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The US energy landscape is swiftly transitioning away from fossil fuels in favor of renewables, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. "By the close of 2014, the United States was relying on an unprecedented amount of renewable energy from wind turbines, solar panels, and other technologies. We are bearing witness to fundamental change in the energy sector, reflecting the needs and aspirations of all who depend on it," said the report. It added that US carbon emissions have already dropped 10% below 2005 levels

It may come as a surprise to learn that we are in the middle of the third great coral bleaching event in human history. And scientists are calling it the severest yet. The last great bleaching event was in 1998 when 11% of the world's coral reef coverage was lost. Some areas like the Maldives lost as much as 90% of their reefs. This event is worse, possibly much worse. 38% of the planet's reefs will be affected, with 12,000 sq km of reefs killed off entirely according to experts.

As a society, we are a long way from having an information technology industry that is anywhere near a closed-loop system, but Dell has been among the companies at the forefront of this movement.

A number to remember: $44 trillion. It's what Citibank estimates that climate change will cost the global economy by 2060 unless we take decisive steps to rein in greenhouse gas emissions.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and provincial leaders met Thursday and pledged to double clean energy investment and meet or exceed Canada's international emissions-reduction commitments. "We are moving toward a pan-Canadian framework for clean growth and climate change," the leaders said in a joint statement.

Warming ocean waters are bleaching the world's corals to an unprecedented degree and could destroy huge swaths of coral reefs in areas ranging from Australia to Africa. "This is a huge, looming planetary crisis, and we are sticking our heads in the sand about it," says Justin Marshall of the University of Queensland in Australia.

We are on the cusp of a new growth era, one where growth is driven by the interaction between rapid technological innovation, sustainable infrastructure investment and increased resource productivity. Ambitious climate action across key economic systems-energy, cities, food and land use, water and industry-can lead to higher productivity, more resilient economies and greater social inclusion. It is the growth story of the 21st century.

When people picture sand spread across idyllic beaches and endless deserts, they understandably think of it as an infinite resource. But as we discuss in a just-published perspective in the journal Science, over-exploitation of global supplies of sand is damaging the environment, endangering communities, causing shortages and promoting violent conflict.

For thousands of years humans have existed on Earth, but it is only in the last 100 or so that plastics have entered our lives. These days you can barely go a minute without touching something made from some kind of plastic. But while we've been getting all swept up in the convenience that synthetic polymers bring us, the trash has been piling up. Millions of metric tons of plastic enter the ocean every year, and no one really knows where it is and what damage it is causing. So ... what are we to do about it?

"We recognize that the well-being of people and the sustainability of our oceans are interdependent," said Buster Houston, director of seafood at Albertsons Cos., in a prepared statement. "As one of the largest U.S. retailers of seafood, we are committed to protecting the world's oceans so they can remain a bountiful natural resource that contributes to global food security, the livelihoods of hard-working fishermen and the global economy."

Albertsons has committed to preventing and reducing marine pollution, working to cut down on ocean acidification, taking better control of overfishing practices and other initiatives under the United Nations' sustainable "Oceans Goal." The retailer has also become part of the Seafood Task Force, which targets unregulated and illegal fishing

GlobeScan is pleased to have recently completed a second comprehensive study of seafood consumers globally for The Marine Stewardship Council. We surveyed more than 25,000 consumers in 22 countries and found that a large majority of consumers are increasingly demanding independent verification of sustainability claims in supermarkets (72% this year compared to 68% in our first study in 2016).

Our live chat explored what value consumers place on the sustainability of the products they buy. Here are 10 things we learned

The team, at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Genoa, is using coffee grounds to clean water, turning the grounds into a foam that can remove heavy metals like mercury. "We actually take a waste and give it a second life," says materials scientist Despina Fragouli. Her team took spent coffee grounds from IIT's cafeteria, dried and ground them to make the particles smaller. They then mixed the grounds with some silicon and sugar. Once hardened, they dipped it in water to melt away the sugar, which leaves behind a foam-like material.

PG&E has reached California's 2020 renewable energy goal three years ahead of schedule, and now delivers nearly 80 percent of its electricity from greenhouse gas-free resources.

Shareholder pressure to phase out Styrofoam has not kept McDonald's from using foam cups in several Chicago-area restaurants this summer, though the company would not say where else it may be using them. The chain said it continues "to work with our suppliers on sustainable packaging options that reduce our sourcing footprint and positively impact the communities we serve."

TED Talk: Can we solve the problem of ocean plastic pollution and end extreme poverty at the same time? That's the ambitious goal of The Plastic Bank: a worldwide chain of stores where everything from school tuition to cooking fuel and more is available for purchase in exchange for plastic garbage -- which is then sorted, shredded and sold to brands who reuse "social plastic" in their products. 

The Sierra Club on Monday filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Energy demanding that DOE identify the groups and individuals it consulted with on a soon-to-be released nationwide electric grid reliability study. "We want to make sure that when this study is finally released, that the public and policy makers fully understand how [DOE] went about doing it, who they were influenced by, and whose views they did not take into consideration," said Sierra Club attorney Casey Roberts.

Kellogg's has joined RE100 and adopted a goal to source 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2050, according to the firm. "We hope to inspire others in our sector to follow our lead and do more to cut greenhouse gas emissions," said Chief Sustainability Officer Diane Holdorf.

The following are five trends we expect to unfold during 2018. Yes, you could argue we're playing it safe - like the typical horoscope or fortune teller, these predictions overall are fairly broad. Nevertheless, expect to see many headlines focused on these topics in the coming year, here on 3p and elsewhere.