Solar, wind costs could fall up to 59 percent by 2025, study says

France to formally ratify Paris climate accord on June 15 – Minister
PARIS (Reuters) – President Francois Hollande will formally sign the Paris climate agreement on Wednesday, June 15, making France the first industrialized nation to ratify the landmark accord, Environment Minister Segolene Royal said on Friday.

Exclusive: Irving Oil dust pollution exceeded limits in Canadian city
(Reuters) – Irving Oil’s refinery in the Canadian province of New Brunswick spewed an excessive amount of ash-like catalyst into the surrounding city of Saint John at least a dozen times since 2010 as regulators launched and later abandoned a study of its health impacts, according to filings reviewed by Reuters.

Japan weather bureau sees high possibility of La Nina
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s weather bureau said on Friday there was a high possibility that a La Nina weather pattern would emerge during the country’s summer, which runs from around June to August, and continue through autumn.

Quake of magnitude 6.4 strikes in Nicaragua: USGS
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – An earthquake of magnitude 6.4 struck in the central American nation of Nicaragua on Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

Brazil police say Samarco ignored risk of dam collapse
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazil’s federal police accused on Thursday mining company Samarco, a joint venture between Vale SA and BHP Billiton, of willful misconduct in relation to a deadly dam burst last November, saying the company had ignored clear signs the dam was at risk of collapsing.

South African firefighters leaving Canada blaze after pay dispute
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – A team of South African firefighters dispatched to Canada to fight a massive wildfire in the oil sands region is heading home after a pay dispute, South African officials said on Thursday.

ADM, biofuel supporters say EPA underestimates use of higher-ethanol fuels
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) – Archer Daniels Midland Co and other supporters of biofuels on Thursday said U.S. regulators grossly underestimated the amount of higher-ethanol fuel blends at pumps when requirements for next year’s use of renewables were proposed.

Canadian Natural, Cenovus resume Pelican Lake operations after fire threat
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – Canadian Natural Resources Ltd and Cenovus Energy said they restarted operations at two oil sands facilities in the Wabasca region of northern Alberta on Thursday after a wildfire threat dissipated.

EU court drops antidumping duties on imports of U.S. ethanol
(Reuters) – The European Union court has dropped antidumping duties on imports of ethanol from the United States, ending a years-long dispute between the two countries, the European General Court said in a ruling on Thursday.

Marathon Petroleum, U.S. reach agreement on refinery pollution
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A subsidiary of Marathon Petroleum Corp will spend about $334.6 million on pollution abatement at refineries in five states and pay a $326,500 civil penalty, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday.

Divers tackle Geat Barrier Reef’s prickliest pest
QUEENSLAND, Australia – – The world’s largest coral reef ecosystem – the Great Barrier Reef – is under threat from Crown of Thorns Starfish, which are devouring large coral outcrops. Reducing numbers of these starfish is essential for the future of the reef.

European ruling on olive tree cull sparks fear in Italy
ROME (Reuters) – European countries can be forced to cull olive trees to stop the spread of a deadly bacterium, the European Union ruled on Thursday, sparking concern in a grove-dotted region of Italy.

OECD warns of rising premature deaths, costs of air pollution
LONDON (Reuters) – Outdoor air pollution could cause 6 to 9 million premature deaths and represent an economic cost of around $2.6 trillion a year by 2060 unless action is taken, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a report released on Thursday.

German prosecutors investigate VW over deleted data
HAMBURG/LONDON (Reuters) – German prosecutors are investigating whether Volkswagen employees deleted data that could be harmful to the company before the carmaker admitted to U.S. authorities that it had cheated diesel-emissions tests.

U.S. weather forecaster sees high chance of La Nina developing
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. government weather forecaster on Thursday maintained its projections for the La Nina weather phenomenon to take place in the Northern Hemisphere later this year, as El Nino conditions dissipated.

Thailand’s animal tourism under scrutiny after Tiger Temple raid
BANGKOK (Reuters) – From selfies with tigers to elephant rides and orangutan boxing, Thailand offers tourists an array of attractions that animal rights activists say are cruel and should be shut down.

Unlikely casualty in California’s renewable energy boom: natural gas
(Reuters) – In February of 2001, then California Governor Gray Davis stood at the site of Calpine Corp’s new Sutter natural gas power plant and unveiled his plan to fast-track construction of similar stations to add 20,000 megawatts of modern, efficient generation to the state in three years.

U.S. solar market to nearly double in 2016, led by utilities
(Reuters) – The U.S. solar energy market will nearly double new installations this year to 14.5 gigawatts, led by utility projects that developers scrambled to bring online in anticipation of the expiration of a key federal tax credit, according to a report published on Thursday.

Quake of magnitude 6.2 strikes off Indonesia’s Lombok: USGS
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 struck off the Indonesian island of Lombok on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey said.

Arizona wildfire burns near site of 2013 blaze that killed 19 firefighters
PHOENIX (Reuters) – A major brush fire burned on Wednesday in central Arizona forcing roughly 250 residents to evacuate a small town near the site where 19 firefighters died in another blaze roughly three years ago, authorities said.

Canada talking green, making plans; investors unsure
TORONTO (Reuters) – Green talk is in the air in Canada these days, but investors are waiting for the public policy dust to settle and risk-reward metrics to improve before committing big money to what are still largely considered boom-or-bust companies.

U.S. agents move against illegal timber imports from Amazon
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. agents searched the offices of a California-based wood importer this week as part of a broadening government crackdown on imports of illegally harvested timber, according to a previously unreported federal search warrant seen by Reuters.

Sinkhole closes part of Canadian capital’s downtown
OTTAWA (Reuters) – A large sinkhole closed down a portion of Canada’s capital on Wednesday and forced the evacuation of businesses just a few blocks from the country’s parliament.

EU politicians say no to forests as easy option for curbing emissions
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Seven political groups in the European Parliament on Wednesday called on the European Commission to prevent nations such as a Poland using forests to try to escape from cutting emissions in other areas.

Floating school in Lagos lagoon collapses under heavy rains
LAGOS (Reuters) – A floating school built to withstand storms and floods at a lagoon in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos and educate children from a nearby slum has collapsed only seven months after its official opening.

Rise in global CO2 emissions from energy use slowed in 2015 -BP
LONDON (Reuters) – Carbon dioxide emissions from energy consumption grew by 0.1 percent last year in their smallest advance since 2009 due to lower coal use and sluggish growth, BP said on Wednesday in its annual energy review.

Drought-parched Zambia turns to the sun to keep water flowing
KAZUNGULA, Zambia (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Munji Malambo and his younger brother used to wake up at 5 a.m. every day to fetch water for their family and livestock. With the nearest working well over two kilometers away, the boys often missed school as they carried enough water home.

South Africa says domestic rhino horn trade on ice, takes issue to top court
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s department of environmental affairs said on Wednesday an on-again-off-again moratorium on domestic trade in rhino horn had been reinstated after it appealed to the top court in the land to render judgment on the thorny issue.

VW receives regulatory approval for fixes on 1.1 million cars
BERLIN (Reuters) – Volkswagen said on Wednesday it received regulatory approval to fix another 1.1 million cars, raising the number of VW models cleared for refitting to more than 2.5 million since the start of the year.

Monsoon rains arrive at India’s Kerala coast – weather office source
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Annual monsoon rains arrived at the Kerala coast in southern India on Wednesday, a day later than forecast, a weather office source said, easing fears over farm and economic growth after two straight droughts hit rural income and agricultural output.

New study throws doubt on China car emissions data
BEIJING (Reuters) – Carbon emissions from cars in the Chinese city of Chengdu could be underestimated by more than half under conventional testing methods, according to the preliminary results of a study released on Wednesday.

China says important glacier is melting due to climate change
BEIJING (Reuters) – A glacier that is one of the largest at the source of China’s Yangtze River is fast retreating because of climate change, state media said.

Historic spring grain rally shifts focus to U.S. crop weather
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Grain prices have climbed this month to their highest point of the year, in one of the steepest U.S. planting-season rallies on record, propelled by a perfect storm of acute demand, crop weather concerns, currency gyrations and speculative buying.

Floods set to peak across Australian state of Tasmania, threaten historic city
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Flooding in Tasmania – Australia’s southernmost state – will peak on Wednesday, the country’s Bureau of Meteorology said, threatening one of the country’s oldest cities.

Frost heads for Brazil corn areas in Parana state
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Forecasts are calling for freezing temperatures over corn fields in Parana state, Brazil’s No. 2 producer of the grain, putting yields at risk when the meat industry is counting on harvest of the new crop to push down record high feed prices.

Magnitude 6.6 earthquake strikes off Indonesia’s Moluccas: USGS
LONDON (Reuters) – An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck off the eastern coast of Indonesia on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Tests show Fiat engines comply with emissions rules: minister
ROME (Reuters) – Fiat Chrysler diesel engines have been tested and they comply with emissions regulations, Italy’s Transport Minister Graziano Delrio said on Tuesday, after German media reported that irregularities had been found.

Obama: discussed with Modi how to speed enactment of climate pact
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that he and visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed how to ensure a worldwide agreement forged in Paris to curb climate change could be enacted swiftly.

Germany’s K+S says Kassel prosecutors drop pollution case
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German potash and salt miner K+S said on Tuesday that public prosecutors in the city of Kassel, where the company is headquartered, had dropped investigations into suspected water pollution because they had found no evidence of misconduct.

Norway brings forward carbon neutrality goal to 2030
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s parliament has agreed on a goal to cut the country’s net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2030, moving the deadline forward by 20 years, an official at the national assembly said on Tuesday.

Magnitude 6.4 quake strikes off west coast of Mexico: USGS
LONDON (Reuters) – An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 struck off the west coast of Mexico on Tuesday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Most big users failing on cotton sustainability: report
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Most companies using cotton do nearly nothing to improve environmental sustainability in its supply, environmental groups said on Tuesday, citing a report by an online green consumer site.

Cocoa exporter rejections rise on quality of Ivory Coast mid-crop
SAN PEDRO, Ivory Coast (Reuters) – Exporters are rejecting roughly half of cocoa port arrivals from top producer Ivory Coast on quality grounds, adding to problems that are already expected to result in a 180,000 tonne global supply deficit this year.

Palm plantations shaken by the green body they helped create
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – In 2004, Malaysian palm oil producer IOI Group became a founding member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and later an executive board member in what seemed like a cosy arrangement.

Strong wind, heavy rain to douse southeast U.S. as storm moves into Atlantic
(Reuters) – Strong winds and heavy rainfall were expected across the southeastern United States on Tuesday even as the center of Tropical Storm Colin was moving into the Atlantic Ocean.

Chances of La Nina event still 50 percent as Pacific cools: weather bureau
SYDNEY (Reuters) – The chances of a La Nina weather event forming later in 2016 are 50 percent, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said on Tuesday, as the tropical Pacific Ocean continues to cool.

Germany wants stricter EU rules for car emissions
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany wants stricter European Union rules on emissions from motor vehicles, the transport ministry said on Monday, confirming a report by the financial daily Handelsblatt.

Two rescued Colombian circus lions die at South African refuge
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Two lions rescued from circuses in Colombia and brought to a South African refuge in April have died, the organization that arranged the rescue and airlift operation said on its website.