Environment news

• Saudi Arabia tells oil buyers of cuts after OPEC deal, PIRA says

  08-12-2016 23:47
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is informing its customers of cuts to their January crude oil supplies to comply with the latest OPEC agreement, according to a PIRA note late on Thursday. The note adds that cuts will be to varying degrees, but is likely to be larger to North America due to lower margins. Last week, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to scale back output, its first cut since 2008. (Reporting by Catherine Ngai; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
  
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• John Glenn, first American to orbit Earth, dies aged 95

  08-12-2016 22:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Former astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, dies aged 95.
  
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• John Glenn dies: Trailblazing US astronaut was 95

  08-12-2016 22:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Former astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, dies aged 95.
  
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• John Glenn: First US astronaut to orbit Earth dies

  08-12-2016 22:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Former astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, dies aged 95. Pallab Ghosh looks back at the day he made history.
  
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• First above-normal Atlantic hurricane season since 2012 produced five landfalling U.S. storms

  08-12-2016 22:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  As the Atlantic, eastern Pacific and central Pacific 2016 hurricane seasons end today, NOAA scientists said that all three regions saw above-normal seasons.
  
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• John Glenn death: Trailblazing US astronaut was 95

  08-12-2016 22:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Former astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, dies aged 95.
  
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• Iran's Rouhani says OPEC cooperation key to stabilising oil - TV

  08-12-2016 22:08
  By Parisa Hafezi ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) should work together to secure implementation of a deal reached last month aimed at stabilizing the oil market, Iran's state TV reported. Oil rebounded from the week's lows and hovered above $50 a barrel on Thursday ahead of a meeting on Saturday in Vienna between OPEC and non-OPEC producers that may result in an agreement to cut crude
  
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• 'Eat, Pray, Love' in the USA: meet the man visiting all 413 national parks in one trip

  08-12-2016 21:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Mikah Meyer is making a record-breaking attempt in a battered Hyundai his father left him when he died, hoping to highlight parks for gays and millennialsThere was the night when something big was sloshing around ominously in the river next to his tent and he was too terrified to look out, but knew wolves and moose were at large.Then there was the sweaty night when he thought he would bake to death in his van but was too scared to open the windows because he was parked in a sketchy neighborhood
  
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• EPA fears 'unprecedented disaster' for environment over Scott Pruitt pick

  08-12-2016 20:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Senate Democrats vow to fight Trump’s nominee to lead the EPA, a climate denier who has sued the agency multiple times as attorney general of OklahomaDemocrats have promised to stage a last-ditch effort to thwart the appointment of Scott Pruitt as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, amid fears within the agency that he will trigger an “unprecedented disaster” for America’s environment and public health.
  Donald Trump has nominated Pruitt to lead an agency
  
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• The real inconvenient truth about climate change | Brief letters

  08-12-2016 20:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Increasing population | Theresa May’s cliches | Rich and poor | European mothsI have just scoured eight pages of your Climate Change supplement (7 December). I found not a single reference to one of the key drivers of climate change, the relentless increase of population, now scheduled to be 11.5 billion by 2100. Whatever action we take to reduce emissions, those efforts will be negated by the births of 4 billion more people who, even in the old “third world”, will want to be c
  
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• Scott Pruitt's EPA: a dream for oil and gas firms is nightmare for environment

  08-12-2016 20:42 via theguardian.com
  
  Trump’s pick to lead Environmental Protection Agency has supported fossil fuel firms and sought to hobble public health regulations he will be responsible forIf environmentalists were to sketch out the government official of their nightmares, it would likely look much like Scott Pruitt. The Oklahoma attorney general has been a raucous supporter of fossil fuel companies and repeatedly sought to hobble the public health regulations he will soon be responsible for as head of the Environmental
  
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• On climate policy and power prices Turnbull is talking rubbish. Here are some facts | Katharine Murphy

  08-12-2016 20:31 via theguardian.com
  
  An emissions trading scheme is the cheapest way meet Australia’s climate commitments – which will be news to anyone listening to the CoalitionI just want to be very, very clear that energy prices are too high already. We will do everything that we can to put downward pressure on energy prices. We will not impose a carbon tax, or an emissions trading scheme – that is our position.This is the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, talking to the Melbourne radio host, Neil Mitchell, on
  
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• History of smallpox called into question

  08-12-2016 20:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A sample of the smallpox virus from a 17th Century victim challenges current thinking.
  
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• How Tracking Product Sources May Help Save World's Forests

  08-12-2016 20:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  Global businesses are increasingly pledging to obtain key commodities only from sources that do not contribute to deforestation. Now, nonprofit groups are deploying data tools that help hold these companies to their promises by tracing the origins of everything from soy to timber to beef.
  
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• Giraffes added to vulnerable list

  08-12-2016 20:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Giraffes have been classified as vulnerable to extinction. Chester Zoo says humans are to blame.
  
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• Oil above $50 on hopes for non-OPEC output cuts

  08-12-2016 19:47
  By Catherine Ngai NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil rebounded from the week's lows and hovered above $50 a barrel on Thursday as market watchers focused on an upcoming weekend meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC producers that may result in an agreement to cut crude output further. Brent and U.S. oil prices gained support early from a slightly weaker dollar, but the U.S. currency turned positive as the euro fell on the European Central Bank's decision to extend but reduce its bond-buying programme. Both be
  
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• Harvard reaches goal of cutting gas emissions by 30 percent

  08-12-2016 19:47
  CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Harvard University says it has achieved a 2008 goal to reduce campus greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent.
  
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• EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive: 'A positive step towards a sustainable economy'

  08-12-2016 19:40
  
  With the deadline for Member States to implement the European Union Non-Financial Reporting Directive (EU NFRD) passing earlier this week, edie has spoken to an array of industry experts to find out exactly how the legislation will affect the future of sustainability reporting and green business in the UK.
  
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• AD sector doubles in 2016 as Ecotricity targets fracking sites for new green gas plants

  08-12-2016 19:40
  
  Britain now has almost 90 plants injecting green biomethane into the gas grid - nearly double the number in operation this time last year, according to a new report.
  
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• Former OPEC official El-Badri says non-OPEC cut a 'must' - conference

  08-12-2016 19:33
  (Reuters) - Abdalla Salem El-Badri, who stepped aside as OPEC Secretary General in August, said Thursday at a conference a crude oil production cut of about 600,000 barrels per day from non-OPEC members is a "must". The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed last month to cut production by 1.2 million bpd, but has been working to convince non-OPEC members, including Russia, to reduce output as well.
  
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• 'Beautiful' dinosaur tail found preserved in amber

  08-12-2016 18:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The tail of a feathered dinosaur has been found perfectly preserved in amber from Myanmar.
  
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• Russia says "no changes" to December 10 OPEC-non-OPEC meeting

  08-12-2016 17:42
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - A spokeswoman for Russia's Energy Ministry said on Thursday there were no changes to plans for an OPEC-non-OPEC meeting on oil output in Vienna on Dec. 10. "Everything is without changes," the spokeswoman told Reuters. Earlier, Russia's TASS news agency cited a source close to the Russian delegation as saying that a series of issues had arisen which could lead to the Dec. 10 meeting in Vienna being postponed. (Reporting by Denis Pinchuk and Alexander Winning; Editing by Christ
  
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• Parisians grapple with worst winter pollution in a decade

  08-12-2016 17:41
  
  PARIS (AP) — Under deceptively blue skies, the marvels of Paris beckoned. But art dealer Sophie Vigourous wore a face mask to appreciate them because of the pollution.
  
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• Christmas bonus for clean energy wind power breaks 10,000MW record

  08-12-2016 17:22
  
  A new record output for UK wind farms was reached yesterday (7 December), with more than 10,000MW of electricity generated by wind turbines for the first time.
  
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• Christmas bonus for clean energy as wind power breaks 10,000MW record

  08-12-2016 17:22
  
  A new record output for UK wind farms was reached yesterday (7 December), with more than 10,000MW of electricity generated by wind turbines for the first time.
  
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• UK says will respond 'in the strongest terms' to EU action over Volkswagen scandal

  08-12-2016 17:12
  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Thursday it would respond strongly to the European Union's decision to initiate legal action against it and six other countries for failing to police emissions test cheating by carmakers after the Volkswagen scandal. "We are surprised by this extraordinary step by the Commission as we have had legislation in place since 2009 to tackle this issue and made this clear to them earlier this year," a spokesman at the Department for Transport said. "The UK will be res
  
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• Underground coal gasification will not go ahead in UK

  08-12-2016 17:06 via theguardian.com
  
  Government says it will not support highly polluting method of releasing gas from coal seamsA highly polluting method of extracting gas has been effectively killed off in the UK after the government said it would not support the technology.Underground coal gasification, which involves injecting oxygen and steam underground to release gas from coal seams, would massively increase UK carbon emissions if exploited, according to a government-commissioned report. Continue reading...
  
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• EU takes legal action against Germany, UK over VW scandal

  08-12-2016 17:04
  By Alissa de Carbonnel BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union started legal action on Thursday against seven countries including Germany and Britain for failing to police emissions test cheating by carmakers after the Volkswagen scandal. Amid mounting frustration in Brussels over what it sees as governments colluding with the powerful car industry, the European Commission is wielding the biggest stick it has - potentially going in court - to try to force nations to clamp down on diesel cars spe
  
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• NASA Sees Tropical Cyclone 05B Form

  08-12-2016 16:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  An area of tropical low pressure designated System 99B has consolidated and developed into Tropical Cyclone 05B. On Dec. 7 the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Cyclone 05B over the Anadaman and Nicobar Islands. The VIIRS image showed bands of thunderstorms wrapping around the center from the northern to the eastern quadrants over the Anadaman Islands.
  
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• East Greenland ice sheet has responded to climate change for the last 7.5 million years

  08-12-2016 15:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  Using marine sediment cores containing isotopes of aluminum and beryllium, a group of international researchers has discovered that East Greenland experienced deep, ongoing glacial erosion over the past 7.5 million years.The research reconstructs ice sheet erosion dynamics in that region during the past 7.5 million years and has potential implications for how much the ice sheet will respond to future interglacial warming.The team, made up of researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Labo
  
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• Oil rises above $50 despite doubts over OPEC output cut

  08-12-2016 15:41
  By Sabina Zawadzki LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rebounded from the week's lows to stabilise above $50 a barrel on Thursday as market watchers focused on a weekend meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC producers that may result in an agreement to cut crude output further. Brent and U.S. oil prices gained support earlier from a slightly weaker dollar, but the U.S. currency turned positive as the euro fell on the European Central Bank's decision to extend but reduce its bond-buying programme. Oil producers meet i
  
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• We are to blame for the decline of giraffes. And only we can save them | Jules Howard

  08-12-2016 15:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Deforestation, civil wars and hunting have put giraffes on the vulnerable species list. Now we must show these creatures the other side of human natureImagine entering a museum of the future. Imagine walking across its great marble floors, dodging the schoolchildren and parents with buggies, past the toilets and the gift shop and down the corridor marked Mammals. Imagine marvelling at the bones and fossil teeth of mammoths, sabre-toothed tigers and giant ground sloths. Now, pause. You are in sha
  
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• Reconstructed face of Robert the Bruce is unveiled

  08-12-2016 15:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Historians unveil a digitally-reconstructed image of the face of Scottish king Robert the Bruce nearly 700 years after his death.
  
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• EU takes legal action against Germany, UK over Volkswagen scandal

  08-12-2016 14:43
  By Alissa de Carbonnel BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union started legal action on Thursday against seven countries including Germany and Britain for failing to police emissions test cheating by carmakers after the Volkswagen scandal. Amid mounting frustration in Brussels over what it sees as governments colluding with the powerful car industry, the European Commission is wielding the biggest stick it has - potentially ending in court - to try to force nations to clamp down on diesel cars sp
  
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• EU decides against tinkering with flagship nature directives

  08-12-2016 14:10
  
  After undergoing a much-criticised European Commission-helmed 'fitness check', the EU's main nature directives have been ruled fit for purpose and will not be rewritten or weakened, in a huge win for environmentalists.
  
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• Dieselgate: EC begins legal action against UK and other EU nations

  08-12-2016 14:01
  
  The European commission has started legal action against the UK and six other EU states for failing to act against car emissions cheating in the wake of the "dieselgate" scandal.
  
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• German authorities probe Volkswagen's Porsche for manipulation software

  08-12-2016 13:55
  Germany is investigating whether Volkswagen's sportscar brand Porsche used software to disguise exhaust emissions, the country's car industry regulator said on Thursday, in a fresh blow to VW's attempts to move on from a 15 month-old scandal. Germany's Motor Transport Authority, KBA, said it was examining software that can measure the angle of a car's steering wheel. At stake is whether Porsche used software to detect whether its cars were being subjected to laboratory tests, using this informat
  
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• German authorities probe VW's Porsche for manipulation software

  08-12-2016 13:53
  Germany is investigating whether Volkswagen's (VW) sportscar brand Porsche used software to disguise exhaust emissions, the country's car industry regulator said on Thursday, in a fresh blow to VW's attempts to move on from a 15 month-old scandal. Germany's Motor Transport Authority, KBA, said it was examining software that can measure the angle of a car's steering wheel. At stake is whether Porsche used software to detect whether its cars were being subjected to laboratory tests, using this inf
  
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• Giraffes facing extinction, warn experts – video report

  08-12-2016 13:29 via theguardian.com
  
  The giraffe is at risk of extinction after a large decline in numbers over the past 30 years, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which released its latest ‘red list’ of threatened species on Thursday. The eastern gorilla and whale shark are also deemed at high riskGiraffe facing extinction after devastating decline, experts warnContinue reading...
  
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• Oil rallies over $50 despite OPEC output cut doubts

  08-12-2016 13:17
  The U.S. dollar index fell as Treasury bond yields eased and investors eyed next week's Federal Reserve meeting. "A slightly weaker U.S. dollar is supportive of oil prices," said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets. Brent crude was up 50 cents at $53.50 a barrel by 1200 GMT.
  
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• Trump to nominate Pruitt to lead U.S. environmental agency - statement

  08-12-2016 12:48
  U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will nominate Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, a critic of federal environmental regulation, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, his transition team said on Thursday. The choice, which enraged environmental activists and cheered the oil industry, signals that the Republican president-elect plans to move ahead with his promise to cut back regulation and free up drilling and coal mining, in a likely reversal of Democratic President Barack Obama's e
  
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• Loneliness, affordability and green spaces: the challenge of building liveable cities

  08-12-2016 12:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Cities fail their people when it comes to air quality, green spaces, crime ... the list goes on. But could they be re-engineered to make our lives better? With over half the world’s population now living in cities, and two billion more people due to join them by 2035, urban “liveability” has become a pressing concern.What can be done to make city living safer, healthier and less alienating? How can design tackle rising urban inequality and promote social integration? And what,
  
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• Britain's green groups unite to fight for environmental protection post-Brexit

  08-12-2016 12:30
  
  The National Trust, RSPB, WWF and Friends of the Earth are among 13 environmental organisations that have today (8 December) come together to form the Greener UK coalition.
  
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• Sadiq Khan doubles investment in clean air policies

  08-12-2016 12:20
  
  The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has stepped up his commitment to tackling the capital's deadly air pollution levels by doubling the investment in air quality improvements over the next five years.
  
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• EU launches legal case against Germany, UK over Volkswagen scandal

  08-12-2016 12:08
  The European Union opened legal action on Thursday against seven nations including Germany and Britain for failing to police emissions cheating by carmakers after the Volkswagen scandal. Germany, Britain, Spain and Luxembourg stand accused of not imposing the same kind of penalties VW faced in the United States over its use of illegal software to mask emissions of health-harming nitrogen oxide (NOx) on tests. The European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, has further called Germany and Brita
  
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• OPEC deal will pack little punch in raising oil prices - Reuters poll

  08-12-2016 12:01
  OPEC's landmark oil-production deal may prove effective in running down global inventories, but analysts hold little hope for much of a rise in prices, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday. "In the medium term, we can expect tighter market balances but for a substantial price recovery to take place, significant demand growth will be required to draw down high inventories of crude and products," said Shakil Begg, head of Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts. "This is a short-duration cut, targ
  
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• Why electric cars are only as clean as their power supply

  08-12-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Experts argue whether electric cars are worse for the environment than gas guzzlers once the manufacturing process and batteries are taken into accountJorge Cruz has just finished his overnight shift stacking shelves at Whole Foods in Los Altos, California, and is waiting at the bus stop outside. Like much of Silicon Valley, there’s a regular flow of Tesla, BMW, Nissan and Google electric cars that cruise past from their nearby headquarters, and Cruz rather likes them.
  “I really woul
  
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• Report helps scientists communicate how global warming is worsening natural disasters | John Abraham

  08-12-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A new article helps scientists communicate how humans are intensifying extreme weather clearly and accurately
  Climate scientists have done a great job winning the scientific arguments about climate change. To be clear about what I mean, we have done a very good job investigating whether or not the Earth’s climate is changing (it is), what is causing the change (humans), how much will it change in the future, and what will be the impacts.There are no longer any reputable scientists who disa
  
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• Italian bank Intesa to help fund Rosneft deal for Glencore and Qatar - sources

  08-12-2016 11:52
  LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo is expected to provide a large chunk of funds to a consortium of Qatar and commodities trader Glencore to finance their purchase of a stake in the Kremlin oil major Rosneft, two sources familiar with the transaction said. Russia said on Wednesday it had sold a 19.5 percent government stake in Rosneft for 10.5 billion euros (£8.93 billion) to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund and Glencore . Glencore said it would finance part of the deal by
  
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• Kremlin says Rosneft deal with Qatar, Glencore purely commercial

  08-12-2016 11:19
  The Kremlin said on Thursday that a deal for Russian oil major Rosneft to sell a stake to Qatar and commodities trader Glencore was purely commercial and not political. Asked if any agreements on Syria were part of the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call: "This transaction was purely commercial. There were and there aren't any political aspects here." The Kremlin was not involved in preparatory work on the deal, which was handled personally by Rosneft chief
  
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