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Search resuls for: "United Nations Environment Program"


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Depleted uranium is a dense by-product left over when uranium is enriched for use in nuclear reactors or nuclear weapons. The depleted uranium is still radioactive, but has a much lower level of the isotopes U-235 and U-234 - way less than the levels in natural uranium ore - reducing its radioactivity. The United States, Britain, Russia, China, France and Pakistan produce depleted uranium weapons, which are not classified as nuclear weapons, according to the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons. Ingesting or inhaling quantities of uranium - even depleted uranium - is dangerous: it can depress renal function and raises the risk of developing a range of cancers. A United Nations Environment Programme report on the impact of depleted uranium on Serbia and Montenegro found "no significant, widespread contamination".
Persons: Sergei Ryabkov, Ryabkov, Guy Faulconbridge, Frank Jack Daniel, Tomasz Janowski, Kevin Liffey Organizations: Pentagon, International Atomic Energy Agency, Associated Universities, of, DU, WHO, International Coalition, Uranium, NATO, Royal Society, IAEA, United Nations Environment, TASS, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Russian, Tennessee, United States, Britain, Russia, China, France, Pakistan, Yugoslavia, Balkans, London, Serbia, Montenegro, RUSSIA, Washington
Sand dredging is 'sterilising' ocean floor, UN warns
  + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
REUTERS/Ann Wang/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsGENEVA, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Around 6 billion tons of marine sand is being dug up each year in a growing practice that a U.N. agency said is unsustainable and can wipe out local marine life irreversibly. The findings from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) coincide with the launch of a new platform 'Marine Sand Watch' backed by funding from the Swiss government that monitors dredging activities using marine tracking and artificial intelligence. "The amount of sand we are withdrawing from the environment is considerable and has a large impact," UNEP's Pascal Peduzzi told a Geneva press briefing. In some cases, companies remove all the sand to the bedrock, meaning that "life may never recover", Peduzzi added. China, the Netherlands, the United States and Belgium are among the countries most active in the sector, he said.
Persons: Ann Wang, Pascal Peduzzi, Peduzzi, Arnaud Vander Velpen, Emma Farge, Christina Fincher Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, University of Geneva, Thomson Locations: Taiwan, Swiss, Geneva, China, United States, Netherlands, Belgium
New York CNN —A group of American fashion influencers and creators has received online backlash after they visited a model factory in China as part of a tour sponsored by Shein, an internet shopping giant, and posted glowing reviews. Kenya Freeman, a designer who has sold clothing on Shein, traveled to China and Singapore, where Shein is now based, as part of the junket and shared videos on her Instagram account. In a statement, Shein said the social media videos posted by the influencers were authentic. But its meteoric rise has come with scrutiny, especially as relations between the United States and China have deteriorated. In April, a US congressional commission said Shein, online superstore Temu and others in China were potentially linked to the use of forced labor, exploitation of trade loopholes, product safety hazards or intellectual property theft.
Persons: Kenya Freeman, ” Freeman, , Freeman, Shein, Gen, Dani Carbonari, , Destene Sudduth, Instagram, Kelly Kellen, Z, Organizations: New, New York CNN, Shein, CNN, Securities and Exchange Commission, Bloomberg, United, United Nations Environment Programme, Aurora University Locations: New York, China, Guangzhou, Kenya, Singapore, Atlanta, United States, Xinjiang
The US is set to approve depleted-uranium tank shells for Ukraine, the WSJ said. The shells are capable of blowing up Russian tank armor. For several months the Biden administration has been debating whether to provide the shells to Ukraine following concerns over their environmental and health impacts, the outlet reported. When used in tank shells, the material is effective because its bulk can penetrate through enemy armor. The weapons could hand Ukraine an advantage in tank battles as it launches its campaign to drive Russian forces back from territory they occupy in south and eastern Ukraine.
Persons: , Biden, Jake Epstein, Vladimir Putin, Putin Organizations: Service, Wall Street Journal, White, EPA, United Nations Environment, Challenger, WSJ Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Netherlands
Global tax would spoil investors’ plastic party
  + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Lisa Jucca | ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +4 min
This may change if supporters of taxes and other restrictive measures prevail at ongoing talks for a global treaty to end plastic pollution by 2040. And the world lacks sufficient infrastructure to sort discarded resins: only 9% of global plastic is recycled each year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reckons. Some 90% of people support measures to combat plastic pollution, a global Ipsos survey from 2021 shows. Countries including Britain have already started applying levies on virgin plastic packaging. CONTEXT NEWSRepresentatives of 175 countries in March endorsed a landmark resolution to develop international, legally binding rules to end plastic pollution by 2040.
Persons: Inger Andersen, Barr, Aimee Donnellan, Pranav Kiran Organizations: MILAN, Reuters, Big Oil, ExxonMobil, Dow, Indorama Ventures, Saudi Aramco, Minderoo, Organisation for Economic Co, ” United Nations, Reuters Breakingviews, Barclays, Twitter, Thomson Locations: Sinopec, Britain, Paris
Ships in the Autonomous Port of Cotonou in Benin, West Africa. Prosper Dagnitche/AFP/Getty ImagesThe stream of used cars heading to West African ports is only expected to increase with the West’s shift to electric vehicles. “It’s not like people want to drive used cars; it’s an affordability issue.”Experts say demand for used cars could explode further as the take up of electric cars in the West increases the supply of used cars to African countries. Those states also have robust port operations, making them an ideal place to ship used cars to Africa. “In terms of where Africa goes, the transition shouldn’t necessarily be from used cars to brand new combustion engines, it should be from used cars to EVs,” Ipke said.
CNN —Countries could slash plastic pollution by 80% in less than two decades, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme. Plastic pollution is a scourge that affects every part of the world, from the Arctic, to the oceans and the air we breathe. UNEP’s report aims to offer a roadmap to governments and businesses to dramatically cut levels of plastic pollution. This would be the most “powerful market shift,” reducing plastic pollution by 30% by 2040, the report said. Scaling up recycling levels could reduce plastic pollution by a further 20%, according to the report.
Hong Kong/New York CNN —Temu and Shein are taking off in the United States, topping app stores and creating a frenzy with consumers. Shein was started in China, while Temu was launched by a Chinese company that now bills itself as a multinational firm. Both firms have enjoyed major success in the United States, noted Nicholas Kaufman, a policy analyst for the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Topping the chartsTemu and Shein have taken the world’s largest retail market — the United States — by storm. It has quickly become the most downloaded app in the United States, and continues to expand its user base.
Haram and her colleagues examined 105 items of plastic fished out of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch between November 2018 and January 2019. Courtesy Linsey Haram/Smithsonian InstitutionCoastal aggregating anemones found on a black floating plastic fragment collected in the garbage patch. Oceans of plasticThe Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is twice the size of Texas, is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world. If you look up at night, you see all those white dots, that’s essentially what you see in the garbage patch. A bag of plastics and debris collected in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is unloaded in Sausalito, California in July 2022.
David Gannon | Afp | Getty ImagesWhat is solar geoengineering? Solar geoengineering or SRM refers to a speculative set of technologies designed to cool the Earth. To be sure, researchers calling for the rigorous study of SRM are not endorsing solar geoengineering as a climate solution. watch nowThe paper advocates for an International Non-Use Agreement on Solar Geoengineering, a call that has since received the backing of hundreds of climate scientists. Lili Fuhr, deputy director of the Center for International Environmental Law, described solar radiation management or solar geoengineering as "the ultimate false solution."
Depleted uranium is a dense by-product left over when uranium is enriched for use in nuclear reactors or nuclear weapons. The United States, Britain, Russia, China, France and Pakistan produce uranium weapons, which are not classified as nuclear weapons, according to the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons. Ingesting or inhaling quantities of uranium - even depleted uranium - is dangerous: it depresses renal function and raises the risk of developing a range of cancers. "It's worth making sure everyone understands that just because the word uranium is in the title of depleted uranium munitions, they are not nuclear munitions, they are purely conventional munitions," Cleverly said. A spokesperson from Britain's defence ministry said: "The British Army has used depleted uranium in its armour piercing shells for decades."
Investors are pushing miners to adopt tougher sustainability policies amid fears the rush for minerals to expand renewable energy will harm the environment and poor communities. The newly-launched Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030 said it would introduce sustainability standards by next January which will seek to overhaul the mining industry this decade. “We’ll improve the practices and outcomes in the mining industry more quickly,” he said. PREVIEWThe rules will draw on lessons from investors and the mining industry’s development of the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management. The tailings standard came out about two years ago following the 2019 Vale SA Brumadinho disaster in Brazil where a tailings dam collapsed and killed 270 people.
The world will not be able to avoid overshooting the goal established in the 2015 Paris Climate Accord to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-Industrial levels, according to Bill Gates. The billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder answered questions from Reddit users on Wednesday and a handful of the questions revolved around climate change. A report out at the end of October from the United Nations Environment Program found "no credible pathway to 1.5° Celsius in place." Gates also said bedraggled climate mitigation efforts will "slow down the progress we make on improving the human condition." Despite Gates' dour outlook, he also maintains some amount of optimism: "I still believe we can avoid a terrible outcome," he said.
Airborne chemicals that destroy ozone are now declining for the first time, helping to repair the atmospheric layer that protects humans from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays, according to a new report by a U.N.-backed panel of scientists. In a report released Monday by the United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization, researchers found a significant thickening of the ozone layer, a region of the atmosphere from 9 to 18 miles high that absorbs ultraviolet rays and prevents them from reaching the Earth’s surface.
Earth’s protective ozone layer is slowly but noticeably healing at a pace that would fully mend the hole over Antarctica in about 43 years, a new United Nations report says. “In the upper stratosphere and in the ozone hole we see things getting better,” said Paul Newman, co-chair of the scientific assessment. Natural weather patterns in the Antarctic also affect ozone hole levels, which peak in the fall. A third generation of those chemicals, called HFC, was banned a few years ago not because it would eat at the ozone layer but because it is a heat-trapping greenhouse gas. The report also warned that efforts to artificially cool the planet by putting aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect the sunlight would thin the ozone layer by as much as 20% in Antarctica.
Airborne chemicals that destroy ozone are now declining for the first time, helping to repair the atmospheric layer that protects humans from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays, according to a new report by a U.N.-backed panel of scientists. In a report released Monday by the United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization, researchers found a significant thickening of the ozone layer, a region of the atmosphere from 9 to 18 miles high that absorbs ultraviolet rays (UV) and prevents them from reaching the Earth’s surface.
Period underwear FAQS — answered
  + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Kristen Rogers | ) edition.cnn.com   time to read: +8 min
Period underwear has grown popular over the past few years for several reasons. Period underwear brands offer a variety of absorbencies since people have different flows. Does period underwear affect symptoms and period length? Some people on social media platforms and product reviews have reported a lighter flow or shorter period while wearing period underwear. “People should be able to access and use whatever type of period management tools that work best for them, including period underwear,” Brandi said.
The Biden administration on Friday announced plans to significantly tighten regulations against methane emissions from domestic oil and gas drilling. The Environmental Protection Agency said the proposed standards would reduce methane from the oil and gas sector by 87% below 2005 levels. In the United States, oil and natural gas operations are the nation’s biggest industrial source of methane, according to the EPA. The Biden administration announced its plan to reduce methane emissions in November 2021 at the last U.N. Last year, the U.S. and the European Union launched the Global Methane Pledge, which aims to reduce the world’s methane emissions by 30 percent by the end of the decade.
watch nowPublic aid and funding from governments of developed countries alone won't be enough to close the funding gap on climate change initiatives in developing countries, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva told CNBC. More private investments are needed to help developing countries to meet their climate change targets, said the managing director of the International Monetary Fund. Public aid and funding from governments of developed countries alone would not be enough to close the funding gap on climate change initiatives in developing countries. Stability in developing countries also secures trade between advanced and developing countries, Georgieva said. Disruptions in supply chains caused by climate change events could pose a bigger risk than the one posed by the pandemic, she added.
COP27 climate summit: Here's what to watch
  + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Ella Nilsen | ) edition.cnn.com   time to read: +9 min
Given countries’ current promises, Earth’s temperature will climb to between 2.1 and 2.9 degrees Celsius by 2100. “No country has a right to be delinquent,” US Climate Envoy John Kerry told reporters in October. It is likely loss and damage will have space on the official COP27 agenda this year. And US officials often stress they want to also unlock private investments to help countries transition to renewables and deal with climate effects. Getty ImagesCOP27 is intended to hold countries’ feet to the fire on fossil fuel emissions and gin up new ambition on the climate crisis.
LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The world is falling far short at rounding up money to help struggling nations adapt to the increasingly dangerous impacts of climate change, according to a report released Thursday. Current international finance flowing to developing countries is between 5 and 10 times below what is needed, the United Nations Environment Programme report said. "It's time for a global climate adaptation overhaul," said United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres in a media statement, noting he had asked green climate funds to work with public and private financiers to pilot a new accelerator for adaptation investment. The accelerator will help financiers work with developing countries to invest in their adaptation priorities and specific projects. At the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow last year, developed countries agreed to double support for adaptation financing to $40 billion per year by 2025.
Big brands set to miss plastic sustainability targets
  + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Joe Brock | ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
The study by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the United Nations Environment Programme also revealed that some companies - including Coca-Cola (KO.N) and Pepsi - are using more virgin plastic despite a pledge to reduce its use. Dozens of major brands have in recent years set targets to increase plastic recycling and reduce the use of single-use packaging in partnership with the Ellen MacAurthur Foundation, as part of efforts to burnish their green credentials. The headline pledge was that 100% of plastic packaging would be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025, but this goal will "almost certainly be missed by most organisations", the environmental group's report said. Greenpeace said the report is evidence that voluntary corporate targets have failed and called on the U.N. to forge a treaty that forces governments and companies to use less single-use plastic packaging. "This underlines the need for governments to ensure that the global plastic treaty ... delivers major reductions in plastic production and use," said Graham Forbes, Greenpeace’s USA Global Plastics Project Leader.
In a live Insider event, a BASF exec said the company evaluates products' sustainability profiles. Get the latest on the culture & business of sustainability — delivered weekly to your inbox. And in the last few years, major companies like IBM and Citi have started focusing on developing sustainable business practices. The event was part of Insider's series Climate Heroes 2022: Working Toward Solutions, presented by BASF, which featured interviews with leaders across industries who are pioneering innovative climate solutions. Measuring and tracking progress toward sustainability goals is keyTracking progress toward sustainability goals is critical, Sukhdev said.
The founder of outdoor apparel maker Patagonia is donating his company to a greater cause: fighting climate change. Yvon Chouinard, the rock climber-turned-billionaire, and his family have transferred their ownership of Patagonia to the newly created Patagonia Purpose Trust and nonprofit Holdfast Collective. The company, which Chouinard founded in 1973, is worth $3 billion, according to the New York Times. "The Patagonia Purpose Trust ... exists to create a more permanent legal structure to enshrine Patagonia's purpose and values," the announcement reads. "Despite its immensity, the Earth's resources are not infinite, and it's clear we've exceeded its limits," Chouinard wrote on Wednesday.
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