The Global Gender Gap Index annually benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions (Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment). It is the longest-standing index tracking the progress of numerous countries’ efforts towards closing these gaps over time since …
Overfishing partly caused by booming demand for shark fin soup, a delicacy in some Asian countries, is threatening the existence of 11 kinds of ocean sharks, an international study showed on Thursday. The fish, often seen as ferocious sea predators, suffer from largely unregulated fishing for their valuable fins, said …
Germany outlined plans on Tuesday to extend the world's "protected areas" to conserve natural habitats and appealed to industrialised states to donate cash to aid developing nations meet the costs. Germany, president of a UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn, announced its "Life Web Initiative" on the second day …
European Union lawmakers backed a watered-down law on "green crime" on Monday that would make dumping toxic waste or illegally transporting hazardous materials a criminal offence throughout the bloc. The draft law obliges the EU's 27 member states to treat and punish as criminal acts a list of nine offences …
One in eight of the world's birds are at risk of extinction as climate change puts birds under great pressure, a leading conservation group warned on Monday. The population of rare birds such as the Floreana mockingbird of the Galapagos Islands or the spoon-billed sandpiper, which breeds in north-eastern Russia …
By Paul Krugman I have seen the future, and it works. O.K., I know that these days you're supposed to see the future in China or India, not in the heart of "old Europe." But we're living in a world in which oil prices keep setting records, in which the …
The world faces a Herculean task to safeguard animal and plant life from climate change and pollution, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said at the opening of a UN biodiversity conference on Monday. UN experts say human activities including greenhouse gas emissions mean the planet is facing the most serious …
British utility Scottish Southern Energy Plc(SSE) will build the world's largest offshore wind farm and has awarded $3 billion in contracts to US engineer Fluor Coip and Germany's Siemens AG. Despite industry doubts about the viability of offshore wind .SSE said it would build the farm off Britain's east coast. …
Nearly 200 governments will say next week they are unlikely to meet a target of slowing the rate of extinctions of living species by 2010, a failure which could threaten future food supplies. Up to 5,000 delegates and some heads of state, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, will try to …
AUSTRALIA is taking a wrong path by offering subsidies to install solar rooftop panels, instead of promising households high prices if they sell excess power to the grid, a leading German MP has warned. Hans Josef Fell, the Greens' energy spokesman and co-author of Germany's pathbreaking Renewable Energies Act, said …
Scientists have decried the decision by two German universities to pull the plug on field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops, calling it a "disgraceful' interference with scientists' freedom to research.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Brazil on Wednesday to adopt tougher environmental standards in producing biofuels but said rich nations needed to pay up to help protect rain forests and their biodiversity. Brazil is the world's largest exporter of ethanol, which it derives from sugar cane. Critics say increased production …
The economic slowdown, regulatory conflicts and competition from China pose the main risks to future growth of the solar industry, the head of the European Photovoltaic Industry Associations told Reuters. "The two key elements for me are the regulatory conflict in Europe, particularly in Germany with the revision of the …
Governments are set to miss a self-imposed goal of slowing the rate of extinctions by 2010 and as a result are putting long-term food supplies at risk, a top environmentalist said before a UN biodiversity conference. Jim Leape, Director General of the WWF, told Reuters that countries at the May …
A handful of the world's largest agricultural biotechnology companies are seeking hundreds of patents on gene-altered crops designed to withstand drought and other environmental stresses, part of a race for dominance in the potentially lucrative market for crops that can handle global warming, according to a report being released Tuesday. …
German carmaker Volkswagen and Japan's Sanyo Electric Co will jointly develop a lithium-ion bat tery to be used in hybrid and electric cars, the Nikkei Financial Daily reported on Sunday. Volkswagen will aim to start importing and using the battery in its hybrid and electric cars by 2012, the Nikkei …
About 5,000 activists marched through the German city of Bonn on Monday to protest against genetically modified food at the start of a UN conference to discuss risks linked to the technology. Campaigners, many waving colourful flags and banners with slogans such as "Biofuel Creates Hunger" and "Good Food Instead …
Nations must act to slow extinction rates, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday, arguing the loss of species threatened food supplies for billions of people. Just 10 days before the start of a UN summit on biodiversity in the western city of Bonn, Gabriel told the German parliament …
German Minister Stops Biofuel Blending Plans GERMANY: April 7, 2008 BERLIN - German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Friday he had stopped government plans to raise compulsory bioethanol blending levels in fossil gasoline. Politicians and industry groups had criticised the plans to raise the level to 10 percent for …
Biotechnology companies, who argue they could help solve the global food crisis, are hoping for a boost on Wednesday as regulators attempt to overcome the deadlock over growing genetically modified food in the European Union. With just one crop, an insect-resistant maize, approved for cultivation in the past decade and …
A European Union proposal to auction all carbon dioxide perm its rather than hand some out for free would cost Germany 113 billion euros($175.6 billion) in the eight years through 2020, according to industry group VIK. Both industrial and household consumers would bear the cost as energy providers raise tariffs …
