Environment news

• Biden cabinet: Inner circle get key posts as John Kerry named climate envoy

  23-11-2020 23:48 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The former secretary of state is among the names announced for key roles in the new US administration.
  
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• Chinese spacecraft sets off on Moon sample quest

  23-11-2020 22:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The robotic Chang'e-5 mission aims to return the first lunar rocks to Earth in more than 40 years.
  
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• Covid-19: Oxford University vaccine is highly effective

  23-11-2020 21:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The vaccine is cheaper than other options and easier to distribute around the world.
  
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• Call for coronavirus screening at mink farms

  23-11-2020 17:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Surveillance of farmed mink for coronavirus should be mandatory, says a top scientist.
  
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• Speakers confirmed for edie's next webinar: Making 2021 the 'super year' for corporate sustainability

  23-11-2020 16:40
  
  edie's next webinar will explore the redefinition of corporate sustainability leadership in 2021, through the lens of buildings and transport, the Sustainable Development Goals and net-zero strategies, featuring expert insight from Anglian Water, Business in the Community and EDF Energy
  
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• Climate change: Covid pandemic has little impact on rise in CO2

  23-11-2020 16:29 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Despite the global lockdowns, overall greenhouse gas concentrations have continued to rise.
  
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• Capgemini: Half of big businesses are using AI to cut their climate impacts

  23-11-2020 15:03
  
  Almost half of the world's biggest industrial, energy, FMCG, retail and manufacturing companies are using artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce their emissions, with the average business forecasting a 16% related emissions reduction by 2025.
  
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• Such a sensitive flower: do plants really have personalities?

  23-11-2020 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Plants are compulsive communicators, but now one expert thinks they may also have different character traits – with some more nervy than others
  Name: Plant personalities.Age: Possibly millions of years old. Continue reading...
  
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• European governments failing to protect citizens from air pollution, data reveals

  23-11-2020 12:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Pollutants from farming, heating and vehicles beyond levels needed to ensure breathable airGovernments across Europe are failing to protect their citizens from toxic air pollution, with most Europeans still breathing filthy air in their cities, according to data.Pollutants from farming, domestic heating and vehicles are beyond the levels needed to ensure breathable air within World Health Organization guidelines, despite EU legislation, government pledges and years of campaigning. Continue readi
  
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• Government set to unveil national infrastructure bank tied to net-zero

  23-11-2020 12:14
  
  The Government is expected to unveil the long-awaited National Infrastructure Strategy (NIS) this week alongside the Spending Review, with a National Infrastructure Bank set to be created to replace the UK's involvement with the European Investment Bank and funnel capital towards net-zero projects.
  
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• Extinction Rebellion launches campaign of financial disobedience

  23-11-2020 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Group stages debt and tax strikes to expose ‘political economy’s complicity’ in ecological crisisExtinction Rebellion is launching a campaign of financial civil disobedience aimed at exposing the “political economy’s complicity” in the unfolding ecological crisis.The group – which has staged some of the UK’s biggest civil disobedience protests over the past two years – is turning its attention to what it says will be a sustained campaign of d
  
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• Report: Carmakers including Tesla and Honda 'driving in the slow lane' towards climate goals

  23-11-2020 11:50
  
  Two-thirds of the world's largest carmakers have not set electric vehicle (EV) and emissions targets in line with the Paris Agreement's less ambitious trajectory - and the auto sector is failing to deliver on human rights commitments, as well.
  
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• Vodafone sets net-zero target for 2040

  23-11-2020 11:07
  
  Vodafone has committed to reducing its carbon emissions to net-zero by 2040 and will set eliminate emissions from its activities and energy and halve scope 3 emissions by 2030.
  
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• Diageo targets net-zero operations by 2030

  23-11-2020 11:01
  
  Brewing giant Diageo has committed to achieving net-zero operational emissions within a decade and to halving its indirect (Scope 3) emissions within the same timeframe, as part of a new ten-year strategy.
  
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• Climate crisis: CO2 hits new record despite Covid-19 lockdowns

  23-11-2020 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Drop in emissions this year is a ‘tiny blip’ in buildup of greenhouse gases, UN agency saysClimate-heating gases have reached record levels in the atmosphere despite the global lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization has said.There is estimated to have been a cut in emissions of between 4.2% and 7.5% in 2020 due to the shutdown of travel and other activities. But the WMO said this was a “tiny blip” in the continuous b
  
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• EU and US block plans to protect world's fastest shark

  23-11-2020 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The species, mainly caught as bycatch but also prized by sports fishermen, is facing an alarming decline in numbersConservationists accused the EU and the US at negotiations of Atlantic fishing nations this week of blocking urgently needed plans to protect the world’s fastest shark species.The strength and speed of the shortfin mako, which can swim up to 43mph, makes it a target for sports fishermen, particularly in the US, while its highly prized meat and fins have led to the shark being
  
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• EU and US block plans to protect endangered shortfin mako sharks

  23-11-2020 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The species, mainly caught as bycatch but also prized by sports fishermen, is facing an alarming decline in numbersConservationists accused the EU and the US at negotiations of Atlantic fishing nations this week of blocking urgently needed plans to protect the world’s fastest shark species.The strength and speed of the shortfin mako, which can swim up to 43mph, makes it a target for sports fishermen, particularly in the US, while its highly prized meat and fins have led to the shark being
  
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• Dame Polly Courtice to step down as CISL director after three decades

  23-11-2020 07:30
  
  The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) has announced that its chair, Dame Polly Courtice, will step down in April 2021, and has chosen Clare Shine as her successor.
  
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• Regional disparities in electric car-charging points revealed

  23-11-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  London and the south-east received 45% of new charger capacity in the past year, analysis showsLondon and the south-east have benefited disproportionately from the installation of new electric car charge points in the last year, amid a push to be ready the UK for the ban on internal combustion engine cars in 2030.The two regions together received 45% of new charger capacity in the year to October, well in excess of their 27% share of the population, according to a Guardian analysis of Zap Map da
  
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• Fur industry faces uncertain future due to Covid

  23-11-2020 01:15 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Denmark's mass mink cull after a coronavirus outbreak at farms leaves the industry in the spotlight.
  
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• Report: Renewables and flexible energy could cut £660m off UK's net-zero transition

  23-11-2020 01:09
  
  If the UK government were to back renewable generation and flexible energy technologies like battery storage instead of a new nuclear plant, some £660m could be saved through to 2030, a new analysis has concluded.
  
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