Environment news

• Elon Musk outlines Mars colony vision

  27-09-2016 23:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Entrepreneur Elon Musk outlines his vision for establishing a human colony on Mars for people that can afford a $200,000 ticket price.
  
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• Iraq mediating between Saudis and Iran to support oil prices

  27-09-2016 23:17
  Iraq is carrying out a mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran to bring about an agreement that would lift crude prices, at a meeting of crude-producing nations in Algiers, Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi said on Tuesday. Iran on Tuesday rejected a proposal from Saudi Arabia to limit its oil output in exchange for Riyadh cutting supplies, dashing market hopes that the two major OPEC producers would find a compromise this week to help ease a global glut of crude.
  
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• Oil down 3 percent as Saudi, Iran dash hopes for an Algiers deal

  27-09-2016 23:15
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil fell about 3 percent on Tuesday after Saudi Arabia and Iran dashed market hopes that the two major OPEC producers would find a compromise this week at meeting in Algiers to help ease a global glut of crude. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told reporters in the Algerian capital, where OPEC and other oil producers gathered for the Sept. 26-28 International Energy Forum, he did not expect an agreement to come out of the consultations on the last day
  
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• Electric car tipping point may challenge pioneers

  27-09-2016 22:38
  Electric car prototypes and plans are set to dominate the Paris auto show as the Volkswagen diesel scandal and falling battery costs persuade executives and investors that plug-in vehicles are ready to go mainstream. The expected flurry of announcements signals a threat to pioneers of the current generation of battery-powered cars, such as Tesla and Renault-Nissan , who will now have to work harder to defend their lead. VW is leading the charge, keen to turn a page after its exposure last year a
  
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• U.N. calls for support for Libya government, upholding of ban on arms

  27-09-2016 21:39
  By Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - The top United Nations official in Libya called on Tuesday for countries to support the fledgling national unity government of the North African country and do more to halt banned arms shipments there. U.N. envoy Martin Kobler also cited "positive signs" of management of Libya's oil sector and in ensuring that revenues go into the central bank's coffers. The fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 brought chaos that splintered Libya into riv
  
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• It May Not Cost You More To Drive Home In A Climate-Friendly Car

  27-09-2016 21:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  It has been a common belief that low-emissions vehicles, like hybrids and electric cars, are more expensive than other choices. But a new study finds that when operating and maintenance costs are included in a vehicle's price, cleaner cars may actually be a better bet.
  
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• Huge blue topaz stone on loan to Natural History Museum

  27-09-2016 21:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A blue topaz stone, thought to be the largest-ever, is to go on permanent loan to the Natural History Museum in London.
  
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• Could California's gridlock generate electricity for the grid?

  27-09-2016 21:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  California is testing whether its heavy traffic can produce not just emissions and air pollution, but electricity. The state’s Energy Commission says it will spend $2 million to examine the potential of using piezoelectric crystals embedded under asphalt as a way to send the energy created by moving cars to the grid.
  
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• Greenpeace blockades IOI palm oil refinery in Rotterdam port

  27-09-2016 20:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Protest follows report linking company’s suppliers in Indonesia to deforestation, forest fires and human rights abusesGreenpeace activists have blockaded a palm oil refinery owned by IOI in the port of Rotterdam after a report linked the company’s third-party suppliers in Indonesia to deforestation, forest fires and human rights abuses, including child labour.For seven hours on Tuesday, a felled tree barricaded the entrance to the Croklaan refinery, which processes palm oil mostly so
  
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• Wind trumps gas: shale tanker unable to dock in Scotland due to weather

  27-09-2016 20:32 via theguardian.com
  
  After days expensively moored awaiting party in its honour, Ineos ship carrying shale gas from US fails to make entranceThere are some things even a billionaire petrochemicals baron can’t control.Jim Ratcliffe, the founder-chairman of Anglo-Swiss firm Ineos, had carefully choreographed the arrival of the company’s first shipment of shale gas from the US. Its planned arrival in Scotland was the culmination of a $2bn (£1.5bn) investment designed to make its loss-making Grangemout
  
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• Toxic emissions surged after AGL acquired Bayswater coal-fired power plant

  27-09-2016 20:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Federal government figures show sulphur dioxide, hydrochloric acid, fine particle pollution and mercury output rose steeply in 2014-15Toxic emissions from the power plant that made AGL Australia’s largest carbon polluter surged in the year the gas company acquired it, commonwealth figures reveal.Bayswater power station in New South Wales recorded double-digit rises in sulphur dioxide, hydrochloric acid, fine particle pollution and mercury output in 2014-15, according to the National Pollut
  
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• Materials programmed to shape shift

  27-09-2016 20:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists have pre-programmed materials to change their shape over time.
  
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• Total ban on ivory sales would endanger art | Letters

  27-09-2016 20:16 via theguardian.com
  
  A singularly distinguished roster of scientists, and others, with an interest in wildlife conservation have signed a petition calling for Theresa May to impose a “total UK ban on ivory sales” (Conservationists and MPs call for a total UK ban on ivory sales, theguardian.com, 22 September), claiming that Andrea Leadsom’s announcement of a ban on post-1947 ivory “falls short of what is needed”. I beg to differ.The entire community of art historians, curators, conn
  
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• Oil down 3 percent as Saudis say no chance for Algiers deal

  27-09-2016 20:15
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil fell 3 percent on Tuesday after Saudi Arabia said it did not expect to agree on output cuts at a meeting with other producers in the Algerian capital, although a production freeze deal was still possible later in the year. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told reporters in Algiers, where OPEC and other oil producers had gathered for the Sept 26-28 International Energy Forum, that Iran, Libya and Nigeria should be allowed to produce at maximum leve
  
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• OPEC set for no deal as Iran rejects Saudi oil output offer

  27-09-2016 20:10
  By Rania El Gamal, Alex Lawler and Vladimir Soldatkin ALGIERS (Reuters) - Iran rejected on Tuesday an offer from Saudi Arabia to limit its oil output in exchange for Riyadh cutting supply, dashing market hopes the two major OPEC producers would find a compromise this week to help ease a global glut of crude. "The gap (in views) between OPEC countries is narrowing. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said earlier: "It is not the time for decision-making." Referring to the next formal OPEC meeting
  
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• No fracking, drilling or digging: it’s the only way to save life on Earth | George Monbiot

  27-09-2016 20:10 via theguardian.com
  
  The Paris climate change agreement is worthless. Politicians can’t possibly honour it unless we stop developing all new fossil fuel reservesDo they understand what they have signed? Plainly they do not. Governments such as ours, now ratifying the Paris agreement on climate change, haven’t the faintest idea what it means – either that or they have no intention of honouring it.For the first time we can see the numbers on which the agreement depends, and their logic is inescapable
  
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• First 'three person baby' born using new method

  27-09-2016 19:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The world's first baby has been born using a new "three person" fertility technique, heralding a new era in medicine, say experts.
  
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• Elon Musk to outline Mars vision

  27-09-2016 19:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Entrepreneur Elon Musk is about to outline his vision for getting humans to Mars and back.
  
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• Floods and farms fuel jump in methane emissions - researchers

  27-09-2016 18:30
  By Megan Rowling BARCELONA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A sharp increase in methane, a potent greenhouse gas, in the Earth's atmosphere since 2007 is the result of higher emissions from biological sources such as rice paddies, cattle and swamps rather than fossil fuels, researchers said on Tuesday. “Our results go against conventional thinking that the recent increase in atmospheric methane must be caused by increased emissions from natural gas, oil and coal production," said lead author
  
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• Do you live in an area where proposed fracking is condemned by your council?

  27-09-2016 18:29 via theguardian.com
  
  If you live in an area where your council is opposed to fracking, we’d like to hear from you. Get in touch below
  Within the next fortnight, the government will decide whether to accept shale company Cuadrilla’s appeal against Lancashire county council’s decision last year to turn down its application for two fracking sites. Related: Bid to drill shale wells in Nottinghamshire 'should get green light'Continue reading...
  
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• Saudi chops wage, benefit bill in delicate pursuit of austerity

  27-09-2016 17:40
  By Katie Paul, Marwa Rashad and Celine Aswad RIYADH/DUBAI (Reuters) - A decision to slash ministerial pay by a fifth reflects Saudi Arabia's resolve to nudge its citizens into tolerating a fall in living standards at a time of low oil prices. Along with reductions unveiled on Monday that will affect all public sector workers, the cuts also flag to financial markets before a debut sovereign bond issue that the oil exporter is committed to budget discipline. Some Saudis appeared prepared to accept
  
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• Bid to drill shale wells in Nottinghamshire 'should get green light'

  27-09-2016 17:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Officials say IGas application to drill two wells at Springs Road, former cold war missile launch site, should be approvedA planning application to drill two exploratory shale gas wells at a former cold war missile launch site in north Nottinghamshire should go ahead, officials have said.In a report hundreds of pages long, planning officers for Nottinghamshire county council said the bid by shale company IGas to drill at Springs Road, Misson, should be granted.Continue reading...
  
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• Oil down 3 percent on fading hopes for output deal in Algiers

  27-09-2016 17:37
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil fell 3 percent on Tuesday, wiping out gains from the previous session, as producing countries meeting in Algeria appeared less likely to agree on output cuts that would reduce a global glut and boost crude prices out of a two-year slump. The energy ministers of Saudi Arabia and Russia were to give a joint briefing later in the day in Algiers where OPEC and other oil producers were holding informal talks on the sidelines of the Sept 26-28 International
  
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• Renewables not cost competitive until mid-century - Glencore

  27-09-2016 17:26
  By Nina Chestney LONDON (Reuters) - Renewable energy will not be cost competitive with fossil fuels until 2050, Glencore said on Tuesday, much later than energy organisations forecast and supporting the mining and trading giant's case for continued investment in coal. Glencore has said coal is still an investment opportunity, forecasting global demand will grow by 7 percent by 2030, driven by emerging economies and industrial demand, and halting spending would halve seaborne supplies in 15 years
  
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• Gabon president Bongo sworn in after disputed poll

  27-09-2016 17:25
  By Edward McAllister LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon President Ali Bongo was sworn in for a second term on Tuesday and called for unity at a low-key ceremony following a razor-thin election victory whose integrity was questioned by international observers. Bongo's victory by less than 6,000 votes has drawn unwelcome scrutiny on the president, whose family has ruled the oil-producing state in Central Africa for 49 years. France called for a recount and the European Union said it detected anomalies i
  
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• Brexit ‘could trigger’ UK departure from nuclear energy treaty

  27-09-2016 17:03 via theguardian.com
  
  The UK’s withdrawal from the EU could also force it to exit the Euratom treaty on nuclear energy, ENDS has learned
  The UK’s withdrawal from the EU could also force it to exit the Euratom Treaty on nuclear energy, ENDS has learned. The Euratom Treaty, which applies to all EU member states, seeks to promote nuclear safety standards, investment and research within the bloc. Although it is governed by EU institutions, it has retained a separate legal identity since its adoption in 1957.C
  
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• Chester Zoo releases footage of rare giant jumping rat

  27-09-2016 16:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The first footage of a rare giant jumping rat born at Chester Zoo is released.
  
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• DC appeals court hears arguments in Clean Power Plan case

  27-09-2016 16:09
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal appeals court in Washington began hearing oral arguments Tuesday in the legal fight over President Barack Obama's plan to curtail greenhouse gas emissions.
  
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• Oil prices fall as hopes for a deal in Algiers fade

  27-09-2016 16:01
  By Libby George and Swetha Gopinath LONDON (Reuters) - Crude oil futures fell on Tuesday as optimism faded for an output-limiting deal from an oil producer meeting in Algeria to curb one of the worst supply gluts in history. Saudi Arabia dashed hopes on Tuesday that producers could clinch a deal at the Sept. 26-28 informal meeting of OPEC and other producers including Russia after sources within the exporter group said differences between the kingdom and rival Iran remained too wide. The Saudi a
  
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• Energy-intensive industry continues to call for free EU CO2 permits

  27-09-2016 14:34
  By Nina Chestney LONDON (Reuters) - A group of 15 European energy-intensive industry associations called in a statement on Tuesday for the European Parliament to reject a tiered approach to handing out free EU carbon permits to industry and to keep full free allocation. Many energy-intensive industries say higher costs for carbon in Europe raises the risk of businesses moving to regions where pollution regulations are less strict. The group includes the European Cement Association, the Confedera
  
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• Shale gas ban 'would cement decline of UK manufacturing'

  27-09-2016 14:21 via theguardian.com
  
  As Ineos takes first shale gas shipment from US, CEO Jim Ratcliffe says without fracking manufacturing’s future is ‘gloomy’The billionaire hoping to become Britain’s biggest fracker has said banning shale gas would cement the decline of UK manufacturing, as he brushed off environmental concerns about the hotly disputed energy source.Speaking as his petrochemicals firm Ineos took delivery of the first ever shipment of shale gas from the US, Jim Ratcliffe addressed Labour&r
  
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• Fate of turtles and tortoises affected more by habitat than temperature

  27-09-2016 14:17 via feedproxy.google.com
  Habitat degradation poses a greater risk to the survival of turtles and tortoises than rising global temperatures, according to new research.More than 60 per cent of the group are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered, because they are being traded, collected for food and medicine and their habitats are being degraded. Understanding the additional impact of global warming and changes in rainfall patterns on their d
  
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• Next President unlikely to meet US emissions targets set in Paris

  27-09-2016 13:41
  
  As Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton placed climate change in the spotlight during Monday night's (26 September) presidential debate with Republican nominee Donald Trump, new research has suggested that the US looks set to miss its 2025 emissions reduction pledge.
  
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• Azerbaijan vote lengthens Aliyev's time in office, boosts his powers

  27-09-2016 13:34
  By Nailia Bagirova BAKU (Reuters) - Azerbaijan has voted in favour of extending the presidential term from five to seven years, election authorities said on Tuesday, a step that critics say will hand unprecedented powers to President Ilham Aliyev who has led the country since 2003. The state election commission said a vast majority of the 91.2 percent of voters who turned out in a referendum in the Caspian Sea oil-producer had backed the move. Aliyev, 54, who succeeded his father as president, c
  
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• Lots to lose: how cities around the world are eliminating car parks

  27-09-2016 13:23 via theguardian.com
  
  It’s a traditional complaint about urban life: there’s never anywhere to park. But in the 21st century, do cities actually need less parking space, not more?Paris has banned traffic from half the city. Why can’t London?With space for roughly 20,000 cars, the parking lot that surrounds the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada, is recognised as the largest car park in the world.Spread across vast expanses of asphalt and multi-storey concrete structures, these parking spots take
  
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• Why does the Europa water plume matter?

  27-09-2016 13:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Professor Michele Dougherty explains the importance of the water plumes on Jupiter's moon
  
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• Business must address 'timid action' to achieve SDGs

  27-09-2016 13:16
  
  One year on from the launch of the United Nation's (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), new research has found that a majority of companies have been too slow to take tangible action.
  
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• Revealed: how senior Laos officials cut deals with animal traffickers

  27-09-2016 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Evidence obtained by the Guardian shows how treasury coffers swelled with 2% tax on trades worth up to $45m including tigers, rhinos and elephantsHelp fund our journalism by becoming a Guardian supporter.Officials at the highest level of an Asian government have been helping wildlife criminals smuggle millions of dollars worth of endangered species through their territory, the Guardian can reveal. In an apparent breach of current national and international law, for more than a decade the office
  
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• China accused of defying its own ban on breeding tigers to profit from body parts

  27-09-2016 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Beijing faces pressure at global summit to close 200 farms where tigers are bred for luxury goods and end its obstructive tacticsChina has been accused of deceiving the international community by allowing a network of farms to breed thousands of captive tigers for the sale of their body parts, in breach of their own longstanding ban on the trade.
  The Chinese government has allowed about 200 specialist farms to hold an estimated 6,000 tigers for slaughter, before their skins are sold as decoratio
  
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• Helicopter crashes en route to Chevron Angola oil platform, at least four dead

  27-09-2016 12:56
  Four people died and two were missing after a helicopter crashed en route to a Chevron oil platform off the Angolan coast, the U.S. oil company said on Tuesday. The helicopter left Malongo port in Angola's Cabinda province on Monday at 1523 local time to make the short journey to the Tombua-Landana offshore oil platform but never arrived. "The helicopter did not reach its intended destination.
  
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• Siemens trims job cut plans for unit in Germany

  27-09-2016 12:47
  Siemens has agreed with labour representatives to cut 1,700 jobs in Germany, fewer than originally planned, as part of a restructuring of its Process Industries and Drives unit, which has been hit by weak demand from the oil and gas sector. Siemens had said in March it would cut around 2,500 jobs worldwide in areas related to the oil and gas, metals and mining sectors, of which about 2,000 would be in Germany.
  
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• Can the aviation industry finally clean up its emissions?

  27-09-2016 12:24 via theguardian.com
  
  With biofuel potential limited and emissions rising, the need for industry to act is urgent. Hopes rest on a global UN carbon offset scheme to be negotiated at the ICAO summit this week - but critics remain unconvinced When a South Africa Airways scheduled flight flew from Johannesburg to Cape Town last month, it carried nearly 300 passengers.Neither the passengers or the pilots would have noticed any difference between that flight and any other.Continue reading...
  
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• Singapore accuses Chinese paper of fabricating South China Sea story

  27-09-2016 12:14
  Singapore's ambassador to China on Tuesday accused a major state-run Chinese newspaper of fabricating a report about Singapore's position on the South China Sea, but the paper stuck by its story. The Global Times said on Sept. 21 that at a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Venezuela, Singapore had raised the issue of the disputed waterway and an international tribunal's ruling in favour of the Philippines in a case it lodged against Chinese claims. The influential tabloid, published by the r
  
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• Britain says economy needs an infrastructure upgrade after political drama

  27-09-2016 11:58
  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's economy needs an infrastructure and vocational education upgrade to deliver stability to businesses after months of political drama including the vote to leave the European Union, business secretary Greg Clark said on Tuesday. "We have had enough drama in British politics over the last year - I want us to recover our reputation for stability and predictability as a business environment," Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Clark added. ...
  
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• Oil prices slip as hopes for a deal in Algiers fade

  27-09-2016 11:21
  Saudi Arabia on Tuesday dashed hopes that OPEC oil producers could clinch a deal in Algeria this week as sources within the exporter group said the differences between the kingdom and rival Iran remained too wide. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 68 cents to $45.25 a barrel, after rising $1.45, or 3.3 percent, in the previous session. "It's all about what's going on in Algiers really ... the prospect or no prospect of a supply deal," said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at Petromatrix.
  
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• Coffee and climate change: what you need to know

  27-09-2016 11:09 via theguardian.com
  
  From tech solutions to crop diversification, our expert panel highlights how to support coffee farmers in the face of climate change
  Climate change is threatening the world’s coffee supplies: read what our experts saidThe issue of how climate change is affecting coffee production hit the headlines recently after the publication of a new report from the Climate Institute, which claims climate change will halve the area suitable for coffee production by 2050.While companies may once have div
  
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• Diesel scrutiny shifts to London's building sites

  27-09-2016 11:08
  By Barbara Lewis LONDON (Reuters) - Volkswagen's admission it cheated pollution law has exposed a wider problem of diesel emissions from thousands of generators belching fumes across building sites and countryside. In London, where the pollution is aggravated by a construction boom, a firm that helped expose the extent of the Volkswagen scandal has shifted its attention to diesel generators and is working with city authorities and researchers from King's College London (KCL) to analyse the probl
  
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• Britain's first U.S. shale gas delivery arrives in Scotland

  27-09-2016 11:06
  By Russell Cheyne GRANGEMOUTH, Scotland (Reuters) - Chemicals giant Ineos shipped in Britain's first shale gas from the United States on Tuesday, sparking debate on the country's manufacturing future and Scotland's opposition to shale gas fracking. Ineos is importing ethane, obtained from rocks fractured at high pressure -- or "fracking", in a foretaste of larger deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from shale set to reach Europe in 2018. Chairman Jim Ratcliffe, one of Britain's r
  
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• CITES species body rejects process for ivory sales

  27-09-2016 10:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Delegates at the Cites meeting in Johannesburg have defeated an attempt to set up a process to resume sales of ivory.
  
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• Circular economy will place consumers at the heart of the value chain, says eBay

  27-09-2016 10:00
  
  EXCLUSIVE: The circular economy can act as a "new frontier" for brands that allows sustainability to move beyond a responsibility and act as an opportunity that turns "passive consumers" into active participants", the global impact manager of eBay has said.
  
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