Environment news

• OPEC ready to reach 'forceful' deal on cutting oil output - Maduro

  16-11-2016 23:04
  OPEC countries are ready to reach a "forceful" agreement on cutting oil output, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday, following a meeting with OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo in Caracas. "There is sufficient will among OPEC countries to take the step we need to take in the month of November, (to reach) a forceful agreement to reduce production and construct new mechanisms to stabilise the market," Maduro said in a televised broadcast from the presidential palace.
  
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• Australia dubbed 'fossil of the day' after lobbying for coal mine at climate talks

  16-11-2016 22:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Energy minister Josh Frydenberg raises concern with American counterpart counterpart over US activists seeking to stop Adani’s giant Carmichael coalmineAustralia has used a summit on reducing greenhouse gas emissions to lobby the US energy minister in support of the development of one of the world’s largest coal mines.The move, by Australian environment and energy minister Josh Frydenberg at the Marrekech meeting, won Australia the “fossil of the day” award, announced dai
  
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• Pluto 'has slushy ocean' below surface

  16-11-2016 20:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Pluto may harbour a slushy water ocean beneath its most prominent surface feature, known as the "heart".
  
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• Seawater's DNA secrets to life in the deep

  16-11-2016 20:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sampling DNA from seawater may be one way to check up on ocean life, according to research.
  
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• DNA secrets to life in the deep

  16-11-2016 20:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sampling DNA from seawater may be one way to check up on ocean life, according to research.
  
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• How KFC, Subway and McDonald’s can help the fight against antibiotic resistance | Letters

  16-11-2016 20:03 via theguardian.com
  
  By 2050, drug-resistant infections are expected to cause 10 million deaths annually – becoming a bigger killer than cancer is today. By 2050, antimicrobial resistance is also expected to cost the world $100tn and could push more than 28 million people into extreme poverty.Misuse of antibiotics in food animals is a major driver of resistance. Farm animals consume about two-thirds of the world’s antibiotics, with much of this added to feed or water to make animals grow faster or to cou
  
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• Infants' brains attuned to baby talk and nursery rhymes

  16-11-2016 19:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  New research indicates that for brain connections to be properly formed in babies' brains, they need to feel safe, secure and loved.
  
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• Oil volatile as U.S. crude build faces OPEC freeze hopes

  16-11-2016 19:09
  By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices were little changed in volatile trading as the market weighed Russia's comments about a possible meeting with Saudi Arabia that renewed hopes for a production freeze deal against a bigger-than-expected U.S. crude inventory build. Russia said it was ready to support OPEC's decision on an output freeze and sees big chances that the oil producers' group can agree on the terms of the freeze by Nov. 30, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said. Me
  
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• John Kerry warns of climate threat at talks overshadowed by Trump – video

  16-11-2016 18:52 via theguardian.com
  
  US secretary of state John Kerry urges countries to treat the earth’s changing climate as an urgent threat as he addresses the uncertainty created by the election of Donald Trump. ‘Obviously an election took place in my country, and I know it’s left some here and elsewhere feeling uncertain about the future,’ he told the audience, before reiterating that a majority of citizens in the US believe climate change is a real threatJohn Kerry: We will fight to keep US in the Par
  
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• Exclusive - VW seeks cost-cutting deal by Friday, devil is in the detail

  16-11-2016 17:26
  By Andreas Cremer BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen is pushing for a cost-cutting deal with workers at its core brand by Friday to help fund investment in electric and self-drive cars, but accounts of discussions in just one area show how difficult it is. The need for a turnaround plan at the VW brand has been amplified by the billions of costs it is facing for its diesel emissions scandal but union leaders do not want workers to carry the can for what they see as the mistakes of managers. The main
  
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• Oil edge up in volatile trade on U.S. crude build, Russian OPEC support

  16-11-2016 17:21
  By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices edged higher in volatile trading as the market weighed Russia's comments about a possible meeting with Saudi Arabia on possible output cuts against a bigger-than-expected U.S. crude storage build. U.S. crude rose 32 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $46.13 per barrel. Before the U.S. Energy Information Administration released its petroleum status report, both contracts were down less than 1 percent.
  
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• What's it like to represent the coal industry at the Marrakech climate summit?

  16-11-2016 16:54 via theguardian.com
  
  World Coal Association boss Benjamin Sporton puts his case for a place at the UN climate talks, but won’t criticise climate science denial supportersAn awful lot of people would really like it if Benjamin Sporton went home and never came back. Sporton is the boss of the World Coal Association and he’s walking the halls of the United Nations climate change talks. Continue reading...
  
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• John Kerry: We will fight to keep US in the Paris climate deal

  16-11-2016 16:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Secretary of state says the outgoing Obama administration is determined to prevent Trump withdrawing the US from the landmark dealJohn Kerry has signalled that the outgoing Obama administration is preparing a fight to ensure that Donald Trump does not withdraw the US from the landmark Paris agreement, to prevent catastrophic climate change.“This is bigger than one person, one president,” the US secretary of state said in Marrakech, before his last address to the UN climate summit bei
  
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• Goffin’s cockatoos make same tool from different materials – video report

  16-11-2016 16:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Researchers from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna and the University of Oxford have shown that Goffin’s cockatoos can make and use elongated tools out of different materials. In video footage released on Wednesday, the cockatoo makes tools from wood and twigs, but also from cardboard, suggesting the birds can anticipate how the tools will be used Continue reading...
  
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• Kerry: 'Overwhelming majority' back US climate action

  16-11-2016 16:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The US secretary of state John Kerry says that the overwhelming majority of US citizens support the US taking action on climate change.
  
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• Canadian and European boreal forests differ but neither is immune to climate change, says U of T researcher

  16-11-2016 15:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  Rudy Boonstra has been doing field research in Canada’s north for more than 40 years.Working mostly out of the Arctic Institute’s Kluane Lake Research Station in Yukon, the U of T Scarborough biology professor has become intimately familiar with Canada’s vast and unique boreal forest ecosystem.But it was during a trip to Finland in the mid-1990s to help a colleague with field research that he began to think long and hard about why the boreal forest there differed so dramat
  
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• Iran's oil minister won't attend Friday OPEC talks - sources

  16-11-2016 14:21
  DOHA (Reuters) - Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh will not attend informal talks between some OPEC members in Doha on Friday, two OPEC sources said, adding that Iran's OPEC governor would represent Iran. Earlier on Wednesday, an Algerian energy source said a number of energy ministers from OPEC countries would meet in Doha on Friday to try to build consensus over the group's decision in September to limit oil output. (Reporting by Rania El Gamal; Editing by Susan Fenton)
  
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• Ukraine calls for visa-free travel as EU drags its feet

  16-11-2016 13:31
  By Matthias Williams and Gabriela Baczynska KIEV/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Ukrainian parliament called on the European Union on Wednesday to grant the former Soviet republic visa-free travel, a day before the bloc is due to debate the matter, with sources pointing to hesitation on the side of Germany and France. Ukraine has been the heart of a dispute between the West and Russia since Moscow annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in the spring of 2014 and went on to back rebels in a war agains
  
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• Oil falls on higher U.S. crude inventories, strong dollar

  16-11-2016 13:29
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices shed more than one percent on Wednesday, returning some of the gains made in one of the year's biggest rallies a day earlier, after weekly U.S. crude stocks rose beyond expectations and a strong dollar weighed on commodities. Global benchmark Brent crude was down 53 cents at $46.42 a barrel at 1217 GMT. U.S. crude was 63 cents lower at $45.18 a barrel.
  
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• Business giants call on US to support the Paris Agreement

  16-11-2016 13:02
  
  Despite president-elect Donald Trump's plans to pull out of the Paris Agreement, more than 360 US-based businesses and investors, including Ikea, Unilever, Mars and Nike, have reaffirmed their commitment to supporting the historic deal and the need to accelerate the low-carbon transition.
  
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• Subsidy-reliant offshore wind steals skills, ideas from Big Oil

  16-11-2016 12:34
  The wind industry is moving further offshore and into the deeper waters tamed long ago by oil companies to increase scale and capture stronger and more constant winds. "There's a lot of new-generation technology in the offshore wind industry, but when I'm out there, I still know the nuts and bolts," said Anders Noer Christensen, a former superintendent engineer on oil platforms, who now works as a development manager for Vattenfall's wind projects in the North Sea. Drawing on a classic offshore
  
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• Green groups call for 'bold' Government action to ignite UK's low-carbon transition

  16-11-2016 12:04
  
  The UK Government can embed a "world class" low-carbon environment that could mobilise significant investment streams, but only if current policy gaps and mixed legislative signals are addressed with "bold" action.
  
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• Big oil v orcas: Canadians fight pipeline that threatens killer whales on the brink

  16-11-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Conservationists say the proposed Trans Mountain Expansion project poses the greatest risk yet to a killer whale population on the edge of extinctionOn one shore there are snow-capped mountains. On the other side loom towering skyscrapers. These churning waters off the coast of Vancouver are marked by a constant flow of ferries and containers ships – but they are also home to 80 or so orcas.Known as the southern resident killer whales the group has long had a fraught relationship with the
  
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• Native title holders propose parks expansion to create hundreds of Indigenous jobs – video

  16-11-2016 11:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Darren Capewell of the Malgana Native Title Working Group, Indigenous ranger David Green and Richard Nelly, the former director of the Bindiyarra Aboriginal Community Corporation, discuss a proposal by native title holders to partner with the Western Australian government to create more than 210 Indigenous ranger jobs in remote communities and stimulate WA’s regional economy through the creation of a major new parks network. Under the proposal, which was announced in Perth on Tuesday, 5m h
  
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• The dolphins used to treat PTSD in Ukrainian soldiers

  16-11-2016 11:40 via theguardian.com
  
  Trainers in Odessa say sessions can help veterans, as well as children with learning difficulties, but there are concerns about the animals’ welfareIvan Golubev was a hyperactive child until his school in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine was attacked by gunfire. The trauma left him unable to to speak.A few months later he was on holiday in Odessa and his mother, Anna, decided to try dolphin therapy. “By the end of the first session he started talking again, and I just couldn&rsq
  
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• Veolia ramps up circular economy drive with Leeds EfW plant opening

  16-11-2016 11:29
  
  Waste management firm Veolia has opened a giant energy-from-waste (EfW) facility in Leeds, in the same week that the company has reported positive progress towards achieving 'circularity' in 40% of its operations by the year 2020.
  
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• Bad smog ahead: Beijing tells students to stay indoors

  16-11-2016 11:28
  
  BEIJING (AP) — Authorities in Beijing warned Wednesday that heavy pollution will persist this week, urging the suspension of outdoor school activities and construction projects.
  
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• If you want to tackle carbon emissions let indigenous people control their land

  16-11-2016 11:16 via theguardian.com
  
  Global leaders must acknowledge that land and forests owned and managed by local communities are more likely to prevent deforestation and deliver greater carbon storageLeer este artículo en españolIn my native Colombia, the cloud forests of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta have been described as holding the most important concentration of threatened wildlife on Earth. These forests are also the ancestral home of the Koguis, an indigenous group now numbering around 10,000 individual
  
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• Oil declines after OPEC-inspired rally as U.S. inventories rise

  16-11-2016 10:40
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday, returning some of the gains made in one of the year's biggest rallies a day earlier, after industry data showed U.S. crude stocks rose beyond expectations last week to add to an oversupplied market. Global benchmark Brent crude was down 39 cents at $46.56 a barrel at 0917 GMT. U.S. crude was 47 cents lower at $45.34 a barrel.
  
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• Paris climate deal at risk unless countries step up plans, says watchdog

  16-11-2016 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  International Energy Agency chief says current government pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions are inadequateThe Paris agreement on climate change risks failure unless countries come forward with more ambitious and detailed plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the world’s energy watchdog has warned.The agreement, reached almost a year ago, is only a “framework”, said the International Energy Agency on Wednesday, and requires sweeping policy changes among governments around
  
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• Aggreko reviews North America specialist equipment business as third-quarter revenue falls

  16-11-2016 08:51
  (Reuters) - Temporary power provider Aggreko Plc said it was reviewing the carrying value of its specialist equipment business as further weakness in the North American oil and gas market weighed on quarterly underlying revenue. The company said underlying revenue for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 was 7 percent behind last year, citing lower North American revenue due to ongoing weakness in upstream oil and gas with further pricing pressure and a reduction in gas volumes. "Given this continue
  
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• Other suspects may appear in bribery case of Russia's ex-economy minister - agencies

  16-11-2016 08:44
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Other suspects may appear in a criminal case in which investigators have charged Russia's former economy minister Alexei Ulyukayev with extorting a $2 million bribe, unnamed sources told Russian news agencies on Wednesday. President Vladimir Putin dismissed Ulyukayev on Tuesday over allegations he extorted the bribe from top oil producer Rosneft, a case that could expose fault lines in the Russian leader's inner circle. ...
  
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• BP Deepwater Horizon oil in land-animal food chain

  16-11-2016 08:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Researchers find traces of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in birds' feathers.
  
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• Ski slope to open on new Copenhagen power plant

  16-11-2016 08:42 via theguardian.com
  
  From next year, one of the world’s longest artificial ski slopes will run from the roof of the city’s new ultra-green waste-to-energy power plantFew people are aware that it is possible to ski in almost every one of Europe’s 51 nations. Countries you might not expect – Portugal, say, and Cyprus – have ski hills and the Netherlands has an indoor snow slope much bigger than Ski Dubai. Only places like San Marino and Vatican City lack a ski slope.But it’s still a
  
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• Stella McCartney: Fashion is literally getting away with murder

  16-11-2016 08:30
  
  British fashion designer Stella McCartney has called on fellow clothing manufacturers to take more responsibility for the environmental impact of the products they produce and stop the "unglamorous" sourcing of unsustainable and unethical products.
  
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• Exclusive - Oil wars: how Kremlin's $13 bln Indian deal almost fell apart

  16-11-2016 08:01
  By Dmitry Zhdannikov, Nidhi Verma and Katya Golubkova LONDON/NEW DELHI/MOSCOW (Reuters) - A multi-billion-dollar Russian deal to buy Indian refiner Essar was nearly sunk at the eleventh hour by a rival bid from Saudi Arabia as the two oil superpowers vie for supremacy across the world. The deal between Essar and a consortium led by Kremlin oil giant Rosneft appeared dead in the water two months ago after Saudi state energy firm Aramco weighed in, according to seven Russia, India and Saudi-based
  
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• Ian the Climate Denialist Potato in Marrakech: the truth about fossil fuel lobbyists | First Dog on the Moon

  16-11-2016 07:51 via theguardian.com
  
  There’s nothing sinister in all of this. Fossil fuel charity organisations are always at climate change talks – they’re just trying to help!Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are published
  Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and printsContinue reading...
  
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• Oil prices extend rally, shrug off U.S. stock build

  16-11-2016 06:50
  By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Oil futures rose on Wednesday, shrugging off an industry report that showed an unexpected build in U.S. crude stocks, and adding to gains of nearly 6 percent from the previous session. Oil prices had surged on Tuesday as members of he Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) were set to renew efforts on concrete steps to implement a deal on cutting output in the face of a persistent global glut. U.S. benchmark crude was up 14 cents at $45.94 a
  
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• Autumn on the Herefordshire Trail

  16-11-2016 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Herefordshire Massive oaks, neolithic tombs and a farmer on a quad bike checking his sheep are a few of the highlights on this 12-day walkOften within sight of the Malverns, Black Mountains or Radnor Forest, our 12-day walk along the Herefordshire Trail leads from place to place around the county. Massive oaks used to be pollarded, and, in derelict orchards, clumps of mistletoe colonise old trees. Wayside hedgerows are loaded with haws, rotting blackberries, holly and spindle berries; crab apple
  
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• Fiji PM invites Trump to meet cyclone victims in climate change appeal – video

  16-11-2016 05:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Frank Bainimarama calls on Donald Trump to make a ‘personal change of heart and public change of policy on climate change’ at the United Nations climate change conference in Morocco. ‘Please take another look at the overwhelming scientific consensus of the man-made effects of global warming,’ he says, before inviting the US president-elect to see the communities that have been moved out of the way of the rising seas and meet the families of those killed by cyclone Winston
  
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• Exclusive - Oil wars: how Kremlin's $13 billion Indian deal almost fell apart

  16-11-2016 04:03
  By Dmitry Zhdannikov, Nidhi Verma and Katya Golubkova LONDON/NEW DELHI/MOSCOW (Reuters) - A multi-billion-dollar Russian deal to buy Indian refiner Essar was nearly sunk at the eleventh hour by a rival bid from Saudi Arabia as the two oil superpowers vie for supremacy across the world. The deal between Essar and a consortium led by Kremlin oil giant Rosneft appeared dead in the water two months ago after Saudi state energy firm Aramco weighed in, according to seven Russia, India and Saudi-based
  
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• Oil prices fall after industry report shows stock build

  16-11-2016 03:33
  By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Oil futures fell on Wednesday after an industry report showed an unexpected build in U.S. crude stocks, paring some of their gains of nearly 6 percent from the session before. Oil prices had surged on Tuesday as members of he Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) were set to renew efforts to efforts to agree concrete steps to implement a deal on cutting output in the face of a persistent global glut. OPEC agreed to an outline of a supply cu
  
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• Marrakech climate talks: US accepts petition calling for fossil fuel lobbyists to be excluded

  16-11-2016 03:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Petition supports nations such as Ecuador and Venezuela that tried to initiate a conflict of interests policy A petition calling for fossil fuel lobbyists to be excluded from the UN climate change negotiations has been forced into the hands of the US delegation in Morocco, where almost 200 nations are meeting to work out ways to implement the 2015 Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions.The US delegation initially said it could not formally receive the petition signed by more than 500,
  
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• Great Ryburgh dig finds 81 'rare' Anglo-Saxon coffins

  16-11-2016 02:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Archaeologists have discovered 81 "rare" tree-trunk coffins at a previously unknown Anglo-Saxon cemetery, it is revealed.
  
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• It’s time to invest in carbon farming on Aboriginal lands | Rowan Foley

  16-11-2016 00:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Australian businesses can take action on climate change by supporting Indigenous carbon farming while contributing to sustainable development goals There’s a touch of irony in the fact the Australian government has invested $200m in the international Green Climate Fund, a United Nations fund to assist developing countries in adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change. There is, however, no equivalent investment fund by the government, or corporate Australia, towards developin
  
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