Environmental trader Greenbank Environmental has announced the first successful trade of Australian carbon credit units (ACCUs) created by a piggery under the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI). [ + ]

A number of Victorian organisations were today recognised for their participation in the fluoro-light recycling program FluoroCycle, which ensures harmful mercury is kept out of the environment. [ + ]

The organising committee for the Bioenergy Australia 2013 Conference invites interested parties to submit abstracts for presentation at this year’s conference. [ + ]

The winners of the 2013 World Environment Awards were announced at the awards presentation dinner held last week in Melbourne. [ + ]

Community recycling enterprises have the potential to create thousands of new jobs while at the same time reducing waste to landfill. A documentary titled ‘Waste to Wages’ demonstrates how these enterprises are dealing with local waste problems in a sustainable way. [ + ]

Researchers at the University of Sydney’s Soil Security Laboratory have developed the soil carbon bench (SCB) - an instrument which is claimed to determine carbon levels from much larger samples, with greater accuracy and lower cost, than any existing technology. [ + ]

Electricity use in the City of Sydney’s buildings has been dropping significantly, with new figures revealing savings of as much as 50% from power and water efficiency retrofits. [ + ]

Canon Oceania is calling for applicants for its annual environmental grants program, offering grants, in kind, worth a total of $45,000 to Australian and New Zealand organisations dedicated to making a positive impact on their environment and the community. [ + ]

New Zealand Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges has launched NABERSNZ, an energy-rating scheme which aims to transform the way office buildings use energy. [ + ]

In a bid to overcome barriers to, and increase the use of, renewable energy, Resources and Energy Minister Gary Gray has launched a $60 million initiative to share information, data and lessons learnt by the renewable energy industry. [ + ]

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has launched the Regional Australia’s Renewables (RAR) program to fund renewable energy projects and cut diesel use in remote communities. [ + ]

Queensland water utility Unitywater has announced an initial contract with software experts TaKaDu. The contract will provide Unitywater with a smart water network monitoring service designed to find hidden leaks and identify service abnormalities. [ + ]

Victorian Minister for Environment and Climate Change Ryan Smith has called for entries to the Premier’s Sustainability Awards 2013. [ + ]

Twenty-five lucky solar researchers will have the opportunity to pursue their own research investigations to help make solar technologies cheaper and more accessible to consumers with funding from the Australian Government. [ + ]

A report by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) reveals that Green Star-rated buildings emit around a third of the greenhouse gas emissions and use a third of the electricity when compared with the average Australian building. [ + ]