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France yesterday unveiled plans to reduce its carbon footprint by ceasing sales of gas and diesel vehicles by 2040 and then becoming carbon neutral by 2050, Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot said. France also plans to end coal-fired energy production by 2022, cut nuclear power use from 75% to 50% in eight years and halt imports of unsustainably grown palm oil and soy beans.

Amidst the madness of 2017, a bigger shift was missed than probably any other - right at the commanding heights of the economy: Natural gas fizzled out of the plan for the future.

Costa Rica's new president has announced a plan to ban fossil fuels and become the first fully decarbonised country in the world.

A palm oil supplier to Mars, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever is destroying rainforests in Papua, Indonesia, a new investigation by Greenpeace International has revealed. Satellite analysis suggests that around 4,000 hectare of rainforest were cleared in PT Megakarya Jaya Raya concession between May 2015 and April 2017-an area almost half the size of Paris.

An estimated 50 to 80 percent of southern wetland forest is now gone, and that which remains provides ecosystem services totaling $500 billion as well as important wildlife habitat. Logging is considered one of the biggest threats to the 35 million acres of remaining wetland forest in the southern U.S., and conservation organizations are saying this threat is coming largely from the wood pellet biomass industry.

The European Union on Wednesday finalised new climate rules after months of talks, targeting a total energy saving of 32.5 percent and an uplift in the share of renewable energy to 32 percent by 2030.

With grand speeches, new climate strategies, the offloading of carbon intensive assets and even changes in executive pay structures, the last few weeks have provided some intriguing evidence that oil firms  finally may be starting to take the climate threat seriously.

South Korea's newly elected president, Moon Jae-in, has ordered the temporary closure of 10 coal power plants for the entire month of June to help reduce air pollution in the country. President Moon Jae-in reportedly stated that he plans to phase these coal plants out over his five-year term.

France's government has unveiled a law to ban all production and exploration of oil and natural gas by 2040 on the country's mainland and overseas territories. The move is largely symbolic, however, as France's oil and gas production represents just 1 percent of national consumption - the rest is imported. The ban, which the government claims is a world first, is part of a larger plan to wean the country's economy from fossil fuels, encourage clean energy and fulfill France's commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement to curb global warming.

Volkswagen is making another electric vehicle pledge, this time with promises to bring 80 new electrified vehicles to customers by 2025 and offer customers at least one electrified version of every model across the company by 2030.

Announced today at Climate Week NYC 2017 in New York, global financial institutions Citi and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have joined The Climate Group's RE100 campaign with CDP, committing to source 100% renewable power across their global operations by 2020. Other companies joining the RE100 initiative are one of the fastest-growing beverage companies, Califia Farms, and UK investment management company Jupiter Asset Management. The announcements follow news last week that The Estée Lauder Companies, Kellogg Company, DBS Bank and Clif Bar & Company have also joined RE100. 110 of the world's most influential companies are now generating demand for over 150 TWh renewable energy annually - more than enough to power New York State.

Britain is phasing out its coal-burning power plants, with the last one slated to be shuttered by 2025, if not sooner. It is a startling development for the nation that founded an industrial revolution powered by coal.

Two years ago, Apple embarked on an ambitious plan to help its biggest suppliers switch to clean power sources. As of early June, the tech giant has managed to get eight partners on board.

New study shows we've been underestimating nature's role in tackling climate change.

This series of visualizations shows how some of Earth's key climate indicators are changing over time.