Environment

FILE PHOTO: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a joint press conference held with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at Admiralty House in Sydney, Australia, February 28, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Wild weather downed trees and left tens of thousands of people without power in Western Australia, as emergency services began

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – An earthquake struck near New Zealand’s capital on Monday morning, shaking many residents including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who continued with a live TV interview at the parliament building. FILE PHOTO: Pedestrians walk across a road in front of the New Zealand parliament building known as the Beehive in central Wellington, New

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian Environment Minister Ricardo Salles called on the government to push through further deregulation of environmental policy while people are distracted by the coronavirus pandemic, in a video the Supreme Court ordered released on Friday. FILE PHOTO: Brazil’s Environment Minister Ricardo Salles looks on during a ceremony to sign a memorandum of

SANTIAGO/LIMA (Reuters) – Indigenous leaders are calling for help to stop oil companies drilling in the headwaters of the Amazon river in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, warning that encroaching on their homelands would destroy a bulwark against climate change. An oil slick is seen covering the surface of a stretch of the Santa

LAGOS (Reuters) – In a hallway in Lagos, Gbemisola Olowokere taps contentedly on her laptop. The 23-year-old says the corner, underneath a sliver of window, has functioned well as a makeshift office since the coronavirus pandemic forced her to work from home. Gbemisola Olowokere, 23, plugs her phone charger to an extension box unit powered

KOLKATA/DHAKA (Reuters) – Several thousand people have been left homeless after the most powerful cyclone in more than a decade hit India and Bangladesh this week, officials said, as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the area on Friday and pledged aid. Cyclone Amphan killed at least 96 people, officials said after it swept in

LAKE VICTORIA, Kenya (Reuters) – Grandmother Millicent Agata’s small farm has disappeared entirely under the floodwaters of a swollen Lake Victoria, forcing her family to join tens of thousands of other Kenyans seeking shelter from the worst floods in three generations. Residents use a boat to carry their belongings through the waters after their homes

KOLKATA/DHAKA (Reuters) – Peering down from his aircraft, Prime Minister Narendra Modi saw on Friday the devastation and flooding caused by the most powerful cyclone to strike India and Bangladesh in more than a decade, before landing in the stricken city of Kolkata. FILE PHOTO: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks to the media inside

FILE PHOTO: People are seen on a polluted day in central Beijing, China March 2, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo BEIJING (Reuters) – China said on Friday it will continue to strengthen anti-pollution controls and meet its environmental targets for 2020, but warned that the coronavirus pandemic would weigh on energy intensity goals. “By maintaining the

DETROIT (Reuters) – Floodwaters that breached two dams in central Michigan began to recede on Thursday after displacing thousands of people while spreading to a Dow Chemical plant and an adjacent hazardous waste cleanup site. A satellite image shows the flooded Isabella Street and homes after rising floodwaters unleashed by two dam failures submerged parts

KOLKATA/DHAKA (Reuters) – The most powerful cyclone to strike eastern India and Bangladesh in over a decade killed at least 82 people, officials said, as rescue teams scoured devastated coastal villages on Thursday, hampered by torn down power lines and widespread flooding. Mass evacuations before Cyclone Amphan made landfall undoubtedly saved countless lives, but the

KOLKATA/DHAKA (Reuters) – Rescue teams searched for survivors in eastern India and Bangladesh a day after the most powerful cyclone in over a decade devastated coastal villages, destroying mud houses, ripping out electricity poles and washing away bridges. Men salvage items from a damaged shop after Cyclone Amphan made its landfall, in South 24 Parganas

MIDLAND, Mich. (Reuters) – Rising floodwaters unleashed by two dam failures submerged parts of the central Michigan town of Midland on Wednesday, displacing thousands of residents and threatening to inundate a Dow Chemical Co plant in the riverfront city. By late morning, floodwaters had reached the grounds of the Dow facility and were confirmed to

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Conservationists in Cambodia are celebrating the hatching of more critically endangered turtles in recent months than the past three years combined, owing to a preservation drive and a halt on sand-dredging. Some 23 rare royal turtles have hatched recently in southwestern Koh Kong province, the only place in Cambodia where the

LONDON/BRASILIA (Reuters) – British supermarkets have warned Brazil they might have to boycott its products if lawmakers there pass a contentious bill that could enable faster destruction of the Amazon rainforest. FILE PHOTO: An aerial view shows a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil, September 17, 2019. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly/File Photo

KOLKATA, India/DHAKA (Reuters) – India and Bangladesh evacuated around half a million people out of the way of the most powerful storm in a decade ahead of its landfall on Wednesday amid fears of heavy damage to houses and crops and disruption of road, rail and power links. The authorities’ task to save lives was

LONDON (Reuters) – Global carbon dioxide emissions could fall by up to 7% this year, depending on ongoing restrictions and social distancing measures during the coronavirus pandemic, research published in the journal Nature Climate Change showed on Tuesday. FILE PHOTO: Cooling towers and smoke stacks are seen at the coal powered Pocerady power station near

FILE PHOTO: Power-generating windmill turbines are pictured during sunset from the Drachenberg hill in Berlin, Germany, August 19, 2019. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s ruling coalition reached a compromise deal in a row over the minimum distance onshore wind turbines should have from dwellings, leaving the final decision to regional governments and lifting a

FILE PHOTO: Power-generating windmill turbines are pictured during sunset from the Drachenberg hill in Berlin, Germany, August 19, 2019. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s ruling coalition reached a compromise deal in a row over minimum distance requirements for on-shore wind turbines to residences, Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said on Monday. “I’m happy that the

HARARE (Reuters) – Rosemary Pamire struggled to feed her family well before Zimbabwe entered lockdown in March to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Now she can hardly put together a meal a day as the country faces a deepening food crisis. Rosemary Pamire cleans her home during a nationwide lockdown to help curb the coronavirus disease

LONDON (Reuters) – Europe’s top oil and gas companies have diverted a larger share of their cash to green energy projects since the coronavirus outbreak in a bet the global health crisis will leave a long-term dent in fossil fuel demand, according to a Reuters review of company statements and interviews with executives. FILE PHOTO:

FILE PHOTO: Desert locusts are seen on a tree at a ranch near the town of Nanyuki in Laikipia county, Kenya, February 21, 2020. REUTERS/Baz Ratner DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran may use its military for a second year to help fight locusts that have invaded the south of the country, an Agricultural Ministry official was

LISBON (Reuters) – One of the many victims of the coronavirus pandemic is likely to be Portugal’s nascent progress in recycling waste, environmental campaigners say. FILE PHOTO: Trucks with garbage are seen at the Recivalongo landfill in Sobrado Portugal, January 8, 2020. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante Portugal, which recycles around 28% of its urban refuse, below the

FILE PHOTO: A cow stands on caked mud before a small patch of water at a dam as the region deals with a prolonged drought near Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, January 18, 2020. Picture taken January 18, 2020. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s second biggest city of Bulawayo limited access to tap water to just one

FILE PHOTO: A man rows his boat in the tributary waters of Vembanad Lake against the backdrop of pre-monsoon clouds on the outskirts of Kochi, India, June 7, 2019. REUTERS/Sivaram V/File Photo NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Crop-nourishing monsoon rains are likely to reach Kerala state on India’s southern tip on June 5, four days later

OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund is excluding some of the world’s biggest commodities firms from its portfolio for their use and production of coal, including Glencore (GLEN.L) and Anglo American (AAL.L). FILE PHOTO: The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company’s headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, September 30,

FILE PHOTO: Equinor’s logo is seen at the company’s headquarters in Stavanger, Norway December 5, 2019. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins OSLO (Reuters) – Equinor’s shareholders, dominated by the Norwegian government, rejected all climate resolutions at the oil firm’s annual general meeting on Thursday, the company said. One of the resolutions, proposed by Follow This, a group which

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission is seeking to halve the use of chemical pesticides by 2030 to halt the decline of pollinators, in a plan likely to draw criticism both from those urging a phase-out of the substances and from farmers who say crop yields will suffer. FILE PHOTO: Beekeeper Franck Portefaix and his

(Reuters) – Two of the most popular national parks in the American West – Yellowstone and Grand Canyon – will welcome back visitors on a limited basis over the next several days after lengthy closures due to the coronavirus, the government announced on Wednesday. FILE PHOTO: People use phones and tablets to photograph Old Faithful

FILE PHOTO: Flames grow at a wildfire dubbed the Cave Fire, burning in the hills of Santa Barbara, California, U.S., November 26, 2019. REUTERS/David McNew SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) – California has had 60% more wildfires so far in 2020 than last year because of drier weather, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday, and he promised