Know your World. Choose your Impact.
The World Environment News is a daily environmental update bringing you all the latest environmental stories, pictures and video from across the globe, courtesy of the Reuters news service. if it’s happening in the world of environment, it’s happening in the World Environment News.
Planet Ark's World Environment News is brought to you in partnership with Colonial First State.
Email, Online and now Twitter
To receive your copy straight to your inbox signup here, or you can view it online or now follow us on Twitter (#WENnews).
Latest News (118 stories)
California Takes Step Toward Linking CO2 Market To Quebec
Date: 11-May-12
Country: USA
Author: Rory Carroll
California on Wednesday released an updated draft of its cap-and-trade regulations that for the first time includes language that would link its carbon market to a similar scheme in the Canadian province of Quebec.
Civil War Ironclad Stands Between Savannah, Harbor Dredging
Photo: Billy Birdwell/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/Handout
Date: 10-May-12
Author: Harriet McLeod
A Confederate ironclad warship, scuttled by its crew to prevent it from falling into Yankee hands, will be salvaged before the long-planned dredging of the mouth of the Savannah River to handle big, modern commercial container ships.
Exxon Needs U.S. Approval To Restart North Line Pipeline
Photo: Jason Reed
Date: 10-May-12
Country: USA
Author: Janet McGurty
ExxonMobil Corp will need federal approval before it can restart its damaged North Line pipeline in Louisiana, where a leak in late April resulted in a spill of more than 1,800 barrels of crude, the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) said on Wednesday.
Enbridge Clings to Gateway Plan Despite Opposition
Date: 10-May-12
Country: TORONTO/CALGARY, ALBERTA
Author: Julie Gordon and Scott Hagget
Enbridge Inc, Canada's No. 2 pipeline company, reported a 14 percent jump in quarterly earnings on Wednesday and said it remains committed to building the controversial C$5.5 billion ($5.5 billion) Northern Gateway pipeline despite fierce opposition from communities along the route.
Citizen Backlash Keeps Malaysia Rare Earth Plant On Hold
Photo: Samsul Said
Date: 10-May-12
Country: MALAYSIA
Author: Siva Sithraputhran
The expensive machinery lies silent, idling as Malaysia's government weighs a delicate decision to allow shipments of raw material to arrive from Australia and finally start operations at the world's largest rare earths plant outside China.
New Antarctic Ice Shelf Threatened By Warming
Date: 10-May-12
Country: UK
Author: Chris Wickham
Scientists are predicting the disappearance of another vast ice shelf in Antarctica by the end of the century that will accelerate rising sea levels.
Canada Set To Miss Modest Emissions Goals: Watchdog
Photo: Mark Blinch
Date: 09-May-12
Country: OTTAWA
Author: David Ljunggren
Canada is acting too slowly to combat climate change and has little chance of achieving its modest 2020 target for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, Parliament's environmental watchdog said on Tuesday.
U.N. To Rule On Carbon Offsets From Coal Plants
Photo: Carlos Barria
Date: 09-May-12
Country: LONDON
Author: Susanna Twidale
The main U.N.-appointed panel that regulates supply of global carbon offsets could this week decide whether to approve rules that would lead to the award of millions of CO2 credits to coal-fired power stations in developing countries, according to meeting agenda notes on the UNFCCC website.
European Slump Leads Utilities To Burn More Coal
Photo: Ina Fassbender
Date: 09-May-12
Country: LONDON
Author: Henning Gloystein and Jeff Coelho
Europe's economic slump is allowing utilities in some countries to burn increasing amounts of cheap, highly polluting coal for electricity generation and still meet legally binding targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions, Reuters research shows.
Club Of Rome Sees 2 Degree Celsius Rise In 40 Years
Photo: Eric Miller
Date: 09-May-12
Country: LONDON
Author: Nina Chestney
Rising carbon dioxide emissions will cause a global average temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius by 2052 and a 2.8 degree rise by 2080, as governments and markets are unlikely to do enough against climate change, the Club of Rome think tank said.
IBM's 'Building Whisperer' Sees Retrofit Boom
Photo: Rick Wilking
Date: 09-May-12
Country: NEW YORK
Author: Nick Zieminski
America's skyscrapers, many built before World War Two, are showing their age. IBM's "building whisperer," Dave Bartlett, believes many of these buildings could use a diet.
Vermont Poised To Be First State To Outlaw Fracking
Photo: Les Stone
Date: 09-May-12
Country: UNITED STATES
Author: Jason McLure
Vermont will be the first state to outlaw a controversial oil and gas drilling method known as fracking when Governor Peter Shumlin signs a bill banning the practice, a largely symbolic move given the state's apparent lack of energy reserves.
Norway Opens Major Facility To Test Carbon Capture
Date: 08-May-12
Country: NORWAY
Author: Nerijus Adomaitis
Norway on Monday launched the world's largest facility of its kind to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS), the so-far commercially unproven technology that would allow greenhouse gases from power plants to be buried safely underground.
Czechs Eye Moratorium On Shale Gas Exploration
Date: 08-May-12
Country: CZECH REPUBLIC
Author: Jason Hovet and Michael Kahn
The Czech Environment Ministry is planning to put up to a two-year moratorium on granting licenses for shale gas exploration until new legislation is put in place, the ministry said.
EU Nations Get Cold Feet Over Climate Change Fund
Date: 08-May-12
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Barbara Lewis
EU nations have yet to come up with a plan on how to fill a multi-billion euro fund to help tackle climate change, even as the region's executive body hosts talks with countries likely to bear the brunt of extreme weather.
Asia To Overtake Europe As Global Solar Power Grows - EPIA
Date: 08-May-12
Country: ITALY
Author: Svetlana Kovalyova
The world's solar power generating capacity will grow by between 200 and 400 percent over the next five years, with Asia and other emerging markets overtaking leadership from Europe, a European industry association said on Monday.
Nuclear-Free Japan Braces For Severe Power Shortages
Photo: Kim Kyung-Hoon
Date: 07-May-12
Country: JAPAN
Author: Leika Kihara
The shutdown of Japan's last working nuclear power plant and the government's failure to convince a wary public about restoring production at dozens of reactors leaves the world's third largest economy facing another summer of severe power shortages.
Keep Off Beaches, Peru Warns After Pelican Deaths
Photo: Heinze Plenge
Date: 07-May-12
Country: PERU
Author: Marco Aquino, Caroline Stauffer
Peru's government declared a health alert along its northern coastline on Saturday and urged residents and tourists to stay away from long stretches of beach, as it investigates the unexplained deaths of hundreds of dolphins and pelicans.
Chevron Seeks Bank Records In Ecuador Environmental Suit
Photo: Joshua Lott
Date: 07-May-12
Country: USA
Author: David Adams
Chevron Corp went to federal court in Miami on Friday seeking to force an Ecuadorean bank to release records of alleged bribes the company says were paid to an independent expert in a multi-billion dollar environmental lawsuit against the oil company.
U.S. Proposes New Rules For Fracking On Federal Lands
Photo: Les Stone
Date: 07-May-12
Country: USA
Author: Ayesha Rascoe
The Obama administration unveiled long-awaited rules on Friday to bolster oversight on public lands of oil and natural gas drilling using fracking technology that has ushered in a boom in drilling but also triggered environmental protests.
U.S. Readies Proposal To Clamp Down On Fracking
Photo: Les Stone
Date: 07-May-12
Country: USA
Author: Ayesha Rascoe
The Obama administration wants to clamp down on shale gas drilling on public lands and set standards that proponents of tougher regulation hope will provide a blueprint for drilling oversight nationwide.
California To Hold Workshop On Giant Solar Power Plant
Date: 07-May-12
Country: USA
Author: Scott DiSavino
California energy regulators will hold a workshop on May 9 for private solar power company BrightSource Energy's proposed 500-megawatt Hidden Hills solar power plant in California estimated to cost more than $2.7 billion.
Russia Halts Salmon Imports From 13 Norwegian Firms
Date: 07-May-12
Country: RUSSIA
Author: Katya Golubkova
Russia temporarily halted chilled salmon imports from 13 Norwegian firms, the animal and plant health watchdog in Moscow said.
Bangkok Heat Stokes Debate Over mega-City Planning
Photo: Sukree Sukplang
Date: 04-May-12
Country: THAILAND
Author: Amy Sawitta Lefevre
Five months after the worst floods in half a century, the Thai capital is facing a near record heat wave with temperatures at three-decade highs, stoking debate over the often chaotic urban planning in one of Asia's hottest and largest cities.
China Must Act Urgently To Curb City Emissions: World Bank
Photo: Jason Lee
Date: 04-May-12
Country: CHINA
Author: Nick Edwards
China must act urgently on multiple fronts if it is to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its rapidly expanding cities and hit government targets for curbing carbon intensity, a new report from the World Bank said on Thursday.
Wyoming Pushed EPA To Delay Study On Fracking: Report
Photo: Jonathan Ernst
Date: 04-May-12
Country: USA
Author: Timothy Gardner
The governor of Wyoming pressed the top U.S. environmental regulator to delay its December, 2011 release of a draft study linking fracking for natural gas to contamination of drinking water, a news report said on Thursday.
EU Green Goals Depend On CO2 Market-Acciona
Date: 04-May-12
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Barbara Lewis
The European Union could fail to hit its green goals unless it manages to drive carbon prices on its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to around three times current levels, Spain's Acciona Energy said.
FirstEnergy Keeping 3 Old Ohio Coal Plants Running
Date: 04-May-12
Country: USA
Author: Scott DiSavino
A U.S. power grid operator has asked FirstEnergy Corp to keep running three coal-fired plants in Ohio that generate about 885 megawatts in an effort to maintain a reliable supply of electricity, the company said.
Greenland Glaciers Speed Up, Swelling Rising Seas: Reports
Date: 04-May-12
Country: USA
Author: Deborah Zabarenko
Some of Greenland's glaciers are moving about 30 percent faster than they did 10 years ago, contributing to rising global sea levels, but that still may not be enough to reach the most extreme projections for 2100, scientists reported on Thursday.
Exclusive: Shale Causes Rise In Waste Gas Pollution
Photo: Enrique Marcarian
Date: 03-May-12
Country: LONDON
Author: Henning Gloystein and Alessandra Prentice
The shale energy boom is fuelling a rise in the burning of waste gas after years of decline, a World Bank source told Reuters ahead of the release of new data, giving environmentalists more ammunition against the industry.