Environment news

• VIDEO: Innovation Zone Competition winner unveiled at edie Live

  17-05-2016 23:49
  
  A pioneering 'virtual energy store' that connects renewable energy to distribution networks has today (17 May) been crowned the winner of edie's Innovation Zone Competition at the edie Live exhibition in Birmingham.
  
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• edie Live 2016: A look back at Day 1 and a look ahead to Day 2

  17-05-2016 23:49
  
  After a fascinating first day of inspiration, insight and expertise, edie explores what's in store today (18 May) for the second and final day of the 2016 edie Live exhibition at the NEC Birmingham. And there's still time to attend!
  
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• French parliament adopts bill to ratify Paris climate agreement

  17-05-2016 23:40
  French parliamentarians in a near unanimous vote on Tuesday adopted a bill authorising the government to ratify the landmark climate agreement reached by 195 nations in Paris in December. France, which is chairing the COP21 climate talks until the end of the year, is the first European Union member state to move ahead with the ratification of the agreement which aims to curb global warming. Environment Minister Segolene Royal, who presented the bill in parliament on Tuesday, told journalists ear
  
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• Life 'went large' a billion years ago

  17-05-2016 23:36 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Life was already organising itself into large communities of cells more than a billion years ago, new evidence from China suggests.
  
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• VIDEO: Fireball captured on police dashcam

  17-05-2016 23:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A bright fireball lit up the sky across several states in the US early on Tuesday - and was captured on a police officer's dashcam.
  
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• Climate change: Australia's big banks urged to reject new loans for coal projects

  17-05-2016 23:20
  
  Exclusive: Market Forces says halt to refinancing existing loans would also test banks’ support for 2C warming target Australia’s big four banks could act on their stated ambition to help achieve a 2C warming target simply by giving no new loans to coal projects, analysis by financial activists Market Forces reveals.Such a move – including a halt to refinancing existing loans – would virtually empty the banks’ loan book of the $8bn they are lending to coal in just f
  
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• U.S. crude prices hits seven-month high as inventory drop seen

  17-05-2016 22:58
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose for a second straight day on Tuesday, with U.S. futures hitting seven-month highs, on expectations of a drawdown in U.S. crude stockpiles and a new wildfire threat on Canadian oil supplies. Prices rose after a Reuters poll of oil analysts forecast U.S. crude inventories likely fell 2.8 million barrels last week, declining for a second straight week.
  
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• Shell shareholders advised to oppose CEO's pay

  17-05-2016 22:04
  By Ron Bousso LONDON (Reuters) - Two investor advisory firms have recommended Royal Dutch Shell shareholders oppose the CEO's 2015 remuneration, in the latest sign of rising discontent over pay amid falling oil prices. Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden's 2015 remuneration fell 8 percent to 5.135 million euros (£4 million) last year, when the company's revenue dropped sharply due to low oil prices. Proxy adviser Glass Lewis said in a report it remains "concerned by the disconnect betwee
  
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• Kent lake tested for contamination after dogs die

  17-05-2016 20:59
  
  Police cordon off parts of Brooklands Lake after three dogs which drank its water died and up to seven others fell illAn investigation has been launched after three dogs died and up to seven more became ill after drinking from a lake.Kent police have cordoned off parts of Brooklands Lake, near Powder Mill Lane in Dartford, after a dog walker said that three of her animals became ill and died. Vets are still working to save the life of a fourth dog which was also on the walk. Continue reading...
  
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• Brazil suspends leniency deals with companies in corruption probe

  17-05-2016 20:13
  Brazil's new Minister of Transparency and Oversight said he was suspending negotiations of leniency agreements sought by engineering and construction companies caught up in a massive corruption investigation. The minister, Fabiano Silveira, said in a Globo News television interview aired on Tuesday that interim President Michel Temer's government wants prosecutors and the federal audit court to be part of the negotiations. Thirty-one contractors, including Brazil's largest builders, have been ba
  
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• UN/WHO panel in conflict of interest row over glyphosate's cancer risk

  17-05-2016 20:09
  
  Chairman of UN’s joint meeting on pesticide residues co-runs scientific institute which received donation from Monsanto, which uses glyphosateA UN panel which on Tuesday ruled that glyphosate was probably not carcinogenic to humans has now become embroiled in a bitter conflict of interests row. It has emerged that an institute co-run by the chairman of the UN’s joint meeting on pesticide residues (JMPR) received a six-figure donation from Monsanto, which uses the substance as a core
  
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• UN/WHO panel in conflict of interest row over glyphosate cancer risk

  17-05-2016 20:09
  
  Chairman of UN’s joint meeting on pesticide residues co-runs scientific institute which received donation from Monsanto, which uses glyphosateA UN panel that on Tuesday ruled that glyphosate was probably not carcinogenic to humans has now become embroiled in a bitter row about potential conflicts of interests. It has emerged that an institute co-run by the chairman of the UN’s joint meeting on pesticide residues (JMPR) received a six-figure donation from Monsanto, which uses the subs
  
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• Paradise lost in a tourism boom

  17-05-2016 19:18 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Beautiful places threatened by mass tourism
  
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• Call for 'more Britons in space'

  17-05-2016 19:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Britain's first astronaut says the UK risks becoming a "backward nation" if the government does not pay to send more people into space.
  
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• Thank you for not visiting: tourist hotspots that have done a Koh Tachai

  17-05-2016 18:40
  
  Thai authorities have closed the celebrated scuba-diving destination to visitors – but it’s not the first ‘honeypot’ site to take such action Related: Thailand closes 'overcrowded' Koh Tachai island to tourists The trouble for Koh Tachai was that its beaches were just a little too white, its coral reef too colourful, its marine life too dazzling. Now you can’t go there, because Thai authorities have shut it to tourists – the latest and most drastic response to
  
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• Canadian wildfire shifts north, prolonging oil sands shutdown

  17-05-2016 18:19
  By Nia Williams CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A massive wildfire around the oil sands hub of Fort McMurray, Alberta, moved towards energy production facilities on Tuesday, extending a shutdown that has led to lost Canadian output of one million barrels a day. The fire jumped a critical firebreak area where plants and trees had been removed to stop its spread late Monday, moving north of Fort McMurray into oil sand camp areas.
  
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• Exclusive - BP exploration boss leaves after spending cuts

  17-05-2016 18:02
  By Dmitry Zhdannikov LONDON (Reuters) - The head of exploration at BP, Richard Herbert, is leaving the British oil major after slightly more than two years in the job, a period in which the company slashed spending on the search for new deposits. Herbert, a BP veteran and a long-time ally of chief executive Bob Dudley, rejoined BP in October 2013 after several years at rival Talisman Energy. "Herbert simply didn't get a chance to drill a lot of wells ... given where BP stood post-Macondo and whe
  
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• Servitisation is the 'posterchild' for the circular economy, says Veolia

  17-05-2016 17:30
  
  EXCLUSIVE: Companies looking to accelerate the transition to a resource-efficient future by adopting closed-loop principles should take advantage of servitisation - dubbed the "posterchild" of the circular economy by Veolia's head of circular economy at edie Live today (17 May).
  
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• Farming is 'single biggest cause' of worst air pollution in Europe

  17-05-2016 17:19
  
  Nitrogen compounds from fertilisers and animal waste drifting over industrial regions is combining to form fine particulate pollution, report finds Farming is the biggest single cause of the worst air pollution in Europe, a new study has found, as nitrogen compounds from fertilisers and animal waste drift over industrial regions.When the nitrogen compounds are mixed with air already polluted from industry, they combine to form solid particles that can stick in the fine lung tissue of children an
  
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• U.S. oil hits seven-month high as inventory drop seen; caution over Libya

  17-05-2016 17:16
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude prices hit seven-month highs on Tuesday on expectations of lower U.S. stockpiles and after wildfires threatened anew Canadian oil supplies, but pared some gains due to the potential for higher Libyan output. U.S. crude inventories likely fell a second straight week last week, declining by around 3.2 million barrels, a Reuters poll of analysts said. In Canada, energy producers were hit with fresh disruptions after a massive wildfire burning aroun
  
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• Report: Genetically altered food safe but not curing hunger

  17-05-2016 17:02
  WASHINGTON (AP) — A major scientific advisory board has declared that genetically manipulated food remains generally safe for humans and the environment.
  
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• How are cities around the world tackling air pollution?

  17-05-2016 16:59
  
  More cycling, better public transport and car bans - cities from Delhi to Zurich are using a range of initiatives to lower traffic pollution and improve healthParis
  Paris bans cars in many historic central districts at weekends, imposes odd-even bans on vehicles, makes public transport free during major pollution events and encourages car- and bike-sharing programmes. A long section of the Right Bank of the river Seine is now car-free and and a monthly ban on cars has come into force along the C
  
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• Special Report - As oil boom goes bust, Oklahoma protects drillers and squeezes schools

  17-05-2016 16:54
  By Luc Cohen and Joshua Schneyer NEWCASTLE, Okla. (Reuters) - After intense lobbying, Oklahoma’s oilmen scored a victory two years ago. In Newcastle, 23 miles from the capital of Oklahoma City, John Cerny recently learned that the school attended by his five-year-old granddaughter, Adelynn, will open just four days a week next year. Oklahoma’s school-funding crisis is part of the pain inflicted by falling oil prices on energy-rich states across America that rely on natural-resources
  
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• Robotic Toy 'Leka' Designed for Kids with Autism

  17-05-2016 16:50
  
  However, there's another spherical, programmable, rolling robot currently in development that's capable of doing important work to engage children with special needs, particularly children on the autism spectrum. Described by its designers as "a robotic companion," the roly-poly Leka robot is shaped like a ball, has an endearing "face" that changes expressions, and uses sound, light and colors to interact with users through customizable games that improve cognitive and motor skills. Caregivers a
  
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• Tell us how the UK's agricultural industry will be affected by the EU referendum

  17-05-2016 16:47
  With debate surrounding EU subsidies we want to know what the vote will mean for those working in agriculture
  At a session in Glasgow to take evidence on the June referendum’s impact on Scotland, Andrew McCornick, the vice-president of NFU Scotland, emphasised the importance of funding to farmers from the common agricultural policy.Asked by Labour’s Stephen Hepburn how Brexit would affect Scottish farming, McCornick replied: “Our biggest market is in Europe. Our industry mindse
  
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• Anthropogenic dust found to have long-rangimg impacts to oceans

  17-05-2016 16:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  As climatologists closely monitor the impact of human activity on the world's oceans, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found yet another worrying trend impacting the health of the Pacific Ocean.A new modeling study conducted by researchers in Georgia Tech's School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences shows that for decades, air pollution drifting from East Asia out over the world's largest ocean has kicked off a chain reaction that contributed to oxygen levels falling in trop
  
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• Cosmic Dust on Earth Reveals Clues to Ancient Atmosphere

  17-05-2016 16:17
  
  The oldest space dust yet found on Earth suggests that the ancient atmosphere of Earth had significantly more oxygen than previously thought, a new study finds. Although oxygen gas currently makes up about one-fifth of Earth's air, there was at least 100,000 times less oxygen in the primordial atmosphere, researchers say. Previous research suggests that significant levels of oxygen gas started permanently building up in the atmosphere with the Great Oxidation Event, which occurred about 2.4 bill
  
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• New State of Water: Strange 6-Sided Molecule Found

  17-05-2016 16:16
  
  A strange new behavior of water molecules has been observed inside crystals of beryl, a type of emerald, caused by bizarre quantum-mechanical effects that let the water molecules face six different directions at the same time. Under normal conditions, the two hydrogen atoms in each water molecule are arranged around the oxygen atom in an open "V" shape, sometimes compared to a boomerang or Mickey Mouse ears. But in a new experiment, scientists have found that hydrogen atoms of some water molecul
  
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• France sets carbon price floor

  17-05-2016 16:15
  
  2017 finance bill will set price at €30 a tonne in a bid to stir European action to cut emissions and drive forward the Paris climate agreement France will set a carbon price floor of about €30 ($33.95) a tonne in its 2017 finance bill as the government seeks to kickstart broader European action to cut emissions and drive forward last year’s landmark international climate accord.The French government said last month that it would unilaterally set a carbon price floor in the absen
  
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• Tell us how the UK's fishing industry will be affected by the EU referendum

  17-05-2016 15:14
  
  With crippling quotas and endless regulations all over the country we want to know what the vote will mean for those working in fishing
  Fishing leaders have told a parliamentary committee that their members are facing a “total lack of evidence” about how the UK would cope with Brexit.The president of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, Ross Dougal, told the Scottish affairs select committee that the majority of his members were in favour of leaving the European Union, prompted
  
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• Government criticised for 'lack of foresight' over low-carbon heat

  17-05-2016 15:01
  
  EXCLUSIVE: The UK Government has "suppressed the progress" of green technologies through a chop-and-change approach to green policies such as the RHI scheme, an audience of sustainability professionals at edie Live was told today (17 May).
  
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• Oil eases below $49 after reaching six-month high

  17-05-2016 14:29
  By Alex Lawler LONDON (Reuters) - Oil slipped from a six-month high to trade below $49 per barrel on Tuesday after a deal between Libyan factions brought higher output a step closer, although outages in Nigeria and Canada lent support. Most of the OPEC member's output is offline because of conflict. Profit-taking by some investors could be prompting some weakness in prices on Tuesday, but further price gains are likely given the supply losses, Commerzbank said.
  
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• Ocean bacteria are programmed to alter climate gases

  17-05-2016 14:29 via feedproxy.google.com
  SAR11, the most abundant plankton in the world's oceans, are pumping out massive amounts of two sulfur gases that play important roles in the Earth's atmosphere, researchers announced today in the journal Nature Microbiology.
  
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• Brexit 'risk' for UK universities

  17-05-2016 13:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  UK universities could find it harder to recruit international students if the UK leaves the EU, suggests a survey.
  
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• Study finds 400m meals' worth of edible food wasted each year

  17-05-2016 13:27
  
  Report by Wrap says 18% of 270,000 tonnes of edible food waste was redistributed to charities for food banksMore than 400m meals’ worth of edible food waste in the UK grocery supply chain could be redistributed to feed hungry people each year, according to a government-funded report.Just 18% of the 270,000 tonnes of potentially edible food waste produced last year was redistributed to businesses or charities for use in food banks, according to analysis by the Waste & Resources Action P
  
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• Hollande renews support for Hinkley Point nuclear reactors

  17-05-2016 13:25
  
  French president backs project despite fears that £18bn price tag could bankrupt EDF, which is 85% state-ownedFrançois Hollande has renewed his support for the controversial nuclear project planned by the French energy company EDF at Hinkley Point in Britain.“I am in favour that this project goes ahead,” the French president told Europe 1 radio on Tuesday. Continue reading...
  
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• Boris Johnson 'held back' negative findings of air pollution report

  17-05-2016 13:22
  
  Report’s author says City Hall publicised positive conclusions but held back the finding that deprived schools were disproportionately affected by toxic air The author of a report on how London’s illegal air pollution disproportionately affects deprived schools has said City Hall under Boris Johnson held back the study’s negative findings, while publicising the positive ones.The Guardian revealed an unpublished Greater London authority (GLA) report on Monday that showed how dep
  
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• Saudi Arabia aims to salvage white elephant financial district

  17-05-2016 13:01
  By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - The plan to build a financial district from scratch was viewed by Saudi Arabia's neighbours as among the glossiest excesses of the kingdom's oil boom profligacy: a white elephant in the making, unlikely to attract tenants and possibly never even to be completed. The creators of the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) envisaged a kind of mini-Dubai, a haven for foreign financial services and investors as well as local banks and companies currently doing bu
  
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• Libyan factions agree in principle on unified oil structure - foreign minister

  17-05-2016 12:57
  Rival factions have agreed in principle to have one oil organisation for strife-torn Libya, the foreign minister in the new U.N.-backed, national unity government said on Tuesday. The West is counting on the unity government to gradually end armed anarchy in the OPEC member state, tackle Islamic State militants and stop new flows of migrants across the Mediterranean to Europe, though the new leaders still lack effective control over the capital city Tripoli. "The first steps to achieve this are
  
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• Toxic 'red tide' in Chile prompts investigation of salmon farming

  17-05-2016 12:45
  
  Algal bloom ‘of biblical proportions’ has led to protests and health emergency as concerns raised over dumping of rotting salmon in oceanChilean authorities are investigating the country’s salmon-farming industry after an algal bloom carrying a virulent neurotoxin spread for hundreds of miles along the rugged coastline of Patagonia, triggering a health emergency and angry protests by fishermen.The huge “red tide” has grown rapidly over recent weeks, in what has been
  
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• Oil near six-month high as outages support

  17-05-2016 12:32
  By Alex Lawler LONDON (Reuters) - Oil traded at around $49 a barrel on Tuesday within sight of a six-month high, supported by supply outages in Nigeria, Canada and other producers that are eroding a persistent glut. "Globally, there are still a lot of supply disruptions and this comes on top of natural declines," said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at Petromatrix. "It does bring forward the expected rebalancing in the second half." Beside unplanned outages, supply from non-OPEC countries is expected
  
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• The global air pollution 'blindspot' affecting 1 billion people

  17-05-2016 12:19
  
  More than 100 of the world’s poorest and most poorly governed countries have no or limited monitoring of the polluted air their citizens are breathing More than 1 billion people live in countries that do not monitor the air they breathe, according to data released by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
  Guardian analysis has revealed a great air pollution blindspot stretching the length of Africa, across large parts of the former Soviet Union, south-east Asia and the Caribbean. In 92 count
  
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• Shakespeare theatre remains revealed

  17-05-2016 12:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A 'bird whistle' thought to have been used for sound effects in 16th century performances of Romeo and Juliet is discovered at the site of one of Shakespeare's theatres.
  
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• What Sir David King gets wrong about carbon pricing | Judy Hindley and Brian Utton

  17-05-2016 12:00
  
  Pricing carbon is key to spurring the quick deployment of existing low-carbon technologies that we need
  Sir David King, UK Special Representative for Climate Change, recently took to The Guardian to throw cold water on the prospects of carbon pricing as an effective tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He instead advocated for increased government research funding to develop ‘competitive’ clean alternatives to fossil fuels.There can be little argument that swift, effective act
  
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• Nissan denies accusations of vehicle emissions fraud

  17-05-2016 11:16
  
  Japanese carmaker Nissan has denied accusations that it has cheated emissions tests, following claims from South Korea's Environment Ministry that more than 800 UK-built Qashqai models were set to be recalled.
  
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• Japan's coal-fired plants 'to cause thousands of early deaths'

  17-05-2016 10:32
  
  Greenpeace slams ‘insane’ plan for dozens of power plants, with huge implications for air quality and climate changePlans by Japan to build dozens of coal-fired power stations will cause at least 10,000 premature deaths, according to a study, as the country struggles to fulfil its climate change obligations five years after the Fukushima disaster closed down almost all of its nuclear plants.
  Greenpeace and the environmental group Kiko Network said in a joint report that Japan’s
  
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• Bristol NHS Trust slam brakes on emissions through journey-sharing app

  17-05-2016 10:30
  
  A specially-developed journey-sharing app is helping NHS staff across Bristol and South Gloucestershire reduce congestion, CO2 emissions and travel costs by enabling them to find walking, cycling or car-pooling "buddies" to share their daily commute to work.
  
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• Venezuela says better oil loans deal reached with China

  17-05-2016 10:23
  By Alexandra Ulmer and Corina Pons CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela has reached a deal with its main financier China to improve the conditions of an oil-for-loans deal, giving the OPEC member's crisis-hit economy "oxygen" ahead of heavy debt payments, its top economic official said on Monday. Venezuelan Economy Vice-President Miguel Perez told Reuters that all conditions, including loan time frames, investment amounts and non-financial aspects, had been improved. China has lent some $50 billion (34
  
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• Asda extends online best practice forum to save £50m across supply chains

  17-05-2016 10:00
  
  Major retailer Asda will extend its online forum Sustain & Save Exchange to all of its food and drink suppliers with the aim of helping them reduce their environmental impact and make collective savings and investments of £50m across their supply chains by 2020.
  
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• China says it reached consensus with Venezuela on financial cooperation

  17-05-2016 09:37
  BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it had reached consensus with Venezuela on strengthening financial cooperation, after Venezuela said its main financier would improve the conditions of an oil-for-loans deal. Ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the comment at a regular press briefing. Venezuelan Economy Vice-President Miguel Perez told Reuters on Monday that all conditions, including loan timeframes, investment amounts and non-financial aspects, had been improved, giving
  
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