Air/Climate

North American Leaders Pledge Green Mobility Future

OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada, June 30, 2016 (ENS) – The leaders of the United States, Canada, and Mexico met at the North American Leaders Summit Wednesday where they set an historic goal – to generate 50 percent clean power across North America by 2025. Clean transportation is a key part of the plan. […]

Jetta
Business

‘Defeat Device’ Settlement Costs VW Billions

WASHINGTON, DC, June 30, 2016 (ENS) – In two related settlements, one with the United States and the State of California, and one with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Volkswagen has agreed to spend up to $14.7 billion to settle allegations of cheating emissions tests and deceiving car buyers. […]

protest
Energy

TransCanada Asks $15 Billion for Keystone XL Rejection

WASHINGTON, DC, June 28, 2016 (ENS) – This weekend, TransCanada moved forward with a lawsuit against the United States under the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, seeking US$15 billion in damages due to President Barack Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. […]

biocrude
Latest News

Wood Pulp Waste Converted to Stable, Blendable Biocrude

SYDNEY, Australia, June 22, 2016 (ENS) – Scientists with the Australian start-up Licella have devised a way to use biomass waste from the papermaking process to make a new petroleum substitute – biocrude oil – that has attracted the interest of Canadian pulp and paper producer Can […]

Maersk Wyoming
Business

Maersk Slammed for Sidestepping EU Ship Recycling Law

BRUSSELS, Belgium, June 11, 2016 (ENS) – Indian and international environmental groups are taking Danish container ship giant Maersk to task for considering flagging its end-of-life vessels out of Danish or any other European registry to circumvent the European Ship Recycling Regulation and break the ships in India. […]

Paris
Air/Climate

Hundreds of Cities Commit to Emissions Limits

WASHINGTON, DC, June 9, 2016 (ENS) – Cities today host more than half of the Earth’s human beings and account for about 70 percent of global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Now, 228 cities around the world are taking the lead on climate action, setting greenhouse gas reduction goals or targets. […]

No Picture
Gov/Politics

Congress Strengthens U.S. Chemical Safety Law

WASHINGTON, DC, June 8, 2016 (ENS) – By unanimous consent, the U.S. Senate passed a bill Tuesday that updates federal chemical safety protections for the first time in four decades. The measure gives the EPA new power to require safety assessments of chemicals found in ordinary products from toys and clothing to household cleansers. […]

Tsai Ing-Wen
Land Use/Forests

Land Use Challenges Taiwan’s First Female President

TAIPEI, Taiwan, June 6, 2016 (ENS) – Taiwan’s first female president, Tsai Ing-wen, has pledged to develop a program that will integrate national land-use planning, regional development and environmental sustainability. But civic groups are concerned about her lack of strong commitment and lack of detail about the policy. […]

dead elephant
Latest News

UNEP-INTERPOL Report: Environmental Crime on the Rise

NAIROBI, Kenya, June 5, 2016 (ENS) – “More than one quarter of the world’s elephant population has been killed in a decade,” according to the International Police, INTERPOL, and the UN Environment Programme in a new report that emphasizes the financial machinations behind environmental crimes such as poaching. […]

unloading tuna
Latest News

World Environment Day Targets Wildlife Crime

NEW YORK, New York, June 5, 2016 (ENS) – The first international accord to end illegal fishing went into effect today in celebration of World Environment Day. The pact is now legally binding for the 29 countries and the European Union that have signed on to it, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. […]

factory
Latest News

Canada, U.S. Warn of Eight Chemicals in Great Lakes

OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada, May 31, 2016 – Canada and the United States have identified eight substances in the water of the Great Lakes as chemicals of mutual concern under the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. These chemicals are potentially harmful to human health or the environment or both. […]

coral and seaweed
Air/Climate

Northern Great Barrier Reef Loses 35% of Its Corals

TOWNSVILLE, Queensland, Australia, May 31, 2016 (ENS) – One-third of the corals in the northern and central parts of the Great Barrier Reef are bleached out and dying due to climate change, according to Australian researchers who just finished months of intensive aerial and underwater surveys. […]

gorilla
At Risk

World Heritage Sites at Risk from Climate Change

PARIS, France, May 26, 2016 (ENS) – Climate change is quickly becoming one of the most challenging risks for World Heritage sites and the tourists who want to visit them, finds the report “World Heritage and Tourism in a Changing Climate,” released today by UNESCO, UNEP, and the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists. […]

visitors
Land Use/Forests

Chinese Oil Search Shuts Ecolodge at Amazon Headwaters

QUITO, Ecuador, May 25, 2016 (ENS) – Seismic explorations planned by Chinese oil company Sinopec at the headwaters of the Amazon in the remote jungles of Ecuador have led the Ecuadorian eco-tourism company, Tropic, to close the internationally recognized and award-winning Huaorani Ecolodge. […]

Latest News

Stars Back New UN Effort to End Illegal Wildlife Trade

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 25, 2016 (ENS) – The United Nations, backed by celebrities from throughout the world, today launched an unprecedented campaign against the illegal trade in wildlife. The killing is pushing species to the brink of extinction, robbing countries of their heritage and profiting criminal networks. […]

plane
Air/Climate

Transport Emissions Must Peak Soon to Hit Paris Targets

BONN, Germany, May 19, 2016 (ENS) – International shipping and aviation will have to cap their greenhouse gas emissions soon for the world to meet the ambitious goals in the Paris Climate Agreement, participants at a side event at the Bonn climate change conference heard today. […]

fire
At Risk

Raging Alberta Wildfires Block Oil Sands Production

EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada, May 17, 2016 (ENS) – Five new wildfires started in northern Alberta over the past 24 hours, and now a total of 17 wildfires are burning, with four blazing out of control. Fire conditions remain extreme in Alberta, where the Fort McMurray wildfire remains out of control. […]

Refugio oil
Energy

Texas Pipeline Indicted for California Beach Oil Spill

SANTA BARBARA, California, May 17, 2016 (ENS) – Plains All-American Pipeline has been indicted by a grand jury on 46 criminal charges related to a May 2015 oil spill in Santa Barbara County. A Plains All-American Pipeline employee was also indicted on three criminal charges. […]

Air pollution
Air/Climate

Poorest Cities Have the Most Polluted Air

Only cleaner transport, more efficient energy production and improved waste management can move the world’s poorest cities to reduce their air pollution – currently up to 10 times higher than levels approved by the World Health Organization, the world’s top health agency said in a new report released today. […]