Environment news

• Venezuela says over 10 OPEC, non-OPEC nations likely at March talks

  23-02-2016 23:55
  Venezuela has talked with Russia, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to plan a mid-March meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC producers keen to adhere to this month's deal to freeze production, the South American country's Oil Minister said on Tuesday. "We're expecting more than 10 main OPEC and non-OPEC producers to join this proposal," Eulogio Del Pino told Reuters, adding they were still deciding on a time and place. Leading OPEC member Saudi Arabia, non-OPEC member Russia, Qatar and Venezuela agreed last week t
  
  Read more

• VIDEO: Nasa releases Apollo 10 'weird music'

  23-02-2016 23:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Astronauts in the 1960s say they heard "weird music" coming from the far side of the moon.
  
  Read more

• JPMorgan signals rough first-quarter as trading flags, energy woes deepen

  23-02-2016 23:41
  By David Henry and Dan Freed NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co signalled a rough first quarter on Tuesday with double-digit declines in investment banking revenues and a $500 million (£356.5 million) increase in provisions for expected losses on energy loans. Plummeting oil prices, volatile markets, stubbornly low interest rates, pressure from regulators and a slowdown in China have combined to hurt banks worldwide over the past few months. Against such a backdrop, companies are
  
  Read more

• Oil slides on Saudi comments, falls more on API inventory data

  23-02-2016 23:18
  By Jessica Resnick-Ault NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices tumbled 4 percent on Tuesday after Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi ruled out production cuts, and extended losses after settlement when a U.S. industry trade group API said domestic crude stockpiles swelled by more than twice what analysts had expected. Big oil exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia have proposed to freeze output at January levels, which were near record highs, but only if other producers also do the same. An estimated 1 million
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• U.S. banks to cut credit lines for energy firms - JP Morgan

  23-02-2016 22:36
  Cash-strapped energy firms are coming under increasing pressure from U.S. bank lenders and, on average, could see a 15 percent to 20 percent cut in their credit lines, the head of JP Morgan's commercial bank told investors on Tuesday. Until now, banks could be more lenient with their energy clients despite a prolonged slump in the price of oil, but Doug Petno, the head of JP Morgan's commercial bank, said that is changing. Moves, disclosed in securities filings, by oil and gas companies such as
  
  Read more

• Global coral bleaching event 'threatens Great Barrier Reef'

  23-02-2016 22:00
  
  Australia’s world heritage-listed reef next in firing line from warmer waters that have killed off coral in Fiji, but impact depends on the weather The third ever recorded global coral bleaching event is snaking its way around a warming globe, devastating reefs and now threatening the world-heritage listed Great Barrier Reef.This week it was announced the bleaching event, which began in 2014, is already the longest in history and could extend well into 2017. “We may be looking at a 2
  
  Read more

• Devastating global coral bleaching event could hit Great Barrier Reef next

  23-02-2016 22:00
  
  Australia’s world heritage-listed reef is threatened by warmer waters that have killed off coral in Fiji but the full impact depends on the weather The third global coral bleaching event to be recorded is snaking its way around a warming globe, devastating reefs and now threatening the world-heritage listed Great Barrier Reef.This week it was announced the bleaching event, which began in 2014, is already the longest in history and could extend well into 2017. “We may be looking at a
  
  Read more

• Boris Johnson leaves London breathing uneasy | Editorial

  23-02-2016 21:41
  
  Obesity and alcohol command more attention, but floating poisons such as diesel fumes take just as heavy a toll. London under Boris Johnson illustrates how to fail this public health challengeEvery so often a statistic emerges to send shockwaves through the most innumerate skulls. One such figure, highlighted by the Royal College of Physicians in a report on Tuesday, is the annual toll of 40,000 premature deaths attributable to outdoor air pollution. It implies that the finger can be pointed at
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Didcot power station: one dead and three missing after building collapse – live updates

  23-02-2016 21:22
  
  Emergency services say five others have been taken to hospital after a building collapsed at Didcot power station in OxfordshireWhat we know so farInvestigation launched into building collapseOne person confirmed dead and three missing 8.22pm GMTEmergency services were alerted to a building collapse at Didcot A power station at 4.04pm on Thursday. South Central ambulance service declared a major incident and sent an air ambulance, three ambulances, a rapid response vehicle and a hazardous area r
  
  Read more

• Kerry critical of South China Sea militarization ahead of talks

  23-02-2016 21:18
  By Arshad Mohammed and Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The militarization of facilities in the South China Sea does not help resolve maritime claims there, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said before he was to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday. On Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry struck a combative tone ahead of Wang's visit by saying China's South China Sea military deployments are no different from U.S. deployments on Hawaii. China claims most of the South China
  
  Read more

• Increased flooding in US coastal cities caused by climate change, study says

  23-02-2016 21:17
  
  Climate Central sounds ‘warning bells’ of human impact on rising sea levels with report that coastal flooding days have more than doubled in US since 1980sRising sea levels are putting increasing pressure on US coastal cities, with a new analysis showing that human-driven climate change is to blame for three-quarters of the coastal flooding events over the past decade.The Climate Central research shows that coastal flooding days have more than doubled in the US since the 1980s, the p
  
  Read more

• Air fresheners, joss sticks, deodorants – and other killers in our midst

  23-02-2016 19:40
  
  A new report says a wide range of household items act as pollutants in our homes. So, how can we improve the quality of the air we breathe?Lemon and pine air fresheners. Solvents seeping slowly from plastics, paints and furnishings. Composite wood furniture and fittings, household cleaning products and DIY sealants and fillers. Foam insulation, insecticides, scanners, joss sticks, open fires, deodorants, dust mites, mould and dander from dogs and cats.These are some of the bewildering range of a
  
  Read more

• Large space rock burns up over Atlantic

  23-02-2016 19:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The biggest fireball since the Chelyabinsk explosion has plunged through the atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean.
  
  Read more

• Saudi's Naimi rules out output cuts; sees 'freeze' expanding

  23-02-2016 18:53
  By Liz Hampton and Luc Cohen HOUSTON (Reuters) - Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said on Tuesday he was confident more nations would join a pact to freeze output at existing levels in talks expected next month, but effectively ruled out production cuts by major crude producers any time soon. Addressing the annual IHS CERAWeek conference in Houston, Naimi told global energy executives that growing support for the freeze and stronger demand should over time ease a global glut that has pushed oil p
  
  Read more

• French abattoir closed after secret video shows suspected animal cruelty

  23-02-2016 18:47
  
  Footage appears to show sheep being thrown against barriers and workers Tasering livestock at organic slaughterhouseA French abattoir certified as organic has been closed pending an investigation after an animal rights group released a video purportedly showing the abuse of livestock.L214 published the four-minute video on its website, claiming to have secretly filmed it at the slaughterhouse in Le Vigan in the southern Gard region. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Kurdish oil flows shut as pipeline sabotaged in Turkey

  23-02-2016 18:44
  By Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Kurdistan's oil exports to world markets are set to be suspended for a second week running, a shipping source said, a move that will deprive Iraq's semi-autonomous region of its main revenue stream as the security situation in southeast Turkey worsens. The pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan from fields in Iraq's north, which carries around 600,000 barrels per day of crude, has been halted since Feb. 17 and was unlikely to resume pumping until Feb. 29, th
  
  Read more

• Rousseff campaign chief Santana surrenders to Brazilian police

  23-02-2016 18:02
  By Pedro Fonseca RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - João Santana, the architect of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's 2010 and 2014 campaigns, landed in Brazil from the Dominican Republic on Tuesday and was taken in a police jet to the city of Curitiba, the epicenter of a massive corruption probe, his spokesman said. The arrest of Santana is a threat to Rousseff, who is facing questions over whether her 2014 campaign was financed with bribe money skimmed off of state-run oil company Petroleo Br
  
  Read more

• Nevada's solar workers and customers reel as new rules 'shut down' industry

  23-02-2016 18:00
  
  Companies struggle after state imposes highest charges yet on customers, driving firms out of the state and workers out of jobsThe conversation at SolarCity’s hollowed-out warehouse in Las Vegas felt like it came after a funeral, and in a sense it did, with workers cycling between sadness, disbelief and anger at the untimely death of the rooftop solar industry. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Green investment bank 'no longer required by law to invest in green projects'

  23-02-2016 17:52
  
  Ministers insists bank’s green mission will be protected as they remove the clause that ensures it invests in renewable power and other green projectsThe bank set up by the government to to fund green infrastructure and cited frequently by David Cameron as evidence of the UK’s leadership on climate change will no longer be required by law to invest in green schemes, under moves put forward by ministers.
  Campaigners said that changes proposed on Tuesday by small business minister Anna
  
  Read more

• German nuclear exit plan fails to solve waste storage puzzle

  23-02-2016 17:32
  By Christoph Steitz FRANKFURT (Reuters) - When Germany committed itself five years ago to phasing out nuclear power by 2022, there was one big gap in its plans -- what to do with the waste that can remain toxic for hundreds of thousands of years. According to a draft proposal, utilities E.ON, RWE, EnBW and Vattenfall [VATN.UL] could be saddled with up to 56 billion euros ($61.6 billion) in costs to cover their share of the cost of the nuclear exit. The main uncertainty centres on the difficulty
  
  Read more

• Oil drops 4 percent after Saudi oil min rules out production cuts

  23-02-2016 17:09
  By Jessica Resnick-Ault NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell 4 percent on Tuesday after Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi ruled out any production cuts, restating the kingdom's rationale for maintaining output was that demand would pick up excess crude that has crushed prices over the past 20 months. Big oil exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia have proposed to freeze output at January levels, which were near record highs, only if other producers also do the same. More meetings on the potential freez
  
  Read more

• EU told ExxonMobil that TTIP would aid global expansion, documents reveal

  23-02-2016 17:03
  
  Trade chief told oil giant in secret talks that free trade deal could address its concerns over regulations restricting activities in developing countries The European Union’s trade commissioner told the multinational oil company ExxonMobil that a major free trade deal being negotiated with the US would help remove obstacles to fossil fuel development in Africa and South America, documents obtained by the Guardian reveal.At a meeting in Brussels in October 2013, Karel de Gucht told the fir
  
  Read more

• Exclusive - Indian state refiners join forces in bid for better OPEC oil deals

  23-02-2016 16:28
  By Nidhi Verma NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian state refiners are jointly negotiating oil purchase deals with OPEC producers for the first time, as the world's third biggest consumer seizes on low prices to wrest better terms in a market awash with crude. In a sign of the shift in power from oil sellers to buyers, India is reviewing its import policy at a time when OPEC members are focussed more on protecting market share than boosting prices that are down some 70 percent in the last 20 months. In
  
  Read more

• Organic consumers avoiding processed and red meat, sales show

  23-02-2016 16:12
  
  Data on British buying habits in 2015 reveals a move away from products such as sausages and bacon in favour of fish and poultryConsumers of organic food are avoiding processed and red meats in favour of fish and poultry, according to data on UK buying habits for 2015.
  The move away from products such as sausages and bacon may be because high-end consumers are heeding growing warnings about their impact on health. That was reinforced by an assessment by the World Health Organisation in October t
  
  Read more

• France, Italy yet to reply to EU with Volkswagen scandal info - source

  23-02-2016 15:53
  All European Union nations except for France and Italy have replied to the European Commission's request for information from member states in connection with Volkswagen's emissions scandal, an EU source said on Tuesday. The European Commission, the EU executive, has asked all 28 EU countries to investigate breaches of vehicle emissions rules after Volkswagen admitted last year it had used banned software to mask nitrogen oxide emissions and had also in Europe understated carbon dioxide levels.
  
  Read more

• Dreamlike Seahorse Picture Snags Top Prize

  23-02-2016 15:20
  
  Lopresti's striking photo of a spiny seahorse in waters near Trieste, Italy, rose above submissions from entrants in 54 countries in the the annual Underwater Photographer of the Year (UPY) contest. The image, titled "Gold," also claimed first place in the contest's macro photography category. Motion blur in the waves conveys the undulation of moving water, while the sharply focused and brilliantly yellow seahorse's head and body emerge from the deep blue sea surrounding it.
  
  Read more

• Scientists Find 8 New Species of Spider with Whiplike Legs

  23-02-2016 15:19
  
  A pair of elongated, whiplike legs that are actually sophisticated environment sensors distinguish an unusual arachnid known as the whip spider, also called the tailless whip scorpion. Scientists recently described eight new species of this long-legged spider that are native to Brazil, nearly doubling the number of known species in the genus Charinus. Thanks to the new species discoveries, Brazil now boasts the greatest diversity of whip spiders in the world.
  
  Read more

• JPMorgan puts another $500 million aside for energy sector woes

  23-02-2016 15:17
  JP Morgan will set aside an additional half a billion dollars to cover potential bad loans to oil and gas companies in the first quarter, underlining the sharp deterioration in the U.S. energy sector. The United States' largest bank by assets is stockpiling its defenses after the price of oil fell below $30 a barrel last month and continues to ping pong wildly. Thousands of jobs have been cut in the U.S. energy sector and roughly a third of oil producers, or 175 companies, are at high risk of sl
  
  Read more

• Rutgers University Study finds sea level rise in the 20th Century was fastest in 3,000 years

  23-02-2016 15:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  Global sea level rose faster in the 20th century than in any of the 27 previous centuries, according to a Rutgers University-led study published today.Moreover, without global warming, global sea level would have risen by less than half the observed 20th century increase and might even have fallen.Instead, global sea level rose by about 14 centimeters, or 5.5 inches, from 1900 to 2000. That’s a substantial increase, especially for vulnerable, low-lying coastal areas.“T
  
  Read more

• British business bosses say exit from EU would hit economy and jobs

  23-02-2016 14:22
  By Kate Holton and Sarah Young LONDON (Reuters) - The bosses at more than a third of Britain's biggest companies including oil giants Shell and BP and its largest telecoms group said leaving the European Union would put the economy at risk, backing Prime Minister David Cameron's call to stay in the bloc. The business support provided a boost for Cameron in his battle to win over a divided public and confront the many eurosceptics in his own party before Britain holds a referendum on whether to s
  
  Read more

• Pollution link to 40,000 deaths a year

  23-02-2016 14:20 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Air pollution contributes to about 40,000 early deaths a year in the UK, doctors warn, with tobacco, deodorants and wood-burning stoves among the causes.
  
  Read more

• Climate stirring change under the waves

  23-02-2016 13:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Human-induced climate change is triggering changes in phytoplankton communities that could have a long-term effect on marine food webs, a study suggests.
  
  Read more

• Scotland pledges 33% food waste reduction by 2025

  23-02-2016 13:40
  
  The Scottish Government has pledged to reduce the nation's food waste by one third over the next nine years - a plan that would save businesses and households across the country more than £500m if successful.
  
  Read more

• Brazil's Petrobras to stop onshore drilling rigs in 6 states -Valor

  23-02-2016 13:27
  Brazil's state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA plans to shut down onshore drilling rigs in at least six states because of the low price of oil, newspaper Valor Economico reported on Tuesday, citing a source with knowledge of the operations. The paper said Petrobras, as the company is known, would suspend rig operations and other equipment in the states of Espirito Santo, Bahia, Sergipe, Alagoas, Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará. Petrobras is struggling to bring down its debt and has already pared
  
  Read more

• Scientists unlock key to turning wastewater and sewage into power

  23-02-2016 13:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  As renewable energy sources goes, solar rays have historically hogged the limelight. But two Virginia Tech researchers have stolen the spotlight from the sun by discovering a way to maximize the amount of electricity that can be generated from the wastewater we flush down the toilet. 
  
  Read more

• Liz Truss urges farmers to stay within the EU

  23-02-2016 13:16
  
  Environment secretary says Brexit would be ‘leap into the dark’ and wrong choice for farmers at time of price volatility and global market uncertaintyThe UK environment secretary, Liz Truss, launched an impassioned plea to farmers on Tuesday to vote to stay within the European Union, but may face a greater struggle than expected.Truss told delegates at the National Farmers’ Union annual conference that leaving the EU would be a “leap into the dark”. Continue reading
  
  Read more

• Leaving EU would put UK food and farming exports at risk, says Liz Truss

  23-02-2016 13:16
  
  Environment secretary says Brexit would be ‘leap into the dark’ and wrong choice for farmers at time of price volatility and global market uncertaintyIt would be “wrong to take a leap into the dark” and put food and farming exports worth £11bn at risk by leaving the European Union, environment secretary, Liz Truss, has said. Voting to stay in the EU referendum would allow the UK to push for reform in the food and farming sector, while giving British producers access
  
  Read more

• 76,000 farmers reap benefits of cocoa sustainability scheme

  23-02-2016 13:07
  
  More than 76,000 farmers have seen a significant increase in their income and cocoa yield as result of a global sustainable sourcing programmme launched by the world's largest chocolate company.
  
  Read more

• South Africa to ease some GM crop rules to avert food crisis

  23-02-2016 12:36
  
  Country plans to ramp up maize imports from the US and Mexico amid the worst drought in a centurySouth Africa will relax some of its tough rules on genetically modified crops so it can ramp up maize imports from the United States and Mexico to avert a potential food crisis amid a severe drought, officials said.Almost 90% of maize in South Africa is genetically modified and the country bans commodities with strains not approved by the government and does not allow imports to be stored, stipulatin
  
  Read more

• Pictures of the day: 23 February 2016

  23-02-2016 12:30
  
  'Massive' icebergs, graceful kingfishers and underwater pole dancing
  
  Read more

• Oil prices slip on doubts potential output cap will erode glut

  23-02-2016 12:23
  By Sarah McFarlane LONDON (Reuters) - Oil futures eased on Tuesday, eroding some of the previous day's gains, over doubts a potential production freeze will have any impact on a supply glut. Big oil exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia have proposed to freeze output at January levels, which were near record highs, only if other producers also do the same. "If they freeze production at January levels when you're already over supplied by around a million barrels per day it just prolongs that situatio
  
  Read more

• Natural gas capabilities in the UK 'very limited' without carbon capture, report warns

  23-02-2016 12:22
  
  Using natural gas as a bridging fuel to a cleaner energy mix in the UK will only act as a "stop-gap", with its viability as an energy source severely limited beyond 2020 unless carbon capture and storage (CSS) technology is rolled out, the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) has warned.
  
  Read more

• 'Limited' future for gas in the UK without carbon capture

  23-02-2016 12:17
  
  Report from UK Energy Research Centre warns of limitations of scope for gas expansion without carbon capture and storage technology Gas will have a severely limited role to play in the UK’s energy mix in the next two decades without the development of technology to capture and store carbon dioxide, a new report has found.The government has been proposing an expansion of gas use as a “bridging” technology that emits less carbon than coal, which ministers have said will be phased
  
  Read more

• Struggling UK enters 'make or break' year for renewables market

  23-02-2016 11:21
  
  The UK 'must try harder' to attract investment into renewable generation capacity, as the global power market enters a 'year of reckoning', analysts EY have warned.
  
  Read more

• Britain in 'make or break' year for renewables, says EY

  23-02-2016 11:21
  
  The UK "must try harder" to attract investment into renewable generation capacity, as the global power market enters "a year of reckoning", analyst EY has warned.
  
  Read more

• Drax says may mothball coal plant amid weak energy markets

  23-02-2016 10:53
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - British power producer Drax may decide to mothball its coal-fired power generation units, the company said on Tuesday, as part of a strategy review triggered by competition from cheap gas and renewables. Drax, which owns one of Europe's largest coal-fired power plants, was echoing comments made by other owners of coal-fired power stations such as SSE and Engie , who have announced earlier-than-expected closures of loss-making plants. A surge in intermittent r
  
  Read more

• Africa’s forests 'threatened by palm oil rush'

  23-02-2016 10:52
  
  Greenpeace France warns that tropical forests could be lost to a palm oil bonanza that has already razed millions of hectares of south-east Asia Africa’s tropical forests are threatened by a palm oil bonanza that has already razed millions of old-growth hectares in south-east Asia, Greenpeace France warned on Tuesday.
  The NGO called on European palm and rubber plantation giant Socfin, which controls vast tracts of tropical land in more than half-a-dozen African nations, to join other multi
  
  Read more

• Shadow Energy Minister calls for national CCS strategy

  23-02-2016 09:00
  
  Shadow Energy Minister Alan Whitehead has renewed his calls for a national carbon capture and storage (CCS) strategy, following the Government's last-minute decision in November to axe a £1bn competition for CCS pilot projects.
  
  Read more

• A woodland herb of subtle charm

  23-02-2016 06:30
  
  Allendale, Northumberland Sanicle was once an all-round herbal remedy, taken for wound healing, blood disorders, chest complaints and sore throatsHalf the wood at Allen Mills is a mixture of spruce, larch, sycamore and birch. Beneath lies a muddle of fallen branches and plants that jostle one another: bramble, dog’s mercury, ivy and ferns. The eastern end is a contrasting habitat. What grows here is mainly beech, giving the ground beneath a quite different feel. It is open and light and sp
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!