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Bees, butterflies and other pollinators are increasingly under threat from human activities and countries must transform their agricultural practices to ensure global crop production can meet demand and avoid substantial economic losses, the United Nations Conference on Biological Diversity heard today. According to the global assessment on pollinators produced by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), 75 per cent of our food crops and nearly 90 per cent of wild flowering plants depend to some extent on animal pollination, which is the transfer of pollen between the male and female parts of flowers to enable fertilization and reproduction. Without pollinators, crops such as coffee, cacao and apples would drastically suffer, and changes in global crop supplies could increase prices to consumers and reduce profits to producers, resulting in a potential annual net loss of economic welfare of $160 billion to $191 billion globally.

China has proposed building a $50 trillion global transmission system that would connect the world's wind farms and renewable energy projects. "Global energy interconnection" would solve global energy instability, climate change and environmental pollution, said State Grid Corp. of China Chairman Liu Zhenya. In such a model, clean energy sources would provide about 80% of the world's total electricity.

the Global Green Growth Forum in Copenhagen, WRI announced the launch of a process to develop a global standard for measuring food loss and waste. This standard, known as the Global Food Loss and Waste Protocol, will enable countries and companies to measure and monitor the food loss and waste that occur within their boundaries and value chains in a credible, practical and consistent manner.

The key global goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius is already beyond reach as negotiators begin planning a 2015 climate treaty, experts say. "There is nothing that can be agreed in 2015 that would be consistent with the 2 degrees," said former United Nations climate chief Yvo de Boer. "The only way that a 2015 agreement can achieve a 2-degree goal is to shut down the whole global economy

The World Economic Forum's Global Risk Report 2013 placed water scarcity among the top four global risks, in terms of likelihood and greatest impact - ranking ahead of issues such as food shortages, terrorism and climate change! And water scarcity is already constraining the growth plans of many companies that desire to expand in emerging markets.

Renewable energy projects surpassed all other sources of new electricity added to the global supply last year, says a new report released this week by the International Energy Agency. In 2015, renewables made up more than half of all new installed capacity, with the greatest gains seen in onshore wind and solar. It's a development that speaks to a "transformation of global power markets,"

Unregulated carbon pollution from aviation is the fastest-growing source of the greenhouse gas emissions driving global climate change. In fact, if the entire aviation sector were a country, it would be one of the top 10 carbon-polluting nations on the planet. The good news is that we now have a process in place to curb international aviation's skyrocketing emissions. For the first time ever, the United Nations' civil aviation body agreed last week to put a cap on the emissions for an international sector rather than a country. International aviation already accounts for over 2% of global carbon emissions. But this number will soar as demand for air travel continues to rises. In 2010, the aviation industry carried 2.4 billion passengers; in 2050, the number is forecast to rise to 16 billion.

BP, Shell, and other global oil and gas companies created OGCI Climate Investments, a 10-year, $1 billion dollar investment fund to "accelerate the development of innovative technologies that, once commercialized, have the potential to reduce GHG emissions on a significant scale." The combined operations of the OGCI member companies account for more than one-fifth of global oil and gas production and more than 10% of the global energy supply.

An ensemble of Global Business Leaders NGO'S and academics has joined forces to call for a, sustainable global economic model to be adopted by Governments and Businesses alike.

The CDP Global Water Report 2013 was launched at the CDP Global WatA pair er Forum on Oct. 31. The report was produced for 530 institutional investors representing about $57 trillion in assets, and is based on information submitted to CDP by 180 Global 500 companies. It notes that "companies are more aware of the breadth and significance of water-related risk, such as business interruption due to inadequate infrastructure, supply chain disruption due to water scarcity and reputational damage."

Worldwide levels of carbon dioxide - the gas scientists say is most responsible for global warming - reached a significant milestone for the month of March, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday. The global monthly average for carbon dioxide hit 400.83 parts per million in March, the first time the average surpassed 400 ppm for an entire month since such measurements began in the late 1950s, NOAA said.

Global carbon dioxide levels averaged 400.83 parts per million in March, marking the first time that atmospheric carbon has remained above the 400 ppm threshold for an entire month, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "It's both disturbing and daunting," said NOAA chief greenhouse gas scientist Pieter Tans. 

The US Green Building Council joined the Global Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform, a membership initiative with the goal to double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030. The program was launched during the UN Climate Summit two months ago under UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's Sustainable Energy for All initiative.

"Global Forests Report 2016" (CDP) finds that up to $906 billion in revenue at companies analyzed is at risk due to deforestation; a quarter of these companies' revenues are tied to commodities linked to deforestation. However, the report finds that only 1 in 5 of these companies are assessing risks associated with deforestation beyond a six-year horizon.

The World Economic Forum's (WEF) flagship annual report surveyed 750 experts to identify the most significant global concerns. Here are the top five:

A partnership of leading international public and private organizations launched the Food Loss and Waste Accounting and Reporting Standard at the Global Green Growth Forum (3GF) 2016 Summit today in Copenhagen. The FLW Standard is the first-ever set of global definitions and reporting requirements for companies, countries and others to consistently and credibly measure, report on and manage food loss and waste. The standard comes as a growing number of governments, companies and other entities are making commitments to reduce food loss and waste.

"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.

British retail giant Primark joined the growing number of brands committing to eliminate all hazardous chemicals from its supply chain as part of Greenpeace's global Detox campaign.

Walmart is on track to eliminate 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain by the end of 2015.

Tourism is one of the largest and fastest-growing economic sectors in the world contributing 9 per cent to global GDP, accounting for one in 11 jobs worldwide and for 6 per cent of global exports, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reported today as it launched a programme aiming to catalyze a shift to more sustainable tourism.