European Union leaders will push Thursday "to advance work" towards setting a target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to a draft resolution.

Greenpeace on Wednesday raised the alarm over microplastics in rivers after finding the pollutant in all the rivers it tested in Britain, calling it a "problem of enormous complexity".

A hungry polar bear has been spotted on the outskirts of the Russian industrial city of Norilsk, hundreds of miles from its natural habitat, authorities said Tuesday. 

Images of the visibly exhausted animal roaming the roads of the Arctic city in search of food have been widely shared on social media in Russia. 

EU leaders will this week discuss setting a target of zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, European officials said Monday, following elections that highlighted climate fears.

Farmers in southeast France counted the costs from lost harvests on Sunday after a fierce storm battered the region with hail the size of ping-pong balls, decimating orchards and vineyards just as the summer season was kicking into high gear.

The Group of 20 major economies said they agreed a deal to reduce plastic waste that is choking the seas at a meeting in Japan on Sunday.

High winds and heavy rains pounded western India on Thursday as a major cyclone expected to hit the coast veered away instead into the Arabian Sea.

Vayu, classified as a very severe cyclonic storm, moved north-northwestwards in the night over the Arabian Sea, and was around 110 kilometres (70 miles) from the coast of Gujarat state.

The British government on Wednesday presented draft legislation to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 in what it said would be a first for a major economy.

The new target was broadly welcomed across the political spectrum but environmental groups said it would require radical action to decarbonise the entire economy.

Dozens of German "extinction rebellion" protesters Tuesday chained themselves to the fence of Angela Merkel's chancellery, demanding she declare a "climate emergency."

Climate activists using small boats and climbing equipment blockaded a cruise ship for six hours in a German harbor to protest against its carbon emissions, police said Monday.