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The Green Building Initiative (GBI) launched its Guiding Principles Compliance for New Construction (GPC NC) of federal buildings.

Boston-based startup Cambrian Innovation has come up with water-cleaning technology that uses microbes to turn dirty water into clean energy. Cambrian has federal and private equity funding, including $365,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency. "It's where we will go in the future, where waste is a resource and we don't just want to get rid of it, we want to get energy out of it," said April Richards of the EPA's small-business innovation-research program

A company that manufactures green-roof materials in Portland, Ore., has earned recognition for exporting. The award came from the federal Small Business Administration.

The White House has announced a new plan to reduce America's methane emissions, which are thought to account for up to 14% of the country's total greenhouse emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency will monitor methane emissions from the fossil-fuel sector, and the Interior Department will develop a plan to capture and sell methane emitted by coal mines on federal land. The effort will depend on "cost-effective, voluntary actions and common-sense standards," said Dan Utech, special assistant to the president for energy and climate change

Mountaintop-removal mining is changing water chemistry and harming fish stocks in the Appalachians, federal researchers say. "We're seeing significant reductions in the number of fish species and total abundance of fish downstream from mining operations," says biologist Nathaniel Hitt.

President Barack Obama will announce a new executive order at the United Nations meeting on climate change Tuesday, directing federal agencies to consider climate change in all international development programs.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has something to say about what you wear. While not a fashion arbiter and unable to advise on attire for family gatherings, the FTC oversees what appears on the labels inside your clothes.

The US Federal Trade Commission has taken action against six companies - ECM Biofilms, American Plastic Manufacturing, Champ, Clear Choice Housewares, Carnie Cap and AJM Packaging - for making false environmental marketing claims.

U.S. federal authorities recently executed search warrants at two Virginia facilities belonging to Lumber Liquidators Holdings, the largest specialty retailer of hardwood flooring in the United States.

The goal of President Barack Obama's newly signed executive order related to climate change is to improve disaster-management efforts during severe weather events and other disasters, according to these articles. It establishes a task force that will look at how federal funds are allocated for building projects and suggest ways to make infrastructure more resilient

The Obama administration is poised to announce the first federal rules mandating reductions in methane emissions. The proposals would require 40% to 45% reductions in methane emissions from 2012 levels over the next decade

Deepwater Wind finally received federal permits, along with a lease from Rhode Island, officially authorizing the first U.S. offshore wind project.

A growing number of organizations from Google to the federal government are incorporating homages to nature into their office blueprints, not just to earn more green building certification points but to reduce employee stress, improve cognitive function and encourage creativity.

President Barack Obama will today order government agencies to reduce their carbon emissions by 40% over the next decade. That won't put a big dent in total U.S. emissions, but could give clean-tech startups and energy providers an important boost. "We can drive substantial reductions across the entire federal footprint and ... leverage both innovation and investment in the private sector," said White House senior adviser Brian Deese.

Retailers Bed Bath & Beyond, Nordstrom, JC Penney and Backcountry.com have been fined $1.3 million by the Federal Trade Commission for misleading environmental claims.

TransCanada wants the US to pay it $15 billion to recoup costs and damages related to President Barack Obama's refusal to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline. In addition to planning the claim under the North American Free Trade Agreement, the company sued the US government in federal court in Texas, claiming Obama's November decision exceeded his constitutional authority.

Whether or not you believe that GMOs are safe for human consumption, the majority of American consumers support the labeling of GMO foods. Genetically engineered crops might be here to stay, but even so, it may be in the industry's best interest to label products that contain them. So said Campbell Soup President and CEO Denise Morrison in a big announcement: Campbell will disclose the presence of GMOs on product labels across its portfolio and strongly supports federal legislation to make GMO labeling mandatory.

Bed Bath & Beyond, Nordstrom, J.C. Penney and Backcountry.com have been accused of "bamboozling" shoppers by selling products purportedly made of eco-friendly bamboo, but that in fact were made of other, less sustainable materials. "False 'bamboo' claims are a significant problem for consumers who care about buying environmentally friendly products," said Federal Trade Commission attorney Korin Felix

580+ groups, businesses call for extension of clean energy tax credits  Over 580 organizations and businesses, including the American Wind Energy Association, have written a letter to Congress calling for the extension of tax credits relating to clean energy. "Businesses and investors need stable, predictable federal tax policy to create jobs, invest capital, and deploy pollution-reducing energy technologies," they wrote. 

BASF has partnered with Cargill, Procter & Gamble and German Development Agency GIZ to build a sustainable and transparent supply chain for coconut oil in the Philippines and Indonesia. The partnership is organized under a German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) program.