Pollution

The U.S. appeals court lifted an order on Thursday that required the Trump administration to restore dozens of exhibits it had removed from national parks, including those on slavery and climate changes. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a three-judge panel based in Boston, has put on hold a judge's order requiring the National Park Service to reinstall?exhibits that it removed under President Donald Trump's directive targeting displays?that "inappropriately disparage Americans past or living." Circuit Court of Appeals halted a judge’s order requiring that the National Park Service reinstall 'exhibits' it had removed as a result of President Donald...

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, tariffs on guns, race, transgender sportspeople, campaign finance laws, and LGBT "conversion therapies." This is a list of some of the cases decided by the court during the current term. The term began in October, and ended June 30, 2009. 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 society for centuries - scuttling his top priority...

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?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 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...

United?Nations?Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated on?Wednesday? that climate adaptation should be treated as an important priority by governments -- and valued appropriately by the financial system. As climate risks increase and funding gaps widen, this must become a top priority. Guterres said that as droughts, flooding and other extreme weather conditions affect communities around the world, adaptation has been chronically underfunded and undervalued. "Finance Ministers, Central Banks, Planning Ministries and Public Investment Authorities must 'treat climate risks as core economic policies in order to mobilize greater domestic resources," said he, urging government to 'incorporate climate risk into everything from fiscal policy...

The U.S. Supreme Court has been deciding important cases in its current term. These include voting rights, presidential power, tariffs and birthright citizenship. Other issues are race, transgender sportspeople, campaign finance laws, LGBT "conversion therapies" and federal agency authority. The term began in October, and will run through the end of June. Separately, the court has also acted in emergency cases in several cases that challenge President Donald Trump's policy. 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...

The U.S. Supreme Court has been deciding important cases in its current term. These include voting rights, presidential power, tariffs and birthright citizenship. Other issues are race, transgender sportspeople, campaign finance laws, LGBT "conversion therapies" and federal agency authority. The term began in October, and will run through the end of June. Separately, the court has also acted in emergency cases in several cases that challenge President Donald Trump's policy. 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...

Moscow-installed officials in Crimea have banned motorised vehicles such as quad bikes, motorcycles and scooters from being used at night. They claim that they sound like drone attacks. The peninsula's Russian-installed Governor, Sergei Aksyonov said that the ban would be enforced between 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Wednesday. He called it a temporary measure for the protection of military and important facilities. The moped's noise interferes with the operation of defense systems. "Their engines sound like drones,"?Oleg?Kryuchkov, Aksyonov’s advisor, said on Telegram separately on Tuesday. "The enemy is enlisting your children for nighttime rides." The Crimea ban does not...

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...

As EVs get cheaper and emissions targets are met, the market will be supported by a battery-electric vehicle share of 23% in 2026 in 'the European Union and Norway and a share of?28% in '2027. European 'campaign' groups say Europe is on the right track in its transition to electric vehicles and that it can be profitable for the carmakers. They pushed the European Commission last December to reverse the effective ban on the sale of new internal combustion engines cars starting 2035. T&E stated that 'battery-electric cars prices have fallen in average by 4 percent in 2025 due to...

According to documents released by the Chinese government on Thursday, China will reduce its carbon intensity - or carbon emissions per unit gross domestic product - by 17% in its current five year plan. This is an acceleration of the previous period between 2020 and '2025. China's new five-year plan released on Thursday called for the replacement of 30 million metric tonnes per year with renewables, and pushing towards peak coal. However, it did not set further limits on coal use. China's carbon intensity was reduced by 12% during the five-year plan which ended last year. According to a report...

The Meteorological Department of China announced on Thursday that the average temperature in China for the year was 10.9 degrees Celsius (51,6 degrees Fahrenheit). This is the highest ever recorded high-temperature day. At a press event, the administration announced its climate bulletin for 2025. The World?Meteorological Organisation stated in January that last year was?amongst the three warmest years on record. The administration stated that China's annual average temperature has risen in recent decades. 2025 will be the hottest year since 1961 when the first nationwide records began. The intensity of heavy rainfall and extreme heat has increased, increasing the risk...

Researchers studying satellite data for California discovered that the?more electric vehicles in a neighbourhood, the lower air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels. Satellite data confirmed, on the other hand, that areas that increased their number of gas-powered cars saw an increase in pollution. In a press release, Sandrah Eckel from the Keck Medical School at USC stated that California's move to electric vehicles has already made measurable changes in the air quality. Researchers reported in The Lancet Planetary Health that for every 200 zero emission vehicles added to Californian neighborhoods between 2019-2023, nitrogen dioxide concentrations dropped by 1.1%. Pollutants...

eBay, the e-commerce giant, unveiled on Wednesday its first climate change plan and said it would increase efforts to decarbonize?its operations?and supply chain?as part of a plan?to reach?net-zero emission levels by 2045. The plan was validated by Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), a standard-setting organization. It builds on achieving an earlier goal to power all of its facilities with 100% renewable electricity by 2020, which had been achieved in 2024. Renee Morin, Chief Sustainability Officer at eBay, said the company aims to align with the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius over the pre-industrial level. This...

Nestle has expanded its recall of certain batches of infant nutrition products beyond Europe. It now includes Africa, Americas, and Asia. Nestle recalled batches of SMA formula, BEBA formula, NAN formula, and Alfamino formulation because they may have been contaminated with cereulide. This toxin can cause nausea and vomiting. Health warnings have been issued in 37 countries including the majority of European states, Australia, Brazil and China. The recall puts more pressure on KitKat, Nescafe and its new CEO Philipp Navratil who is trying to restore growth with a portfolio review following management changes. Nestle shares are down 5.7% this...

It was not clear what the 190+ countries attending the COP30 would be discussing during the two week U.N. Summit in Brazil's Amazonian city of Belem. It's also unclear how they will handle controversial issues such as the 2023 pledge to stop using polluting sources of energy and their demand for funding to achieve this. The biggest question was whether or not countries would want to reach a final deal, which is difficult to do in an era of global politics that has been fractious and the U.S.'s efforts to block a move away from fossil-fuels. After years of COP...

After a spill in the south of this resource-rich nation, the Democratic Republic of Congo suspended operations at a Chinese operated mining site. Mines Minister Louis Watum Kabamba announced late Thursday. Congo Dongfang International Mining, which sources mainly copper and cobalt in Central Africa, is an arm of China's Zhejiang Cobalt. Watum told X he had come to Lubumbashi, Congo's second largest city, after learning about a spill that had affected many neighborhoods. He claimed that the company did not meet the environmental standards and was causing serious water pollution, which exposed the public to health risks. He added that...

HSBC released a new set of climate targets on Thursday that are softer and more flexible for near-term sectors like oil and gas. This is in response to the slow rate of change in real economy. The targets for the end of the decade follow a review that was announced by British bank earlier this year, when it dropped its goal to reach net-zero emissions in all of its operations by 2030. HSBC is still aiming for its operations, funded by the loan book, to produce zero emissions by 2050. It and other banks who have set similar climate goals...

Automakers formed alliances with electric vehicle companies to avoid heavy fines from the European Union for carbon emissions. Several legacy automakers could face fines, as the transition from ICEs to EVs has been slower than expected. As of Tuesday, here are the details on the regulations and alliances that will be in place by 2025. Initial EU fines were based on carbon emissions levels in 2025. The European Commission, under pressure from the automakers, allowed compliance in March based on average emissions between 2025 and 2027. All alliance agreements currently in existence, as identified by their pool managers, will expire...

China's Foreign Ministry said that the EU's climate chief's criticisms of China's climate pledges show "double standards" and "selective blindness", accusing them of slow action on their own climate targets. China pledged earlier this week to reduce greenhouse gas emissions between 7% and a 10% reduction by 2035 compared to their peak levels as part of the new targets for its nationally determined contributions. Wopke hoekstra, the European Union's climate commissioner, called the goal "clearly disappointed". The Chinese Foreign Ministry appeared to make a reference to this statement without directly addressing it. A day earlier Donald Trump, the U.S. president,...