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Research published in the American Journal of Primatology earlier this month finds that the overall Western Chimpanzee population declined by six percent annually between 1990 and 2014, a total decline of 80.2 percent. The main threats to the Western Chimpanzee are almost all man-made. Habitat loss and fragmentation driven by slash-and-burn agriculture, industrial agriculture (including deforestation for oil palm plantations as well as eucalyptus, rubber, and sugar cane developments), and extractive industries like logging, mining, and oil top the list. In response to the finding that the Western Chimpanzee population has dropped so precipitously in less than three decades, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) elevated the subspecies' status to Critically Endangered on its Red List of Threatened Species.

Coal production is not just declining. It's falling off a cliff - and it's barely a third of what it was just six years ago, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The worst is yet to come, as the EIA predicts 2016 will be the biggest year-on decline for coal … ever.

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.

Home improvement chain Lowe's Cos Inc will stop selling a type of pesticide suspected of causing a decline in honeybee populations needed to pollinate key American crops, following a few U.S. retailers who have taken similar steps last year.

Home improvement chain Lowe's Cos Inc will stop selling a type of pesticide suspected of causing a decline in honeybee populations needed to pollinate key American crops, following a few U.S. retailers who have taken similar steps last year.

Indonesia has reported a second straight year of declining deforestation, and credited more stringent land management policies for the trend. However, the government's insistence on counting pulpwood plantations as reforested areas has once again sparked controversy over how the very concept of a forest should be defined.

An estimated 3,300 acres on oat farms that supply oats for Honey Nut Cheerios will soon provide new dedicated, flower-rich habitat for pollinators. General Mills is partnering with the Xerces Society, a pollinator and wildlife conservation organization, to plant wildflowers on the supplier farms. Meanwhile, The Wildlife Habitat Council released a white paper explaining the issue of pollinators' decline and actions corporations can take to help.

The US could cut its carbon dioxide emissions 20% more by using the Clean Power Plan, according to the Energy Information Administration. The report said carbon dioxide emissions from coal-burning power plants have been declining for a decade, but the nation could further accelerate that shift by employing the CPP. Rice University Associate Professor Daniel Cohan argues that the report emphasizes the importance of the ongoing litigation over the CPP and how far the US still has to go to meet its greenhouse gas emissions targets.

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.

The cost of wind energy in the US will continue to decline over the next three to five years as the industry prepares for the wind energy Production Tax Credit to lapse, according to Pattern Energy CEO and President Mike Garland. He said that Pattern has begun retrofitting its turbines to boost performance.

Carbon Brief analysis shows the UK's CO2 emissions fell by 5.8% in 2016, after a record 52% drop in coal use.

Carbon emissions in the UK are down to 420 million tons annually, or about what the country emitted more than 120 years ago, according to a report from Carbon Brief. A 52% decrease in coal consumption during 2016 fueled an overall decline in carbon emissions of 5.8% for the year.

Major institutional investors are increasingly mindful of the risk that carbon-intensive assets could lose their value if climate regulations become tougher, Tim McDonnell argues. That could be good news for clean energy investment, even though spending on that sector declined in 2013.

Palm oil shipments from Indonesia, the world's largest producer, climbed to the highest level in eight months in October as a decline in supplies of substitute oils in India and China spurred demand from the biggest buyers.

Carbon permit prices slumped 29% in a single day's trading this week, the biggest decline in nearly a year. The move wiped out price gains stemming from the European Union's efforts to address a permit glut, raising fresh questions about the carbon market's potential to reduce greenhouse emissions

Apple says its carbon footprint shrank by 3 percent from 2012 to 2013, the first time it's seen a year-over-year decline since it began tracking the numbers in 2009.

The cost of electricity from wind farms in the U.S. dropped in 2014 to the lowest point yet, according to the Energy Department. Prices for utilities with power purchase agreements have declined two-thirds since 2009. Falling costs and continued advancements are ensuring that wind remains a reliable source of renewable energy, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said. The Hill (8/10), ReNews.biz (U.K.) (8/11) 

GE and Siemens have become two of the top wind energy developers in the US, writes analyst Scott Levine. GE turbines accounted for about 60% of the installed wind capacity added in the US last year, and in the first half of 2015, GE secured orders for more than 1,264 turbines. Last year, Siemens added 1,241 MW of installed capacity, or more than a quarter of the US market. Siemens and GE will likely continue to be key players in the US as the cost of wind continues to decline, Levine writes

The loss and decline of animals around the world - caused by habitat loss and global climate disruption - mean we're in the midst of a sixth "mass extinction" of life on Earth, according to several studies out Thursday in the journal Science.

Spending on offshore wind energy development in Europe reached $14.45 billion last year. That was a record amount and double 2014's number. The rate is expected to decline this year but increase in the future. "Offshore wind power produces roughly one and a half times the energy of onshore wind power," said Toni Sulameri, who works for wind power production company Suomen Hyotytuuli Oy. Europe has 84 offshore wind farms.

Clean energy has become a driving force in the US marketplace as costs have declined and major companies have unveiled investments in wind and other renewables, writes Chris Brown, Vestas' president of sales and service operations in the US and Canada. Wind, in particular, can provide the nation with a winning combination of affordable yet reliable electricity. "Whatever the courts rule on the CPP, there's no turning back or stopping this economic trend. Clean energy makes good sense for business, good sense for consumers, and good sense for the country," he writes.