International

A senior U.S. State Department official on Monday touted the benefits of President Barack Obama’s plan for a U.N. Security Council resolution against nuclear testing. With the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty still not entered into force, “we call on all states to maintain the moratoria on nuclear explosive tests. Sustaining these moratoria is in […]

The United States and India are committed to implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change in a timely manner, according to a joint statement released following a Wednesday meeting of Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Indian Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and U.S. Secretary […]

The Paris Agreement on climate change cannot be successfully implemented if there is action only at the national level, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa said Wednesday in a speech at the Climate Change Summit of the Americas in Jalisco, Mexico. “Subnational governments – cities, states, provinces, and the partnerships […]

Meeting at the 2016 Climate Summit of the Americas on Wednesday, Mexico and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec pledged to work together to advance carbon markets. Under the new agreement, the three parties will participate in knowledge sharing on carbon markets and “opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas pollution while driving innovation and supporting […]

The Cook Islands on Thursday became the 24th nation to submit its document of ratification for the Paris Agreement on climate change. The Paris Agreement, the first global climate change accord, will enter into force 30 days after 55 nations representing at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions have deposited their instruments of […]

The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said Wednesday that it has begun preparing a new shipment of highly active nuclear waste to Japan as the regulator continues cleanup efforts at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria. The five-flask transport, which involves the shipment of 132 canisters by rail from Sellafield to Barrow-in-Furness, is the sixth such shipment […]

Ahead of the Group of 20 Summit being held Sept. 4-5 in Hangzhou, China, three European insurance companies called on the governments to phase out fossil fuel subsidies by 2020. “To catalyze real progress on phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, the 2016 G20 communique should include clear language that … sets a clear timeline for […]

France’s AREVA said Tuesday it has begun transferring nuclear fuel cycle activities to its newly formed NewCo, part of a mass restructuring intended to raise at least 5 billion euros for the company through government investment and asset sales. The company has drawn up a draft partial transfer agreement “providing for a remuneration of the contribution calculated […]

The effects of climate change could reduce the global area suitable for coffee production by up to 50 percent by 2050, according to a report issued Monday by The Climate Institute. “Without strong climate action, the areas suitable for growing coffee could halve in a few decades, pushing production upslope, away from the equator and […]

Humans have affected the Earth’s environment so much that a new geological epoch has begun, according to a group of scientists presenting Monday at the International Geological Congress in Cape Town, South Africa. The working group tasked International Commission on Stratigraphy with investigating the new epoch has determined that the “Anthropocene,” began in the mid-20th […]

The United States will join the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2016, White House senior climate adviser Brian Deese told reporters Monday, declining to pinpoint when exactly that would happen. “We have made the commitment that we will join in 2016 and we have made the commitment to do that as soon as possible […]

Javier Manzanares, the Green Climate Fund’s chief financial officer, has been named interim executive director ad interim of the fund. Manzanares takes the reins from Hela Cheikhrouhou, who has been appointed minister for energy, mining, and renewables in Tunisia. “The GCF Board Co-Chairs, Ewen McDonald and Zaheer Fakir congratulated Ms. Hela Cheikhrouhou on her appointment […]

A senior U.S. State Department official on Monday touted the benefits of a possible U.N. Security Council resolution against nuclear testing. With the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty still not entered into force, “we call on all states to maintain the moratoria on nuclear explosive tests. Sustaining these moratoria is in the national security interest of […]

Indonesia recently converted its remaining holdings of highly enriched uranium (HEU) into a low-enriched form, becoming the final nation in Southeast Asia to divest itself of the weapon-grade material, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Monday. The NNSA said it worked with the Indonesian Nuclear Industry LLC, National Nuclear Energy Agency, and the Nuclear Energy Regulatory […]

The African Development Bank (AfDB) announced Friday it would receive $300 million (USD) from the government of Japan to increase access to clean coal technologies in African countries. The clean coal funding is in addition to a larger joint funding announcement of $3 billion, to be distributed over three years for private sector development. “We […]

Unconfirmed reports late last week said China and the United States plan to formally join the Paris Agreement on climate change before the beginning of the Group of 20 Summit being held Sept. 4-5 in Hangzhou, China. “Senior climate officials from both countries worked late into the night in Beijing on Tuesday to finalise details, […]

The United Nations’ Open-Ended Working Group on multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations last week adopted a recommendation to begin negotiations in 2017 on a legally binding instrument banning nuclear weapons, an effort the United States continues to oppose. The working group, a forum for cooperative action and supplement to the U.N. Conference on Disarmament, adopted with […]

The Research Councils UK (RCUK) Energy Program and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are seeking proposals for the establishment of a center specializing in carbon capture and storage, EPSRC announced Thursday. Funding for the current UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Center (UKCCSRC) will expire in September 2017. “The UKCCSRC has been […]

The Earth might have begun responding to increasing anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions as early as 1830, according to a paper issued Wednesday by the 2k Network and Past Global Changes (PAGES). “Drawing on a roughly 500-year history of temperatures in the oceans and on land, the [research] group concluded that the warming of the planet […]

A group of 130 investors groups on Wednesday called for movement on the Paris climate change agreement ahead of the upcoming Group of 20 Summit being held on Sept. 4-5 in Hangzhou, China. Among other requests, the group urged G20 member countries to ratify the agreement by the end of 2016. “Countries that join/ratify the […]

Nearing the end of his time in office, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is again calling for nations to bring the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty into force. “I urge Member States to act now. Those States whose ratification is required to bring the Treaty into force should not wait for others. Even one ratification […]

The Bahamas this week became the 23rd nation to submit to the United Nations its document of ratification for the Paris Agreement on climate change. The Paris Agreement, the first global climate change accord, will enter into force 30 days after 55 nations representing at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions have deposited […]

A lack of action on climate change could cost millennials in the U.S more than $8 trillion, according to a report issued Monday by the think tank Demos. The report seeks to quantify the costs of climate change to the millennial generation and their children. “Politicians have made a series of policy choices that are […]

The Beijing-based Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute has become the 10th member of the Carbon Capture International Test Center Network, current network chair Southern Co. announced Monday. Through the 4-year-old network, carbon capture test facilities share knowledge to accelerate commercial deployment of CCS technology. The Department of Energy’s National Carbon Capture Center, which Southern operates, […]

Two new studentships funded by the United Kingdom’s Imperial College London and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) will support the investigation of carbon storage in depleted oil and gas reservoirs, the organizations announced Monday. The first of the two projects will focus on monitoring the behavior of such reservoirs, while the second […]

If all the nations that have said they will ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change by the end of the year do so it could into force before 2017, according to the latest projection from Climate Analytics. Based on ratifications to date (22), national statements and indications given to a high level meeting on […]

Moving on its pledge to double national clean energy research and development funding, Canada has established a new Clean Energy Innovation Program. The $25 million (CAD) program seeks to commercialize clean energy technologies, including carbon capture and storage. “We know the important role clean technology will play in our transition to a lower carbon economy,” […]

Recently appointed United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa is looking to build on the foundation set by the Paris Agreement on climate change, she said in an interview released last week by the U.N. News Center. “We have the approval of the Paris Agreement, which was an historic agreement, after […]

July 2016 was not just the hottest July on record, it was the hottest of any month on record, NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies said Tuesday. “It wasn’t by the widest of margins, but July 2016 was the warmest month since modern record keeping began in 1880,” said GISS Director Gavin Schmidt in a […]

Stakeholders in the battle against climate change should keep their eyes on the proceedings of next month’s Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, China, the World Resources Institute said in a blog post this week. “So what specific messages from the G20 meeting would indicate that world leaders are actively embracing the new post-Paris era? […]