Environment

To promote sustainable means of transport, France is likely to give $2,975 to its citizens in exchange for old cars and purchase electric bicycles. Reportedly, France lawmakers have approved the cash-for-clunkers incentive in preliminary voting. France would become the first nation in the world to implement such a scheme, claimed the French Federation of Bicycle Users. However, Finland and Lithuania have offered similar schemes in the past.… read-more

Almost 50% of the Methane emissions comes from aquatic ecosystems including natural, human-created and human-impacted aquatic ecosystems, claimed a study in journal 'Nature Geoscience'. The paper highlighted that human-made aquatic systems are major contributors as they release 41%-53% of global methane. Reportedly, the coastal aquaculture farms emit 7-430 times more methane than other coastal farms. While global methane emissions remained… read-more

In an environment-friendly move, sports brand Nike has announced to refurbish all old sneakers returned within 60 days of purchase. Nike, after inspecting the wear and tear, will sell them at a discounted price. Aiming to reduce landfill waste and use non-recyclable materials, Nike has rolled out this sustainable footwear production policy. Assigning a condition-grade for the hand refurbished shoes, Nike also applies a 60-day return policy on… read-more

In a historic move, New Zealand on April 13 introduced a legislation that will mandate financial firms to chalk out plans related to climate-related risks and opportunities. Reportedly, banks, insurers, and wealth management firms listed on the country's stock exchange will now have to report about how their investments are impacting the climate. With this initiative, the country aims to achieve the net-zero carbon emissions goal by 2050. … read-more

The Science Ministry has stated that non-uniformity of Himalayas' might lead to "significantly large earthquake events" in future. The study has revealed that the Himalayas have developed a crystal property, anisotropy, that results in causing earthquakes. Studying seismic activity of 167 earthquakes, it cited Indo-Eurasia collision, happening for the past 50 million years, as the reason behind anisotropy. Notably, the Climate Risk Index also… read-more