- In a groundbreaking precedent that will likely be felt for decades to come, a federal appeals court in the US has ruled that a species can be listed as “threatened” based on climate change projections. The decision reinstates Endangered Species Act protections for the bearded seals, but it also sets an important precedent. [Gizmodo India]
- While human emissions of CO2 remained fairly static between 2014 and 2015, the onset of strong El Niño weather phenomena caused a spike in levels of the gas in the atmosphere. The spike results from drought conditions in tropical regions produced by El Niño, which meant that vegetation was less able to absorb the CO2. [BBC]
- New installations of renewable energy overtook conventional power for the first time in 2015, the International Energy Agency said in its Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report. Global green power rose by a record 153 GW. This was equivalent to 55% of newly installed capacity last year, exceeding coal for the first time. [Bloomberg]
- According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, 10% of the 600 million people living off-grid in Africa now use solar energy to power their homes. The decreasing prices of home solar systems in Africa have made this possible, as the cost for solar has dropped below the cost of diesel and kerosene. [Climate Action Programme]
- The cost of scrapping the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is set to rise to hundreds of billions of yen annually over a 30-year time from, according to a new government projection disclosed by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Previous projections had the figure at ¥80 billion a year. [The Japan Times]
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