Section 82: an opportunity for strategic thinking

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Carbon Neutral Regulation in AI Training

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Darren Hanson is director environmental solutions, Xylem UK. New environmental legislation for England and Wales requires continuous water quality monitoring, writes Darren Hanson of Xylem UK – and the wins will go beyond river water quality. With the Environment Act 2021 now in active rollout, the UK water sector is entering a pivotal phase. Part […]
The climate reparations debate seeks justice for states, communities, and individuals suffering from the unjust distribution of climate-related harms. This debate can be usefully informed by lessons from the field of ‘transitional justice’, i.e., the body of scholarship and practice concerned with how societies respond to the legacies of massive and severe violations of international […]

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The world’s first full-scale commercial ammonia-fuel engine has been completed by Japan Engine Corporation (J-ENG), marking a milestone in efforts to decarbonise global shipping. A large (50cm) bore, seven-cylinder engine intended for medium gas carriers, a mid-sized class of commercial gas-transport vessels, it is equipped with high-pressure selective catalytic reduction (SCR). The engine passed its […]

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Researchers in the US report that plants rapidly boost their immune systems during drought recovery, knowledge of which phenomenon they say indicates potential genetic strategies for designing more drought-resistant crops (words: Salk Institute) A plant’s number one priority is to grow—a feat that demands sunlight, nutrients, and water. If just one of these three inputs […]

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A new study appears to find that the scale, speed, and ambitious targets driving Scotland’s offshore wind industry demand a strategic approach to supply chain development. Strengthening resilience will require both the diversification of port operations and focused investment in key infrastructure such as wet storage and integration berths. The comprehensive simulation modelling project was […]

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Synthetic data are artificially generated by algorithms to mimic the statistical properties of actual data, without containing any information from real-world sources. While concrete numbers are hard to pin down, some estimates suggest that more than 60 percent of data used for AI applications in 2024 was synthetic, and this figure is expected to grow […]

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Caroline Uhler is an Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Engineering at MIT; a professor of electrical engineering and computer science in the Institute for Data, Science, and Society (IDSS); and director of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where she is also a core institute and scientific […]
*This is Part One of a two-part blog series that examines the impact of federal grant termination litigation on the Inflation Reduction Act’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). At the time of this post, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has just issued a decision in Climate United Fund v. Citibank, vacating […]

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Chalk streams – globally rare rivers once known for their gin-clear waters – are being impacted by microparticle pollution to a disturbing extent, according to a new study, seemingly the first to gather this kind of monitoring data about a chalk stream. Fewer than 300 chalk streams exist worldwide, and England is home to most […]
As the realities of climate change become increasingly dire, communities worldwide face devastating impacts, from rising sea levels to extreme weather events, disproportionately affecting those who have contributed the least to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this context, impacted individuals and communities are increasingly seeking recourse in international and regional courts and tribunals to clarify […]

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The introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) has rattled many industries, with companies concerned about potential cost increases. However, EPR may also present an opportunity to reduce disposal costs or even cash in on some commercial waste. Recycling rebate experts at BusinessWaste.co.uk are advising business owners to re-evaluate their waste to discover if they could […]

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This article contains sponsored content. Modern warehouses generate an estimated 2.5 million tonnes of operational waste annually across the UK, with packaging materials accounting for nearly 60% of this total. Traditional recycling approaches, while valuable, only address waste after it has been created. Advanced waste reduction strategies focus on prevention, optimisation, and systemic change to […]

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A group of wild boar caught on a trail cam at at Bunloit Estate (image credit: James Hutton Institute) New modelling has predicted a significant rise in Scotland’s boar population over the next 50 years – with hotspots persisting in the West Highlands, Dumfries and Galloway, northern Moray and Aberdeenshire, and Perthshire. Once extinct in […]

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Performance tires are evolving. Once known primarily for speed, grip, and responsiveness, they are now at the center of a green revolution in tire manufacturing. With buyers demanding eco-conscious solutions, tire makers are rethinking compounds, production methods, and recycling processes. Today, sustainable performance tires blend driving excitement with environmental responsibility. What Makes a Tire “Sustainable”? […]

[Here and at the end of this post, a template comment letter is linked for local governments to adapt for their own comments in the Endangerment Finding rule making process.] On August 1, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its proposed repeal of the “Endangerment Finding,” the scientific and legal predicate for federal […]
The International Court of Justice’s (ICJ’s) Advisory Opinion on Climate Change arrived with force. Given its far-reaching implications, there is no doubt that the opinion now will be subject to conflicting interpretations. In this post, I highlight the interpretive compass that the opinion supplies to those who will now interpret what the ICJ is saying […]

Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed. An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change. This week Broken records FIRES: Wildfires have burned through more than 1m hectares of land across the EU, making 2025 the worst year on record, the Guardian reported. Blazes in the EU have burned four times as much land […]

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Data merging is the process of combining data from different sources into a unified dataset.