Tag - environment

 
 

ENVIRONMENT

The food waste amount dropped by 30,000 tons from the previous year to 4.61 million tons in fiscal 2024, the lowest on record.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2026
Japan’s food waste falls to lowest on record in fiscal 2024
The food waste amount dropped by 30,000 tons from the previous year to 4.61 million tons in 2024, decreasing for a third consecutive year.
Evenings are proving to be a particular crunch point in Britain as solar comes offline, meaning the National Energy System Operator needs to pay generators to step in to meet demand.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Jun 29, 2026
U.K. grid issues another supply warning as heat tests network
The alert underscores the new extremes the grid must adapt to: in this case, a surge in cooling demand coinciding with low wind generation and reduced nuclear output.
The government plans to reduce annual heatstroke deaths to below 1,000 as extreme heat pushes the five-year average above 1,500.
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2026
Japan aims to reduce annual heatstroke deaths to below 1,000
The government plans to reduce annual heatstroke deaths to below 1,000 as extreme heat pushes the five-year average above 1,500.
Alpinists walk near the Aiguille du Midi during a heat wave in Chamonix, France, on Thursday.
WORLD
Jun 27, 2026
Swiss glaciers facing drastic loss from heat wave
The snow and ice accumulated last winter by Switzerland’s glaciers is expected to have all melted away by Monday.
A worker refuels a truck at a biogas station next to the Higasinada sewage treatment plant in Kobe in October 2020.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 27, 2026
Japan and India to set up framework for promoting biogas-run cars
The two sides will aim to increase the number of plants in India that manufacture methane from fermented cow dung for compressed natural gas vehicles to 1,000.
A flooded neighborhood in Freeport, Texas, after Tropical Storm Arthur made landfall on June 17. People who underestimate how others think about climate change could present an impediment to public support for climate action.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 26, 2026
What people around the world are getting wrong about climate change awareness
The fourth World Risk Poll has reported the results of more than 143,000 interviews across 140 countries and territories, focusing on climate change concerns and awareness.
A giant screen announces the early closure of the Eiffel Tower due to a heat wave in Paris on Tuesday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 24, 2026
What is driving Europe’s heat wave?
Scientists say the factors driving up temperatures are nothing new, but heat waves are made more intense in a world hotter because of burning fossil fuels.
The coastline of Funafuti Atoll in Tuvalu. Gravely threatened by rising seas, the low-lying island nation relies on a $200 million trust fund to help foot the ballooning costs of climate change.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 23, 2026
Australia withholds climate fund reports over risk of diplomatic ‘damage’
Australia is the largest contributor to the Tuvalu Trust Fund, which has been invested on Tuvalu’s behalf in funds exposed to coal mining, gas exploration and a crude oil refinery.
A young Japanese golden eagle takes flight from its enclosure.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2026
Zoo-born golden eagle released into wild for first time in Japan
The Japanese golden eagle is an endangered species, as well as a national natural monument.
Jera's thermal power station in Futtsu, Chiba Prefecture. Jera will transport low-carbon ammonia from the U.S. to its thermal power plant in Aichi Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 18, 2026
Jera books Mitsui OSK ships to bring low-carbon ammonia to Japan
Low-carbon ammonia has been receiving greater attention around the world as governments and companies pledge to reduce emissions from fossil fuels.
A monument to Japanese immigrants stands in the port city of Santos in southeastern Brazil.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 17, 2026
Brazil’s Nikkei fishers offer lessons for ocean governance
Japanese immigrants and their descendants did not simply copy Japanese coastal practices but adapted them to local environments and social conditions.
Fishing boats are docked along the Mekong River in Chiang Saen, northern Thailand's Chiang Rai province on June 4. Thailand's pollution control department said in April it had found arsenic concentrations of up to 296 milligrams per kilogram in sediment near Chiang Saen — more than nine times the level considered dangerous for aquatic life.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 16, 2026
Poorest on front line as arsenic hits nine times danger level in Mekong River
Doctors have found elevated levels of toxic arsenic in those who work on the river, which passes through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
A demonstrator holds a placard during a protest against a luxury resort on an environmentally sensitive part of the Adriatic coast, in Tirana, Albania, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 10, 2026
Brussels presses Albania as Kushner resort threatens to flout EU environmental law
The European Commission has urged Albania to act without delay to ensure ​it is aligned with EU environmental legislation if it wants ‌to accede ‌to the bloc.
A cat rubs its body against silver vine. Researchers have found that cats typically prefer silver vine over catnip.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2026
Japanese researchers find cats prefer silvervine over catnip
The team observed how cats would react to both silvervine and catnip when they were left to roam around freely.
A worker in Tokyo collects used cooking oil from a Tempura restaurant in April to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2026
Japan steps up efforts on cooking oil in race for sustainable aviation fuel​​
The world’s fourth-biggest economy estimates it needs about 1.7 million kiloliters in 2030, and hopes to gain as much as it can domestically through used cooking oil.
Tourists in the Shibuya area of Tokyo are stopped by a group of multilingual officials who hand out fines to people caught littering on Thursday.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 6, 2026
On patrol with Tokyo’s new litter police
On the streets of Shibuya, patrol teams caught 10 people littering on the first day of the new ordinance, 15 on the second day and nine on the third, according to city officials.
Financial markets are underestimating the economic risks of biodiversity loss, according to a new study.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jun 6, 2026
Study warns biodiversity loss could trigger wave of debt crises
The study presented what they described as the world’s first biodiversity-adjusted sovereign credit ratings model.
When bells aren’t enough to prevent encounters with bears, outdoorspeople in Japan now have a wide range of deterrents to choose from.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 6, 2026
In Japan, a bull market for bear deterrents
With no end in sight to the rise in bear encounters, manufacturers are bringing new kinds of deterrents to the market.
On the 41st floor of the Akasaka Trust Tower, the Panoramic Tower Studio Suite at 1 Hotel Tokyo offers stunning views while keeping sight of the hotel's sustainable, down-home core.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 6, 2026
At 1 Hotel Tokyo, luxury is a zero-waste journey
Open from March, the brand’s first outpost in Japan stays true to its sustainable roots.
The 2026 environment white paper underscores the importance of nurturing fresh hunters with advanced knowledge and skills as existing hunters are getting much older.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2026
Bears emerge as serious safety threat in Japan, says white paper
The white paper underscores the importance of nurturing fresh hunters with advanced knowledge and skills as existing hunters are getting much older.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival