Environment news

• SpaceX rocket launches inflatable room

  08-04-2016 23:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The first inflatable habitat for astronauts is launched to the International Space Station, and the reusable stage of the SpaceX rocket lands safety on a sea platform.
  
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• Brazil: insider claims Rousseff coalition took funds from Belo Monte mega-dam

  08-04-2016 21:51
  
  The controversial Belo Monte hydropower dam was pushed through by President Rousseff despite protests by environmental and social campaignersIndigenous communities and the Amazon rain forest have joined the growing list of potential victims of Brazil’s huge corruption scandal, according to a senior construction executive who testified that the Belo Monte dam was used to generate 150m reais ($41.4m) in donations to the ruling coalition.In a plea bargain that adds to the pressure on Brazil&r
  
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• No more 'free' Saudi money for Egypt - Saudi businessman familiar with matter

  08-04-2016 19:48
  By Asma Alsharif CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's financial support for strategic ally Egypt will no longer involve "free money" and will increasingly take the form of loans that provide returns to help it grapple with low oil prices, a Saudi businessman familiar with the matter said. Return on investment is important to Saudi Arabia as it diversifies sources of revenue," the businessman told Reuters on Friday during what has been described as a "historic" visit to Cairo by Saudi King Salman. Sa
  
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• Tata Steel benefited from EU climate policies, studies show

  08-04-2016 19:21
  
  Company has taken more than £700m in free carbon allowances and offsets, according to analysis of emissions trading scheme dataNo other British company has benefited from the EU’s emissions trading scheme as much as Tata Steel, according to a recent report by consultants CTDelft. And it’s not alone — only firms in one country, Germany, received more than the €3bn pocketed by British businesses through the ETS between 2008 and 2014.Yet Tata Steel’s chairman, The
  
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• Oil prices jump 6 percent on U.S. stockpile draws, Keystone

  08-04-2016 18:21
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped 6 percent on Friday, heading for the largest weekly gain in a month, as drawdowns in U.S. crude stockpiles fed hopes that a punishing global oversupply that has lasted nearly two years may be nearing tipping point. U.S. gasoline and diesel prices rallied along with crude, rising more than 5 percent each. Gasoline has been one of the strongest pillars of support for U.S. crude this year.
  
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• Can you power a business on 100% renewable energy? Ikea wants to try

  08-04-2016 18:08
  
  An increasing number of big businesses including Google and Mars are opting to get their power from renewables – helping the planet and their profit marginsIn 2012, Ikea made headlines with its pledge to completely power its stores with renewable energy by 2020. Last week, HP, the US-based multinational IT company, made the same pledge, promising to switch completely to renewables by 2020. The fact that both Ikea and HP set the same deadline for renewables, despite the fact that their pled
  
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• UK solar power installations plummet after government cuts

  08-04-2016 18:01
  
  Fall in solar power was expected after ministers announced 65% cut to feed-in tariff, but size of drop-off will still dismay green campaignersThe amount of household solar power capacity installed in the past two months has plummeted by three quarters following the government’s cuts to subsidies, according to new figures.A fall in solar power was expected following a 65% reduction in government incentives paid to householders, but the size of the drop-off will dismay green campaigners who
  
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• The Big Bluebell Watch: share your photographs

  08-04-2016 16:55
  
  To coincide with the Woodland Trust’s new campaign, we’d like to see your pictures of the bluebells you have discovered so far this springOften found in ancient woodland, bluebells are a significant part of our springtime. These forest flowers only have a small window to bloom; between the arrival of the warmer sun and the opening of the tree canopy which casts them in shade. This spring the Woodland Trust is mapping bluebells across the country with the launch of its Big Bluebell Wa
  
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• A sea of blue: share your bluebell photographs

  08-04-2016 16:55
  
  To coincide with the Woodland Trust’s Big Bluebell Watch, we’d like to see your pictures of the bluebells you have discovered so far this springOften found in ancient woodland, bluebells are a significant part of our springtime. These forest flowers only have a small window to bloom; between the arrival of the warmer sun and the opening of the tree canopy which casts them in shade. This spring the Woodland Trust is mapping bluebells across the country with the launch of its Big Blueb
  
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• Pressure on BP CEO as investor says will object to pay packages

  08-04-2016 16:50
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Pressure is mounting on BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley as Britain's biggest mutual life and pensions fund, Royal London, said it would vote against his $19.6 million (£14 million) remuneration package at next week's annual general meeting. Two shareholder advisers, Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, have also recommended rejecting the BP executives' 2015 remuneration packages, saying they were too generous considering the British oil and
  
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• Planet Nine's profile fleshed out

  08-04-2016 16:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Astrophysicists outline what Planet Nine might be like - if indeed it exists.
  
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• Vacherin summons wonky veg army to fight war on waste

  08-04-2016 16:05
  
  London catering business Vacherin is striving to bring cosmetically rejected - but still perfectly edible - fruit & vegetables back into the foodservice supply chain with a three-fold increase in its sourcing of produce that would not ordinarily meet the exacting standards of larger retailers.
  
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• Exclusive - Norway's high-yield bond market becomes latest casualty of oil turmoil

  08-04-2016 16:01
  By Jonathan Saul and Henrik Stolen LONDON/OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's multi-billion-dollar high-yield bond market has become the latest casualty of the oil industry slump, with looming debt defaults for firms that operate supply ships and drilling rigs set to hammer investors who bet on the once-booming business. Shunned by new investors, bond issuances by companies that provide services to the global oil industry have dried up. This has effectively shut down a part of the corporate bond market th
  
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• Can tech give the fashion industry a sustainability makeover? - live chat

  08-04-2016 15:33
  
  Join experts on this page on Tuesday 12 April 4-5pm BST to discuss the tech innovations with the potential to revolutionise fashion
  Technology is revolutionising the way we use and relate to clothes. Last year, Google and Levi’s announced they were partnering on Project Languard to develop a fabric that can send commands to your smartphone via gestures like tapping or swiping. Ralph Lauren already offers a t shirt for a cool $295 (£210) that sends workout data to an iPhone, and Lady
  
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• Tigers extinct in Cambodia, Hinkley Point C and plastic bag charges — green news rounup

  08-04-2016 15:07
  
  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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• The North Pole had ice-free summers millions of years ago

  08-04-2016 14:22 via feedproxy.google.com
  An international team of scientists led by the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have managed to open a new window into the climate history of the Arctic Ocean. Using unique sediment samples from the Lomonosov Ridge, the researchers found that six to ten million years ago the central Arctic was completely ice-free during summer and sea-surface temperature reached values of 4 to 9 degrees Celsius. In spring, autumn and winter, however, the ocean was cov
  
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• The worm has turned: how British insect farms could spawn a food revolution

  08-04-2016 14:21
  
  With meat prices expected to soar, agricultural entrepreneurs believe invertebrate livestock can provide the protein we need. But will the mainstream ever be ready to eat mealworms?It could be the tumbledown, moss-covered drystone walls marking the boundaries of land that has been farmed since the arrival of the Norse settlers. Or the gentle meanderings of the river Eden through the shadows of the Cumbrian fells. Or the proximity of the Settle-Carlisle railway line. All in all, Thringill Farm se
  
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• Nagorno-Karabakh combatants strike deal to safely recover their dead

  08-04-2016 14:18
  By Denis Dyomkin and Nailia Bagirova BAKU (Reuters) - Azerbaijan and Armenian-backed separatists said on Friday they had struck a temporary deal to allow each side to safely search for the bodies of their soldiers killed in clashes over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The violence prompted fears of an all out war in the strategically-important South Caucasus through which Caspian Sea oil and gas is exported to world markets bypassing Russia. On Friday, the Azeri defence ministry and th
  
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• Using moss as a bioindicator of air pollution

  08-04-2016 14:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  Moss growing on urban trees is a useful bio-indicator of cadmium air pollution in Portland, Oregon, a U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station-led study has found. The work--the first to use moss to generate a rigorous and detailed map of air pollution in a U.S. city--is published online in the journal Science of the Total Environment.
  
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• Worst yet to come for diesel, casting refinery profits in doubt

  08-04-2016 14:07
  By Libby George LONDON (Reuters) - Oil refineries are shifting into high gear to produce as much gasoline as possible for the world's fuel-hungry drivers - kicking the problem of a worsening diesel glut further down the road. Bank of America Merrill Lynch said it now expects global gasoline demand growth of 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) - some 65 percent above the 10-year average. Traders and analysts said such lopsided demand could depress diesel profits for at least another year, as refineries
  
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• National Grid to incentivise energy demand response during summer of excess

  08-04-2016 13:45
  
  The National Grid will offer businesses money to shift their intensive power demand processes to periods of low demand as Britain prepares for a summer that will generate excess amounts of electricity.
  
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• Lab cooks up sugars from 'comet ice'

  08-04-2016 13:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Experiments show how ribose - an important sugar for life - can form when a simple icy mixture is hit by UV light.
  
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• The death of US coal: industry on a steep decline as cheap natural gas rises

  08-04-2016 13:00
  
  With Massey Energy boss Don Blankenship headed to prison and some of the industry’s biggest companies bankrupt, a historic transformation may be aheadOn a wintry night in 2010 a few months before 29 men were killed in the Upper Big Branch mine explosion, the coal boss, Don Blankenship – then one of the richest and most powerful men in West Virginia – squared up to Robert Kennedy Jr in a public debate about destructive mining practices and climate change.The contest had been an
  
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• Paris climate deal to be signed by over 130 countries at UN ceremony

  08-04-2016 12:00
  
  Landmark event on 22 April to mark the record for highest number of countries signing an international treatyA record number of more than 130 countries will sign the landmark agreement to tackle climate change at a ceremony at UN headquarters on 22 April, the United Nations said on Thursday. Secretary general Ban Ki-moon is hosting the signing ceremony on the first day that the agreement reached in Paris in December opens for signature.Continue reading...
  
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• Philippines gets U.S. military aid boost amid South China Sea dispute

  08-04-2016 11:41
  The United States has allocated more than $120 million (85.19 million pounds) in military aid to the Philippines this year, the biggest in about 15 years, a senior Filipino diplomat said on Friday, amid rising tension with China over the disputed South China Sea. Jose Cuisia, Manila's ambassador to Washington, said Manila was also in talks with the United States to acquire a fourth Hamilton-class cutter to strengthen the Philippine capability to patrol the waters. "We got the largest-ever alloca
  
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• Tata windfall from carbon permits

  08-04-2016 11:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Tata Steel made hundreds of millions of pounds selling carbon emissions permits given for free under a European Union emissions trading scheme, experts say.
  
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• Tullow to cut production guidance after technical fault at Ghana oilfield

  08-04-2016 11:01
  Africa-focused oil producer Tullow Oil said on Friday it would have to lower its production outlook due to a technical fault that has forced a longer-than-planned shutdown at its Jubilee oilfield off Ghana. A damaged turret bearing means a scheduled maintenance shutdown will take another two weeks and production flows will take even more time to ramp-up, Tullow said. "Tullow's production guidance will be re-issued once the new operating arrangements have stabilised," the company said.
  
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• EU pushed towards 'climate disclosure' regime for investors

  08-04-2016 11:00
  
  Pressure is building on global regulators and the European Commission to "stress-test" portfolios of large institutional investors against long-term objectives to reduce climate change, in a move that could shift billions in investment away from fossil fuels.
  
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• Baby wombat becomes tourism ambassador

  08-04-2016 10:45 via bbc.co.uk
  
  An online competition to become the "chief wombat cuddler" of a baby wombat in Tasmania, has made the tiny marsupial something of a celebrity.
  
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• China citizens protest ChemChina-Syngenta deal amid GMO worries

  08-04-2016 10:40
  By Niu Shuping and David Stanway BEIJING (Reuters) - Around 400 Chinese citizens have signed a letter to protest the purchase of Swiss-based seeds and pesticides company Syngenta by state-owned ChemChina, saying the deal would eventually lead to genetically modified crops being sown across swathes of the country. Critics of genetically modified organisms argue the technology poses risks to public health and the environment, while advocates say such fears have not been scientifically proven and t
  
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• Clue to Neanderthal breeding barrier

  08-04-2016 10:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Incompatibilities in the DNA of Neanderthals and modern humans may have limited the extent of interbreeding between the two groups.
  
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• edie Sustainability Leader to represent UK at EU awards

  08-04-2016 10:00
  
  edie Sustainability Leaders Award-winner LINPAC Packaging has been selected as a UK finalist for the prestigous 2016 European Business Awards for the Environment (EBAE).
  
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• Oil rises on firm US, German growth but traders warn of ongoing glut

  08-04-2016 09:43
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Friday, lifted by firm economic indicators from the United States and Germany which could support fuel demand, but analysts warned that crude markets were threatened by another downturn because of ongoing oversupply. Front month U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $38.02 per barrel at 0653 GMT, up 76 cents, or 2 percent, from their last close. "We believe the current oil price is unsustainable and expect a
  
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• Shell under pressure to reduce spending

  08-04-2016 09:41
  By Ron Bousso LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell is under pressure from shareholders to cut annual spending below $30 billion (21.3 billion pounds) after buying BG Group to ensure it can maintain its dividend given the slow oil price recovery. Shell and other large oil companies slashed budgets, scrapped huge projects and cut tens of thousands of jobs last year in the face of a slump in oil prices from a June 2014 peak of nearly $116 a barrel to below $40. Shell reduced spending by $8.4 billio
  
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• UK's largest on-site dairy AD plant to generate green energy from Cumbrian cheese

  08-04-2016 09:30
  
  One of the UK's largest cheese creameries, First Milk, has announced the completion of the first on-site Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant in the European dairy industry which will feed bio-methane to the national gas grid.
  
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• Greg Hunt rebuked by Attenborough film-maker after upbeat verdict on Great Barrier Reef

  08-04-2016 09:22
  
  Environment minister told to ‘watch the series’ after saying David Attenborough documentary is evidence reef is safeEnamoured by stunning footage in David Attenborough’s latest documentary series, the Australian environment minister, Greg Hunt, took it as proof that the Great Barrier Reef remained an untouched beauty. But he might have been better off waiting to see the whole series before commenting. Continue reading...
  
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• Delicate daffodils shimmy in the breeze

  08-04-2016 06:30
  
  West Dean Woods nature reserve, West Sussex They are half the size of commercial daffodils and more subtly coloured, but en masse they are resplendentWe dawdle at a crossways, puzzling over our map. The guide instructs us to take the path through the larch trees, but the entire stand of conifers has been felled, the logs stacked to dry in neat pyramids by the side of the track. Honey coloured globs of resin ooze from the cut stumps, infusing the air with a sweet menthol aroma. We continue on, an
  
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• Oil prices rise on firm U.S., German growth; but traders warn of ongoing crude glut

  08-04-2016 02:55
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices edged up early on Friday, lifted by firm economic indicators from the United States and Germany which could support fuel demand, but analysts warned that crude markets were threatened by another downturn because of ongoing oversupply. Front month U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $37.64 per barrel at 0040 GMT, up 38 cents from their last close. Traders said there was some bullish sentiment in oil markets early o
  
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• VIDEO: BBC reporter takes Antarctic dip

  08-04-2016 01:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  While reporting from the Antarctic, the BBC's Victoria Gill takes a dip in the near-freezing sea.
  
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