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A new climate change plan in the European Union, which has been lauded for its ambitious targets and aggressive action on emissions, will sacrifice carbon-storing trees, threaten biodiversity and outsource deforestation, according to a new paper. The paper, published this week in Nature, calls into question the plan’s treatment of biomass — organic material from trees, plants and animals —...

Brussels, Belgium (IUCN) – Thirty-seven per cent of all hoverfly species in Europe are threatened with extinction, according to the first continent-wide assessment of this essential pollinator group on the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM, which was requested and funded by the European Commission. Intensive agriculture and harmful pesticides, unsustainable commercial forestry, urban development and climate change have...

The loss of some 154,000 breeding birds, breeding across 52 islands along the 100 km of coastline, is in stark contrast to other populations in East Antarctica, where there have been long-term increases or stable population trends (see Penguin Heaven). It is also contrary to model predictions of a continued increase in this population following decades of sustained growth. Australian Antarctic...

Manaus, 7 October, 2022 – An area of the Amazon almost twice the size of New York City was deforested in September, according to alerts from the Brazilian Space Research Institute (INPE)’s system DETER. 1,455 km2 is the largest area ever recorded for the month of September. The data shows an increase of 48% compared to the same month...

New York, NY – A new study from WCS, the University of Toronto and the National Research Council of Italy has shed light on coral reef “hope spots'' around the world. Findings show that climate-resilient reefs are connected in invisible underwater networks linked by tiny larval corals that travel from reef to reef on ocean currents. These networks have...

PINEDALE, WY — The Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club filed an appeal today challenging a federal plan authorizing the killing of up to 72 grizzly bears to accommodate livestock grazing in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest, near Yellowstone National Park. Today’s filing appeals a May ruling by the U.S. District Court of Wyoming, which backed the Trump administration-approved plan...

Growing transport volumes have been driving Europe’s road transport emissions up in the past two decades. A European Environment Agency (EEA) analysis, published today, shows how total greenhouse gas emissions from both passenger cars and heavy goods vehicles have increased in Europe, despite better engine efficiency and use of biofuels. The EEA assessment ‘Decarbonising road transport — the role of...

The 7th Our Ocean Conference marks the beginning of a new commitment from the Shark Conservation Fund (SCF) to contribute $25 million over the next five years to the improvement of ocean health and biodiversity through sweeping shark and ray conservation. SCF’s new commitment was announced during the 2022 Our Ocean conference co-hosted this year by the governments of the...

The review is an important contribution to our understanding of the largest remaining ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula. Research into Larsen C is of high importance as several studies have suggested that the ice shelf may be vulnerable to collapse. As well as fundamentally altering the Antarctic landscape this would contribute indirectly to sea level rise by creating...

Nairobi – Climate change and land-use change are projected to make wildfires more frequent and intense, with a global increase of extreme fires of up to 14 per cent by 2030, 30 per cent by the end of 2050 and 50 per cent by the end of the century, according to a new report by the UN Environment Programme...

Gas power plants and nuclear energy should be labelled ‘green’ investments, the European Commission announced late on New Year’s Eve. Green group Transport & Environment said this last-minute attempt to bury the proposal undermines the EU’s entire sustainable finance framework, which is supposed to incentivise investment in Europe’s green transition. It called on MEPs and governments to reject the...

ST JOHN’S, N.L./TRADITIONAL TERRITORY OF THE BEOTHUK AND MI’KMAQ – The Federal Court has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s assessment of the ecosystem impacts of exploratory oil and gas drilling off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the regulation which exempts all future exploratory drilling from assessment.  In a decision released Monday, Justice Bell determined that a Regional Assessment for exploratory drilling in the area was – in his opinion – satisfactory and upheld a regulation...