on greenhouse gas emissions cuts and aid for poor nations at a meeting widely criticised as lacking urgency.
Climate talks in Warsaw make progress
Envoys from 190 nations are close to agreeing upon the first building blocks for the next treaty aimed at fighting global warming, sketching the way to worldwide cuts in fossil-fuel emissions.
Energy
Solar jobs go as uncertainty clouds PV outlook
PETER HANNAM Thousands of jobs have been shed this year in Australia's solar photovoltaic industry as the rollback of state-based incentives dims the appeal of roof-top panels.
