Netanyahu Budging Slightly on Iran

Israel keeps urging the group of six major powers to agree nothing less than a full dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear capability. Yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might have to come to terms with settling for an agreement which, though sustainable, falls short of his longstanding demand.

No Safe Havens in Increasingly Acid Oceans

Oil, gas and coal are contaminating the world's oceans from top to bottom, threatening the lives of more than 800 million people, a new study warns Tuesday.

Not Fukushima Again

Two and a half years ago, Ayako Oga, now 30, found herself helpless as an earthquake and the tsunami it triggered hit Japan and crippled four reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. She and her husband were forced to abandon their village Ookuma Machi, barely five kilometres away.

U.S. Science Reporters Becoming an Endangered Species

The news for environmental journalism in the United States is grim and getting grimmer.

Iran Talks to Resume Amid Guarded Optimism

Almost exactly four months after the election of Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, talks over the Islamic Republic’s controversial nuclear programme will resume here on Tuesday.

Brazil in Reverse

In the last five years, Brazil has joined the ranks of the world’s big polluters, whose main source of greenhouse gases is the burning of fossil fuels.

Energy Hits New Rocks in Mongolia

Mongolia, 90 percent dependent on fuel imports from Russia and vulnerable to price hikes, is seeking to develop its oil shale deposits of at least 800 billion tons.

Chile’s Mining Industry Turns to Sunlight to Ease Energy Shortage

The mining industry in the north of Chile, the world’s leading producer of copper, is trying to partially satisfy its insatiable appetite for energy with a renewable, ever-available source: the sun.

Small Island Economies Battered by Erratic Weather

Malcolm Wallace always knew on which side his bread would be buttered.

How to Tell the Biggest Stories of Our Times

What does gorilla conservation have in common with the provision of contraceptives to women? How does rural-urban migration contribute to global warming? What does city planning in Kenya have to do with coastal erosion in the Philippines?

Mayors Leading an Urban Revolution

With presidents and prime ministers failing to take meaningful action to avert a planetary-scale climate crisis, the mayors of cities and towns are increasingly stepping up to enact changes at the local level.

Q&A: The Eleventh Hour for Climate Justice

Climate justice – the nexus between human rights and climate change – must be a pillar of the post-2015 development agenda, says former Irish president Mary Robinson.

Push for Transparency in U.S.-Mexico Drilling Agreement

As lawmakers here prepare to take up legislation that would green-light a U.S.-Mexico agreement on oil-and-gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, development and rights groups are urging them to reject a proposal that would exempt involved companies from new disclosure requirements.

CO2 Reshaping the Planet, Meta-Analysis Confirms

Greenland will eventually truly become green as most of its massive ice sheet is destined to melt, the authoritative U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported Friday.

U.S. Projects 17-Percent Emissions Cut by 2020

The United States has formally told the United Nations that it is on track to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 17-percent by the end of the decade, assuming that currently proposed regulations are implemented.

Sunshine Gets Slowly More Energetic in Zimbabwe

On top of a small wooden cabin in Norton, a dormitory town outside the capital of Zimbabwe, is a solar panel that Silvester Ngunzi uses to light up his household.

Tallying the Benefits of Climate Action

More than a half-dozen governments on Tuesday launched a yearlong collaborative investigation into the economic benefits of taking broad action to combat global climate action.

Pressure Mounts to Cap Airline Emissions

A contentious global agreement on how to limit greenhouse gas emissions from the global airline industry will be at the top of the agenda over the next two weeks at an international summit, potentially solidifying details that have yet to emerge after more than a decade and a half of talks.

U.S. Proposes Landmark Cap on CO2 from Power Plants

Regulators here have taken the first major step of President Barack Obama’s second term to scale back U.S. carbon emissions, proposing first-ever rules to dramatically reduce allowable greenhouse gas pollution for future power plants.

Street Power Takes On Gold

Street protests are snowballing in Romania against a Canadian-led gold mining project in the Rosia Montana area in the Apuseni Mountains. More than 20,000 people joined a protest march in Bucharest on Sunday, and thousands in other Romanian cities took to the streets.

Proposed Global Accord Called a Disaster for Public Services

Nearly 350 international civil society organisations are urging countries taking part in new negotiations towards an agreement on “trade in services” to abandon the effort, warning that the accord would negatively impact on universal access to and national regulation of public services.