Tag - environment

 
 

ENVIRONMENT

Barclays has been a top target for British climate protestors in recent years because of the volume of its lending to the fossil-fuel industry.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2024
Why Barclays is one of the main targets of U.K. climate activists
Barclays has provided more bonds and loans to fossil fuel companies than any European rival over the past three years.
Food loss happens at food-related businesses including-food makers, retailers and restaurants, as well as at households.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2024
Japan drafts more ambitious 60% goal for cutting business food loss by 2030
The government hopes to require food businesses to change practices such as rejecting foods and beverages that are close to their best-before date.
An electric vehicle charging station in Baker, California. The Inflation Reduction Act has spurred investment in EVs and other green technologies across the U.S. and President-elect Donald Trump should continue Joe Biden's climate-related industrial policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2024
Green tech and U.S.-China rivalry: Two sides of the same coin
The incoming president should improve, not undo, Biden's industrial policies, which have boosted investment in green technologies, a key economic battleground.
India has the most steelmaking capacity under development in the world, surpassing even China.
BUSINESS
Dec 16, 2024
A booming and coal-heavy steel sector risks India’s green goals
India is the world’s third-largest emitter and the rate at which it can decarbonize will have a major impact on global climate efforts.
Gold samples confiscated by Federal Police in Amazonas state, Brazil, on June 19
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 16, 2024
New technology aids Brazil's crackdown on illicit Amazon gold trade
A police program is creating a database of samples from across Brazil that are examined to determine the unique composition of elements.
Gifting secondhand used to have a bad rap, but it doesn’t carry the taboo it once did.
BUSINESS
Dec 14, 2024
How to buy a secondhand gift someone might actually want
Gifting secondhand used to have a bad rap, but thanks to more environmentally conscious consumers, it doesn’t carry the taboo it once did.
President-elect Donald Trump plans to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change and increase domestic fossil fuel production, putting international efforts to cut global carbon emissions in peril.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2024
Trump's election sets stage for new climate leaders to emerge
As Trump plans to put "America first," including before the planet, other countries must seize the opportunity to keep alive efforts to limit global temperature rise.
Makoto Nakae, a researcher of swallowtail butterflies
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Dec 9, 2024
New museum set to bring butterflies of the world to Fukushima
The collection includes Japan’s only display of an extinct butterfly species native to South America.
Starbucks Coffee Japan will replace paper straws with plant-based biomass plastic straws from next month.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 6, 2024
Starbucks in Japan to ditch paper straws for plant-based biomass plastic in 2025
The coffee company says the new straws are fully biodegradable in seawater and soil, and will not soften like paper ones.
Japan's bluefin tuna catch quotas will increase from 2025, with the first increase ever for smaller ones.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2024
WCPFC decides to expand Japan's pacific bluefin tuna catch quotas
Japan's catch quota will increase to 8,421 metric tons from 5,614 metric tons for large bluefin tuna, rising for the first time in three years.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announces measures to counter the spread of "forever chemicals" in drinking water in the Upper House of parliament in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 3, 2024
Japan eyes new PFAS regulations for drinking water by spring
Water suppliers nationwide must upgrade their safety standards to counter the spread of "forever chemicals."
Hibiya Park in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Saturday. Warm weather has delayed the country's autumn foliage season — when tourists flock to see leaves turn vibrant reds and yellows.
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2024
Japan witnesses warmest fall on record
Between September and November, the temperature was 1.97 degrees Celsius higher than usual, delaying the country's popular displays of seasonal foliage.
INC-5 Chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso (on screen) speaks during an open plenary session during the fifth session of the U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-5) in Busan, South Korea, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 2, 2024
Countries fail to reach agreement in U.N. plastic talks
Countries remained far apart on the basic scope of a treaty and could agree only to postpone key decisions and resume talks at a later date.
Plastic production is on track to triple by 2050, and microplastics have been found in air, fresh produce and even human breast milk.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Dec 1, 2024
Battle over curbing plastic output jeopardizes U.N. treaty hopes
The hoped-for treaty could be the most significant environmental protection deal since the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Workers install solar panels at the Khavda Renewable Energy Park of Adani Green Energy in the village of Khavda, in India, on April 12.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 28, 2024
Adani allegations cast light on barriers to India's ambitious solar drive
India's states are unprepared for a rapid rise in renewable generating capacity, lack adequate transmission infrastructure and storage.
Vehicles pass in front of an Exxon service station in Bethesda, Maryland, on Monday. Material stolen from the company's critics in a hack-and-leak operation continues to be used today to counter litigation claiming the oil giant misled the public and its investors about the risks of climate change.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2024
Exxon lobbyist probed over hacked papers that disrupted climate lawsuits
The stolen material continues to be used today to counter litigation claiming the oil giant misled the public and its investors about the risks of climate change.
Oil drilling equipment on federal land near Fellows, California. Drilling activity on federal lands and waters accounts for about a quarter of U.S. oil production and 12% of gas output.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 26, 2024
Trump prepares wide-ranging energy plan centered on gas and oil, sources say
The plan to roll out the list as early as day one ensures that oil and gas production will rank alongside immigration as a pillar of Trump's early agenda.
Plastic waste that manicurist Naomi Arimoto collected from the sand at a beach, is pictured at her nail salon in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Oct. 21.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2024
Japanese manicurist takes on plastic pollution, one nail at a time
Naomi Arimoto carefully sifts beach sand for tiny bits of plastic that she can mold into decorative tips to put on the false nails at her salon.
A thermal power plant in Takasago, Hyogo Prefecture. Policymakers suggest setting a target of cutting emissions by 60% by 2035.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2024
Japanese panel suggests 60% emissions reduction target for 2035
Japan already has a goal to reduce 2013-level emissions by 46% by 2030.
The national flag of Saudi Arabia at their pavilion at the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Nov. 14
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 26, 2024
How Saudi Arabia turned back climate progress at COP29
After three decades of being the main opposition at the annual climate talks, the Saudis have developed a sophisticated playbook.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers