Humanitarian plan aims to assist 109 million vulnerable people in 2020 A record 168 million people worldwide will need help and protection in 2020, or roughly 1 in every 45 people on the planet, the UN’s top humanitarian official said on Wednesday. Mark Lowcock was speaking in Geneva, where the UN and its humanitarian partners...Read More

As the planet warms due to excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a solution for drawing down that carbon — or at least a major part of it — lies silently below us. Soil organic matter — made of decomposing plant, animal and microbial tissue — is what distinguishes healthy, vibrant soil from just plain...Read More

The latest example of building momentum for greater investing in companies with strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices was provided this week in the form of new research from Edelman. An overwhelming majority of investors now expect companies to implement effective ESG practices, according to Edelman’s survey of 600 institutional investors in six countries...Read More

The impact investing movement is gaining momentum at a time when the world is facing unprecedented challenges Now is the time for an urgent alliance of capital and communities for the future of the country, says environmental activist David Ritter. In an impassioned plea at the Impact Investment Summit Asia Pacific, the Greenpeace CEO joined...Read More

MADRID (Reuters) – A surprise drop in coal use in the United States and Europe has helped to slow the growth of global carbon dioxide emissions this year, with softening demand in China and India also contributing, according to a study published on Wednesday. The report, launched at a U.N. climate summit in Madrid, showed...Read More

A less error-prone DNA editing method could correct many more harmful mutations than was previously possible. A new method, called “prime editing,” could, in principle, correct around 89 percent of the mutations that cause inherited human disease. ILLUSTRATION: CASEY CHIN Andrew Anzalone was restless. It was late fall of 2017. The year was winding down,...Read More

MADRID (Reuters) – The world must stop a “war against nature” and find more political will to combat climate change, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday, the eve of a two-week global climate summit in Madrid. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a news conference on the eve of the U.N. climate summit...Read More

A technology developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and scaled up by Vertimass LLC to convert ethanol into fuels suitable for aviation, shipping and other heavy-duty applications can be price-competitive with conventional fuels while retaining the sustainability benefits of bio-based ethanol, according to a new analysis. ORNL worked with technology...Read More

A move towards a more sustainable bio-based economy has been given a new boost by researchers who have been able to simplify a process to transform waste materials into high value chemicals. A collaboration between the UK and Brazil has shown that waste sugar cane and wheat straw from agricultural processes can be made directly...Read More

OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s $1.1 trillion wealth fund, the world’s largest, said climate change dominated discussions about whether it should sell stakes in companies because they are considered too risky. FILE PHOTO: Emissions from a power plant chimney rise over Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia January 13, 2017. REUTERS/B. Rentsendorj/File Photo The fund, which invests revenues from Norway’s oil...Read More