Portal:Sustainable development/Current events

Add most recent items to the top. Archive items as needed.

• June 19, 2014: A report shows that 22% of global electricity production in 2013 was from renewables. (Wall Street Journal)
• May 12, 2014: IRENA report shows 14% global employment growth in the renewables sector in 2013, led by China. (The Guardian)
• April 22, 2014: Apple announces that 94% of its buildings and 100% of its data centres are now powered by renewable energy. (The Guardian)
• April 13, 2014: According to the UN's Fifth IPCC Report the most realistic option for the future is to triple the use of renewable energy. (The Guardian)
• March 19: Interfaith Climate and Energy Conference at the Mishkenot Sha’ananim Conference Center in Jerusalem
• August 1 - August 8: European Permaculture Conference Escherode/Kassel, Germany

Archive

Add most recent items to the top.

• October 28: Google announces plans to invest tens of millions of dollars on renewable energy research, including solar thermal power, wind power and geothermal power. (InfoWorld)
• October 12: Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) share the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. (Washington Post)
• September 5: The World Bank launches its Lighting Africa initiative, aiming to provide modern lighting by renewable or mechanical means to 250 million people in sub-Saharan Africa who lack access to electricity. (AFP via Google)
• Ongoing: Global spread of H5N1
• September 5: The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown launches the International Health Partnership consisting of the World Health Organisation, the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as the governments of the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
• August 15: The Myanmar government doubles the price of petrol and increases the cost of compressed natural gas fivefold leaving some commuters stranded. (BBC)
• August 10: The Ugandan government announces plans to pay the "chronically poor" earning less than a dollar a day a poverty allowance of $10 a month. (AP via the Guardian)
• July 27: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation dispatches a team to investigate the shooting of four mountain gorillas in the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (CNN)
• July 26: Effects of the 2007 European heat wave worsen with new forest fires being reported. (BBC)
• July 18: Nelson Mandela marks his 89th birthday by forming The Elders, dedicated to finding new ways to resolve some of the world's longest-running crises. (Al Jazeera)
• July 16: China punishes 95 officials for allowing workers and children to labour in slave-like conditions in brick kilns. (Reuters)
• July 9: Snow falls in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the first time in 89 years and the second time in recorded history. Two people die of exposure in Argentina while one person dies in Chile. (BBC)
• July 8: Record breaking drought and heat continue as the 2007 Western North American heat wave kills hundreds of trout from water temperatures in Yellowstone, cities set all-time record highs, major interstate freeways are closed by wildfires (I-70, I-80, I-15), and a fire in central Utah becomes the largest in state history. (AP via Yahoo! News)
• July 7: Live Earth gets underway with concerts in Australia, the United States, Germany, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Japan and China. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• June 28: It is announced that people will be asked to commit to a 7-point pledge on global warming during the July 7 Live Earth concerts. (Live Earth}
• June 19: According to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, China has surpassed the United States as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. (Environment News Service)
• June 13: Ireland's Green Party (Comhaontas Glas) agree to go into government with Fianna Fáil as part of Ireland's 30th Dáil, when it opens on 14 June 2007. (RTÉ)
• June 4: The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that 40% of the world population will be affected by the loss of glaciers and snow on the mountains of Asia due to global warming. (UNEP)
• June 1: A new law governing the safety of chemicals in the European Union goes into effect. (BBCNews)
• May 31: Japan fails to win in its bid to lift a commercial moratorium on whaling at the International Whaling Commission. (News Limited)
• May 29: US President George W. Bush nominates former deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick as President of the World Bank. (BBC)
• May 23: The British Government announce a carbon emissions trading scheme, the Carbon Reduction Commitment, that will apply to hotel chains, supermarkets, banks, and other large organisations.
• May 22: International Day for Biological Diversity
• May 17: Paul Wolfowitz announces his resignation effective June 30 as president of the World Bank Group after protracted discussions over alleged ethics violations. (MSNBC)
• May 14: President George W. Bush orders United States government agencies to take regulatory steps to reduce automobile emissions. (Bloomberg)
• May 8: 31 US states and 2 provinces of Canada launch The Climate Registry to record and track carbon emissions.
• April 21-27 2007: Sustainable living awareness campaign, National Downshifting Week UK, encourages participants to Slow Down and Green Up.[1]