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December 22, 2024
 

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Valerie Volcovici
The Stratos direct air capture facility, a joint venture between Occidental Petroleum and asset manager BlackRock, in Ector County, Texas
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / ANALYSIS
Dec 14, 2024
Earthquakes and blowouts undermine case for carbon storage in Texas
Texas has seen surging interest from companies hoping to bury carbon dioxide in its oilfields.
INC-5 Chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso (on screen) speaks during an open plenary session during the fifth session of the U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-5) in Busan, South Korea, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 2, 2024
Countries fail to reach agreement in U.N. plastic talks
Countries remained far apart on the basic scope of a treaty and could agree only to postpone key decisions and resume talks at a later date.
Emissions rise from the Royal Dutch Shell Plc Norco Refinery in Norco, Louisiana, on June 12, 2020.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Nov 27, 2024
How AI and cloud computing may delay the transition to clean energy
The pace of clean-energy deployments is moving too slowly to keep up with the new technology's demands.
Titan Cement's factory in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, Egypt
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 23, 2024
How big fossil-fuel-producing countries export emissions abroad
A loophole in the 2015 Paris accord has allowed countries to say they are making climate progress while also exporting fossil fuels at breakneck pace.
People leave the venue during the United Nations climate change conference, known as COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Monday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 12, 2024
COP29: U.S. climate envoy says work will continue despite Trump's return
"For those of us dedicated to climate action, last week's outcome in the United States is obviously bitterly disappointing," Podesta said at the summit.
A destroyed car in the Biala Ladecka river following flooding in Zelazno, Poland, on Friday
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 22, 2024
U.S. election uncertainty clouds U.N. climate finance progress
Governments are analyzing a possible win by Kamala Harris, who promotes climate spending, or by Donald Trump, a climate denier who wants to boost fossil fuels.
Bales of hard-to-recycle plastic waste piled up at Renewlogy Technologies in Salt Lake City, Utah, on May 17, 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 15, 2024
In shift, U.S. backs global target to reduce plastic production, source says
The change away from earlier calls to leave such decisions up to each country puts the U.S. in direct opposition to countries like Saudi Arabia and China.
A prop depicting a water tap with cascading plastic bottles is displayed by activists near the Shaw Center venue of penultimate negotiations for the first-ever global plastics treaty, in Ottawa, Canada, on April 23.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
May 1, 2024
Plastic pollution talks make modest progress but sidestep production curbs
Some warned that too many political compromises would dilute the effectiveness of an eventual treaty while others welcomed a close focus on certain issues.
John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy on climate issues, gestures as he attends a news conference in Beijing in July 2023.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 4, 2024
John Kerry bolstered U.S. climate reputation, but trust still elusive
Kerry is credited with restoring U.S. climate ties with China and courting private capital for climate action.
A man walks past a pollution pod designed to mimic the air quality in New Delhi, during the COP28 summit in Dubai, on Dec 4.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 15, 2023
How the world agreed to move away from fossil fuels at COP28
This year's climate conference marked the first time in history countries expressed a unified desire to end the oil age.
People walk through Dubai's Expo City during COP28 on Monday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 5, 2023
COP28 crowds: A dangerous distraction or sign of success?
With a record 84,000 registered attendees, this year's COP28 is a far cry from the first in 1995, a low-key affair with fewer than 4,000 delegates.
Demonstrators hold banners in front of the TotalEnergies headquarter building at La Defense in Courbevoie, France, on Nov. 3, ahead of the international climate conference COP28 in Dubai later this month.
WORLD
Nov 7, 2023
Impasse broken on climate fund before COP28 but tough road ahead
Both developing and developed countries said they had made major concessions to avoid a failure that would have soured U.N. climate talks.
Environmental activists on the sidelines of the New Global Financial Pact Summit in Paris on June 23
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 24, 2023
Countries deadlocked on 'loss and damage' as climate summit nears
Developing and developed countries at odds over fund's eligibility and who will oversee it.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 20, 2023
U.S. envoy John Kerry says China-U.S. climate relations need 'more work'
The two sides agreed climate change was urgent and that they should stick to the global commitment 'to keep 1.5 alive.”
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 17, 2023
China-U.S. climate progress could hinge on new methane deal
China had drafted a plan with concrete measures to curb methane emissions from energy, agriculture and waste but has yet to make the plan public.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 10, 2023
Pressure grows for world's militaries to report and reduce greenhouse emissions
As temperatures hit new highs, scientists and environmental groups are stepping up efforts to end a long-standing exemption that has kept some military climate pollution off the books.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 8, 2023
Accounting for war: Ukraine's climate fallout
The first 12 months of the war is expected to trigger a net increase of 120 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, equivalent to the annual output of a country such as Belgium.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 3, 2023
After rough start, U.N. plastic treaty talks end with mandate for first draft
By the session's close, countries agreed to prepare a 'zero draft' text of what would become a legally binding plastics treaty.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 4, 2023
U.S. climate envoy Kerry says China has invited him for talks
China last year briefly suspended talks with the U.S. on climate, security and other areas in response to a visit to Taiwan by then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Jan 12, 2023
Biden's climate agenda has a problem: Not enough workers
With the U.S. unemployment rate at a historic low of 3.5%, companies fear that plans to transition away from fossil fuels could stall out as they struggle to fill job vacancies.
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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