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Nike identified water inadequacy and resource cost volatility among the risks, opportunities and challenges surrounding its business. This became the driving force behind the forging of the relationship between Nike and Dutch award-winning startup DyeCoo, a Dutch company that launched the world's first ever industrial dyeing machine that uses high pressure carbon dioxide (CO2) as a replacement for water to dye polyester.

As a punishing drought continues to grip California and other areas, scientists are exploring hardy succulents as a pathway to genetically engineer plants to use less water. Agave and other succulents such as the prickly pear, pineapple and vanilla have evolved to perform a different kind of photosynthesis that enable their survival in semiarid environments. These species absorb most of their carbon dioxide at night rather than during the day, as most plants do, meaning less water evaporates off the leaves through transpiration. 

The Urban Algae Folly gazebo at Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy, is covered in algae-filled ethylene tetrafluoroethylene plastic that may herald the future of green building. The spirulina in the plastic membranes absorbs carbon dioxide and produces oxygen while expanding more as sunlight intensifies to provide shade. 

Comcast, DirecTV, Cisco, AT&T and other consumer electronics and pay-TV companies, along with the Energy Department and other organizations, have developed standards for cable TV boxes expected to avoid more than 5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

The atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases hit a record last year, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The concentration of carbon dioxide climbed to 397.7 parts per million, and the warming effect of greenhouse gases rose 36% between 1990 and 2014, the group said

Wastewater treatment and renewable energy production can be costly endeavors. However, if valuable chemicals could be extracted from wastewater, or if algae could more easily be used to turn carbon dioxide from the air into biofuel, companies could profitably pursue such projects. Researchers from Arizona State University (ASU) and the Chinese Academy of Science & Technology are working to make this possible.

Indonesia and Norway have agreed on a first payment from a $1 billion deal under which Indonesia preserves its rainforests to curb carbon dioxide emissions.

Alaska, a major oil and gas producer, is crafting its own plan to address climate change. Ideas under discussion include cuts in state emissions by 2025 and a tax on companies that emit carbon dioxide.

For years, clean energy advocates have pointed towards hydroelectricity as an important alternative to gas, coal and nuclear power plants. But a new study suggests that the dams and reservoirs commonly associated with this clean energy source are actually pumping a significant amount of carbon emission into the air.

America's cities are succeeding in curbing air pollution, according to data from NASA's Aura satellite. New York City has seen a 32% decrease in nitrogen dioxide since 2005, Atlanta's levels fell by 42%, and Denver scored a 22% decrease.

As evidence mounts that excessive use of light is harming wildlife and adversely affecting human health, new initiatives in France and elsewhere are seeking to turn down the lights that flood an ever-growing part of the planet

mounts that excessive use of light is harming wildlife and adversely affecting human health, new initiatives in France and elsewhere are seeking to turn down the lights that flood an ever-growing part of the planet.