The Sustainable Rice Platform launched the first global standard for reducing the environmental impacts of rice cultivation. The standard has 46 requirements that address biodiversity, labor rights, worker health, and more.
The US could cut its carbon dioxide emissions 20% more by using the Clean Power Plan, according to the Energy Information Administration. The report said carbon dioxide emissions from coal-burning power plants have been declining for a decade, but the nation could further accelerate that shift by employing the CPP. Rice University Associate Professor Daniel Cohan argues that the report emphasizes the importance of the ongoing litigation over the CPP and how far the US still has to go to meet its greenhouse gas emissions targets.
Since 2000, Indonesian coal production has increased five-fold to meet growing domestic demand for electricity and feed export markets in Asia. The intensive mining is leading to the clearing of rainforest and the pollution of rivers and rice paddies.
UK retailer Marks & Spencer has launched its first sustainable footwear collection, Footglove Earth - the latest component of the company's ongoing Plan A initiative to become the world's most sustainable retailer by 2020. Each of the shoes' components is sourced through suppliers that developed them sustainably or through the use of recycled, post-consumer waste.