Tag - emissions

 
 

EMISSIONS

A sign warns of underground natural gas pipelines outside Rifle, Colorado, in June 2012.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 11, 2024
U.S. gas pipeline accidents pose big, unreported climate threat
Accidental pipeline leaks — caused by incidents like punctures, corrosion, severe weather and faulty equipment — happen routinely.
The Japanese financial authorities are considering making it mandatory for companies listed on the top-tier section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange to disclose information on greenhouse gas emissions throughout their supply chains.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2024
Japan eyes rules for firms to disclose greenhouse gas emissions data
The Financial Services Agency will set up a panel this month to work out the details of the envisioned policy.
A housing development next to the Sasol’s petrochemicals plant in Sasolburg, South Africa.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 2, 2024
What it's like to live in the most polluted place on Earth
Coal and steel plants offer steady work for residents in South Africa's Vaal Triangle, yet they’re also pumping out harmful emissions.
The climate risks sparked by AI-driven computing are far-reaching — and will worsen without a big shift from fossil fuel-based electricity to clean power.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 27, 2024
AI is exploding data center energy use. A Google-created technique may help.
Data centers and transmission networks collectively contribute up to 3% of global energy consumption, with emissions comparable to the entirety of Brazil.
Smoke rises from the Posco steel mill in Pohang, South Korea.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 26, 2024
South Korea’s biggest polluters made millions from carbon sales
Seoul was one of the first in Asia to start an emissions-trading system, but it has fallen short of encouraging industrial polluters to reduce pollution.
McDonald's Japan will start charging ¥5 for plastic bags of all sizes at some stores, starting in April.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 20, 2024
McDonald's Japan announces trial ¥5 plastic bag charge to curb usage
The firm will eye expanding the fee nationwide following a trial at 23 of its stores in Nagasaki Prefecture starting in April.
Tobu Railway started testing biofuel for its coal-fired and diesel-powered locomotives in the tourist area of Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture, with the aim of cutting carbon dioxide emissions.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2024
Biofuel tested for coal-fired steam locomotives in eastern Japan
The company said it expects to reduce about 150 tons of emissions per year, the same amount emitted by around 50 households.
Europe's climate agenda is entering a difficult phase as it begins to touch sensitive sectors, such as farming, and as traditional industries face fierce green tech competition from China.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 7, 2024
EU recommends ambitious 2040 climate target but goes light on farming
Europe's climate agenda is entering a difficult phase as it begins to touch sensitive sectors, such as farming.
A woman grills a piece of beef at a barbeque restaurant in Yokohama. Greenhouse gas emissions from food amount to a third of all human-caused emissions.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Jan 28, 2024
The complicated balance between health and climate in the Japanese diet
In Japan, people with higher-emitting diets also tend to eat healthier, raising questions for the health- and environment-conscious consumer.
One way to cut the steel industry’s emissions is to recycle more iron and steel products than the world currently does.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2024
What steel decarbonization needs
One way to cut the industry's emissions is by recycling more iron and steel products than we currently do.
An offshore wind turbine off the coast of Naraha, Fukushima Prefecture, in 2013. Japan aims to increase its offshore wind power capacity to 10 GW by 2030.
ENVIRONMENT
Jan 21, 2024
As Japan makes major investments in wind power, some residents are pushing back
In a sense, the city of Ishikari represents the idealized, natural version of Hokkaido for many Japanese. Some residents say massive wind turbines will destroy that image.
Solar installations in the village of Hjolderup in Denmark
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 21, 2024
Europe’s climate push fails to stem crisis in solar industry
Despite insistence to push for more homegrown energy infrastructure, governments have been slow to prop up the ailing industry.
Fishers sort scallops aboard a French fishing trawler in the English Channel in 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Oceans
Jan 18, 2024
Trawling the bottom of the ocean is kicking up tons of carbon dioxide
Many have opposed the practice for the damage it inflicts on seabed ecosystems, but new research shows that the climate also suffers.
An old growth forest near Fort St. James, British Columbia, Canada, in an area where pellet producer Drax is permitted to cut.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Jan 14, 2024
Japan's thirst for biomass is having a harmful impact on Canada's forests
Experts and activists say biomass is not the climate solution it might appear to be on the surface and is far from being sustainable.
People cool off on a beach in Rio de Janeiro in November amid a heat wave.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 13, 2024
El Nino could make 2024 hotter than record-setting 2023
The U.S. NOAA predicted there is a 1 in 3 chance that 2024 will be warmer than 2023 — and a 99% certainty that 2024 will rank among the five warmest years ever.
Climate activists install a portrait of French President Emmanuel Macron at Trocadero Square in front of the Eiffel tower to mark the fifth anniversary of the 2015 United Nations Paris Agreement, in December 2020.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2024
We need to remain true to the pillars of green wisdom
While the Group of Seven countries bear the greatest CO2 responsibility, China, which is now the second-largest emitter in history, must be fully committed, too.
A Tokyo Gas Co. storage tank at the company's Setagaya facility in Tokyo
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 12, 2024
World trying to quit fossil fuels gets flood of gas instead
Formerly a sluggish sector, global events spurred LNG's expansion
Carbon capture could help mitigate emissions at polluting power plants, but with the technology largely unproven at scale, it also risks extending their lives.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 5, 2024
The world’s next big carbon capture challenge? Figuring out how to use it
Fossil fuel industry's involvement raises fears that the technology might be used to prolong oil and gas extraction, while costs and scalability could limit its utility.
A colorful coral reef made out of wool to raise awareness about climate change, at a museum in Baden-Baden, Germany, in January 2022
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Dec 31, 2023
The art world's big planetary problem
Over the last five years, it’s become increasingly clear to major art institutions in Japan and around the world that the sector has a sustainability issue.
In writing "Climate Capitalism: Winning the Global Race to Zero Emissions," journalist Akshat Rathi said his goal was to try and determine where climate solutions are being built and uncover the challenges that they face.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 24, 2023
Finding crucial solutions in a time of climate crisis
Journalist Akshat Rathi explores the economic side of the emergency in his book ‘Climate Capitalism.'

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree