Solar power continues to shine despite the coronavirus downturn, with every state and territory except Tasmania breaking records for installed capacity of large-scale and rooftop solar last year. Australia’s solar power capacity grew 33 per cent to 20 gigawatts. Mike Foley at The Age.

Australia’s Environment Minister, Susan Ley, has announced Australia will be joining two international agreements that ‘aim to integrate climate risk into investment decision-making’. Australia is joining both the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment and the Call for Action: Raising Ambition for Climate Adaptation and Resilience. Paul Karp at The Guardian.

The Business Council of Australia has backed Zali Steggall’s climate change bill. Steggall’s private member’s bill, which was announced last February before being delayed due to Covid-19, includes a 2050 net zero target and would require the government to set a rolling emissions budget to meet it. Adam Morton for The Guardian.

BlackRock – the world’s largest fund manager – has stepped up its climate stance with Chief executive Larry Fink delivering a ‘blunt warning’ to carbon-intensive companies: lift your game or be dumped. Australian Financial Review.

Europeans got more of their electricity from renewable sources than fossil fuels for the first time last year, according to an annual report from Ember and Agora Energiewende. The shift comes as other sources, such as wind and solar power, have risen in the European Union. Both sources have nearly doubled since 2015, and as of last year accounted for one-fifth of electricity generation in EU countries, the report found. It’s also the reason why coal power declined 20 per cent last year, making up only 13 per cent of electricity generated in Europe. Jasmin Goodwin, CNN Philippines.

The ACT will try to measure its indirect carbon emissions – such as those created in the production of food and goods used in Canberra – and set targets to reduce them. Daniella White for the Canberra Times.

South Australia and Victoria are partnering with the Commonwealth to improve recycling infrastructure. A co-funding model is also seeking contributions from industry, local government and non-government organisations, to ‘increase the supply of high-quality recycled materials available for business and industry’. Shannon Jenkins for The Manadarin.

The Dasgupta Review, a 600-page assessment of the economic importance of nature, has been released. Commissioned by the UK Treasury – the first time a national finance ministry has authorised such a report – the project was led by Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, a Cambridge University economist. It found that radical global changes to production, consumption, finance and education are urgently needed. A similar treasury-sponsored review in 2006, by Nicholas Stern, is credited with transforming economic understanding of the climate crisis. Read more on The Guardian.