Turkey seeks to host next COP as co-presidency plans with Australia falter
Turkey wants to host next year's UN climate change talks and is ready to organise the event alone if there...
Science
Norway’s wealth fund to enlist AI for managing climate risks
Oslo, Norway -- Norway's sovereign wealth fund said Wednesday that it would incorporate artificial intelligence tools into its investment analysis...
Geostrategy
Business
Nestle unveils method to boost cocoa yields as climate change hits
Geneva, Switzerland - Faced with climate change diminishing farmers' yields, Nestle announced Wednesday that it was working on a technique...
- Chocolate is traditionally made using only cocoa beans taken from inside the pod, meaning that a large amount of the fruit, including the pulp, placenta and pod husk, is unused
- A tonne of cocoa was worth £1,900 ($2,560) on the London commodities market in January 2023, shot up to £3,800 a year later, and reached a high of over £9,000 last December
Economy
Plastic pollution treaty talks in disarray as dozens of countries reject draft text
Geneva, Switzerland - Attempts to finalise a landmark treaty combating plastic pollution descended into disarray on the penultimate day on...
- With some 30 hours left to seal a deal among the 184 countries gathered at the United Nations in Geneva, states lined up to slam the text proposed by Luis Vayas Valdivieso
- Five previous rounds over the past two and a half years failed to seal an agreement, including a supposedly final round in South Korea late last year
Science
UN plastic pollution treaty talks floundering, with countries wildly at odds
Geneva, Switzerland - Talks on forging a groundbreaking treaty to combat the scourge of plastic pollution were floundering Saturday, with...
- The negotiations, which opened on Tuesday, have four working days left to strike a legally-binding instrument that would tackle the growing problem choking the environment
- But in a blunt mid-way assessment, the talks chair warned the 184 countries gathered at the United Nations in Geneva that progress so far was well off track
Economy
“We are facing a global crisis”: Plastic pollution treaty talks open with ‘global crisis’ warning
Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks, in the deepest ocean trench...
- States should seize the chance to shape history, the man chairing the talks said as 10 days of negotiations kicked off at the United Nations in Geneva
- "We are facing a global crisis," Ecuadoran diplomat Luis Vayas Valdivieso told the more than 1,800 negotiators as they prepared to thrash out their differences
Geostrategy
International Court of Justice court paves way for climate reparations
The court said climate change was an "urgent and existential threat" and countries had a legal duty to prevent harm...
- Countries breaching their climate obligations were committing a "wrongful act", the court said in its advisory opinion, which is not legally binding.
- Campaigners and countries on the climate frontlines hailed a milestone moment in the fight for accountability from big polluters most responsible for global warming.
Economy
Iranians told to use less water as heatwave worsens shortages
Tehran, Iran - Iranian authorities have urged residents to limit water consumption as the country grapples with severe shortages amid...
- Water scarcity is a major issue in Iran, particularly in arid provinces in the country's south
- On Saturday, the national meteorological service said Iran was experiencing its hottest week of the year so far
Geostrategy
Global gas flaring surges again, costs $63bn in lost energy: WB
Washington, UAE -- Global gas flaring surged for a second year in a row, wasting about $63 billion in lost...
- Flaring, the practice of burning natural gas during oil extraction, reached 151 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2024, up 3 bcm from the previous year.
- While some countries have reduced flaring, the top nine largest-flaring countries continue to account for three-quarters of all flaring.
Geostrategy
Restoring sea floor after mining may not be possible, researchers warn
Kingston, Jamaica -- Scientists present at the latest effort to hash out international rules for deep-sea mining say it's unclear...
- The sea floor is a coveted frontier for companies and countries eager to access minerals that are in high demand for emerging technologies such as electric cars.
- Particularly coveted are potato-sized nodules containing cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese, that are found in abundance on the seabed in the central Pacific Ocean.
Economy
Almost half of Europe and Mediterranean basin hit by drought
Paris, France - Europe and the Mediterranean basin has been hit by a long-lasting drought covering over 45 percent of...
- It is the first time since data collection began in 2012 that such an extensive part of the region has been hit by a drought for more than three consecutive months
- A series of fires broke out in Turkey and Greece at the start of the summer, where on average 72 percent and 56 percent of soils have been dry since mid-March
Geostrategy
Use of eco-friendly rice bricks surges in water-scarce Kyrgyzstan
Rice blocks require less cement, which is responsible for approximately eight percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to 2023...
- Nursultan Taabaldyev is one of the pioneers of the technology in Central Asia hailed as an environmentally friendly alternative to water-intensive concrete.
- They are "made of 60 percent rice husks. The rest is clay, cement and a chemical-free glue," Taabaldyev told AFP.
Turkey seeks to host next COP as co-presidency plans with Australia falter
Turkey wants to host next year's UN climate change talks and is ready to organise the event alone if there...
Science
Company News
Latest News
UN plastic pollution treaty talks floundering, with countries wildly at odds
Geneva, Switzerland - Talks on forging a groundbreaking treaty to combat the scourge of plastic pollution were floundering Saturday, with...
Science
“We are facing a global crisis”: Plastic pollution treaty talks open with ‘global crisis’ warning
Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks, in the deepest ocean trench...
Economy
International Court of Justice court paves way for climate reparations
The court said climate change was an "urgent and existential threat" and countries had a legal duty to prevent harm...
Geostrategy
Most Read
Geostrategy
Global gas flaring surges again, costs $63bn in lost energy: WB
Washington, UAE -- Global gas flaring surged for a second year in a row, wasting about $63 billion in lost...
- Flaring, the practice of burning natural gas during oil extraction, reached 151 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2024, up 3 bcm from the previous year.
- While some countries have reduced flaring, the top nine largest-flaring countries continue to account for three-quarters of all flaring.
Geostrategy
Restoring sea floor after mining may not be possible, researchers warn
Kingston, Jamaica -- Scientists present at the latest effort to hash out international rules for deep-sea mining say it's unclear...
- The sea floor is a coveted frontier for companies and countries eager to access minerals that are in high demand for emerging technologies such as electric cars.
- Particularly coveted are potato-sized nodules containing cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese, that are found in abundance on the seabed in the central Pacific Ocean.
Economy
Almost half of Europe and Mediterranean basin hit by drought
Paris, France - Europe and the Mediterranean basin has been hit by a long-lasting drought covering over 45 percent of...
- It is the first time since data collection began in 2012 that such an extensive part of the region has been hit by a drought for more than three consecutive months
- A series of fires broke out in Turkey and Greece at the start of the summer, where on average 72 percent and 56 percent of soils have been dry since mid-March