Catholic church calls on UN climate change conference to set goals
Officials from five continents follow Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment with demand for complete decarbonisation The Catholic church has called on UN negotiators convening in Paris at the end of November to agree a goal for “complete decarbonisation” by 2050, and set a legally binding agreement to limit global temperature increase. The statement, which […]
Tory U-turn on fracking regulations will leave safeguards totally inadequate | Lisa Nandy and Kerry McCarthy
Government seeks to lift a ban on shale gas drilling in drinking water protection zones, key wildlife sites and under national parks. Without these strong rules, fracking should not be allowed in this country On Tuesday, in a committee room in the House of Commons, the government will try to sneak through fracking regulations that […]
Water resilient cities: how is business building them? Live chat #askGSB
Experts will take your questions on sponge cities live in the comments section of this page on Monday 26 October between 1-2pm GMT From New York to Seoul: 10 of the best designs for water-stressed cities – in pictures 1.53pm GMT How can companies integrate sponge city designs into their work and what can be […]
Anti-coal protesters target climate change sceptic peer
UK’s largest open-cast coalmine sits on land owned by Matt Ridley, who argues fossil fuels have ‘economic, environmental and moral benefits’ Protesters have stormed a coalmine on land belonging to Matt Ridley, a prominent climate change sceptic and Conservative member of the House of Lords, chaining themselves to a coal excavator and blockading the entrance. […]
Is it time for reform at the IPCC?
Potsdam-based economist Ottmar Edenhofer on the piecemeal nature of climate policy, in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung How well can the new head of the IPCC, Hoesung Lee, manage the huge reforms that you and others have publicly asked for? We’ve put forward suggestions for a feasible programme of reform, but we will see […]
Indonesia's forest fires threaten a third of world's wild orangutans
Fires have spread beyond plantations deep into primary forests and national parks, the last strongholds of the endangered apes Raging Indonesian forest fires have advanced into dense forest on Borneo and now threaten one third of the world’s remaining wild orangutans, say conservationists. Satellite photography shows that around 100,000 fires have burned in Indonesia’s carbon-rich […]
Prominent Australians ask world leaders to consider ban on new coalmines
Wallaby David Pocock and author Richard Flanagan among 61 signatories to open letter calling for the future of coal to be on the agenda at Paris climate talks Sixty-one prominent Australians, from Wallaby David Pocock to the Anglican bishop of Canberra George Browning, have signed an open letter calling on world leaders to discuss a […]
El Niño viewed from Peru – where it originated
Peruvians should be better prepared for a phenomenon which they know well, since it all started on their coasts, says local historian Lizardo Seiner in an interview with El Comercio Ever since the Spanish landed in Peru in the fifteenth century the magnitude of each El Niño event has increased, according to Lizardo Seiner Lizarraga. […]
Trucost Identifies $10 billion Opportunity For Electronics Industry
Recent research conducted by Trucost and revealed by the Green Electronics Council has suggested that there is a significant economic opportunity at stake for the creation of circular economy processes in the electronics sector. In the recovery and recycling of precious metals alone, the research estimated that there’s the potential to gain $10 billion in […]
Ford Turns To Geckos For Inspiration
Ford Motor Company is aiming to develop new adhesive innovations modelled on the natural adhesion of geckos. Better adhesive solutions could represent a crucial step in making the disassembly and consequent reuse and recycling of Ford’s products and materials possible at a larger scale, opening up significant economic opportunities for the company in the process. […]