Climate Change & Environment
Latest stories
Climate Science: Bad News Gets Worse

As UN negotiators meet in Bonn to thrash out rules for implementing the climate-rescue Paris Agreement, the stakes have never been higher.

W140 Full Story
Iceland Drills 4.7 km Down into Volcano to Tap Clean Energy

It's named after a Nordic god and drills deep into the heart of a volcano: "Thor" is a rig that symbolises Iceland's leading-edge efforts to produce powerful clean energy.

If successful, the experimental project could produce up to 10 times more energy than an existing conventional gas or oil well, by generating electricity from the heat stored inside the earth: in this case, volcanic areas. 

W140 Full Story
Bangladesh Coal Plant Could Cause 6,000 Early Deaths, Says Greenpeace

A giant coal-fired power plant approved by Bangladesh could drastically worsen air pollution for millions and cause the early deaths of 6,000 people over its lifetime, Greenpeace said Friday.

W140 Full Story
Dust Storm Blows across North China, Flights Cancelled

A major dust storm engulfed northern China and Beijing on Thursday, prompting authorities to cancel dozens of flights and urge children and the elderly to stay indoors.

W140 Full Story
Rare Albino Orangutan Rescued on Borneo Island

A rare albino orangutan has been rescued on the Indonesian part of Borneo island where villagers were keeping the white-haired, blue-eyed creature in a cage, a protection group said Tuesday.

W140 Full Story
Expert Says All's Not Right for Endangered Right Whales

Those endangered North Atlantic right whales cavorting in Cape Cod Bay are fun to watch, but their frolicking doesn't tell the whole story.

Charles "Stormy" Mayo, director of right whale ecology at the federally funded Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Massachusetts, says ominous signs suggest the global population of 500 animals is slowly declining — not incrementally rebounding as experts had hoped a year ago.

W140 Full Story
Ukraine Clings to Nuclear Power despite Chernobyl Trauma

Ukraine is still suffering from the trauma of the world's worst civil nuclear accident at Chernobyl but has nonetheless turned the hazardous fuel into the backbone of its energy portfolio.

W140 Full Story
US May Stay in Paris Climate Accord, with Caveats

Signs are mounting that US President Donald Trump's administration may stay in the landmark Paris climate change accord of 2015, under pressure from big business and public support for the agreement.

W140 Full Story
Trump Looks to Lift Protections on America's Vast Nature Preserves

After moving to unstitch climate change rules, US President Donald Trump is turning his sights on America's vast nature preserves, with a view to possibly lifting federal protections brought in over the past two decades.

W140 Full Story
Humans Threaten 'Fossil' Groundwater

Human activity risks contaminating pristine water stockpiled deep underground since the age of the mammoths, said a study Tuesday that warns of a looming threat to a critical life source.

W140 Full Story