The report presents a mixed picture. Over the past 25 years, there have been notable improvements in child well-being in the group of countries examined in this report: steady decline in child mortality, overall reduction in adolescent suicide and increase in school completion rates. But the last five years have …
Bangladesh is one of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world. Consulates of UK, France and Germany have visited three climate adaptation projects in Dhamrai of Dhaka to emphasise on joint climate diplomacy in Bangladesh. British High Commissioner Robert W Gibson, French Chargé Babou Kamichetty and German Chargé Dr …
World governments are facing a "pivotal moment" on dealing with climate change, the UK's energy secretary will say on Tuesday, before a meeting of heads of state and government in New York this month. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has called the meeting of world leaders on the back …
Dengue fever is the most prevalent mosquito-borne viral disease worldwide. Dengue transmission is critically dependent on climatic factors and there is much concern as to whether climate change would spread the disease to areas currently unaffected. The occurrence of autochthonous infections in Croatia and France in 2010 has raised concerns …
China and France are jointly constructing a top-level biosafety lab in Wuhan, Hubei province, which will facilitate scientific research into dangerous viruses such as Ebola, according to French ambassador to China Sylvie Bermann. She made the remarks at the Sino-France Health Forum in Beijing on Friday, adding that the lab …
Power Clouds, a global renewable energy project that encourages citizens around the world to collectively build photovoltaic power plants, has released metrics for its first year of activity. Since its inception in March 2013, the project has more than 50,000 participants in more than 100 countries with 50,000 solar panels …
This may confirm suspicions that many of us have already had. Besides leading the world in consumer debt and military spending, the U.S. can now add climate denial to that list. That is, according to a Global Trends survey by the U.K.-based market research firm Ipsos MORI. The study polled …
France will mobilise about 10 billion euros ($13.41 billion) for a package of tax breaks, low-cost loans and bonuses to boost investment in renewable energy and cut the country's oil and gas bill, Energy Minister Segolene Royal said on Tuesday. Royal, President Francois Hollande's fourth energy minister in two years, …
Electricity generation from thermoelectric power plants is inextricably linked to water resources at nearly all stages in the power production cycle, yet this critical constraint has been largely overlooked in policy and planning. While this assumption suggests that water is inexpensive and abundant, global water resources are increasingly strained by …
This report describes the application of a new mixed-integer linear programming model of the power sector that accounts for water used for thermal cooling. The model is used to explore a series of scenarios for each of four case studies—the North Grid of China, India, France, and the state of …
France's energy minister threw her weight behind an energy savings goal of at least 30 percent for 2030 ahead of talks in Brussels on Wednesday to thrash out a target. Energy efficiency has gained popularity in the context of the Ukraine crisis as EU member states seek to do all …
Aid group Oxfam has called on other rich nations to follow the example of Germany, which has promised €750m ($1bn) for the UN's fledgling Green Climate Fund. "This announcement ends the deafening silence we've had so far around the empty Green Climate Fund that is supposed to support poor countries …
Fossil fuels will remain an indispensable part of the global energy supply for at least the next 50 years, so a means must be found to burn them without pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. According to Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator of the Financial Times: "(Just) as the civilisation …
Report is the first of its kind to prescribe concrete actions that the biggest 15 economies must take to keep warming below 2C The United Nations was presented with a roadmap to avoid a climate catastrophe on Tuesday, prescribing specific actions for the world’s biggest economies to keep warming below …
This interim 2014 report by the Deep Decarbonization Pathway Project (DDPP) summarizes preliminary findings of the pathways developed by the DDPP Country Research Teams with the objective of achieving emission reductions consistent with limiting global warming to less than 2°C. The DDPP is a knowledge network comprising 15 Country Research …
France has proposed to give India a 1 billion euro ($1.4 billion) credit line to fund sustainable infrastructure and urban development projects, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Tuesday. The credit line would be available over three years and would be delivered through the French Development Agency, Fabius, who began …
If Europe adopted a style of farming that abstains from plowing after a harvest, local temperatures could drop as much as two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), researchers said Monday. The reason lies in the color of the soil: untilled land is lighter and reflects sunlight, making the area cooler …
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said the government will compensate for lower revenue from a planned ecology tax through other types of levies, for example motorway toll taxes. The government last November froze plans for an "eco-tax" on trucks after protests by farmers and truckers in northwestern France, who clashed …
France announced on Monday a package of tax breaks and low-cost loans to improve insulation in buildings and boost investment in renewable energy, which is supposed to provide 40 percent of the country's electricity by 2030. The state will provide financial help for citizens and firms, and back local authority …
France, one of the world's biggest proponents and exporters of nuclear power, is losing its appetite for the atom at home. French energy and environment minister Ségolène Royal on Wednesday presented a bill to boost renewable sources in the national energy mix and limit nuclear power production at current levels. …
China is moving quickly to become the first country to operate the world’s most powerful atomic reactor even as France’s nuclear regulator says communication and cooperation on safety measures with its Chinese counterparts are lacking. In the coastal city of Taishan, 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the financial hub of …
