Environment

• Monday, December 28th 2020 - 08:50 UTC

  Sunday 6,8 magnitude earthquake rocks south central Chile on Sunday

  

  An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 struck off the coast of south-central Chile on Sunday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said, but Chilean officials immediately discarded the risk of a tsunami.

• Saturday, December 26th 2020 - 09:50 UTC

  Brazil pledges a target of 45% renewable energy by 2050

  

  Brazil has now moved past the 7 gigawatts (GW) mark of total installed renewables – and has set the ambition of 45% of its energy needs being generated in similar form by 2050.

• Saturday, December 26th 2020 - 08:34 UTC

  Japan plans to catch some 383 large whales this season

  

  Japanese authorities have set the catch limit for the upcoming whaling season at 383 large whales – a number identical to that set in the last catch earlier this year.

• Wednesday, December 23rd 2020 - 09:22 UTC

  Widowed penguins comforting each other, winner of Ocean Photograph awards

  

  The year 2020 has produced many poignant and powerful photographs. But a shot of two widowed penguins appearing to comfort one another in Australia has been picked out as a winner in Oceanographic magazine's Ocean Photograph Awards.

• Saturday, December 19th 2020 - 10:00 UTC

  UK leads Global Ocean Alliance to turn 30% of oceans into Marine Protected Areas by 2030

  

  Some thirty countries have now joined the Global Ocean Alliance championing an international commitment for a minimum 30% of the global ocean to be protected through Marine Protected Areas by 2030.

• Saturday, December 19th 2020 - 09:50 UTC

  A68a iceberg heading for South Georgia shifts direction and loses a chunk of mass

  

  Strong currents have taken hold of a massive Antarctic iceberg that is on a collision course towards South Georgia Island, causing it to shift direction and lose a major chunk of mass, a scientist tracking its journey said on Friday.

• Saturday, December 19th 2020 - 09:10 UTC

  Chicago aquarium celebrates Rockhopper penguin Wellington, 33th birthday

  

  For a penguin to make it to age 33, a lot of things have to break right. Predator avoidance. Good genes. And, sometimes, cataract surgery. And this was part of the longevity recipe for Wellington, Chicago's Shedd Aquarium’s oldest and best-known rockhopper penguin, which marked the milestone birthday on Friday as a guest of honor at an 8:30 a.m. Facebook Live event.

• Saturday, December 19th 2020 - 08:50 UTC

  Falklands' register for UK's new polar ship RRS Sir David Attenborough

  

  Britain’s new polar ship, the RRS Sir David Attenborough, has been registered on the British register of ships at Stanley, Falkland Islands.

• Thursday, December 17th 2020 - 09:28 UTC

  More than 30,000 tremors have rocked Antarctica since August, University of Chile

  

  More than 30,000 tremors have rocked Antarctica since the end of August, according to the University of Chile, a spike in seismic activity that has intrigued researchers who study the remote, snowbound continent.

• Wednesday, December 16th 2020 - 09:08 UTC

  Food companies and grocers urge commodity suppliers to refuse soybeans from deforested areas in Brazil

  

  Some of the world’s largest food companies and grocers urged commodity suppliers including Archer-Daniels-Midland Co, Bunge Ltd, Cargill Inc and Louis Dreyfus Co. to stop trading soybeans associated with deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado region, a savanna that is a hive of biodiversity and one of the country’s most important carbon sinks.