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by Julien MIVIELLE Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Already under pressure due to climate change, the world’s top listed oil firms suffered historic losses in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic sent demand and prices tumbling. The oil majors — BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and Total — suffered $77 billion in losses for the year. Shell CEO Ben van Beurden called 2020 an extraordinary year. Total’s Patrick Pouyanne said: “All of us will remember 2020 […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Airways on Tuesday unveiled a partnership with US startup LanzaJet to produce jet fuel aimed at cutting carbon emissions from 2022. The announcement comes as the global aviation industry is looking to bounce back from a collapse in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic grounding planes. “Despite the crisis in global aviation, it is vital for our future that we continue to address climate change and we remain focused […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Coca-Cola will soon begin selling sodas in completely recycled plastic in the United States for the first time, the beverage giant said Tuesday. The initial items will be introduced this month in a group of states that includes California and Florida, for items such as Coke and Diet Coke in 13.2-ounce bottles made from 100 percent recycled plastic. The company — which has been named a top plastic polluter […]
by Jalees Andrabi and Aishwarya Kumar in Kochi Agence France-Presse TAPOVAN, India (AFP) — A whistle turned into a roar of water that trapped a dozen men in a Himalayan tunnel after a glacier burst in northern India, but Rajesh Kumar lived to tell the tale. Twenty-six people were confirmed dead but at least 170 others remained missing Monday after the glacier broke off a mountainside, triggering a flash flood through a valley in Uttarakhand […]
by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The 2020-2021 La Nina phenomenon has passed its peak, the UN weather agency said Tuesday, but its impact on temperatures, rain and storm patterns is set to continue. La Nina refers to the large-scale cooling of surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, occurring every two to seven years. The effect has widespread impacts on weather around the world — typically the opposite impacts to […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Scientists have identified Earth’s smallest known reptile, warning at the same time that sustained destruction of forests in northern Madagascar threatens its survival. Tiny enough to perch comfortably on a fingertip, the ultra-compact chameleon — dubbed Brookesia nana — has the same proportions and world-weary expression as its larger cousins around the world. “We discovered it in the mountains of northern of Madagascar,” Frank […]
by Patrick GALEY Agence France Presse Climate change may have played a “key role” in the transmission of the novel coronavirus to humans by driving several species of pathogen-carrying bats into closer contact, research showed on Friday. The virus, which has killed more than two million people and caused unprecedented global disruption, is thought to have originated in bats in Southeast Asia. Researchers from the University of Cambridge used temperature and rainfall data over […]
by Adam PLOWRIGHT Agence France-Presse WITTELSHEIM, France (AFP) — Jean-Pierre Hecht, a miner in eastern France, remembers how attractive the idea sounded when he first heard about it: a dying pit could be turned into something useful and environmentally friendly. Back in the 1990s, the local state mining group MDPA approached the community in the town of Wittelsheim in Alsace with an idea for stocking hazardous waste in a nearby potash mine. “The pitch was […]
by John BIERS Agence France-Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP)— Ford announced Thursday a dramatic acceleration of its investment push into electric autos and signaled deepening collaborations with technology giants on the increased digitization of driving. The US auto giant, released fourth-quarter and annual results, and said it plans $22 billion in electric car investment through 2025, nearly twice the earlier plan. The announcement is the latest big bet on electric autos by a legacy […]
by Ben PERRY Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday became the latest oil major to reveal huge annual losses as the coronavirus pandemic slashed energy demand and prices in 2020. Shell dived into a net loss of $21.7 billion (18.1 billion euros) last year as factories shut and planes were grounded. The Anglo-Dutch group’s loss compared with a net profit of $15.8 billion in 2019, the company said in […]
by Taimaz SZIRNIKS Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Demand for electric vehicles soared in the EU last year as buyers took advantage of government subsidies for clean cars aimed at helping manufacturers weather the unprecedented hit from the Covid-19 pandemic, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said Thursday. Some 538,772 fully electric autos were sold across the bloc, up 117 percent from 2019, while sales of plug-in hybrids more than tripled, to 507,059 from […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — US and EU firms are importing large amounts of wood potentially linked to illegal deforestation after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration controversially lifted sanctions against the country’s biggest flooring exporter, a report said Tuesday. The report, published by London-based environmental group Earthsight, said that Brazilian firm Indusparquet was “thriving across the US and EU” after being “let off the hook” by Bolsonaro’s far-right government despite evidence apparently linking it […]
