Environment news

• Australia's emissions rising and vastly underestimated, says report

  18-03-2016 22:50
  
  Land clearing surge in Queensland since 2012 could create emissions roughly equal to those saved by the federal government’s emissions reduction schemeThe latest federal government carbon emissions inventory shows Australia has increased its emissions and has come under fire for allegedly vastly underestimating the amount of land clearing that has occurred, and its associated emissions.The Quarterly Update of the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report, which counts emissions in Australia
  
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• Venezuela's PDVSA to import light crude from BP, China Oil - traders

  18-03-2016 22:23
  British oil major BP and China Oil have been awarded a tender launched by Venezuela's PDVSA to buy some 8 million barrels of Nigerian and U.S. light crude for delivery during the second quarter, traders told Reuters on Friday. The deal, which will significantly increase PDVSA's crude purchases, could in exchange give BP access to Venezuelan oil to process or resell, while increasing the volume that Chinese firms take from PDVSA under loan-for-oil agreements. China Oil, a unit of state-run China
  
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• VIDEO: Bald eagle hatches in Washington DC

  18-03-2016 20:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A camera has captured the hatching of bald eagles in Washington DC.
  
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• Saudi Arabia leaves shale-favouring plants to Shell in Motiva split

  18-03-2016 20:38
  Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to maintain control of two refineries that can run more domestic crude, leaving a plant that runs massive volumes of Saudi Arabian oil to Saudi Aramco as the companies end their Motiva Enterprises joint venture. Refineries in Port Arthur, Texas, and Convent, Louisiana, processed large volumes of crude prior to 2011, but had been growing apart for several years before the companies announced plans to split ownership of the assets on Wednesday. As shale crude became mor
  
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• Crude prices fall from 2016 highs as U.S. oil rig count rises

  18-03-2016 20:20
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude prices settled lower on Friday after the U.S oil rig count rose for the first time since December, renewing worries of a supply glut after an output freeze plan helped boost the market to 2016 highs and multi-week gains. U.S. energy firms this week added one oil rig after 12 weeks of cuts, according to data by industry firm Baker Hughes. The addition, coming after oil rigs had fallen by two-thirds over the past year to 2009 lows, showed crude drillin
  
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• Exclusive - After Motiva split, Saudi Aramco aims to buy more U.S. refineries: sources

  18-03-2016 20:10
  By Erwin Seba HOUSTON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's national oil company wants to buy more U.S. refining and chemical plants to expand its footprint in the world's largest energy market once the break-up of its joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell Plc is complete, sources said. Ending an often rocky nearly 20-year relationship, Shell and Saudi Aramco [SDABO.UL] announced on Wednesday plans to break up Motiva Enterprises LLC [MOTIV.UL] after almost two decades, dividing its assets and leaving Aramco
  
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• Exclusive - Petrobras mulls giving up control of fuel distribution unit: sources

  18-03-2016 19:29
  By Tatiana Bautzer SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA is considering selling control of fuel distribution unit BR Distribuidora SA after bidders failed to emerge for a minority stake, two sources with direct knowledge of the plans said on Friday. The oil company is mulling a change in strategy for the unit sale after three of the four bidders that delivered preliminary proposals wanted management rights or a bigger slice of voting stock, sai
  
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• Two years after annexation, Putin seeks to bind Crimea by bridge to Russia

  18-03-2016 19:07
  By Gleb Stolyarov Tuzla Island, CRIMEA (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin, marking the anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea, on Friday exhorted workers building a bridge between the Black Sea peninsula and Russia to fulfil an "historic mission" first conceived by a Russian tsar. Russia seized the majority Russian-speaking Crimea from Ukraine on March 16, 2014 after an uprising toppled Ukraine's pro-Russian president, but the peninsula has since struggled with economic isolation. The an
  
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• 'A tipping point': record number of Americans see global warming as threat

  18-03-2016 19:05
  
  New polling data shows that public concern about climate change is at a new high, as the US emerges from its warmest-ever winter A record number of Americans believe global warming will pose a threat to their way of life, new polling data shows, amid strengthening public acceptance that rising temperatures are being driven by human activity. Related: February breaks global temperature records by 'shocking' amountContinue reading...
  
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• VIDEO: Ben Nevis: How high now?

  18-03-2016 18:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  High-tech GPS equipment means it is not just the height of Ben Nevis that is being reassessed.
  
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• How Thomas Cook is flying high with sustainability through data management

  18-03-2016 17:55
  
  EXCLUSIVE: The story of sustainability at Thomas Cook is a 'complicated' one. Faced with regressing economic resources dedicated to energy management, a once bustling team of sustainability experts has been streamlined in a bid to deliver a more holistic approach and create a 'truly transparent' company.
  
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• If you really want to be green for Earth Hour, go vegan | Letters

  18-03-2016 17:31
  
  On Saturday 19 March many of us will be turning off the lights for Earth Hour. While this will make for a nice romantic meal, if you truly want to combat climate change, cross off meat, eggs and dairy foods from your shopping list. Foods derived from animals, whether eaten by candlelight or not, require more resources and cause more greenhouse gas emissions than plant-based foods do. Each year, humans kill 60 billion land animals for food – that’s about 7 million animals every hour.
  
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• UN envoy warns of environmental activist murder ‘epidemic’

  18-03-2016 17:08
  
  Expert on indigenous rights demands consumers boycott ‘blood-tainted’ products from land grabs amid weak state response, Climate Home reportsThe killings of indigenous activists in Honduras signal a growing “epidemic” around the world, a UN envoy has declared.Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, urged governments to give protection to forest defenders in an interview. Continue reading...
  
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• Australia slashes funding on climate science

  18-03-2016 17:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  Scientists around the world have slammed Australia’s decision to slash its climate research programme — raising concerns about knock-on effects on developing countries.Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is shifting its research focus to efforts to adapt to and mitigate the effects of global warming rather than understanding climate change through fundamental research, CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall announced last mon
  
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• Shell hospitality tour for EU diplomats branded 'PR exercise' by campaigners

  18-03-2016 16:35
  
  Dutch diplomat denies tour, offered to 28 energy attaches and organised by the energy giant and Dutch presidency of the EU, is a ‘lobby exercise’A tour for EU diplomats jointly organised by Shell and the Dutch presidency of the EU has been branded a “blatant PR exercise” by campaigners.An email seen by the Guardian invites energy attaches from the EU’s 28 countries to visit the Shell technology Centre, take an ‘oil majors and oil paintings’ tour of the V
  
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• Turned off by cold weather cycling? A winter paradise beckons

  18-03-2016 16:13
  
  Yet to get your bike out, or not enjoying the cold commute? Peter Kimpton goes south to Spain for spectacular cycling with several pros and no consWhat would make a cycling utopia? Smooth, winding roads with breathtaking coastal and mountain views, tree-lined valley rides, exquisite villages and inviting cafes? How about hotels that positively encourage you to bring your bike inside? Add to that endlessly broad cycle paths, hardly any traffic, and the perfect temperature for riding – a sun
  
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• Business groups set five key tests for Green Investment Bank suitors

  18-03-2016 15:42
  
  Commitments to keep the Green Investment Bank (GIB) at the forefront of the green infrastructure market and ensure the best standards of governance and transparency are among the measures against which any prospective buyers of the GIB should be assessed, according to civil society and business groups.
  
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• Would you favour a tax on coffee cups?

  18-03-2016 15:27
  
  The UK government has denied that there’s a plan to tax coffee cups, but would you be for or against one? Here are some of our readers’ reactionsWith less than one in 400 paper cups handed out by high street coffee chains currently being recycled, environment minster Rory Stewart suggested a tax on coffee cups could be issued to tackle the growing recycling problem. While this suggestion has been ruled out by The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, here are some of yo
  
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• Animal pictures of the week: 18 March 2016

  18-03-2016 14:50
  
  All creatures great and small in our ever popular animal gallery
  
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• From sugar tax to big data: 9 lessons about tackling obesity

  18-03-2016 14:02
  
  The World Health Organisation has called obesity an ‘exploding nightmare’. Experts joined us to discuss how businesses can tackle the epidemic
  Read the full chat hereConventional thinking used to dictate that obesity was a problem of the global north and undernutrition a problem of the global south. Now they co-exist in many countries around the world, explains Dan Crossley of the Food Ethics Council.Continue reading...
  
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• Oil hits 2016 high above $42 on production and demand outlook

  18-03-2016 13:56
  By Simon Falush LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rose above $42 a barrel on Friday, hitting its highest this year and extending a rally into a fourth week on expectations of a production freeze by major exporters, stronger seasonal demand and dollar weakness. Brent crude's front-month contract was up 77 cents at $42.31 a barrel by 1239 GMT, having touched a 2016 high of $42.40. Oil prices have surged by more than 50 percent from 12-year lows reached in December, bolstered as the Organization of the Petrol
  
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• Mark Zuckerberg's Beijing smog jog chokes up Chinese social media

  18-03-2016 13:51
  
  Facebook founder posts picture of himself running in Tiananmen Square when air pollution was 15 times safe levelA photograph of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg jogging through the smog in downtown Beijing has prompted a torrent of comments – not all of them flattering – on Chinese social media. Zuckerberg, who is in the Chinese capital for an economic forum, posted the photo of himself and five others running through Tiananmen Square on Friday, with the gate to the Forbidden City im
  
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• Emissions stall, orca breeding and hunted turtle doves – green news roundup

  18-03-2016 12:52
  
  The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox Continue reading...
  
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• Militants fire rockets at Algerian BP/Statoil gas plant, no casualties

  18-03-2016 12:50
  OSLO/ALGIERS (Reuters) - Militants attacked an Algerian gas plant operated by Norway's Statoil and BP with rocket-propelled grenades on Friday, causing no casualties or damage but forcing the facility to be closed as a precaution. Algeria's energy infrastructure is heavily protected by the army especially since the 2013 Islamist militant attack on the In Amenas gas plant, also operated by BP and Statoil, during which 40 oil workers were killed. Statoil said in a statement that the In Salah gas f
  
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• UK faces fresh legal challenge over weak plans to tackle air pollution

  18-03-2016 12:23
  
  High court challenge could force government to rewrite measures to address illegal levels of toxic NO2 gas in cities that kills about 25,000 people each yearThe government faces a new legal challenge to force it to speed up and improve measures to tackle air pollution in British cities.
  Environmental law group ClientEarth has asked the high court to urgently review the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) latest plans to meet EU targets on the toxic gas NO2 which is
  
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• Scotland's SMEs urged to 'seize opportunity' of resource revolution

  18-03-2016 12:09
  
  Scotland's circular economy body Zero Waste Scotland has today (18 March) launched an £18m fund to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) explore and pioneer ways to develop a circular economy.
  
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• Hedge-eating caterpillar tops pest list

  18-03-2016 12:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A very hungry caterpillar that devours box plants - a staple of formal English gardens - is named "top pest" of 2015 by the UK's Royal Horticultural Society.
  
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• Hinkley Point C nuclear deal contains £22bn 'poison pill' for taxpayer

  18-03-2016 12:00
  
  Public left with huge liability for a government closure of power plant before 2060 under UK’s agreement with EDFThe Hinkley nuclear power deal contains a “poison pill” which could leave taxpayers with a £22bn bill if a future UK government closed the plant before 2060, according to an official document seen by the Guardian.The huge liability shows Hinkley is a “terrible deal” for the UK public, according to critics, with the company also guaranteed three time
  
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• Five ways to power the UK that are far better than Hinkley Point

  18-03-2016 12:00
  
  These alternatives to the troubled planned nuclear plant will be faster to build and cheaper for energy consumers, say expertsThe planned £18bn nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset are derided by critics as “one of the worst deals ever” for Britain, but defended as crucial to the UK’s energy policy by the government.Recent resignations and financial warnings have knocked confidence in the Hinkley C deal, raising the question of whether clean energy alternatives c
  
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• Invasion of the American lobsters: Sweden asks EU for help

  18-03-2016 11:56
  
  Swedish environment ministry says Maine lobster could wipe out European species with deadly diseasesSweden has asked the European Union for help to stop an invasion of American lobsters, saying they could wipe out their European cousins with deadly diseases.The Swedish environment ministry said more than 30 American lobsters have been found along Sweden’s west coast in recent years. Continue reading...
  
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• Pictures of the day: 18th March 2016

  18-03-2016 11:50
  
  Today: A daring damselfly, a playful polar bear and bike riders in the Pennines
  
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• Collaboration not condemnation: Simply Cups speaks out on coffee cup recycling debate

  18-03-2016 11:47
  
  British paper cup recycler Simply Cups has claimed that brands should not be using recycling symbols as a 'defence mechanism' and instead must look to collaborate with their supply chains in order to increase recycling rates of discarded coffee cups.
  
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• Worst Mediterranean drought in 900 years has human fingerprints all over it | John Abraham

  18-03-2016 11:00
  
  A new study shows that the current Mediterranean drought is likely the worst in 900 years, probably due to human-caused intensification
  In a warming world, we expect to see increases in some extreme weather events. The science is pretty clear that in some parts of the world, drought and heat waves have and will continue to increase. In other areas, more severe storms along with precipitation and flooding have increased. Drought, heat waves, and floods are examples of changes to weather and clima
  
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• edie's 2016 Innovation Zone Competition deadline EXTENDED

  18-03-2016 11:00
  
  Owing to popular demand, edie has extended the deadline for the Innovation Competition taking place at edie Live, giving entrepreneurs and SMEs that have developed green technologies, systems or business models an extra week to submit their entries.
  
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• Exclusive - U.S. sees new Chinese activity around South China Sea shoal

  18-03-2016 10:53
  By David Brunnstrom and Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has seen Chinese activity around a reef China seized from the Philippines nearly four years ago that could be a precursor to more land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea, the U.S. Navy chief said on Thursday. The head of U.S. naval operations, Admiral John Richardson, expressed concern that an international court ruling expected in coming weeks on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South
  
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• VIDEO: Visiting one of Africa's biggest solar farms

  18-03-2016 10:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  How one of Africa's biggest solar farms could help South Africa solve its energy crisis.
  
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• Queensland to use satellites to ensure native woodlands are not cleared

  18-03-2016 09:39
  
  Palaszczuk government’s plan to restore tree clearing controls stymied by opposition and independents so will rely on upgraded satellite surveillance The Queensland government will rely on upgraded satellite surveillance of native woodlands amid fears of imminent “panic clearing” that could further erode national efforts to tackle carbon emissions.On Thursday night the Palaszczuk government introduced a bill to restore tree clearing controls after a spike under its Liberal Nati
  
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• No plans to tax coffee cups, UK government says

  18-03-2016 09:22
  
  Minister had indicated a plastic bag-style levy could be on the cards after revelation that only one in 400 cups is recycledThe Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has said there are no plans for a tax on disposable coffee cups, after one of its ministers suggested such a tax would be a good thing to look at.Rory Stewart made the remarks in the House of Commons after it was revealed that just one in 400 coffee cups are recycled each year. Continue reading...
  
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• Interface builds boat from 7,000 plastic bottles to tackle ocean pollution

  18-03-2016 09:00
  
  The world's largest carpet tile manufacturer has joined forces with a 'plastic fishing' company to design and create a unique boat made from more than 7,000 plastic bottles fished from the canals of Amsterdam.
  
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• Europe's major cities (excluding London) call for diesel emissions crackdown

  18-03-2016 08:30
  
  The Mayors of 20 European cities including Madrid, Paris and Copenhagen - but excluding London - have called for more stringent regulations to be put in place across the continent to tackle the deadly levels of air pollution caused by diesel vehicles.
  
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• Invasive hedge-eating caterpillar tops UK garden pest poll

  18-03-2016 07:01
  
  East Asian box tree caterpillar, that feeds on box plants, has beaten slugs and snails to become gardeners’ top foe, says Royal Horticultural SocietySlugs and snails are traditionally the gardener’s worst foe but they have been knocked off the top spot for pests by an invasive hedge-eating caterpillar.
  Last year was the first time in nearly a decade that slugs and snails were not top of the UK’s list of most troublesome pests, based on the number of enquiries received by the ga
  
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• A barely perceptible path

  18-03-2016 06:30
  
  South Uist Wind has hurled loose grains of sand into the air, scouring the steeply sloping face of the ridgeFrom a distance it appears as if a freak blizzard has left a layer of snow on the landward side of the dunes and the edges of the neighbouring fields. But what has been deposited by the wind is actually sand, the fine white sand that makes up the island’s beaches and is a key component of its coastal soils.With the exception of one or two small rocky headlands, South Uist’s wes
  
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• Sperm bunch up when fluid is gloopy

  18-03-2016 02:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Physicists studying the motion of sperm discover that the little swimmers flock together in tight groups if the surrounding fluid is "viscoelastic".
  
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• How extinct humans left their mark on us

  18-03-2016 02:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Most of us share 2-4% of DNA with Neanderthals; some have genes from Denisovans; but their genetic mark has vanished in some stretches of genetic code.
  
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• Ben Nevis gains a metre thanks to GPS

  18-03-2016 01:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Ben Nevis, Britain's tallest mountain, is re-measured by Ordnance Survey and is now officially put at 1,345m high - a metre taller than before.
  
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• Shell JV Deer Park gasoline unit out of production - sources

  18-03-2016 01:49
  HOUSTON (Reuters) - The gasoline-producing unit at Royal Dutch Shell Plc's joint-venture 316,600 barrel per day (bpd) Deer Park, Texas, refinery has been out of production since Wednesday night when a leak was discovered in a pipe on the unit, sources familiar with plant operations said on Thursday. The 70,000 bpd fluidic catalytic cracking unit has been kept at operating temperature and circulating gas oil feedstock while Shell works to repair the leak of naphtha in an overhead line on the FCCU
  
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• U.S. oil falls after flirting with 2016-high

  18-03-2016 01:44
  By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. oil futures flirted with new highs for 2016 on Friday, adding to strong gains the previous session as optimism grew that major producers would strike a deal to freeze output, while a more benign interest rate environment also supported prices. U.S. crude was down 5 cents at $40.15 (27.7 pounds) a barrel at 0031 GMT, after rising as far as $40.55 - its highest so far this year. Brent crude's front-month contract was down 18 cents at $41.36.
  
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• Chilean navy rescues 14 crew members from Kon-Tiki balsa rafts

  18-03-2016 01:35
  
  The vessels were researching climate change in the Pacific before being blown off course and sending a distress signalThe Chilean navy has rescued 14 people aboard two balsa wood rafts that were swept up in strong currents hundreds of kilometres off the coast.The Kon-Tiki 1 and 2 rafts set sail in early January from Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean toward the Chilean port city of Valparaiso with the aim of documenting climate change, pollution and marine life. Continue reading...
  
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