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August 01, 2025
 

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ENVIRONMENT

Peruvian police seized four tons of illegal mercury from Mexico bound for Bolivia, dealing a severe blow to criminal organizations linked to illegal gold mining, customs authorities reported on Thursday.
WORLD
Jul 28, 2025
Smuggled mercury shows extent of illegal Amazon gold mining
Record gold prices have encouraged a flourishing illegal mining trade that damages local nature and biodiversity and is raising significant health concerns.
Sheep on the eastern shores of Lake Hawea, near the town of Wanaka on the South Island of New Zealand. New Zealand sheep farmers are fighting to stop the loss of pasture to fast-spreading pine plantations, which earn government subsidies to soak up carbon emissions.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 28, 2025
New Zealand farmers battle pine forests to 'save our sheep'
New Zealand is one of the rare countries to allow 100% of carbon emissions to be offset by forestry.
Climate action is uneven worldwide, with capacity gaps and rising challenges in climate-risk disclosure underscoring the need for inclusive minimum standards that all companies and countries — especially smaller firms and developing nations — can realistically meet to ensure an effective global response.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 27, 2025
Climate disclosure is advancing — but who’s being left behind?
Global momentum for standardized climate-related disclosure remains strong, reflecting a desire to balance regulatory ambition with economic competitiveness.
Children play on the splash pad in Miami Beach, Florida, on Friday as the region came under an extreme heat warning.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / FOCUS
Jul 26, 2025
World court climate ruling: nonbinding but game changing
By saying that all countries were firmly bound to a swathe of legal obligations, experts say the ruling will influence climate decisions globally.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri (right) and Lando Norris drive during the Formula One British Grand Prix at Silverstone, England, on July 6.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Jul 25, 2025
Formula 1's renewable energy shift drives 26% drop in carbon footprint
F1 said in a statement on Wednesday that it’s halfway toward achieving its minimum 50% reduction target, as set out in its "net zero by 2030” commitment. 
Marine biologist Teina Rongo on his boat passing the research vessel MV Anuanua Moana in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, on June 12. Mining exploration has left many Cook Islanders such as Rongo fearing deep-sea mining could taint their precious ocean forever.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 23, 2025
The Pacific island nation that wants to mine the ocean floor
Research vessels roam the seas around the Cook Islands in search of deposits of battery metals, rare earths and critical minerals.
Polymetallic nodules — bulbous lumps of rock that are rich in battery metals such as cobalt and nickel which carpet huge tracts of Pacific Ocean seabed — in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands on June 12.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 22, 2025
Trump’s critical minerals obsession reignites deep-sea mining
President Donald Trump has issued an executive order expediting U.S. licensing of seabed mining, departing from international law.
A demonstrator holds the Mohawk Warrior Flag during a protest in front of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario against the federal government’s Bill C-5, as members of the Canadian Armed Forces fire cannons in the background during a celebration marking Canada Day in Toronto on July 1.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2025
Indigenous people in Canada challenge fast-track mine and energy projects
The tensions between the government and Indigenous communities reflect longstanding concerns over consultation and the environmental impact of mining projects in Canada.
A man sits in a boat on the waters of the Brahmaputra river near the international border between India and Bangladesh in the northeastern state of Assam, India, in 2018.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 21, 2025
China starts construction on world's largest hydropower dam in Tibet
The project is part of China's push to expand renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions.
Yukihiro Kaneko, a Panasonic research officer, shows a perovskite panel, through which the background can been seen, during an interview in Tokyo.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jul 20, 2025
Japan sees bright future for ultrathin and flexible solar panels
The government is offering generous incentives in order to reach Japan's target of having renewable energy cover up to 50% of electricity demand by 2040.
A drone view shows turf from Derryrush bog left out to dry after being harvested from the blanket bog in Derryrush, Ireland, in April 2024. Ireland's bogs were formed over thousands of years as decaying plants formed a thick layer of peat in wetland areas.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 16, 2025
World risks up to $39 trillion in losses from vanishing wetlands: report
Some 22% of wetlands, both freshwater systems and coastal marine systems, have disappeared since 1970, the report says.
Lake Inawashiro in Fukushima Prefecture
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2025
Lake Inawashiro registered as internationally important wetland under Ramsar Convention
The designation marks the 54th wetland in Japan to be registered under the international treaty.
A public school teacher leads the class during the first day of in-person classes, at a school flooded due to high tide, in Macabebe, Pampanga province, Philippines, in August 2022.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 10, 2025
Philippines struggling to ready underfunded schools for climate hazards
Teachers want the government to do more than tweak the school calendar, and also invest in infrastructure that will make schools resilient to heat and storms.
A member of the Nepalese army airlifts people stranded during the flood at Bhote Koshi River in Nepal on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 10, 2025
Tibetan glacial lake drainage triggered deadly flood in Nepal, climate body says
At least 19 people are still missing in Nepal following the flood.
Two specimens of the Japanese beetle have been detected for the first time in France.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Jul 9, 2025
France worries about Japanese beetles after finding two
The insects threaten plum trees, apple trees, vines, corn, soy, green beans and asparagus, among other cultivated plants.
Items made using plastic recycled from CDs and DVDs, such as storage baskets, smartphone stands and business card holders, are sold at some Bookoff outlets.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2025
Bookoff plans to step up recycling of unsold CDs and DVDs
The secondhand goods retailer disposes of 1,700 tons of discs and cases from some 800 outlets across the country each year.
Japan will experience a heat wave through mid-July on a “level only seen once in a decade,” the Meteorological Agency said on June 30.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2025
Heatstroke alert issued for 19 prefectures as Japan enters 'once-in-a-decade' heat wave
Included among the alerts were the first of the year for central Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture.
Private companies are rushing into risky, profit-driven geoengineering projects to fight climate change without clear regulations, raising fears of dangerous unintended consequences.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2025
Geoengineering’s risks need to be studied more
With for-profit organizations already releasing chemicals into the oceans, it’s important for scientists with no financial stake in this industry to collect data.
Search and rescue members scour a flood-damaged area in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene along the Swannanoa River in October 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 4, 2025
A majority of companies are already feeling the climate heat
Its growing financial impacts are a key reason some companies are continuing to pursue emissions cuts even amid political turbulence.
A satellite image provided by NOAA shows Tropical Storm Florence (upper left) in the Atlantic Ocean on Sept. 11, 2018.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 2, 2025
NOAA budget cuts to gut U.S. climate research and slash jobs
Critics say the reductions will diminish the ability to predict weather and erode the quality of weather models.
Japan on edge but prepared for tsunami after huge Kamchatka earthquake
Police officers ask a man to evacuate from an empty beach following a tsunami warning, in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Wednesday.
Last soldiers of Imperial Japanese Army have a warning for younger generations
Kunshiro Kiyozumi, 97, who was the youngest crew member of the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58 in World War II, on his way to a restaurant to have lunch in Matsuyama, Japan, on April 29.
80 years on, former teacher conveys history of hidden island in World War II
Masayuki Yamauchi teaches junior high school students about the history of Okunoshima, an island in Takehara, Hiroshima Prefecture, in May.
Japan to start new residency system for foreign workers
Students hoping to work in Japan attend a Japanese class at a job placement company in Hanoi in October 2022.
Japan marks highest-ever temperature of 41.2 C in Hyogo
Japan's temperature soared to a record 41.2 degrees Celsius in Tanba, Hyogo Prefecture, on Wednesday, surpassing the previous high of 41.1 C.
GTN takes a chance on newcomers to Japan
Hiroyuki Goto, president of GTN. The company started after Goto personally co-signed leases for around 20 non-Japanese people, including some friends and friends of friends.
Artist Chiharu Shiota weaves a hidden marvel on Teshima
“Memory of Lines” is Chiharu Shiota’s second art installation on Teshima as part of the Setouchi Triennale.
How the Japanese TV industry is changing
Fuji TV headquarters in Tokyo's Minato Ward. Fuji TV came under fire over the manner in which it handled a case of “sexual trouble” involving former boy band member Masahiro Nakai and a female announcer.
Last soldiers of Imperial Japanese Army have a warning for younger generations
Kunshiro Kiyozumi, 97, who was the youngest crew member of the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58 in World War II, on his way to a restaurant to have lunch in Matsuyama, Japan, on April 29.
Why Ishiba refuses to quit even amid intense pressure for him to go
Supporters of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba take part in a rally across the street from the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear
By Jason Coskrey

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning
Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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