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 (164 stories)
World Bank Sees Carbon Finance Role For Years
Date: 27-Jan-12
Country: U.K.
Author: Jeff Coelho
The World Bank's carbon finance initiatives will likely be needed for at least five years, as the United Nations struggles to create a self-sufficient, international carbon market, the manager of the bank's carbon finance unit told Reuters.
EU Carbon Too Cheap, No Mention Of Intervention: Draft
Date: 27-Jan-12
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Barbara Lewis
European Union carbon allowances are far too cheap to encourage increased environmental investment, a leaked EU draft seen by Reuters said, but it stopped short of calling for the market intervention politicians and energy companies argue is urgently needed.
Japanese Town's Dependence On Nuclear Plant Hushes Criticism
Photo: Issei Kato
Date: 27-Jan-12
Country: JAPAN
Author: Yoko Kubota
Japan's nuclear disaster has eroded trust in utilities and shown residents of the rural, mountainous region of Fukui the risk of radiation, but a dependence on atomic plants for jobs and funds means speaking out against them is taboo.
Obama's Green Tint Signals Shift To Campaign Mode
Photo: Jason Reed
Date: 27-Jan-12
Country: U.S.
Author: Deborah Zabarenko
Not long before his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama ventured to a place he'd never been in three well-traveled years as president: the Environmental Protection Agency.
Exclusive: Chevron To Face Charges Over Brazil Spill
Date: 27-Jan-12
Country: BRAZIL
Author: Jeb Blount and Joshua Schneyer
A Brazilian prosecutor plans to file criminal charges against Chevron Corp and some of its local managers within weeks, adding the threat of prison sentences to an $11 billion civil lawsuit as punishment for a November offshore oil spill.
Chevron Loses Injunction In $18 billion Ecuador Case
Date: 27-Jan-12
Country: U.S.
Author: Jonathan Stempel
A U.S. appeals court threw out an injunction that Chevron Corp had won to block enforcement of an $18 billion judgment in Ecuador for polluting the Amazon jungle and damaging the health of residents.
French Biofuel Aid Helps Farmers, Costs Public: Study
Photo: Reuters/Benoit Tessier
Date: 25-Jan-12
Country: FRANCE
Author: Gus Trompiz
French state support for crop-based biofuels has brought benefits for farming but also hidden costs for motorists who have ended up having to consume more fuel and pay higher prices, the government's auditor said on Tuesday.
Japan Task Force Kept No Records Of Nuclear Crisis Response
Photo: Reuters/David Guttenfelder/Pool
Date: 25-Jan-12
Country: JAPAN
Author: Yoko Kubota and Shinichi Saoshiro
Japan's energy minister admitted on Tuesday that no records were kept of top level discussions in the critical early days on how to respond to the world's worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.
Monsanto Says Won't Sell GMO Maize In France In 2012
Photo: Reuters/Robert Pratta
Date: 25-Jan-12
Country: FRANCE
Author: Sybille de La Hamaide
U.S. biotech firm Monsanto said on Tuesday it does not plan to sell its genetically modified maize MON810 in France this year, nor after, even though the country's highest court overturned a 3-year ban in November.
U.N. Sustainable Development Summit Shifts From Climate Change
Photo: Reuters/Fayyaz Hussain
Date: 25-Jan-12
Author: Deborah Zabarenko and Nina Chestney
Representatives from around the world gather in Rio in June to try to hammer out goals for sustainable development at a U.N. conference designed to avoid being tripped up by the intractable issue of climate change.
U.S. CO2 Emissions To Stay Below 2005 Levels As Coal Use Shrinks
Date: 25-Jan-12
Country: USA
Author: Valerie Volcovici
U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions will be 7 percent lower than their 2005 level of nearly 6 billion metric tons in 2020 as coal's share of electricity production continues a steady descent over the next two decades, according to new government data.
Landslide In Papua New Guinea: 40 Missing
Date: 25-Jan-12
Country: PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Author: Rebekah Kebede and James Grubel
A landslide swept through two villages in Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, covering much of the settlements in mud and leaving up to 40 people missing, officials and residents told Australian media.
UK Nuclear Watchdog Toughens Stance On Waste Reuse
Date: 25-Jan-12
Country: BRITAIN
Author: Oleg Vukmanovic
Britain's nuclear watchdog has hardened its stance against a proposal by U.S.-Japan joint venture GE Hitachi to dispose of UK radioactive waste in a plutonium-burning reactor but has not ended talks.
Arsenic Cancer Risk Still High Decades Later In Chile Region
Date: 25-Jan-12
Country: USA
Author: Amy Norton
People exposed to very high levels of arsenic in Chilean drinking water back in the 1950s and 60s are still showing a higher-than-normal risk of bladder cancer -- years after the arsenic problem was brought under control, a new study shows.
Tracking Microclimates Could Help Feed The World
Photo: REUTERS-Amir Cohen
Date: 24-Jan-12
Country: ISRAEL
Author: Rinat Harash and Ari Rabinovitch
Scientists in Israel have developed a way of using satellite images to help farmers detect small-scale changes in climate and improve their harvests, a method that could bolster food supplies for an increasingly hungry world population.
Weaker Sun Will Not Delay Global Warming: Study
Photo: Reuters/David Gray
Date: 24-Jan-12
Country: BRITAIN
Author: Nina Chestney
A weaker sun over the next 90 years is not likely to significantly delay a rise in global temperature caused by greenhouse gases, a report said Monday.
Ottawa Sees Itself As Protector Of Oil Sands Benefits
Photo: Reuters/Todd Korol
Date: 24-Jan-12
Country: CANADA
Author: Nicole Mordant
Canada's government has a responsibility to make sure people can take advantage of the economic benefits Alberta's massive oil deposits can generate, the country's energy minister said on Monday as he once again decried "radicals" bent on stopping Enbridge Inc's Northern Gateway oil pipeline.
EU Airline Carbon Law Waivers Worth Eyeing: Envoy
Date: 24-Jan-12
Country: INDIA
Author: Krittivas Mukherjee
Countries opposing a European Union law that charges airlines for carbon emissions should consider seeking waivers by adopting equivalent emission reduction measures, the EU's new envoy to India said on Monday.
Toyota Finds Way To Avoid Using Rare Earth: Report
Photo: Reuters/Yuriko Nakao
Date: 24-Jan-12
Country: JAPAN
Author: Chang-Ran Kim and Risa Maeda
Toyota Motor Corp has developed a way to make hybrid and electric vehicles without the use of expensive rare earth metals, in which China has a near-monopoly, Japan's Kyodo News reported.
Major Tokyo Quake More Likely Than Government Says: Academics
Photo: Reuters/Issei Kato
Date: 24-Jan-12
Country: JAPAN
Author: Kaori Kaneko
A major earthquake is far more likely to hit Tokyo in the next few years than the government predicts, researchers at the University of Tokyo said on Monday, warning companies and individuals to be prepared for such an event.
Ethanol Maker Poet Declines U.S. Government Loan Aid
Date: 24-Jan-12
Country: USA
Author: Timothy Gardner
Poet, the largest U.S. ethanol maker, said on Monday it will decline $105 million in loan aid from the Department of Energy because a joint venture will help it reach its advanced biofuel goals.
EU Countries Face Legal Action Over Hen Cage Ban
Date: 24-Jan-12
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Francesco Guarascio and Charlie Dunmore
Thirteen European Union countries will be told on Thursday that they face legal action for failing to impose an EU ban on keeping egg-laying hens in battery cages by a January 1 deadline, an EU document showed.
Italy Must Protect Coastline From Cruise Ships: UNESCO
Date: 24-Jan-12
Country: FRANCE
Author: Vicky Buffery
The Italian government should keep cruise ships like the Costa Concordia away from its shores to protect some of the world's most beautiful heritage sites such as Venice and its Lagoon, the Paris-based United Nations cultural agency said on Monday.
Keystone Activists To Protest Oil, Congress Ties
Date: 24-Jan-12
Country: USA
Author: Emily Stephenson
A coalition of environmental groups plans to stage a rally against "Big Oil's corruption" on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, hours before President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address to Congress.
Huge Pool Of Arctic Water Could Cool Europe: Study
Photo: U.S. Coast Guard/Patrick Kelley/Handout
Date: 23-Jan-12
Country: UK
Author: Nina Chestney
A huge pool of fresh water in the Arctic Ocean is expanding and could lower the temperature of Europe by causing an ocean current to slow down, British scientists said Sunday.
Boehner: Republicans May Link Pipeline To Tax Bill
Photo: Yuri Gripas
Date: 23-Jan-12
Country: USA
Author: Bill Trott and Richard Cowan
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday that Republicans may use an upcoming payroll tax cut bill to force President Barack Obama to approve the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Italy Risks Worst Environmental Disaster In 20 Years
Photo: Paul Hanna
Date: 23-Jan-12
Country: ITALY
Author: Silvia Aloisi
Italy risks its worst environmental disaster in more than two decades if the 2,400 tonnes of thick fuel in the capsized Costa Concordia pollutes one of the Mediterranean's most prized and pristine maritime reserves.
Republicans Plot Next Step On Keystone Oil Pipeline
Photo: Yuri Gripas
Date: 23-Jan-12
Country: USA
Author: Richard Cowan
Republicans in Congress are considering using upcoming payroll tax cut or highway construction bills in order to force quick approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline but have not yet settled on a strategy, lawmakers said on Friday.
Putin's Plan For Former Moscow Hotel Site: A Park
Photo: Alexsey Druginyn/RIA Novosti/Pool
Date: 23-Jan-12
Country: RUSSIA
Author: Steve Gutterman
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has a new plan for a huge central Moscow lot that has been vacant since a sprawling Soviet-era hotel was razed: a park.
2011 Was Ninth-Warmest Year Since 1880: NASA
Photo: Sukree Sukplang
Date: 23-Jan-12
Country: USA
Author: Deborah Zabarenko
The global average temperature last year was the ninth-warmest in the modern meteorological record, continuing a trend linked to greenhouse gases that saw nine of the 10 hottest years occurring since the year 2000, NASA scientists said on Thursday.