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Logging emissions is an important step in securing the transparency that China needs to solve its pollution problems, Mr. Ma argues. Among the harmful pollutants are air particles known as PM2.5, which can enter deep into the lungs and even into the bloodstream. In an interview, he talked about the considerable progress he sees in the Chinese government's approach to air pollution, but also how concerns about social unrest continued to constrain discussion of pollution's damage to public health. Before 2013, levels of PM2.5 [the finest and deadliest particulate matter] were not monitored or made public in a single city. Now it's monitored and released in more than 400 cities. China has entered an era when air quality information is released. It's much more transparent. The 11th and 12th Five-Year Plans only referred to "emission reduction targets," so local governments could play games by claiming they had reduced emissions. Now, by saying by what year the PM2.5 must be below a certain amount, it's much harder to fake. The 13th Five-Year Plan is a progressive plan because it says that the public has the right to participate, to monitor, and that it's the public's right to know.

Ecodesk launched a monitoring tool for businesses to track conflict minerals in supply chain. They want it to be an eary warning system for non-financial factors in supply chain, providing an understanding of potential problems

Apple has released its annual Supplier Responsibility report, detailing its monitoring of supply partner labor practices, compliance with regulations and Apple's standards of business, the environmental impact of its product components and more. Apple highlighted its ongoing education investments in the report, detailing the growth in its worker rights and skills training up top.

California is pushing to make computers and monitors more energy-efficient, with the California Energy Commission proposing minimum power-consumption standards that could save 2,702 gigawatt hours of electricity per year. It's estimated that the rules would save consumers $430 million a year in energy costs.

A new radar and satellite system will give brands greater forest commodity sourcing transparency Companies that source commodities from areas potentially at risk of deforestation will have a new weapon in their armoury from the start of 2017. Starling is a high-resolution satellite auditing service that can be used to check forest management practices, in particular in source countries for palm oil, such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

Hotels are making dramatic progress in sustainability as they realize its compatibility with luxury and cost savings, global consultant Ashlan Cousteau says. Trends range from organic cocktails to in-room monitoring of water and electricity use.

Greenpeace launched an interactive web-based map that allows users to monitor deforestation and fires across Indonesia in near real time.

Tyson Foods urged its pork suppliers to stop using manual blunt force to euthanize sick or injured piglets, use anesthetic for tail docking and castration, and improve housing for pregnant sows. The company also announced that it will increase the frequency of third-party audits that monitor animal well-being.

Based on data released earlier this month by the US Drought Monitor, nine urban areas in the United States are under "exceptional drought" conditions and may experience widespread crop damages, even more severe water restrictions, and water emergencies in coming months.

The briefing is a very clear explanation of the fundamental difference in terms of climate change between the carbon stored in fossil fuels and the carbon stored in trees. REDD as a carbon trading mechanism assumes that a ton of carbon not released from forests is the same in terms of the climate as ton of carbon emitted by burning fossil fuels. As Greenpeace explains, this assumption is wrong.

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

Atmospheric carbon levels have reached 402 parts per million, the highest level in about 800,000 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. "Humans have caused carbon dioxide concentrations to rise 120 ppm since preindustrial times, with over 90% of that in the past century alone," said James Butler, director of NOAA's Global Monitoring Division

Chicago is using a data-driven energy benchmarking system to monitor its buildings' energy use and emissions, helping officials make targeted improvements and boost energy efficiency. Boulder, Colo., meanwhile, has implemented America's first carbon tax, raising $1.8 million a year for energy efficiency and public transit projects.

At the World Travel & Tourism Council 2015 Global Summit in Madrid this week, the NGO Sustainable Travel International unveiled an industry-wide campaign entitled "10 Million Better," to monitor and scale up social and environmental benefits from travel and tourism

Deliver Change, a UK-based non-profit focused on sustainable technology projects, launched a campaign this week called "Let's make air pollution visible," which aims to bring together businesses, policy makers and local groups to solve the problem of air pollution in the UK. Deliver Change is also piloting its air-quality monitoring network, AirSensa, to collect data on air pollution in UK cities. 

the Global Green Growth Forum in Copenhagen, WRI announced the launch of a process to develop a global standard for measuring food loss and waste. This standard, known as the Global Food Loss and Waste Protocol, will enable countries and companies to measure and monitor the food loss and waste that occur within their boundaries and value chains in a credible, practical and consistent manner.

Worn Again has developed a first-of-its-kind textile-to-textile chemical recycling technology . the aim is for this unique process to enable the 'recaptured' polyester and cellulose from cotton to be spun into new fabric, creating a circular resource model for textiles. H&M and Kering's PUMA brand will monitor the testing.

By 2017, the global volume of discarded refrigerators, TVs, cellphones, computers, monitors and other electronic waste will weigh almost as much as 200 Empire State Buildings, a new report predicts.

Unilever and the World Resources Institute are partnering to increase transparency in agricultural commodity supply chains with the goal of ending tropical deforestation. The partnership will enable Unilever and its suppliers to use the Global Forest Watch Commodities platform to monitor forest cover change around commodity supply areas and processing facilities such as palm oil mills.

Unilever partnered with the World Resources Institute (WRI) to expand access to the Global Forest Watch Commodities platform, which enables companies to monitor changes in forest cover associated with their supply chains. Unilever and its suppliers will begin using the platform and working with WRI to improve it.