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Facilities' total releases of toxic chemicals decreased 12 percent from 2011 to 2012, according to the EPA's annual Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) report. The decrease includes an 8 percent decline in total toxic air releases, primarily due to reductions in hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions.

Greenhouse gas emissions in the US totaled 6,501,000 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2012, a 3.3 percent reduction from the previous year, according to an annual draft report by the EPA.

Greenhouse gas emissions fell nearly 10 percent from 2005 to 2012, according to the latest national emissions inventory released by the EPA.

Industry recycling of aluminum beverage containers in the US continued its decade-long upward trend in 2012 with a rate of 67 percent, according to data released by the Aluminum Association, Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) and Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI).

Finelite, a manufacturer of high-efficiency lighting systems, cut its waste production by 84 percent between 2005 and 2012 through using reusable packaging, Sustainable Plant reports. Through such innovations as replacing bubble wrap used to protect products with crinkled paper and so-called lean packaging, the company saved about $27,000 a year in garbage disposal costs, the article says.

Marriott decreased landfill waste per occupied room in its Americas region by 4.9% from 2011 to 2012, the company announced in its 2013 sustainability report update

The EPA finalized the first set of standards to reduce methane emissions from new and existing sources in the oil and gas sector, strengthening the United States' pledge to cut methane emissions from the sector by up to 45% from 2012 levels by 2025

Since Google declared its 100 percent commitment to renewables back in 2012, it has signed contracts that will help add almost 2.6 gigawatts of wind- and solar-generated electricity to the grid by the time all the projects are completely. While each of those installations has its own timetable for completion, at least 900 megawatts of those projects should come online within the next four to six weeks alone, according to one of Google's energy strategy executives. Over the course of next year, all the clean power that Google is adding to the grid will offset what it's using in aggregate. And moving forward, Google wants to ensure that more of the electricity it actually uses can be traced to renewable generating sources.

WWF's Living Planet Report 2016 shows the scale of the challenges we face regarding the future of our planet - and what we can do about it. The Living Planet Index reveals that global populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles declined by 58 per cent between 1970 and 2012. But if humans can change the planet so profoundly, then it's also in our power to put things right. This report provides possible solutions - including the fundamental changes required in the global food, energy and finance systems to meet the needs of current and future generations.

Pollution killed 12.6 million people worldwide in 2012, with environmental risks causing about a quarter of all deaths worldwide, according to new World Health Organization data. "These impacts are being felt today, worldwide, most severely in developing countries but also in this country," says environmental health expert Frederica Perera.

Beth Stevens, senior VP of environmental affairs at Disney Worldwide Services, is in charge of making strides in the direction of sustainability. How does the iconic brand not only tell an engaging sustainability story but walk the talk? Disney's sustainability goals are serious. It aims to halve its emissions by 2020 from 2012 levels. It signed on to the White House American Business Act on Climate Pledge ahead of COP21 and the Paris Agreement. It even maintains an internal carbon price. Stevens sees all this as a natural expression of the company's culture.

for the first time, emerging countries are throwing out even more electronics than we are in the U.S. Actually, the trend started in 2012.

Average corn ethanol reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 32 percent compared to average petroleum in 2012, according to a study commissioned by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and conducted by Life Cycle Associates.

"BP Energy Outlook 2035" (BP) projects that global energy consumption will increase 41% from 2012 to 2035, with 95% of the growth occurring in emerging economies. The report also projects that CO2 emissions will increase 29% over that same time period, with virtually all growth driven by emerging markets.

Between August 2012 and June 2013, 1,855 square kilometers of the Brazilian Amazon were lost, a yearly increase of 103%. Degradation, where the forest appears intact but has been stripped of many commercial woods, increased 1,078%, albeit over a much smaller area. 

Carnival, Kimberly-Clark, Intel, PG&E and Xerox are among 34 companies named to the Natural Capital Leaders Index, which recognizes companies that have grown their revenue between 2008 and 2012 while reducing their environmental impacts during that same period.

The world's most popular cheap cooking oil is becoming less affordable. Palm oil prices are up 10% since the start of the year, and closer to 16% since the end of January, when they dropped to $765 per tonne ($843 per ton). The stuff hasn't been this expensive since September of 2012.

Hershey has exceeded three of its key environmental sustainability goals set in 2012 by two to three years.