Australia’s prime minister, Tony Abbott, also has a job
moonlighting as the country’s women’s minister. His biggest
achievement in that role this year? Scrapping the carbon tax, as
women are more focused on the household budget, he claims. Abbott
told Network Nine news yesterday: “It’s very important to do the
right thing by families and households. As many of us know, women
are particularly focused on the household budget and the repeal of
the carbon tax means a $550 a year benefit for the average
family.”

Greenhouse gas emissions by the world’s top 500 companies
rose 3.1 per cent from 2010 to 2013, a new study shows. The top 500
firms accounts for 13.8 per cent of world greenhouse gas emissions
and 28 per cent of gross domestic product in 2013, according to the
report by Thomson Reuters and BSD Consulting. The top corporate
greenhouse gas emitters last year were PetroChina Co Ltd, China
Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, and steel maker ArcelorMittal,
the report says.

The recent slump in oil prices will only have a ‘modest’
impact on renewables development, says analyst firm Bloomberg New
Energy Finance. The bulk of renewables investment is targeted at
projects that are influenced more by gas and coal prices or clean
energy policies than by oil prices, it says. However, the 45 per
cent fall in oil prices will negatively impact a number of clean
technology sectors, such as the growth of the electric vehicle
market.

Marine biologists have found that shellfish take on a sour
flavour if they are reared in slightly acidified sea water. They
warn that as the planet’s oceans grow more acidic, due to rising
carbon dioxide levels, many of our favourite seafoods could become
less appetising, says the Mail.

The Marshall Islands is experiencing its worst-ever coral
bleaching as global warming threatens reefs across the entire
northern Pacific, scientists say. Sea surface temperatures have
been half to a full degree Celsius higher than normal for months
this year. This has led to major bleaching was in Guam and the
Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, the northwestern
Hawaiian Islands, the Marshall Islands, and Kiribati.

The average temperature in Finland has risen by more than
two degrees since 1847, twice as fast as the global average, a new
study finds. Warming is most extreme during December, which is now
4.8 degrees hotter than it was before the industrial era. The
country is likely to see less snow, which will instead fall as rain
thanks to the warmer weather. And when it does fall, it will melt
away sooner.

Opec will not cut production even if the price of oil falls
to $20 a barrel, spelling out a dramatic policy shift that will
have far-reaching implications for the global energy industry, says
the Financial Times. Ali al-Naimi, the Saudi oil minister, has torn
up Opec’s traditional strategy of keeping prices high by limiting
oil output and replaced it with a new policy of defending the
cartel’s market share at all costs.

Emissions from oil-and-gas production pose a significant
threat to human health, and immediate steps must be taken to reduce
exposure to the pollution, according to an analysis of scientific
studies by the Natural Resources Defence Council in the US. After
reviewing the findings of 24 studies, the report says fracking
threatens air quality as much as it does water quality and calls
for an immediate moratorium on any new wells until a comprehensive
analysis of health effects can be performed.

Most of Britain’s small businesses are unprepared for the
growing risks they face from flooding and snowstorms, a new survey
by the Federation of Small Businesses reveals. Despite two thirds
of small businesses admitting they have been hit by extreme weather
during the past three years, 70 per cent have no resilience plan in
place to deal with extreme weather events, the survey
shows.

2014 was the year when climate diplomacy got back on track,
says John Sauven, the executive director of Greenpeace UK. The
landmark agreement between the US and China and the widespread
criticism of Australia’s inaction on climate change are two
examples of progress this year. With the build up to the Paris
talks next December, Sauven argues that it’s “the beginning of the
end” for the climate denial lobby.

A study of 30 different crop models shows that global
warming is already slowing yield gains at a majority of
wheat-growing locations. Global wheat production is estimated to
fall by 6 per cent for each degree of further temperature increase,
and become more variable over space and time, the research
concludes.

Researchers estimate a 98 per cent likelihood of a
catastrophic loss in population of Pacific salmon by 2100, under a
maximum warming scenario. The study assesses the capacity of the
salmon to adapt to warmer ocean temperatures. While the fish can
increase its thermal tolerance to some extent, the study finds, it
has an upper thermal limit of cardiac function. Pacific salmon
currently provide “critical sustenance for millions of people
worldwide”, the study says.