Tag - environment

 
 

ENVIRONMENT

Protesters demonstrate against the Dakota Access Pipeline near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, in 2016.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 20, 2025
Jury finds Greenpeace liable for more than $660 million in damages
The verdict was a major blow to the environmental organization.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has walked away from the banking industry’s largest climate alliance.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 20, 2025
MUFG leaves climate group as Japanese banks join Wall Street exits
MUFG follows Tokyo-based rivals Nomura Holdings and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group in leaving the Net-Zero Banking Alliance.
Tourists visit a park in front of the Imperial Palace amid snowfall in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 19, 2025
Japan's record snow in February attributed to global warming
The Meteorological Agency said global warming contributed to the record snowfall in northern and eastern Japan last month.
The Environment Ministry plans to have recycled plastics account for at least 15% of overall plastics used in the production of new vehicle models, at a time when the European Union is looking to make using recycled plastics mandatory in vehicle production.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2025
Japan aims to use 15% recycled plastics in auto production
Recycled plastics have rarely been used in vehicle production in Japan due to poor quality and insufficient supply.
Bleached and dead coral around Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef, located 270 kilometers north of the city of Cairns, Australia, on April 5, 2024
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science
Mar 17, 2025
From oil spills to new species: How tech reveals the ocean
New technologies are helping to reveal hidden oil spills, speed up the discovery of new species and uncover the impact of light pollution.
An aerial view of Thames Water's Beddington Sewage Treatment Works near Croydon, south London on Friday. Thames Water — and other British water companies privatized since 1989 — are under fire for allowing the discharge of large quantities of sewage into rivers and the sea.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 17, 2025
A stain on Britain: Sewage contaminates its waterways and seas
The pollution affects the seafood and tourism industries, while delaying construction projects and hampering the economy.
The International Olympic Committee's headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland
OLYMPICS
Mar 14, 2025
Olympians make climate plea to IOC presidential candidates
Seven candidates are vying to replace Thomas Bach as president in a ballot of IOC members at Costa Navarino, Greece, on March 20.
A red panda at the central zoo in Lalitpur, on the outskirts of Kathmandu
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Mar 14, 2025
Nepal community efforts revive red panda population
Conservationists say educational outreach and sustainable livelihood programs helped improve the effectiveness of Nepal's conservation efforts.
A Red Knot (left) and a Ruddy Turnstone gather with other shorebirds to feed on Atlantic horseshoe eggs along a beach in Little Creek, Delaware.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Mar 14, 2025
Many U.S. bird species seen as reaching population 'tipping point'
A report found that avian populations are decreasing in almost every habitat, including grasslands and arid regions.
Nomura Holdings is withdrawing from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 13, 2025
Nomura exits bank climate group, joining Wall Street exodus
Nomura said it will stick to its target set four years ago, to deploy $125 billion of sustainable financing through March 2026.
A layer of smog hangs over Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Mar 13, 2025
Mongolia's children choke in toxic pollution
The toxic smog that settles over the Mongolian capital every winter has been a suffocating problem for more than a decade.
Secondhand clothing store "Onward Reuse Park Kichijoji" in December in the city of Musashino in Tokyo
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2025
Eyeing waste, Japanese apparel industry pushes sustainable fashion
About 60% of the clothes sold in Japan are thrown away, according to the Environment Ministry.
The findings suggest that heat waves and rising temperatures from climate change could be chemically modifying people’s DNA and speeding up their biological aging.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 12, 2025
Extreme heat linked to accelerated aging in older adults, study finds
The analysis found that those living in areas prone to extreme heat showed more accelerated aging at a molecular level compared those who live elsewhere.
A worker adjusts an anti-smog dust suppression sprayer installed at a construction site in Lahore on Feb. 17. Tens of millions of Pakistanis spent at least four months breathing toxic air pollution 20 times above safe levels, in the worst winter smog season for several years.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Mar 12, 2025
'Really suffocating': Pakistan emerges from record smog season
Pakistan regularly ranks among the world's most polluted countries, with Lahore often the most polluted megacity between November and February.
Smoke and flames rise from a collision between an oil tanker carrying fuel for the U.S. military and a cargo ship off the northeastern coast of England on Monday.
WORLD
Mar 11, 2025
Tanker hired by U.S. military ablaze off U.K. after hit by container ship
There has been no indication of any malicious activity or other actors involved in the incident, security sources say.
A town hall meeting with residents of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, one of the municipalities evacuated in the aftermath of the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant. More dialogue is needed to foster truly participatory energy democracy in Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 10, 2025
Japan needs collective public support to reach its nuclear goals
Over a decade after 3/11, Japan has the chance to foster truly participatory energy democracy by engaging its civic environmental organizations in nuclear policymaking processes.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group has decided to withdraw from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a spokesperson said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2025
Japan’s SMFG joins Wall Street in exiting net zero banking group
Japan’s second-largest bank has decided to withdraw from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance.
The global electric vehicle boom has resulted in a lithium supply shortage since 2022 despite the 180% increase in production compared to 2017.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 1, 2025
Three novel approaches that can revolutionize batteries
The innovations aren’t yet available at a commercial scale, but they are part of an effort to prevent the global clean energy transition from stalling.
People ride in cable cars over the Chandragiri hilltop on the outskirts of Kathmandu on Feb. 3.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 24, 2025
Nepal community fights to save sacred forests from cable cars
Five cable car projects have opened in the past two years — and 10 more are under development, according to government figures.
Ancient trees and animals play crucial roles in ecosystems, carbon storage and even human health, yet their populations are dwindling due to deforestation, fishing and climate change.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2025
Who will speak for the trees?
A slew of scientific discoveries shows why we should protect not just 1,000-year-old trees but also 200-year-old whales, 400-year-old fish and 10,000-year-old sea sponges.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji