Environmental News

Vietnamese are protesting plans to build a cable car through remote Phong Nha-Ke Bang national park that could carry 1,000 visitors an hour to Son Doong cave

Developing countries called on the rich on Tuesday to do more to lead the fight against climate change in line with scientific findings that global greenhouse gas emissions should fall to net zero by 2100 to avert the worst impacts. About 190 countries are meeting in Lima from 1-12 December to decide elements of a…

The European Union (EU)’s delegation at the climate change conference in Lima has argued that legally binding cuts applying to all countries are necessary and should be adopted by 2015 and entered into force by 2020. “The EU is of the mind that legally binding mitigation targets are the only way to provide the necessary…

The Bank of England is to conduct an enquiry into the risk of fossil fuel companies causing a major economic crash if future climate change rules render their coal, oil and gas assets worthless. The concept of a “carbon bubble” has gained rapid recognition since 2013, and is being taken increasingly seriously by some major…

While haute couture and cycling are certainly not strangers – check out Paul Smith’s recently launched range of road cycling kit – mountain biking is usually the neglected cousin. But a Scottish knitwear designer who caught the MTB bug three years ago is aiming to change all that. Alex Feechan has designed for Chanel, Calvin…

UN climate negotiations opening in Lima on Monday have the best chance in a generation of striking a deal on global warming, diplomats say. After a 20-year standoff, diplomats and longtime observers of the talks say there is rising optimism that negotiators will be able to secure a deal that will commit all countries to…

Fighting global warming by reflecting sunlight back into space risks “terrifying” consequences including droughts and conflicts, according to three major new analyses of the promise and perils of geoengineering. But research into deliberately interfering with the climate system must continue in search of technology to use as a last resort in combating climate change, scientists…

France has two months to justify ‘environmental deterioration’ involved in the Sivens dam project. The European commission has sent France a final notice to explain how it can reconcile EU environmental law with a proposed dam project that sparked riots, which claimed a protester’s life last month. Rémi Fraisse, a 21-year-old student, died after being…

Urban agriculture is playing an increasingly important role in global food security, a study has suggested. Researchers, using satellite data, found that agricultural activities within 20km of urban areas occupy an area equivalent to the 28-nation EU. The international team of scientists says the results should challenge the focus on rural areas of agricultural research…

Groundbreaking 3D mapping of previously inaccessible areas of the Antarctic has found that the sea ice fringing the vast continent is thicker than previous thought. Two expeditions to Antarctica by scientists from the UK, USA and Australia analysed an area of ice spanning 500,000 metres squared, using a robot known as SeaBed.