Environment

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Technologies used by Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) to rig vehicle emissions tests should be considered illegal, an adviser to the EU’s top court said, advocating a broad definition that lawyers said could open the group to more legal challenges. FILE PHOTO: An employee works at a production line of the electric Volkswagen model ID.3

LONDON (Reuters) – Economic lockdowns brought on by the coronavirus pandemic look set to cut global energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions by record amounts, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday. FILE PHOTO: An excavator of German utility RWE stands in the open-cast brown coal mine of Garzweiler west of Cologne, Germany, January

BERLIN (Reuters) – Governments should focus on climate protection when considering fiscal stimulus packages to support an economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday. FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Angela Merkel gives a media statement after a video conference of EU leaders on the spread of the new coronavirus disease

GUMMERSBACH, Germany (Reuters) – Germany’s forests, covering a third of its territory and as much a part of its cultural landscape as its physical one, are in danger. An aerial view shows a forest near Gummersbach, Germany, April 24, 2020, following an unusually warm, dry winter after a summer of record temperatures leaving forests dried

(Reuters) – The world is looking for signs that the arrival of warmer weather in the northern hemisphere could slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 190,000 people and sent the global economy into a tailspin as countries impose lockdowns and restrict travel. FILE PHOTO: The ultrastructural morphology exhibited by

LONDON (Reuters) – International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Friday that governments should put renewable energy at the heart of economic rescue packages launched in response to the coronavirus outbreak to avoid a rebound in carbon emissions. “Putting clean energy at the heart of stimulus plans is an excellent strategy for revitalising

EL YUGUELITO, Mexico (Reuters) – In the shade of a rust-colored hill, a dozen women gathered on a dusty road to fill buckets from a water tanker truck that pulled up to service their modest community built on a former Mexico City dump. Grappling with the largest public health crisis in modern times, Mexican health

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 23, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The coronavirus appears to weaken more quickly when exposed to sunlight, heat and humidity, a U.S. official said on Thursday in a potential sign that the pandemic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected arguments by President Donald Trump’s administration seeking to limit the reach of a landmark water pollution law in a Hawaii dispute over wastewater indirectly discharged into the Pacific Ocean – a ruling hailed by environmentalists. FILE PHOTO: The Supreme Court building exterior seen in Washington,

A man wearing a mask sits at a bench near uncut tulips after over 100,000 tulips were cut off to avoid people visiting the Sakura Furusato Square, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Sakura, Chiba prefecture in Japan, April 22, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon TOKYO (Reuters) – Flower lovers in Japan will have to wait

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – As environmentalists celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day this week, a new documentary poses a sobering question. FILE PHOTO: Director Michael Moore speaks during a rally by U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S., February 1, 2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo What if wind farms, solar

PRIZREN, Kosovo (Reuters) – Scotsman Mike Elm and his partner Rosie Watson, who are travelling from Europe to Asia to raise awareness of climate change, have been trapped in Kosovo for more than a month due to border closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Elm and Watson are allowed to go out for 90 minutes

FILE PHOTO: People sit in a Starbucks cafe in a mall in Beijing, China, January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo (Reuters) – Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) said on Monday it would roll out a new plant-based lunch menu in China this week, launching Beyond Meat Inc’s (BYND.O) products in a country where it is trying to

(Reuters) – A bear ambles across a forest glade and a herd of deer stroll down a silent road. At Yosemite National Park in Northern California, coronavirus restrictions mean no tourists – and bolder wildlife. FILE PHOTO: The Merced River flows through Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California, U.S., March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union will step up efforts to control wildlife trading and make factory farming more sustainable, given that both issues have played a role in the coronavirus pandemic, the bloc’s environment chief said on Thursday. “Healthy ecosystems lead to a healthy society and therefore it is not too high a price

AMMIQ WETLAND, Lebanon (Reuters) – With Lebanese confined to their homes by the new coronavirus, migratory birds in the Mediterranean country are winging their way into the midst of quieter city life. A squacco heron (Ardeola ralloides) is pictured in Ammiq Wetland, in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa valley, Lebanon April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho From flocks