Environment news

• Amazing science

  21-12-2016 23:28 via bbc.co.uk
  
  From the first direct evidence for black holes, to a rocky planet circling a neighbouring star, 2016 was packed with amazing science stories.
  
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• Activist investor ramps up pressure on Shell to act on climate change

  21-12-2016 23:16
  By Karolin Schaps London (Reuters) - Oil major Royal Dutch Shell is facing rising pressure from shareholders to shield its business from climate change threats and to play a bigger role in lowering global carbon emissions. Activist shareholder group Follow This, representing some of Shell's retail shareholders, will put forward a resolution at next year's annual shareholder meeting requesting Shell to set targets for annual greenhouse gas emissions reductions, its founder told Reuters.
  
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• Brazilian firms to pay record $3.5 billion penalty in corruption case

  21-12-2016 22:45
  By Mica Rosenberg and Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Brazil-based construction colossus Odebrecht SA and affiliated petrochemical company Braskem SA agreed on Wednesday to pay at least $3.5 billion (£2.8 billion), the largest penalty ever in a foreign bribery case, to resolve international charges involving payoffs to Brazil's state oil company and others. Odebrecht and Braskem pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court in Brooklyn to conspiring to violate a U.S. foreign bribery law after an
  
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• The Earth is flat, Trump is a Democrat … and other great conspiracy theories of 2016

  21-12-2016 21:40
  
  If you believe Taylor Swift is a satanist, Ted Cruz is the Zodiac killer and Hillary Clinton died in September, this was your yearIf 2016 was the year facts didn’t matter, when Oxford Dictionaries declared we went “post-truth”, it makes sense that conspiracy theories flourished. These are some of the most outlandish (and, we feel fairly confident in saying, all untrue). Continue reading...
  
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• Oil prices fall on U.S. inventory build; Libya output ramps up

  21-12-2016 21:39
  By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil futures fell on Wednesday after Libya said it expects to boost production over the next few months and a report showing a surprise build in U.S. crude inventories last week. Brent futures for February delivery fell 89 cents, or 1.6 percent, to settle at $54.46 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for February lost 81 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $52.49 per barrel. Even though WTI futures for February were down, the U.S. front-month gained abo
  
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• Odebrecht, Braskem plead guilty in U.S. after Brazil bribe probe

  21-12-2016 19:05
  By Nate Raymond and Mica Rosenberg NEW YORK (Reuters) - Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht SA [ODBES.UL] and affiliated petrochemical company Braskem SA pleaded guilty in a U.S. court on Wednesday to violating American foreign bribery laws as part of a $3.5 billion (2.8 billion pounds) deal resolving a sweeping corruption probe of Brazil's state oil company. The companies entered their pleas in federal court in Brooklyn in the major corruption case stemming from a wide-ranging probe into thei
  
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• Why is corporate America picking wind power over solar?

  21-12-2016 18:12
  
  Google, Microsoft, Dow Chemical and other big companies are buying five times more wind than solar electricity in the race to hit ambitious emissions targets Businesses are buying more wind and solar electricity than ever before to help lower their carbon footprint in offices, stores and factories. But the two sources of renewable energy are far from getting equal love from corporate America.Wind energy has long been the favorite. Businesses, not counting power companies, signed 2,000 megawatts
  
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• North Yorkshire fracking approved by High Court ruling

  21-12-2016 17:43
  
  Fracking in North Yorkshire will go ahead after a legal challenge by green campaigners was dismissed by a High Court ruling, in the same week that President Obama permanently banned new oil and gas drilling in most US-owned waters in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.
  
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• Oil prices edge lower on surprise build in U.S. crude inventories

  21-12-2016 17:38
  By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil futures edged lower on Wednesday following a report showing a surprise build in U.S. crude inventories last week. U.S. crude stocks rose by 2.3 million barrels in the week to Dec. 16 as refineries hiked output, while gasoline stocks and distillate inventories fell, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. Analysts were expecting U.S. crude inventories to fall by 2.5 million barrels, according to a Reuters poll.
  
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• High-Severity Wildfires Complicate Natural Regeneration for California Conifers

  21-12-2016 16:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  A study spanning 10 national forests and 14 burned areas in California found that conifer seedlings were found in less than 60 percent of the study areas five to seven years after fire. Of the nearly 1,500 plots surveyed, 43 percent showed no natural conifer regeneration at all.
  
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• Ice-melting temperatures forecast for Arctic midwinter

  21-12-2016 16:00
  
  Temperatures in parts of the Arctic are expected to rise above 0C for the second winter in a rowScientists are forecasting ice-melting temperatures in the middle of winter for some parts of the Arctic for the second year in a row. And analysis shows such recent record temperatures there would have been virtually impossible without human greenhouse emissions. Continue reading...
  
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• My wildlife garden: one year on

  21-12-2016 15:17
  
  While her friends were out celebrating, Kate Bradbury spent last Christmas keeping the woodlice company in her new wildlife garden. A year on, and the bird feeders are full ...As I write, 30 house sparrows are scrapping over the feeder outside my kitchen door. There are great tits in the smoke bush over the back fence to the end of my garden – I haven’t seen them come in yet, but I have seen a blue tit, a robin and a goldfinch, so there’s a good chance the great tits are coming
  
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• Corbyn critic quits as Labour MP, triggering tight byelection race

  21-12-2016 14:20
  
  Jamie Reed resigns to take job in nuclear industry, saying he will be able to achieve more for his community in CumbriaOne of Jeremy Corbyn’s most persistent critics is to quit as a Labour MP and take a job in the nuclear industry, triggering a three-way fight for his marginal northern seat with the Conservatives and Ukip.
  Jamie Reed, the MP for Copeland in west Cumbria since 2005, told the Guardian he was resigning because he believed he could achieve more for his community in his new job
  
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• Mysterious 'Ghost Shark' Found for 1st Time in Northern Hemisphere

  21-12-2016 13:46
  
  An elusive "ghost shark" has come out of hiding, as video has captured footage of the fish — whose face looks as if it were stitched together in a Frankenstein-like manner — for the first time in the Northern Hemisphere. "It's a bizarre-looking fish with a pointed snout," said Lonny Lundsten, a senior research technician at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in California. The rare, deep-sea fish — called a "ghost shark" for its appearance, but also known as the p
  
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• India predicts it will exceed Paris renewable energy target by half

  21-12-2016 13:40
  
  Government forecasts 57% of electricity will come from renewable sources by 2027, above 40% target agreed at climate summitThe Indian government has forecast that it will exceed the renewable energy targets set in Paris last year by nearly half and three years ahead of schedule.A draft 10-year energy blueprint published this week predicts India will be generating 57% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2027. The Paris climate accord target was 40% by 2030. Continue reading...
  
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• 16 from 2016: the crucial sustainability stories of the year

  21-12-2016 13:36
  
  With the year drawing gradually to a close, edie examines the major highlights that defined the global environmental and sustainability agenda in the past 12 months.
  
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• Oil prices lifted by expected fall in U.S. inventories

  21-12-2016 13:30
  By Amanda Cooper LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rose on Wednesday, driven by expectations for a decline in U.S. crude inventories and bringing price gains for December to 10 percent, which would be the strongest performance in the final month of the year in six years. Brent crude oil futures were up 32 cents on the day at $55.67 a barrel by 1217 GMT, while U.S. crude futures rose 30 cents to $53.60 a barrel. Brent's rally is its largest so far for any December since 2010, thanks to an unprecedented wave
  
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• Rudolph's antlers inspire next generation of unbreakable materials

  21-12-2016 13:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  The team looked at the antler structure at the 'nano-level', which is incredibly small, almost one thousandth of the thickness of a hair strand, and were able to identify the mechanisms at work, using state-of-the-art computer modelling and x-ray techniques.First author Paolino De Falco from QMUL's School of Engineering and Materials Science said: "The fibrils that make up the antler are staggered rather than in line with each other. This allows them to absorb the energy from the impac
  
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• Costa partners with Bio-bean to convert 3,000 tonnes of coffee waste to biofuel

  21-12-2016 13:00
  
  The UK's largest coffee chain Costa has entered into a partnership with biomass recycling firm Bio-bean, which will see 3,000 tonnes of Costa's waste coffee grounds used as biofuel.
  
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• Obama Bans Arctic Drilling Ahead of Trump Inauguration

  21-12-2016 12:38
  
  The Obama administration on Tuesday put vast swaths of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans off limits to oil and gas drilling to protect marine life, address climate change and safeguard the areas from development after President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January. At the same time, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada will designate all Arctic Ocean waters under Canadian control as indefinitely off limits to future offshore oil and gas development. The Obama
  
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• Japan cancels failed $9bn Monju nuclear reactor

  21-12-2016 12:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Japan scraps a 22-year-old experimental nuclear reactor that has cost $9bn but barely ever worked.
  
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• Brazil's plan to roll back environment laws draws fire: 'The danger is real'

  21-12-2016 12:00
  
  Environmental and indigenous activists condemn plan they say would threaten indigenous territories and make compliance with Paris deal impossible Environmentalists and indigenous rights campaigners have attacked efforts by the Brazilian government to roll back laws protecting the environment and indigenous territories, warning the moves could have disastrous consequences and even threaten the country’s ability to meet its commitments under the Paris climate deal.Continue reading...
  
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• Wildlife Conservation Society's favourite pictures of 2016

  21-12-2016 11:55
  
  Rodrigues fruit bats and Amur tigers are among the species supported by WCS, which operates five wildlife parks in New York City and works to save wildlife and wild places in nearly 60 countries and all the world’s oceansContinue reading...
  
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• Christmas and sustainability: Mistletoe and wine or chalk and cheese?

  21-12-2016 11:52
  
  Christmas is just days away and as Santa's reindeers limber up for the big night, edie rounds-up some of the hidden sustainability stories of Christmas that you probably didn't know about.
  
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• Bristol zoo c-section gorilla Afia cuddles foster mum

  21-12-2016 11:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Baby gorilla Afia born in a rare emergency caesarean section cuddles up to her surrogate mother.
  
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• Baby gorilla moves in with new mother at Bristol Zoo

  21-12-2016 11:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A hand-reared baby gorilla which was born 10 months ago has moved in with a surrogate mother.
  
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• Oil prices rise on expected U.S. crude inventory draw

  21-12-2016 09:00
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Wednesday on expectations of a U.S. crude inventory draw, although trading activity was muted as markets start to wind down ahead of the Christmas weekend. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading at $53.73 per barrel at 0756 GMT, up 43 cents, or 0.81 percent from their last settlement. International Brent crude oil futures were at $55.59 a barrel, up 44 cents, or 0.79 percent.
  
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• Why cutting soot emissions is 'fastest solution' to slowing Arctic ice melt

  21-12-2016 08:00
  
  Reducing wood-burning, gas-flaring and global diesel emissions would be ‘quick win’ in combating irreversible climate change, scientists sayWorld leaders should redouble efforts to cut soot emissions because it is the cheapest and fastest way to combat climate change, climate scientists and advocates have told the Guardian.Deposits of soot – unburned carbon particles – have stained parts of the Arctic black, changing the ice from a reflector of sunlight to an absorber of
  
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• Chinese cities choked by dangerous smog for fifth day; factories, schools closed

  21-12-2016 07:48
  By David Stanway SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Northern China was shrouded in almost record pollution for a fifth day on Wednesday, disrupting flights, traffic and shipping, and closing factories and schools, with some residents complaining emergency anti-smog measures were not operating. Hundreds of government inspectors patrolled Beijing on Wednesday to enforce temporary bans on barbecues and make sure that cars with even number plates were the only ones on the roads. Many Beijing highrises simply disa
  
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• Adani's Carmichael coalmine doesn't meet infrastructure fund criteria, says Greenpeace

  21-12-2016 07:28
  
  Analysis says $1bn of commonwealth funding would amount to paying $683,000 for each job generatedAdani’s coal infrastructure should not be given money from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund since it does not meet at least two of the mandatory criteria, according to analysis by Greenpeace.In addition, despite the NAIF granting “conditional approval” for $1bn of commonwealth financing for a rail link between Adani’s Carmichael mine and its Abbot Point coal terminal
  
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• Severe toxic smog blankets Beijing and China's industrial heartland – video

  21-12-2016 06:58
  
  The haze caused by industry’s reliance on coal and emissions from old, inefficient cars is affecting nearly half a billion peopleContinue reading...
  
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• Smog refugees flee Chinese cities as 'airpocalypse' blights half a billion

  21-12-2016 05:55
  
  Thousands head to pollution-free regions as haze descends on the country’s northern industrial heartlandTens of thousands of “smog refugees” have reportedly fled China’s pollution-stricken north after the country was hit by its latest “airpocalyse” forcing almost half a billion people to live under a blanket of toxic fumes.Huge swaths of north and central China have been living under a pollution “red alert” since last Friday when a dangerous cockta
  
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• Residents in China's north complain as smog alert enters fifth day

  21-12-2016 04:52
  Northern China was shrouded in smog for a fifth straight day on Wednesday as citizens complained that the state's emergency measures were still not being implemented properly. Residents in Shijiazhuang, the capital of heavily industrialised Hebei province that surrounds Beijing, complained that schools were still open even though the city remained on red alert with air pollution levels close to record highs. "We already don't know how long this smog will last, so why aren't classes being stopped
  
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• Obama bans oil drilling 'permanently' in millions of acres of ocean

  21-12-2016 03:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Barack Obama has permanently banned offshore drilling in the "vast majority" of northern US waters.
  
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• Oil prices edge up on expected U.S. crude inventory draw

  21-12-2016 02:18
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices nudged higher on Wednesday on expectations of a U.S. crude inventory draw, although trading activity was muted as markets start to wind down ahead of the Christmas weekend. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading at $53.58 per barrel at 0105 GMT, up 28 cents from their last settlement. International Brent crude oil futures were at $55.57 a barrel, up 22 cents.
  
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• Petition calls for Barack Obama to fulfil Green Climate Fund pledge

  21-12-2016 02:13
  
  US promised US$3bn towards fund, which was part of historic Paris agreement, but so far has transferred only $500mMore than 100 climate and development organisations, along with 70,000 people, have called on Barack Obama to help secure the future of the Paris agreement by transferring the remaining $2.5bn committed by the US.The Green Climate Fund was a key aspect of the historic Paris agreement signed in 2015, which aims to keep global warming “well below” 2C and aspires to keep war
  
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