Drinks firm Heineken UK, food producer Filippo Berio and utility company Anglian Water Services are among six businesses that have agreed to six-figure charity payments after breaching environmental laws.
Ireland's wind farms are facing varied and time-consuming problems in reaching EU proposals on renewable energy. By 2020 Ireland has to cut carbon emissions by 20% and increase renewable energy to 16%. To meet the targets, between 300 and 400 MW need to be connected to the grid annually, however last year only 58 MW of wind energy was added reports the Sunday business Post.
Orange juice, light bulbs and the humble potato will now display labels telling shoppers the size of each product's carbon footprint, Tesco has announced. Tesco says the labels will help their shoppers make more informed choices A range of 20 products will bear the Carbon Trust's Carbon Reduction Label allowing customers to compare the carbon impact of the items in their shopping trolley. The scheme follows the trial of the labels on other products including Walkers crisps and Innocent drinks.
Consumers could be paid for recycling their plastic bottles under a scheme proposed by the Campaign to Protect Rural England. CPRE president Bill Bryson and the Wombles launched the campaign in London's Leicester Square (Copyright CPRE) An extra 10 pence would be added to the cost of goods such as drinks which would be returned to the consumer after the bottle is taken to collection points.
New regulations to control the export of waste from Ireland for recycling and recovery have been announced by the minister for the environment, heritage and local government. The Waste Management Regulations 2008 were unveiled by Environment Minister John Gormley. The regulations introduce a registration system for waste brokers and dealers which ministers hope will provide increased controls on companies who arrange shipments of waste. Mr Gormley said at present 83% of the waste in Ireland collected for recycling or recovery is "necessarily exported".
The European Union is set to consider plans to make carbon capture and storage mandatory for new coal fired power stations in an effort to significantly reduce the emissions of the energy sector. With the stick is likely to come a carrot, however, with early adopters possibly picking up bonus credits under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Several months ago EU leaders promised a dozen large demonstration projects but so far no firm proposals have been put forward for a single commercial-scale CCS coal power station.
authorities failed to act when they became aware of a waterborne epidemic following the breakdown of water treatment facilities. The deaths occurred in the Eastern Cape province last October but have only come to light now after the leak of a report into the epidemic. Children died from diarrhoea and other complications but the exact disease which led to the tragedy is unknown as no stool samples were taken by the hospitals treating those affected.
While governments around the world are pouring funding into counter-terrorism measures, few are facing up to the security threat presented by climate change. THe unpredictable nature of climate chaos should not be allowed to stop us preparing for the worst This is the finding of a report published by defence and security think tank the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) this week.
Edie Scientists call for radical changes to agriculture (22 April 2008) Food production will have to change radically to continue to feed the world in the face of climate change, a major new report by more than 400 scientists has said. The study, published by the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), was presented to an intergovernmental plenary in Johannesburg, South Africa.
People across the UK were left sniffing the air in disgust on Friday after strong easterly winds spread unpleasant farming or industrial smells from the continent. The Met Office said it had received reports of the pong - dubbed Euro-whiff - from a wide area across south east England stretching from East Anglia to Dorset, and from the south coast up to Norfolk. Experts said the odour was believed to be from manure being used on agricultural land on the continent, perhaps mixed with industrial aromas from the Ruhr region in north west Germany.
An Ireland-based renewable energy firm has given Euro 62m (US$100m) in funding to a solar energy specialist. NTR has invested the money in the US-based firm Stirling Energy Systems (SES) after reaching an agreement that will give NTR a controlling interest. The funding will allow SES to begin work on two major solar farms in southern California and increase its production of its SunCatcher solar energy generators. The SunCatcher technology uses large mirrored dishes to direct sunlight onto an engine capable of turning the energy into electricity.
