World Environment News
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Latest News (294 stories)
Severe Drought Cracks Runway At China Airport
Date: 18-Mar-10
Country: CHINA
Author: Ben Blanchard
A severe drought in southwestern China has claimed a new victim -- a runway at one of the region's busiest airports.
U.N. Meeting Asked To Regulate World Shark Trade
Date: 18-Mar-10
Country: US
Author: Deborah Zabarenko
Exploding Asian demand for shark fin soup has slashed worldwide shark populations, and global regulation is the best way to save eight species now under pressure, ocean conservationists reported on Monday.
Nestle Says Drops Palm Oil Supplier After Report
Photo: Denis Balibouse
Date: 18-Mar-10
Country: INDONESIA
Author: Catherine Hornby
Nestle, the world's biggest food group, said it had stopped buying palm oil from Indonesia's Sinar Mas due to concerns about rainforest destruction, following a similar move by consumer goods firm Unilever.
More Regulation Needed For Canada Oil Sands: Report
Date: 18-Mar-10
Country: CANADA
Author: Jeffrey Jones
Steam-driven projects to extract crude from Canada's oil sands, often held up as more environmentally friendly than mining, have major drawbacks of their own that require more stringent regulation to fix, an environmental think tank said on Wednesday.
Deal Nearing On Senate Climate Bill: Lawmaker
Photo: Carlos Barria
Date: 18-Mar-10
Country: US
Author: Richard Cowan
The Senate is close to wrapping up talks ahead of introducing a compromise climate change bill, a top Democratic lawmaker said on Wednesday, but details still have to be nailed down.
Waste Management To Deploy First Plasma Gasification System
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: US
Author: Matter Network
S4 Energy Solutions LLC, a joint venture by Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WM) and InEnTec LLC, announced plans to develop a plasma gasification facility at Waste Management's Columbia Ridge Landfill in Arlington, Oregon. The planned facility will convert municipal solid waste into fuels and energy.
Richard Branson Aims To Rock The Boat For Green Shipping
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: US
Author: Greener World Media
Look around you -- the furniture in your office or house, the electronics, the clothes you are wearing, mostly likely some of your dinner -- chances are these things moved by boat. About 85 percent of worldwide cargo travels by ship, and so it's no surprise that shipping is a major contributor to climate change.
Czechs Seek To Temper Solar Investment Boom
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: CZECH REPUBLIC
Author: Michael Kahn and Jan Korselt
The Czech Republic does not spring to mind as one of Europe's hot spots, yet an over-used subsidy scheme has created a bonanza for solar power that has ignited fears of a spike in energy prices and grid instability.
Financiers Urge Reform To Launch Africa Power Deals
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: AFRICA
Author: Agnieszka Flak and Olivia Kumwenda
Red tape and lack of well-structured projects, rather than external funding crimped by the global downturn, are the main hurdles to boosting capacity in Africa's power sector, financiers said on Tuesday.
Honda Gets 8,000 Orders For CR-Z Sports Hybrid
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: JAPAN
Author: Chang-Ran Kim
Honda Motor Co said on Tuesday it had received about 8,000 orders for the CR-Z sporty hybrid car in Japan after less than three weeks on the market, or eight times the monthly sales target of 1,000 units.
Solar Group Meyer Burger Up 7 pct On Record Order
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: SWITZERLAND
Author: Catherine Bosley
Shares in Meyer Burger rose 7 percent on Tuesday after the solar industry supplier received a record order from Asia that it said was a sign customers were gaining confidence in economic recovery.
U.S. Groups Want To Expand Climate Bill Forestry Aid
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: US
Author: Richard Cowan
U.S. environmental groups are trying to expand a climate change bill being written in the Senate to help foreign countries pay for enforcing laws they already have in place for protecting forests as one way of reducing carbon pollution.
Brazil To Invest $57 Billion In Electricity By 2013
Photo: Paulo Whitaker
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: BRAZIL
Author: Denise Luna
Brazil is expected to invest 100 billion reais ($57 billion) in its electricity sector from 2010 to 2013, of which the BNDES national development bank will finance 60 percent, the bank's energy department manager Alexandre Esposito said.
Poland Moves To End Dispute With EC On Carbon
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: POLAND
Author: Gabriela Baczynska
Poland will ask the European Commission for a new carbon dioxide emission permits quota of 208.5 million tons a year, it said in a statement on Tuesday, in a compromise likely to help end a long dispute with Brussels.
Sarkozy Blames Negligence For Storm Havoc
Photo: Eric Feferberg
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: FRANCE
Author: James Mackenzie
French President Nicolas Sarkozy blamed negligence and bad planning for the damage caused by storms which broke Atlantic sea walls last month, unleashing floods that killed more than 50 people.
Red River floodwaters Rise In Northern U.S. Plains
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: US
Author: Rod Nickel
The Red River rose three feet on Tuesday, getting closer to causing major flooding at Fargo, North Dakota for the second straight spring in the key U.S. wheat-growing state.
U.N. Meeting Asked To Regulate World Shark Trade
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: US
Author: Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
Exploding Asian demand for shark fin soup has slashed worldwide shark populations, and global regulation is the best way to save eight species now under pressure, ocean conservationists reported on Monday.
UK Hung Parliament A Threat To New Nuke Plants
Photo: Dylan Martinez/Files
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: UK
Author: Daniel Fineren
Multi-billion pound investment in Britain's energy sector, particularly in nuclear plants, could be under threat in the event of a hung parliament, an executive from a utility planning to build them said on Tuesday.
Amenhotep III And Thoth Statues Unearthed In Luxor
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: EGYPT
Author: Marwa Awad
Egyptian archaeologists have discovered two red granite statues in Luxor, one of Tutankhamun's grandfather Amenhotep III who reigned about 3,350 years ago, Egypt's antiquities chief said Tuesday.
Magnitude 4.4 Quake Rattles Los Angeles
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: US
Author: Mary Milliken
A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck near Los Angeles on Tuesday, awakening residents but causing no apparent damage in the second largest U.S. city, the U.S. Geological Survey and witnesses said.
Toyota Casts Doubt On "Runaway" Prius Claim
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: US
Author: John Crawley and Steve Gorman
Toyota Motor Corp said on Monday it had found no evidence to support the driver's account of a widely publicized "runaway" Prius incident in California that overshadowed the company's attempts to restart sales after a punishing series of recalls.
WITNESS: Student ID Card Brings Home Loss From Haiti's Quake
Photo: Matthew Bigg
Date: 17-Mar-10
Country: HAITI
Author: Matthew Bigg
PORT-AU-PRINCE - A mind-boggling number of people died in Haiti's earthquake but it took a student ID card to turn the bare statistics into a reality for me.
UN Meeting Asked To Regulate World Shark Trade
Date: 16-Mar-10
Country: US
Author: Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
WASHINGTON - Exploding Asian demand for shark fin soup has slashed worldwide shark populations, and global regulation is the best way to save eight species now under pressure, ocean conservationists reported on Monday.
4 Keys To A Successful Sustainability Strategy
Date: 16-Mar-10
Country: US
Author: Greener World Media
Consider these morsels from last week's Wall Street Journal: "By 2050, there could be two billion cars on the road -- twice as many as there are today." "Energy demand is expected to be 35 percent higher in 2030 than in 2005." "Pollution of drinking water is Americans' No. 1 environmental concern."
Fund Firms Tap Ethical Emerging Market Stock Drive
Date: 16-Mar-10
Country: UK
Author: Claire Milhench
Fund firms are creating sustainable investment emerging market equity strategies to meet pension fund demand for diversified portfolios with higher corporate governance standards.
Australia's Pension Funds Lag On Carbon Risk: Survey
Date: 16-Mar-10
Country: AUSTRALIA
Author: Bruce Hextall
Australia's pension funds industry, the fifth largest in the world with A$1.2 trillion ($1.1 trillion) under management, is dragging its feet on climate change risk when making investment decisions, a survey has found.
CO2 At New Highs Despite Economic Slowdown
Photo: Andrei Rudakov
Date: 16-Mar-10
Country: NORWAY
Author: Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
Levels of the main greenhouse gas in the atmosphere have risen to new highs in 2010 despite an economic slowdown in many nations that braked industrial output, data showed on Monday.
Climate Report Shows Australia Getting Warmer
Photo: Mick Tsikas
Date: 16-Mar-10
Country: AUSTRALIA
Author: Michael Perry
Australia's top scientists on Monday released a "State of the Climate" report at a time of growing scepticism over climate change as a result of revelations of errors in some global scientific reports.
Deep-Sea Volcanoes Play Key Climate Role: Scientists
Date: 16-Mar-10
Country: SINGAPORE
Author: David Fogarty, Climate Change Correspondent, Asia
A vast network of under-sea volcanoes pumping out nutrient-rich water in the Southern Ocean plays a key role in soaking up large amounts of carbon dioxide, acting as a brake on climate change, scientists say.
Australian Cities Must Transform For Population Growth
Photo: Arup's proposal for tThe Australian Institute of Architects' Venice Biennale exhibition/Handout
Date: 16-Mar-10
Country: AUSTRALIA
Author: Michael Perry
Australia circa 2050, population 35 million, climate change induced rising sea levels have flooded the Gold Coast resort region, apartment blocks are now used to grow food and people commute in monorail pods above the sea.