By Timothy Abington and Kelly Gilblom (Bloomberg) –Major oil companies are poised to do a record number of clean-energy deals this year, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc leading a group of European companies that are well ahead of their U.S. rivals.

The data compiled by BloombergNEF underscore the quickening pace of the transition to low-carbon energy among the world’s largest fossil fuel producers, and the scale of the trans-Atlantic divide. European majors closed seven times as many deals with renewable-electricity and storage companies as their U.S. counterparts since 2010.

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Posted on - 2019-09-04

With school back in session and agendas quickly filling up after the late Northern summer hiatus, September is often one of the busiest months, and this year is no exception. High-level meetings are taking place throughout September, and the “Summit Week” at the end of the month is expected to chart the course for the rest of the year and into 2020.

The month opens with a two-week meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 14) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which is expected to assess progress under the UNCCD Strategic Framework. This Framework seeks to align the Convention’s goals with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, among other goals. In conjunction with the COP, the Global Youth Caucus on Desertification and Land, a formal constituency to the UNCCD will convene a Desertification Youth Forum to discuss the youth perspective.

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Posted on - 2019-09-04

A Chinese nickel mine operator has apologised after accidentally spilling an estimated 200,000 litres of toxic slurry into a bay in Papua New Guinea's Madang province, turning the water bright red and staining the shore.Mining authorities in PNG said the spilled material was a mineral-rich slurry that had been piped to the processing plant at Basamuk Bay from a nickel mine site 135 kilometres inland.

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Posted on - 2019-09-04