Renewable energy developers are following tracks laid by the gas industry in the Western Downs – but they’re also making the same mistakes Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter Join the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the community Agriculture was once king in Glen Beasley’s neighbourhood on Queensland’s Darling Downs, a vast agricultural area about 200km west of Brisbane. “It was all grain, beef, timber and a bit of coal,” he says. Then a high voltage power line was built through his family farm outside Chinchilla in 1984. The whispers of gas came with the turn of the ..read more

The environment minister says she is approving windfarms at the fastest rate in history amid industry concerns about an ‘alarming’ slowdown Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast Tanya Plibersek has said she is approving windfarms faster than any previous environment minister, rejecting industry claims the sector faces deteriorating investment conditions and lengthening delays. Renewable energy firms have raised concerns that securing environmental approval is becoming more difficult, particularly for w ..read more

The dystopian picture of renewables painted by the opposition leader is full of inconsistencies, partial truths and misinformation Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast The Coalition leader, Peter Dutton, has been trying to paint a picture of what life in Australia will be like if it tries to power itself mostly with renewable energy and without his technology of choice: nuclear. Towering turbines offshore will hurt whales, dolphins and the fishing industry, factories will be forced to stop working bec ..read more

Funds will be targeted at disadvantaged areas to create 200,000 jobs, after last week’s oil and gas lease restrictions in Alaska Joe Biden marked Monday’s Earth Day by announcing a $7bn investment in solar energy projects nationwide, focusing on disadvantaged communities, and unveiling a week-long series of what the White House say will be “historic climate actions”. The president was speaking at Prince William Forest Park, in Triangle, Virginia, touting his environmental record and unveiling measures to tackle the climate crisis and increase access to, and lower costs of, clean energy ..read more

Chris Stark says populist response and culture war around the term is inhibiting environmental progress The concept of “net zero” has become a political slogan used to start a “dangerous” culture war over the climate, and may be better dropped, the outgoing head of the UK’s climate watchdog has warned. Chris Stark, the chief executive of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), said sensible improvements to the economy and people’s lives were being blocked by a populist response to the net zero label, and he would be “intensely relaxed” about losing the term ..read more

This blog is now closed. Anthony Albanese criticises X’s ‘extraordinary’ fight against removal of church stabbing posts Queensland police fatally shoot man at rest area south of Gladstone Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast The Matildas’ route to potential Asian Cup success is a step closer to being finalised, AAP reports, after Football Australia revealed the host states for matches at the 2026 edition of the tournament. FA confirmed on Monday that NSW, Queensland and Western Australia had been nominated as the preferred locations for the continental co ..read more

Resolution Foundation calls for fourfold increase in renewable power investment to reduce pressure on household bills A permanent shift to higher interest rates could add billions of pounds to the UK’s renewable energy transition, a leading thinktank has warned. Borrowing costs have soared since the easing of pandemic lockdowns and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the world’s leading central banks raised interest rates to tackle inflation – pushing up the costs of investment in infrastructure across advanced economies including for green power generation schemes ..read more

Plan for 42-turbine Wooroora project withdrawn after minister signals refusal because of threat to spectacled flying-fox habitat Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast A proposed windfarm next to the wet tropics world heritage area in north Queensland will not go ahead after the federal government signalled it would refuse the project. Ark Energy had proposed building the 42-turbine Wooroora Station windfarm – formerly known as the Chalumbin windfarm project – 15km south-west of Ravenshoe. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email ne ..read more

As vast solar plants multiply, so does the scrap, set to reach 19m tonnes by 2050. But disposing of the waste often falls to informal traders who risk injury when dismantling broken panels Under the scorching sun, a sea of solar panels gleams in the semi-arid landscape. Pavagada, 100 miles north of Bengaluru in southern India, is the world’s third-largest solar power plant, with 25m panels across a huge 50 sq km site, and a capacity of 2,050MW of clean energy. India has 11 similarly vast solar parks, and plans to install another 39 across 12 states by 2026, a commitment to a greener future ..read more

Government support for green manufacturing is actually the easy part. To truly reduce emissions, we must stop digging up and burning fossil fuels Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast Last week Anthony Albanese finally announced the government’s major plan for the transition to a renewable energy economy. The Future Made in Australia plan was quickly derided by critics as “picking winners”, in the misguided view that the market is better at deciding how to tackle the climate emergency and that the mark ..read more