Less well-known is that Venice is also choking on its own pollution.

Hundreds of diesel-powered vaporetti - commuter boats or water buses - spew out tonnes of carbon as they zigzag through the city's canals. Zipping to and from the Italian mainland, they ferry the 25 million tourists that visit annually, as well as food, hotel laundry and goods.

But some in this climate-challenged city believe they have at least a partial answer to Venice's environmental problems; an alternative vaporetto powered not by diesel but by hydrogen, a fuel that emits only water vapour when burnt and none of the carbon or greenhouse gases which cause pollution and climate change.

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Posted on - 2020-02-09

Between last September and this March, it will become the final resting place for 1,000 fibreglass turbine blades.

These blades, which have reached the end of their 25-year working lives, come from three wind farms in the north-western US state. Each is about 90m (300ft) long, and will be cut into three, then the pieces will be stacked and buried.

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Posted on - 2020-02-09

Controversy has dogged the shipping sector's response to the climate crisis for decades. The industry may only account for three per cent of global emissions, but it is routinely accused of lagging other sectors in its decarbonisation efforts and as susch is projected to generating over a tenth of worldwide emissions by 2050. Rules governing the industry are set by the UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which in 2018 agreed a target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2050. But progress towards that goal has since been slow, with measures seen as being among the most effective mechanisms for curbing emissions in the short-term - such as mandating speed reduction or imposing tighter emissions limits - repeatedly kicked into the long grass.

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Posted on - 2020-02-09