Environment

EU countries Tuesday gave the final approval to the biggest revamp to date of Europe’s carbon market, which is set to make it more costly to pollute and sharpen the 27-member bloc’s main tool for cutting carbon dioxide emissions. The world’s first major carbon trading system has since 2005 forced power plants and factories to […]

OSTEND, BELGIUM — Nine European countries held a summit on Monday aimed at scaling up wind power generation in the North Sea, spurred by the fallout from the war in Ukraine and the push for renewables. “We’ve seen over the past months what the impact is if you are too dependent on outsiders for the supply […]

Looking back at 2022’s weather with months of analysis, the World Meteorological Organization said last year really was as bad as it seemed when people were muddling through it. And about as bad as it gets — until more warming kicks in. Killer floods, droughts and heat waves hit around the world, costing many billions […]

WASHINGTON — Many Americans aren’t yet sold on going electric for their next cars, a new poll shows, with high prices and too few charging stations the main deterrents. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults are at least somewhat likely to switch, but the history-making shift from the country’s century-plus love affair with gas-driven vehicles still […]

BANGKOK — The long-awaited relaunch of Thailand’s Songkran festival could be overshadowed by the country’s air pollution. In the northern city of Chiang Mai, a thick haze of air pollution has been present in recent weeks, and experts are warning that conditions are likely to hamper tourism surrounding the upcoming national holiday. Thailand is set to […]

MOMBASA, KENYA — Gobonamang Kgetho has a deep affection for Africa’s largest inland delta, the Okavango. It is his home. The water and wildlife-rich land is fed by rivers in the Angolan highlands that flow into northern Botswana before draining into Namibia’s Kalahari Desert sands. Several Indigenous and local communities and a vast array of species, […]

CAN THO, VIETNAM — As a child, Dong Van Canh watched while the rice fields of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta were set alight to make way for the next crop, blackening the sky and flooding the air with potent greenhouse gases. Rice — Asia’s principal staple — is to blame for around 10% of global emissions of […]

SYDNEY — The removal of millions of rotting fish is finally underway Wednesday in south-eastern Australia, almost a week after an unprecedented mass die-off. Residents of Menindee, 1000 kilometers west of Sydney, say their town is facing a “funeral procession” of the millions of fish carcasses. A senior police officer in charge of the clean-up has […]