Renewal energy is booming
A new International Energy Agency [IEA] report shows that global renewable power capacity is expected to increase by around a third this year. With solar and wind leading the way, this will be the biggest annual jump ever recorded.
There has been a tripling of new solar installations in China in the first four months of this year. Big coal exporters like Indonesia, Australia and Russia are seeing thermal coal prices sliding and the renewable energy boom is also continuing to drive the costs of solar to significantly lower levels.
Wind and solar produced more electricity in the EU than fossil fuels in May. Almost a third of EU electricity was generated from wind and solar, while fossil fuels generated a record low of 27 per cent.
Australia goes big
Australia will triple the size of its Macquarie Island Marine Park and close off an area larger than Germany to fishing and mining. Located between Tasmania and Antarctica, the park will expand to 475,465 km2, protecting millions of seabirds and wildlife including elephant and fur seals, whales, and the royal penguin, which is found nowhere else on Earth.
Fish out of water
A new technology called ‘recirculating aquaculture systems’ [RAS] can grow fish on land in a far more sustainable manner. It is now being used in Norway to farm eight million Atlantic salmon a year. This really matters as global consumption of fish will reach 180m tonnes by the end of the decade, and the ocean is already struggling.
