Environment

(Reuters) – European Union lawmakers on Thursday approved green finance rules ensuring investments do not prop up polluting industries, requirements they and investors say should also guide spending of hundreds of billions of euros in coronavirus recovery funds. European Union flags fly outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, December 19, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

SALYERSVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) – In May 2012, Hanson and Michael Rowe noticed an overpowering smell, like rotten eggs, seeping from an abandoned gas well on their land in Kentucky. The fumes made the retired couple feel nauseous, dizzy, and short of breath. FILE PHOTO: Timothy De Smet, Nathan Graber and Alex Nikulin use a global

(Reuters) – Ride-hailing company Lyft Inc (LYFT.O) on Wednesday said every vehicle on its ride-hailing and rental car platform will be electric by 2030, but it would not provide direct financial support to drivers for switching from gas-powered cars. Driver Hub is seen in Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson “> FILE

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – At an open-pit granite quarry in Burkina Faso’s capital, workers’ children play in the rubble while others toil alongside their parents after the coronavirus pandemic closed schools. Neimatou Ouedraogo, 9, carries a bucket of water in Pissy informal granite quarry, since schools closed amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in

FILE PHOTO: The European Central Bank (ECB) logo is pictured before a news conference on the outcome of the meeting of the Governing Council in Frankfurt, Germany, January 23, 2020. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Euro zone banks are heavily exposed to carbon-intensive industries and face significant climate-change related risks so they must start to

FILE PHOTO: A flare burns excess natural gas in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas, U.S. November 23, 2019. REUTERS/Angus Mordant/File Photo HOUSTON (Reuters) – Texas as early as this fall could tighten some rules for the controversial practice of natural gas flaring, the head of the state’s regulatory commission said on Tuesday. The

A diver tries to cut a rope from the tail of a whale shark near Koh Tao Island, Thailand June 13, 2020, in this still image obtained from a social media video. Sarakorn Pokaprakarn/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. BANGKOK (Reuters) – Divers in Thailand have captured dramatic

FILE PHOTO: European Union flags fly outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, February 19, 2020. Picture taken February 19, 2020 REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union looks set to slightly beat its goal to get a third of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, but public support will be

GABORONE (Reuters) – Botswana is investigating the mysterious deaths of at least 154 elephants over two months in the northwest of the country, a wildlife official said on Monday, although poaching or poisoning have been ruled out. FILE PHOTO: A young bull elephant is seen in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, April 25, 2018. Picture taken

A view shows water barriers during recovery works following a diesel fuel leak at a thermal power station near Norilsk in Krasnoyarsk Region, Russia in this handout picture obtained by Reuters June 11, 2020. Russian Emergencies Ministry/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.

(Reuters) – Unilever Plc (ULVR.L) said on Monday it will invest 1 billion euros in a fund to invest in climate change projects and reduce to net zero greenhouse gas emissions from all its products by 2039, 11 years ahead of the Paris Agreement deadline. FILE PHOTO: Unilever headquarters in Rotterdam, Netherlands August 21, 2018.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba/TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian oil sands companies have shelved nearly C$2 billion in green initiatives in a cost-cutting drive to weather the coronavirus pandemic, a reversal in some of their commitments to reduce emissions and clean up their dirty-oil image. FILE PHOTO: A Suncor refinery is seen in Sherwood Park, near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

(Reuters) – Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Friday unveiled what he called a “blueprint” for enabling energy extraction, mining, grazing and logging in federal forests by speeding up environmental reviews and permitting. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue holds a U.S. flag-themed face mask while speaking about the nation?s food supply chain during

KAMPALA (Reuters) – Ugandan wildlife authorities have detained four men in connection with the killing of a 25-year-old male gorilla, the leader of a gorilla group and hugely popular with tourists. FILE PHOTO: A silverback mountain gorilla from the Mukiza group is seen in the forest within the Bwindi National Park near the town of

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose for a 13th consecutive month in May, government data showed on Friday, despite President Jair Bolsonaro’s deployment of the military to fight soaring environmental destruction in the region FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: An aerial view shows a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho, Rondonia

OSLO (Reuters) – Norway has opened two areas for offshore wind power developments in the North Sea, including one along its maritime border with Denmark, the energy ministry said on Friday. FILE PHOTO: A windmill is seen near the ocean in Utsira, a North Sea island of just 6 square km (2.3 square miles) and

FILE PHOTO: A general view shows the village of Wolpertshausen near Schwaebisch Hall, Germany, March 18, 2016. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany is set to seal deals to remove two stumbling blocks to Berlin hitting its target for green energy to reach 65% of production by 2030, documents seen by Reuters on Friday show.

FILE PHOTO: An inmate hand crew, wearing orange, uses chain saws and hand tools to cut a line through vegetation that is reddened by fire retardant on one side and charred by fire on the other at a wildfire dubbed the Cave Fire, burning in the hills of Santa Barbara, California, U.S., November 26, 2019.

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s government has renewed for 30 days a presidential decree allowing the deployment of the armed forces to combat rising deforestation in the Amazon and protect the world’s largest rainforest. FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Smoke billows from a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil,

FILE PHOTO: An array of solar panels is seen in the desert near Victorville, California, U.S. March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson (Reuters) – New U.S. solar installations will increase by a third this year, a report published on Thursday showed, as soaring demand by utilities for carbon-free power more than outweighs a dramatic decline in

HAVANA (Reuters) – Luminous yellow and blue fish dart through the fragments of coral hanging from rows of pipes anchored to the seabed in Guanahacabibes, in western Cuba, while scientists in diving gear annotate their observations on waterproof clipboards. Divers check a coral reef being raised for research by the National Aquarium of Cuba in

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Deforestation of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest was worse than previously reported in 2019, revised government data showed on Tuesday, during the first year of President Jair Bolsonaro, who is keen to develop the forest crucial to curbing global warming. FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: An aerial view shows a deforested plot of the Amazon

FILE PHOTO: Tropical Storm Cristobal is seen on a northern track over the Gulf of Mexico in a satellite image taken June 7, 2020. NOAA/Handout via REUTERS (Reuters) – Tropical Depression Cristobal became a post-tropical cyclone on Tuesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory. The storm system was located about

FILE PHOTO: French Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition Elisabeth Borne leaves the Elysee Presidential Palace after a weekly cabinet meeting, in Paris, France May 27, 2020 as France eases lockdown measures taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo PARIS (Reuters) – A bear has been

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union on Tuesday backed proposals to change a planned U.N. scheme to tackle aviation’s carbon footprint, a move campaigners said could allow airlines to pollute freely for years. FILE PHOTO: Two airliners pass in the sky above Malta as the drama of a hijacked Libyan Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A320 is

FILE PHOTO: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sign is seen on the podium at EPA headquarters in Washington, U.S., July 11, 2018. REUTERS/Ting Shen/File Photo CHICAGO (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday that farmers can use existing supplies of an agricultural weed killer linked to crop damage, after a federal

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Energy companies on Monday began preparations to resume oil and gas production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, a day after Tropical Storm Cristobal blew through with high winds and heavy rains. FILE PHOTO: The logo of Royal Dutch Shell is seen at a petrol station in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Belgium January 30, 2019.

LONDON (Reuters) – More than a third of the fish stocks around the world are being overfished and the problem is particularly acute in developing countries, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a report on Monday. FILE PHOTO: People sort fish during the drying process at Muara Angke district in Jakarta,

Tropical Storm Cristobal is seen on a northern track over the Gulf of Mexico in a satellite image taken June 7, 2020. NOAA/Handout via REUTERS HOUSTON (Reuters) – Tropical Storm Cristobal on Sunday slowed its advance through the Gulf of Mexico, bringing a coastal storm surge, high winds and rain to southeast Louisiana, where it

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump announced on Friday he will open up a 5,000 square mile conservation area in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New England to commercial fishing. U.S. President Donald Trump talks about a U.S. jobs report amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic as he addresses a news conference as