Environment

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided several important cases in its current term, including those involving President Donald Trump, birthright citizenship and immigration, voting rights and tariffs, guns as well as issues relating to race, transgender sportspeople, campaign finance laws, and "conversion therapy" for LGBT people. This is a list of some of the cases decided in the current term. The term began in October, and will run through the end of June. Birthright Citizenship The court rejected Trump's attempt on June 30, to restrict birthright citizenship in the United States - a right that has been woven into American...

The World Bank Group announced on Monday that it will "retire", its previous goal of?dedicating?45%?of its annual lending resources towards projects with climate benefits, but extend the long-standing Climate Change Action Plan which was due to expire Tuesday. The lender for development, under pressure from the Trump Administration to abandon the climate-lending target set during the Biden administration of 2023, announced in a press release that it would shift its focus to lending outcomes rather than input goals. Ajay Banaga, the World Bank president, was originally charged with extracting more climate loan resources from the bank's balance sheet. He has...

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided a number of important cases in its current term, including those involving President Donald Trump, voting rights and tariffs, birthright citizenship; immigration, guns; race, transgender sportspeople, campaign finance laws, and LGBT "conversion therapies." This is a list of some of the cases that were argued in the current term. The term began in October, and will run through the end of the month of June. TRUMP'S FIRE OF FED OFFICIAL On June 29, the court refused to allow Trump to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, as it stood firm in preserving the central...

A federal judge granted a preliminary order on Friday, blocking an Indiana law that requires new disclosures by proxy advisers. This is the third legal victory for Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis in their fight against Republican legislators' restrictions. Both firms offer advice on how shareholders can vote at annual corporate meetings. Republican politicians have long been sympathetic to business concerns about executive compensation. Recently, they have also claimed that the firms favor shareholder resolutions that focus on environmental, governance, or social (ESG) issues like climate change and workforce diversity. Three recent cases where proxy firms gained the...

Canada's Deep Ski?became a first North American company to provide verified carbon removing credits?from direct air capture. It announced on Monday that it had provided credits to Microsoft Canada and Royal Bank of Canada. DAC is different from carbon capture and storage, which stores CO2 before it reaches our atmosphere. DAC cleans up existing emissions by removing carbon from the air. Deep Sky CEO, Alex?Petre, said in an interview that "this shows Canada is building and taking risks.?And it puts us at the forefront of innovation in carbon removal." Climeworks is the only company to have generated DAC credits. Their...

The French development minister made an 11th-hour appeal to the World Bank, Thursday. He urged?it not to give in to pressure from the United States, its largest shareholder, and to stick to the climate finance target that is due to expire at the end this month. The U.S. administration of President Donald Trump has asked the World Bank to abandon its target to dedicate 45% to climate-related lending and instead focus on core development, including a returning to fossil fuels projects. Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) has been extended for an additional year, but it is likely to expire without...

Euronext Wheat fell on Friday, in line with Chicago. Falling crude oil prices and the advancing harvests in the Northern Hemisphere distracted attention from a severe heatwave that ravaged Western Europe. Maize remained near contract highs. September wheat?on?Paris-based Euronext?was down 1.6% to EUR202.75 ($231.24) per metric ton, at 1603 GMT. This was a further retreat from the four-week-high of EUR210.75 on Wednesday. Chicago wheat has also fallen by about 1.5%. As a result of increased traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, crude oil prices fell by around 4%. The de-escalation of the Iran conflict has also allowed fertilizer shipments to...

A?U.S. A federal appeals court rejected Friday the bid by the Environmental Protection Agency to remove Biden-era pollution limits for soot from coal-fired factories and power plants. This was a "setback" for the Trump administrations efforts at deregulatory. Last year, the EPA under Donald Trump asked the court to invalidate its 2024 rule. The agency claimed that it had acted unreasonable by not taking into account costs when setting the standard. The court rejected the petition and left in place the annual limit for fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) of 9 micrograms/cubic meter. The EPA, after initially defending its new...

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided a number of important cases in its current term, including those relating to President Donald Trump, voting rights and tariffs, immigration, guns, transgender sportspeople, campaign finance laws, and LGBT "conversion therapies." This is a list of some of the cases that were argued in the current term. The term began in October, and will run through the end of June. VOTING RIGHTS ACT On April 29, the court gutted a crucial provision of the Voting Right Act, making minorities less likely to challenge electoral maps under the landmark civil right law as racially biased....

The French development minister made an 11th-hour appeal to the World Bank on Thursday. He urged it to "resist the pressure of its largest shareholder, the United States, and stick to a climate financing target that is due to expire at the end this month. The U.S. administration of President Donald Trump has asked the World Bank to abandon its target to dedicate 45% to climate-related lending and instead focus on core development, including a resurgence in fossil fuel projects. CCAP (Climate Change Action Plan) has been extended for a year, but many Europeans and other World Bank investors are...

H&M's CEO Daniel Erver announced on Thursday that the retailer is adapting its clothing and marketing calendar in order to account for longer, warmer summers. This comes as Europe was gripped by a deadly heatwave for the fourth day. Erver said that H&M will design autumnal collections using lighter materials in order to appeal to shoppers as temperatures continue to rise until September. In an interview, Erver said that "we see the trend that summer is longer." "If it's 35 degrees in August (Celsius) or even 35 degrees in September, you want to update your wardrobe." The unseasonably warm weather...

The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that The Chemours Company had agreed to a $450-million?settlement for the'release of forever chemicals' in West Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey. According to a DOJ statement, the multi-state settlement includes a $22.5-million civil penalty as well as $90-million in funding for controlling per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, also known by their acronym PFAS. The statement said that this is the "first comprehensive settlement" by the federal government in order to "resolve enforcement complaints over pollution by a forever chemical manufacturer." According to the U.S. Government's complaint, three Chemours plants in West Virginia...

OVER 100 COMPANIES, INCLUDING UBER AND NESTLE?URGE GOVERNMENTS?TO MAKE ELECTRIFICATION CENTRAL IN ECONOMIC STRATEGY 'Nestle' and Ikea, among others, urged government officials to put electrification at the forefront of their economic strategies to reduce exposure to volatile fuel prices and boost energy security. They said that exposure to fossil fuel price shocks undermined their competitiveness. With combined revenues of $1.5 trillion annually, the group also included Iberdrola and Volvo Cars, Mahindra Group and Uber, Nikon Corporation and Levi Strauss. The statement was coordinated by the Global Renewables Alliance and the We Mean Business Coalition. It added that the ability to...

Steel associations in Singapore warned that delays to green steel projects were increasing and government support was far below what was 'needed. According to the World Steel Association, about half of all green steel projects around the world have been delayed. Governments have only committed $20 billion out of the $1.5 trillion required to decarbonise this sector. The industry executives stated that progress in reducing emissions is slow and will likely remain this way without an increase in funding from the state or customers willing pay more for cleaner metal. This gloomy assessment contrasts with renewed investor interest in clean...

Geneva police fired tear gas at protesters on Sunday who had set a Tesla car alight and broken windows of an UN agency as they vented anger at the Group of Seven summit that was about to be held across the border in France. A peaceful march of 20,000 people was held, but later protesters targeted symbols they deemed to be emblematic of capitalism and multilateralism. These included the Tesla parked in the street and the UN Office. Witnesses reported that demonstrators ripped bricks out of the ground to throw at police while children cried when tear gas wafted across...

After a multi-day search that engulfed the nation and closed local schools, Utsunomiya in Japan captured a?wild black bear? on Tuesday. After its first bear sighting Saturday night, the city closed all 94 municipal primary schools and middle schools for a second consecutive day on Tuesday. An official reported that authorities decided to close schools again on Wednesday because of a report about a second bear possibly roaming around the city. In Japan, bear attacks, especially in urban areas have increased. The government has set up a taskforce to help reduce these incidents. According to the Environment Ministry, in fiscal...

Financial markets underestimate the economic risks associated with biodiversity loss. This could expose countries to debt crises and higher borrowing costs. The study, ?led ?by economists from the Universities of Sussex, Sheffield and Heriot-Watt, presented what they described as the world's first biodiversity-adjusted sovereign credit ratings model. The report said that existing rating frameworks do not take into account environmental degradation and leave $83 trillion worth of global assets susceptible to mispricing. Researchers estimated that a partial collapse in key ecosystems, such as marine fisheries, tropical forests, and wild pollinators, could result in an increase of $162 billion annually for...

Highlights from the French Open's fifth day on Thursday (times GMT). 1730 GAUFF BREAZES PAST SHERIF Coco Gauff, the defending champion, cruised to victory over Egypt's Mayar?Sherif with a score of 6-3 6-2. The American now moves on to the third round where she will play the winner between Britain's Katie Boulter &?Austria’s Anastasia Potapova. 1540 TIAFOE BEATS HURKACZ Frances Tiafoe, last year's quarter-finalist, defeated Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 6-1 6-4 6-7(1) in a four hour and 43 minute battle. The 19th seed from the United States will play Portugal's Jaime Faria for the third round. 1347 CERUNDOLO...

Authorities reported that torrential?rain continued to fall across central and southern?China Tuesday, with at least 18 people killed in flooding which also affected schools, businesses and transport. China's weather service said that areas in Jiangxi and Anhui, Hunan and Hubei, Guizhou and Guangxi as well as Guangdong, Guangdong, and Hainan were at high risk for rain-related disasters. These included landslides and flash floods, severe urban flooding, and waterlogging. Authorities have announced that they have set aside 150 million yuan (22.04 millions) for disaster relief. They also launched emergency response in several affected regions. Images posted on the Chinese video platform...

Chicago wheat reached a ten-month high on Monday, with corn and'soybeans rising as well following gains in crude oil. U.S. - Iran peace?talks stalled causing Gulf shipping to be blocked. Chicago Board of Trade?most-active?Wheat increased 0.8% to reach $6.22 per bushel at 0936 GMT. It reached its highest level since June 2025. Soybeans increased by 0.2%, to $11.81-3/4 bushels. Corn was up by 1.0%, at $4.68-1/4 bushels. Johnny Xiang of Beijing's AgRadar Consulting said that the main influence on prices is the rising crude oil price. The grain markets were supported by the rising?crude prices which rose nearly 3% on...

As U.S. and Iran 'peace talks' stalled at the weekend, Gulf shipping was blocked. As of 0112 GMT the most active soybean contract traded on the Chicago Board of Trade had risen 0.28% to $11.81-3/4 per bushel. This was the third straight session that the contract gained. Soyoil rose 0.95%, to 72.01 cents a pound. Johnny Xiang of Beijing's AgRadar Consulting said that prices are mainly influenced by a spillover effect from rising crude oil. The grain markets were supported by the soaring crude oil prices which rose almost 2% on Monday, and also the closure of the Strait of...

Climate advocacy group calls on investors in Japan's largest banks to vote against the board members of three trading firms and three banks for failing to manage risks associated with investments in fossil fuel production. According to presentations seen by the, environmental advocacy group Market forces argues that directors fail to monitor material financial risks for banks and trading house's businesses. The presentations were made to institutional investors at the banks Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group as well as Mizuho Financial Group and trading houses Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co. and Sumitomo Corp. The investors' reactions...

The price of iron ore futures dropped on Tuesday, as the Australian supply recovered from Cyclone Narelle's disruptions. Weak lending data and no signs fiscal easing were also weighing on sentiment. As of 0257 GMT, the?most-traded iron ore contract for September on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange?traded at?0.46% less than its previous price of 755.5 yuan (US$110.80) per metric ton. Singapore Exchange benchmark iron ore for May was $103.2 per ton, 1.39% less. Customs data released on Tuesday showed that China's iron ore imports in March increased 11.5% compared to the previous year. Data from the General Administration of Customs shows...

Chicago oilseeds and grain futures fluctuated on Friday between 'gains and losses' as investors watched?developments? in the Middle East, amid mixed signals?from the U.S.?and Iran?about efforts to?end the war. The Chicago Board of Trade's (CBOT)?most active?corn contract gained 0.1%, to $4.67-1/4 a bushel. It has been up 0.4% this week. CBOT Wheat lost 0.1%, to $6.04 1/2 a bushel. However, it was up 1.6% this week. Soybeans rose 0.1% to $11.74 1/2 a bushel to bring the weekly gain to 1.1%. As they are used as biofuel feedstock, corn and soybeans tend to follow the movements of oil prices. Oil...