Britain unveiled plans Wednesday to decarbonise its transport systems, phasing out the sale of all polluting road vehicles by 2040 and committing the aviation sector to a 2050 net zero emissions target. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the proposals would provide a “credible pathway” for the whole transport sector to reach net zero by mid-century, as […]
environment
The battle for Brazil’s indigenous land hots up
Brazil’s indigenous peoples are bracing for a legal battle with far-right President Jair’s Bolsonaro’s government as it seeks to rush laws through parliament to carve away at their land. Indigenous people, who represent some 0.5 percent of Brazil’s population, hold about 13 percent of its land under ancestral rights guaranteed by the country’s 1988 constitution. […]
India’s poor can’t afford to beat the heat
Beating the merciless heat is hard in the Indian desert city of Sri Ganganagar, a reality facing millions across the vast country as the climate changes in the coming decades. While people in richer nations can find some respite from a warming planet with air conditioners and other modern luxuries, many here — and elsewhere […]
Nissan announces first UK battery gigafactory, new electric car
Japanese auto giant Nissan on Thursday announced plans to build the UK’s first car-battery “gigafactory”, where it will build a new electric vehicle. Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the post-Brexit investment totalling £1.0 billion ($1.4 billion, 1.2 billion euros), which is set to create 6,200 jobs, as “a major vote of confidence in the UK”. […]
New generation protests Pacific’s nuclear legacy 75 years on
Seventy-five years after the US military began using the Marshall Islands as a nuke testing ground, a new generation fired-up by climate activism is demanding justice. When the Able atomic bomb was detonated at Bikini Atoll on July 1, 1946, Alson Kelen’s family were among those forced from their palm-fringed ancestral homes. For decades, complaints […]
China to pause squid fishing in Pacific, Atlantic breeding grounds
China has announced a temporary ban on its fishing fleet — the world’s biggest — from catching squid in parts of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans after overfishing pushed populations to the brink of collapse. China reels in as much as 70 percent of the global squid catch, and its vessels sail as far as […]
World’s second-largest hydropower dam goes online in China
China began operating the world’s second-largest hydropower station on Monday in what officials hailed as a milestone towards Beijing’s carbon neutrality goals, despite warnings of environmental damage. The 289-metre (948 feet) high Baihetan Hydropower Station in southwest China, second in the world only to the country’s Three Gorges Dam in terms of power generation, began […]
March of the elephants: China’s rogue herd spotlights habitat loss
A mammoth trek across southern China by a herd of elephants that has captivated the world with their playful antics has thrown a spotlight on the loss of their habitat and conservation challenges. The lumbering mammals have journeyed around 500 kilometres (310 miles) from their home in one of the longest animal migrations of its […]
Sri Lanka’s marine disaster worsens as environmental toll rises
Damage to Sri Lanka’s marine environment from a sinking chemical ship is worse than feared, officials said Friday, as more dead turtles, dolphins and whales washed up on the island’s beaches. As of Thursday, 130 marine animals have been found dead on the Indian Ocean’s beaches since the MV X-Press caught fire last month before […]
India’s Reliance unveils $10 billion green energy push
Indian oil-to-telecom giant Reliance Industries unveiled plans Thursday to invest $10 billion in renewable energy over the next three years as Asia’s third-largest economy struggles to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. In a virtual address to shareholders, Reliance chairman and Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani said the new business aims to “bridge the green […]