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Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee rejected an amendment on Tuesday that would allow the federal government to allocate funds toward the UN Green Climate Fund. "The Green Climate Fund is the only multilateral institution that supports clean, resilient development around the world," said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., adding that the US should be leading the initiative.

The Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) founder is joined by some of the world's richest people in supporting a 20-year fund called Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Investors include Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, and Alibaba (BABA, Tech30) Executive Chairman Jack Ma. Gates will serve as the chairman of the fund, which is the venture arm of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a group founded last year to accelerate research and investment in clean energy.

MBA students from the University of California, Berkeley achieved a 50% return on investment from the school's socially responsible investment fund since 2008. The fund performed almost 5% better than the overall market from 2011 to 2014.

A report by Frost & Sullivan found that government funding is making zero-energy buildings possible, but the idea is not widely known. "While governmental or regional funding are the main drivers of NZEB technologies, public-private funding is the most effective in sustaining the application of the NZEB concept and advancing its development globally," said Technical Insights industry analyst Jennifer Tan.

Since 2007, the World Wildlife Fund and Coca-Cola have jointly raised tens of millions of dollars for water conservation projects. The partnership proved a winner for both organizations, write E. Richard Brownlee and Allison Elias. "What began as a relationship full of risk and uncertainty grew into a robust partnership built on trust at all levels of the organizations," they explain

The US and Japan pledged a total of $4.5 billion to the Green Climate Fund over the weekend, with $3 billion from the US and $1.5 billion from Japan to help poor nations curb greenhouse gas emissions and limit climate change.

New research on progress towards ending deforestation by 2030 shows funding is woefully short, while indigenous groups say their role as protectors of the forest is under increasing threat. Recent news that the world's tropical forests are now so degraded they have become a source rather than a sink of carbon emissions have injected new urgency into the need to achieve the goals set out in the New York Declaration on Forests four years ago.

The Arbor Day Foundation and Cabela's Outdoor Fund have partnered together to replant in forests devastated by natural disaster. The reforestation efforts, which include the planting of 200,000 trees, are critical to preserving wildlife habitat. Record wildfire seasons in recent years have destroyed millions of trees in forests around the country. Many areas burned so severely that natural regeneration is not possible, making the need to replant necessary. Insect infestations, disease and weather events also destroy forests.

Ending food waste is a key concern across the Western world, with new initiatives cropping up almost every day. Now, a group of British companies and universities have won access to a £340 million EU innovation program aimed at changing the way we eat, grow and distribute food. The new project, called EIT Food, has ambitious aims to halve food waste in Europe within a decade and reduce diet-related illness diet by 2030. It has received €400 million (£340m) of EU research funding, matched by €1.2 billion (£1 billion) of funding from industry and other sources over seven years.

World leaders have agreed to double the clean energy research funding they pledged in December as part of an international push to reduce carbon emissions, the White House announced on Thursday.  During the first meeting of the 21 countries involved in the Mission Innovation project this week, international members said they would increase the clean energy research and development funding the project is designed to facilitate.  According to the White House, member countries will now spend $30 billion per year by 2021 on clean energy research. 

The Environmental Defense Fund launched an advertising campaign to protest the proposed cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency's budget. The ad warns that cutting EPA funding could lead to increased health issues, more pollution and increased levels of lead in drinking water.

The USDA has made $20 million available to California ranchers and farmers to fund agricultural water conservation to combat the effects of the statewide drought.

The World Wildlife Fund will help protect 100,000 acres of former logging forest in Indonesia's Bukit Tigapuluh National Park, in partnership with Frankfurt Zoological Society, The Orangutan Project, and local communities. The World Wildlife Fund has established a commercial company to generate revenue within the project area to help finance forest protection initiatives.

Kenya-based Wildlife Works Carbon employs "wildlife rangers" on about 500,000 acres in and around two national parks to protect elephants from poachers. The company sells carbon credits to raise the funds needed to pay the rangers. The cash raised also goes to compensate landowners for leaving land and resources in their natural condition, and to fund educational and community projects. It's the country's pilot project as part of its belonging to the United Nations' Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation program.

On Thursday, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced changes to EU financial tools to help circular economy projects and businesses secure funding and support the realization of EU climate goals. The changes open €24 billion (~US$26.4B) in funding for businesses looking to transition to a circular economy model.

Kimberly-Clark will feature the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) logo on its Forest Stewardship Council- certified products to raise consumer awareness about the importance of choosing products made from responsibly sourced fiber. As part of the partnership, the company will contribute $4 million to WWF's forest and ecosystem protection programs.

Transportation company Uber announced its Clean Air Plan, which aims to transition its UK-based "uberX" drivers to 100% hybrid or fully electric vehicles by the end of 2022. As part of the plan, Uber has contributed £2 million toward a dedicated fund that allows its UK-based drivers to "access up to £5,000 towards the cost of upgrading their car to a hybrid or fully electric vehicle." The company will also add a fee to every ride taken through the app in London to grow the fund and extend access to more drivers, with plans to add a similar fee in other UK cities over the next year.

The World Wildlife Fund released results from the 12-week pilot program it launched to reduce food waste across the hotel industry, in partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation and the American Hotel & Lodging Association. The results show that participating properties reduced food waste by at least 10% and lowered food costs at least 3% in some cases. Companies participating in the program included Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott International, and others.

Latin America and the Caribbean are due for an ecological makeover. The World Resources Institute (WRI) says it already has the funding committed to restore some 131 million degraded lands across the region. The project has 16 investors so far. Another 19 investors are already hard and work funding the restoration of more than 24 million acres.

Virginia-based pork producer Smithfield Foods announced plans to reduce its carbon emissions by 25% during the next eight years. This is the largest planned cut by any US-based meat packer, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.