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It is not among the world's biggest producers of oil and gas, nor the biggest consumers, but France is hoping to become an environmental pioneer with its decision not to issue any more oil and gas exploration licences. The government, under newly elected President Emmanuel Macron, has vowed to take the step as part of a transition towards more environment-friendly energy sources.

The American Chemical Society's Green Chemistry Institute launched the Hydraulic Fracturing Roundtable, a consortium for businesses to explore sound chemical use in operations and sustainable alternatives to materials commonly used in natural gas exploration. Founding member companies include Apache, Dow Chemical, Marathon Oil, Nalco Holding, Rockwater Energy Solutions, and Trican Well Svc. Companies may sign on as founding members until December 31.

The Hershey Company has introduced Sourcemap, an online supply chain transparency platform that allows consumers to explore where and how companies source their product ingredients. Consumers can now explore the origin of ingredients used in two Hershey's products: Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Almonds and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

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.

Royal Dutch Shell has ceased all offshore drilling in the Arctic after it failed to find sufficient quantities of oil or natural gas that would warrant further exploration.

National Geographic is dedicating its television programming to climate change topics for an entire week beginning October 30, in 171 countries and 45 languages. The programming will include the second season premiere of climate change series "Years of Living Dangerously," which explores a range of climate change topics through the eyes of celebrity correspondents. In addition, National Geographic's week of programming will feature Leonardo DiCaprio's new climate change documentary "Before the Flood."

Large quantities of fish are consumed in India on a daily basis, which generates a huge amount of fish "biowaste" materials. In an attempt to do something positive with this biowaste, a team of researchers at Jadavpur University in Koltata, India explored recycling the fish byproducts into an energy harvester for self-powered electronics

The size of McDonald's and its global footprint will drive changes in the food chain as the company moves toward cage-free eggs and local, sustainable ingredients, said CEO Steve Easterbrook. A Fortune reporter goes behind the scenes at farms and production facilities to explore cage-free egg production and what goes in to increasing the supply.

President Barack Obama today announced a major expansion of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, rendering large areas of the central Pacific off-limits to fishing and energy exploration. The move will expand the marine sanctuary to more than 780,000 square miles.

At the height of the Roman Empire, Rome's water management infrastructure was the envy of civilizations the world over. Today, while the city still enjoys abundant high-quality water sources, rainstorms of increasing intensity cause flooding that can hinder the city's ability to function. Exploring holistic, systems-based approaches to urban water challenges is an essential component of Resilient Rome's strategy process.

As a punishing drought continues to grip California and other areas, scientists are exploring hardy succulents as a pathway to genetically engineer plants to use less water. Agave and other succulents such as the prickly pear, pineapple and vanilla have evolved to perform a different kind of photosynthesis that enable their survival in semiarid environments. These species absorb most of their carbon dioxide at night rather than during the day, as most plants do, meaning less water evaporates off the leaves through transpiration. 

Pope Francis will release a major encyclical this week calling for the world's Catholics to take a stand against climate change and environmental degradation. The letter, the first such statement by a pope, will frame environmental activism as a social justice issue. "Pope Francis is personally committed to this issue like no other pope before him. The encyclical will have a major impact," U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres said. 

When it comes to selling products with an environmental benefit - or telling your corporate sustainability story well - words really do matter. Here at Shelton Group, we just completed our eighth annual Eco Pulse study of American consumers, and this year, we're offering a free special report that explores a topic critical to your communications strategy: the effectiveness of green jargon.

Coca-Coca, Dow Chemical and a slew of other players are teaming up with the nonprofit giant to attack a problem that has been explored very little up to now. 

This article points to the latest wave of businesses working collaboratively on the urgent, common ground issues of renewable energy and climate policy. In America's history of westward expansion and exploration, pioneer families came together in wagon trains for mutual support. In the same way, the examples below show that businesses are taking action, together, to ensure a more certain future that's good for all of us and for business.

The Coca-Cola Company, The Dow Chemical Company, and Kering are among 10 companies to begin testing and refining the new Natural Capital Protocol, in collaboration with the Natural Capital Coalition and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. The participating companies will use the Protocol to assess water use opportunities and risks in site-specific locations, explore methods for aligning strategic business decisions with natural capital assessment results, and more.

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

Incorporating biodiversity and ecosystems services (BES) into planning.

Two reports released this week examine the increasingly urgent risks to which major corporations around the world are vulnerable thanks to climate change, along with their own part in exacerbating those risks and how they could act to mitigate them.

Britain has created the world's largest marine reserve, covering about 322,000 square miles of the South Pacific around the Pitcairn Islands. The move is an attempt to clamp down on illegal fishing. "People know Pitcairn because of the Mutiny on the Bounty, but their real bounty is the rich marine life underwater," said National Geographic explorer Enric Sala