Pollution

During its current term, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide a number of important cases involving voting rights, presidential power, tariffs and birthright citizenship. Other issues include 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 a map as racially biased under...

Residents of Mississippi have sued Elon Musk’s xAI, SpaceX and xAI for allegedly causing "omnipresent" and "inescapable noise" that has eroded the value and health of their homes and homes. The 'lawsuit', which was made public in Federal Court in Oxford, Mississippi on Tuesday, alleges that Musk’s companies were negligent in failing to stop the disturbance, and creating a public nuisance by excessive and offensive sound. Three residents brought the lawsuit on behalf of an estimated class size of more than 10,000 people. The lawsuit claimed that the artificial intelligence boom was causing havoc in communities "across the United States",...

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 involving challenges against 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 law as...

The U.S. Supreme Court has been deciding on a number of 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 June. Separately, the court has also acted in emergency cases regarding challenges to President Donald Trump’s policies. 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 as racially biased under the landmark...

The Mexican authorities rejected the project that Royal Caribbean had planned for a large waterpark on Mexico's Caribbean Coast, said?President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday. The "Perfect Day" project was rejected last Tuesday after a strong backlash from the public against its environmental impact. Mahahual is a pristine part of Mexico's coastline, about 70 km (44miles) south of Belize. Royal Caribbean has not responded to the request for comment. However, it said that after the rejection of the park, they were optimistic about investing in Mexico and would discuss other proposals with stakeholders. Sheinbaum said to journalists at her daily morning...

They said that a crack in the industrial tank of a hazardous chemical, which was dangerously overheating in Southern California, had eliminated the possibility of it exploding. Orange County Fire Authority: Although the worst-case scenario for the tank containing highly flammable methacrylate has been ruled out by the Orange County Fire Authority, dangers still remain and tens thousands of people are under evacuation orders. The tank overheated on Thursday in the GKN Aerospace plant in Garden Grove. This city has about 172,000 residents and is located roughly 20 miles south of Los Angeles. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state...

The incident commander revealed on Saturday that firefighters were bringing in outside experts from other countries to prevent a disaster. This was because some shelters nearby had run out of space to accommodate evacuees. The evacuation orders were still in effect for an area covering tens and thousands of residents in the Garden Grove suburban Los Angeles. California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared an emergency in Orange County. His office has urged residents to evacuate. Craig Covey said, in a social media video, that "we brought in subject-matter experts from across the state to help us think outside the box....

The incident commander reported on Saturday that firefighters trying to prevent a chemical explosion in Southern California discovered overnight that the tank, which was failing, was "heating up" internally despite attempts to cool it. The evacuation orders were still in effect for a?area that covered tens and thousands of residents in the Garden Grove suburb in Los Angeles. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Orange County, and his office asked residents to evacuate. Craig Covey said that crews returned to the danger zone overnight in Garden Grove after drone readings suggested on Friday that water sprayed...

During its current term, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide a number of important cases involving voting rights, presidential power, tariffs and birthright citizenship. Other issues include race, transgender sportspeople, campaign finance laws, LGBT "conversion therapies" and federal agency authority. The term began in October, and will run through 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 it harder for minorities who want to challenge electoral maps under the landmark civil...

U.S. refiners have finally started to make money from renewable fuels. They had been squeezed for years by government mandates on biofuels. The U.S. and Israeli 'war on Iran' has also led to a rise in diesel prices. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandated in late March that refiners mix record volumes of biofuels into gasoline and diesel for this year and the next. The plan calls for a 60% increase of the use of renewable diesel and biodiesel, as well as a requirement that gasoline be mixed with 15 billion gallons ethanol each year. These mandates have forced...

Satellite images this week showed a suspected oil spill covering dozens square kilometers of sea near Iran's main oil hub, Kharg Island. Images from Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites on May 6-8 showed a grey-and-white slick covering the waters west of the island's 8-kilometre (five-mile) length. Leon Moreland of the Conflict and Environment Observatory said that "the slick appeared visually consistent with oil." He estimated that it covered an area of about 45 square kilometers. Louis Goddard of 'consultancy Data Desk', which focuses primarily on commodities and climate, also agreed that it was likely an oil slick. He said the...

The U.S. Supreme Court has been deciding on a number of 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 June. Separately, the court has also acted in emergency cases involving challenges against President Donald Trump's policy. VOTING RIGHTS ACT On April 29, the court gutted a crucial provision of?the Voting Act, making minorities less likely to challenge electoral maps under this landmark civil rights act as racially...

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,...

Three sources have confirmed that China's veteran climate envoy who secured two important climate agreements with the United States will meet the EU's top official for green transition on Tuesday in order to revive the floundering international climate talks ahead of the COP30 Summit in Brazil. Xie zhenhua, a former climate envoy who retired after the COP28 talks in Dubai, in late 2023, is scheduled to visit Brussels on 16 September and meet Teresa Ribera, the executive vice-president for the European Commission for a Clean, Just, and Competive Transition. He will encourage the EU to announce ambitious climate goals, and...