Business - Solar-powered plane completes historic flight from Japan to Hawaii. Froome, Nibali and Contador set up epic battle Read more Greek finance minister accuses creditors of ‘terrorism’ Read more Iran nuclear talks in endgame Read more French soldier charged over child sex abuse Read more Hollande says ready to hold new summit on Boko Haram Read more Rocket fired from Egypt's Sinai into Israel, army says Read more Wikileaks' Assange seeks safe haven in France Read more Solar plane completes historic flight from Japan to Hawaii Read more Could French satire show be spared the guillotine? Read more Syrian army pounds rebels in fierce battle for Aleppo Read more UberPOP to suspend service in France in wake of protests Read more. Netherlands ordered to cut greenhouse gas emissions - BBC News.
A Dutch court has ordered the government to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25% by 2020, in a case environmentalists hope will set a precedent for other countries. Campaigners brought the case on behalf of almost 900 Dutch citizens. They argued the government had a legal obligation to protect its citizens from the dangers of climate change. Government lawyers did not immediately comment on the ruling at the court in The Hague. Jasper Teulings from Greenpeace called it a "landmark case". "It shifts the whole debate. The judgment was unprecedented in Europe, and unexpected. In terms of the practical implementation, the government has already agreed to close coal plants, increase the use of windmills and solar energy and drastically reduce gas extractions in the north of the country.
The court case puts pressure on the government to speed up the process in order to meet the targets and become more energy efficient within the next five years. Pope's climate change encyclical tells rich nations: 'Pay your debt to the poor' Pope Francis has called on the world’s rich nations to begin paying their “grave social debt” to the poor and take concrete steps on climate change, saying failure to do so presents an undeniable risk to a “common home” that is beginning to resemble a “pile of filth”. The pope’s 180-page encyclical on the environment, released on Thursday, is at its core a moral call for action on phasing out the use of fossil fuels. But it is also a document infused with an activist anger and concern for the poor, casting blame on the indifference of the powerful in the face of certain evidence that humanity is at risk following 200 years of misuse of resources.
Up to now, he says, the world has accepted a “cheerful recklessness” in its approach to the issue, lacking the will to change habits for the good of the Earth. “Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods,” the papal statement says. Explosive intervention by Pope Francis set to transform climate change debate | Environment. Pope Francis will call for an ethical and economic revolution to prevent catastrophic climate change and growing inequality in a letter to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics on Thursday. In an unprecedented encyclical on the subject of the environment, the pontiff is expected to argue that humanity’s exploitation of the planet’s resources has crossed the Earth’s natural boundaries, and that the world faces ruin without a revolution in hearts and minds. The much-anticipated message, which will be sent to the world’s 5,000 Catholic bishops, will be published online in five languages on Thursday and is expected to be the most radical statement yet from the outspoken pontiff.
However, it is certain to anger sections of Republican opinion in America by endorsing the warnings of climate scientists and admonishing rich elites, say cardinals and scientists who have advised the Vatican. The Argentinian pontiff is expected to repeat calls for a change in attitudes to poverty and nature. Saving coffee from extinction - BBC News. Two billion cups of coffee are drunk around the world every day and 25 million families rely on growing coffee for a living. Over the past 15 years, consumption of the drink has risen by 43% - but researchers are warning that the world's most popular coffee, Arabica, is under threat. Although there are 124 known species of coffee, most of the coffee that's grown comes from just two - Arabica and Robusta. Robusta makes up about 30% of global coffee production, and is mainly used for instant coffee. As the name implies, it is a strong plant - but for many, its taste cannot compare to the smooth and complex flavours of Arabica. It is Arabica that drives the industry and accounts for the majority of coffee grown worldwide, but it is a more fragile plant and only tolerates a narrow band of environmental conditions.
It is particularly sensitive to changes in temperature and rainfall. The report made headlines around the world and spurred the industry into action. Colombia Burundi India. Shell boss endorses warnings about fossil fuels and climate change | Environment. Ben van Beurden, the chief executive of Shell, has endorsed warnings that the world’s fossil fuel reserves cannot be burned unless some way is found to capture their carbon emissions. The oil boss has also predicted that the global energy system will become “zero carbon” by the end of the century, with his group obtaining a “very, very large segment” of its earnings from renewable power. And in an admission that the growing opposition to Shell’s controversial search for oil in the Arctic was putting increasing pressure on him, van Beurden admitted he had gone on a “personal journey” to justify the decision to drill. The Shell boss said he accepted the general premise contained in independent studies that have concluded that dangerous levels of global warming above 2C will occur unless CO2 is buried or reserves are kept in the ground.
Van Beurden said Shell, along with “a majority of society”, acknowledged that climate change was a real and serious issue. 12 TED Talks to watch this Earth Day. Planet Earth doesn’t exactly have a birthday. But every year on April 22, we celebrate Earth Day — the anniversary of the moment the environmental movement went mass.
According to EarthDay.org, Earth Day was founded in 1970 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, who called for a “national teach-in on the environment” after witnessing the terrible effects of the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. The first Earth Day brought major actions to the streets of many major U.S. Cities. For fun, check out this vintage newscast from after that first Earth Day. Earth Day went global in 1990 and, today, is celebrated in an estimated 192 countries. The Inside Story of Diageo's Stunning Carbon Achievement - Andrew Winston. By Andrew Winston | 11:00 AM February 20, 2013 This is the exclusive, short story of how Diageo North America, with creativity and guts, both in operations and in the senior ranks, achieved the holy grail of carbon emissions reductions.
They did it without using carbon offsets — and about 38 years earlier than they had to. Here’s what scientists are telling us: the world must cut carbon emissions by at least 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050 to (we hope) avoid the worst of climate change. This level of change seemed like a pipe dream to many, including me… until I spoke last fall to Roberta Barbieri, the global manager for environmental sustainability for Diageo, the $17 billion spirits company. Imagine my shock, as we talked about setting aggressive goals on carbon emissions, when she casually mentioned that Diageo’s North American division — a group with $5.58 billion in sales and 14 production and manufacturing facilities — had already cut emissions 80 percent.
Salcheto Winery.