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For the first four years of its existence, the Department of Energy's Better Plants program focused almost exclusively on encouraging industrial manufacturers to reduce energy intensity by an ambitious 25 percent. Many are recording annual average improvements of 2.1 percent, according to the DoE's latest progress report (PDF) issued in September.

The country may be the world's largest carbon emitter, but China has the potential to become a clean energy leader. China is now the largest producer of renewable energy, generating 325 million tons of oil equivalent in 2013. Although renewables represented only 11 percent of the country's total energy production in 2014, this shift indicates the Chinese government's effort to transition its energy production mix.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The top official at the Environmental Protection Agency said Friday the ongoing legal fight over regulating carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants won't delay the nation's accelerating shift to cleaner sources of energy. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy spoke at Climate Action 2016, a conference in Washington on efforts to curb global warming. Seeking to reassure her international audience, McCarthy said the United States will absolutely meet its obligations to cut carbon emissions as agreed to in the landmark climate treaty signed in Paris last December.

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.

Cotton is planted on 2.4 percent of the world's crop land and yet it accounts for 24 percent and 11 percent of the global sales of insecticide and pesticides, respectively. Organic cotton represents less than 1 percent of the global total annual crop, but National Geographic, international clothing brand C&A, and activist and filmmaker Alexandra Cousteau believe that needs to change. A new 60-minute documentary, For the Love of Fashion, emphasizes "the need for a paradigm shift in the cotton value chain."

New data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration also highlighted another potential contradiction: Virtually every state suing to block the Clean Power Plan has itself shifted toward burning less coal to generate the electricity its residents need since the year 2007 - in some cases by very large amounts.

Tunisia has set a goal to source 33% of its total electricity needs from renewables by 2030. Energy and Mines Minister Mongi Marzouk said Tunisia's installed renewable energy capacity would have to reach 16 gigawatts to meet that goal, requiring an investment of about $7 billion.

Global cloud patterns have changed since the 1980s, and scientists have found these shifts are consistent with predictions from climate model simulations.

Often taking up more than half of a product's unit volume, some studies indicate that product packaging accounts for nearly half of all household waste. Simple, powerful solutions for reducing packaging waste lie in finding more efficient ways to meet consumer demands. The adoption of manufacturing practices that satisfy marketing and quality requirements without over-packaging goods would be a great and necessary shift for more sustainable production standards.

Lego is pumping millions of dollars into its quest to find new, sustainable materials for its popular plastic toy bricks. While the company's goal with this initiative is to build better toys, it may end up shifting the plastics industry away from its oil-based roots.

Falling coal use in China and the US and a worldwide shift towards renewable energy have kept greenhouse gas emissions level for a second year running, one of the world's leading energy analysts has said.

The events of 2016 have underscored just how volatile, complex and ambiguous the world is today. Drawing on insights that we have collected around the world from thousands of interviews and engagements with stakeholders and consumers, we take a look at the global shifts that will continue to shape the world for leadership organizations in 2017.

Global oil demand will continue to grow into the 2040s even as electrical vehicle fleets expand and the low-carbon energy transition gains traction around the world, BP revealed in its annual Energy Outlook, an industry benchmark report forecasting long-term trends and informs the company's internal strategy. The predictions come as other oil companies such as Royal Dutch Shell prepare for demand to peak by the early 2030s and countries make the shift to cleaner forms of energy.

The satellites measure changes in Earth's gravitation field that signal shifts in the movement of water across and under Earth's surface.

Green cleaning products are no longer a niche interest, with many consumers willing to pay a little extra to pick up chemical-free or otherwise eco-friendly cleaning products, writes Stephen Ashkin. That shift is partly due to the rise of eco-labels and certification programs, which helped cleaning companies slice through the complexities of green chemistry. "With the advent of certification, standards and ecolabels, buyers have been given more tools to choose appropriate products," Ashkin explains.

Effluent from water treatment plants continues to pollute waters with nutrients, but water utilities can shift to more sustainable model that goes beyond basic treatment and includes nutrient recovery and removal, according to a report released by The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread.

Now that climate change is directly impacting the well-being and safety of many communities, the conversation has officially shifted from mitigation to adaptation.

By the end of the century, scientists say, megafires-conflagrations that chew up at least 100,000 acres of land-will become the norm. Which makes them of critical interest to researchers. These infernos, once rare, are growing to sizes that U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell describes as "unimaginable" two decades ago. Five alone have consumed more than five million acres in central Alaska since June. Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado also experienced their worst wildfires in the past seven years.

Rising temperatures are increasing the number of "megafires" in the forests of the western U.S., experts say. Tackling and preventing such fires could require a significant shift in firefighting and forest conservation strategies. "These stresses are going to become more widespread," warned Craig Allen, a U.S. Geological Service forest ecologist. National Geographic News (free registration) (8/9) 

ExxonMobil is to become the first fossil-fuel giant to report on threats to its oil and gas assets due to possible future regulation of carbon emissions. The move won plaudits from clean-energy campaigners, who say fossil fuels will become economically unviable as governments tackle carbon emissions. "That the largest American oil and gas company is the first to come to the table on this issue says a lot about the direction that energy markets are taking," says Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calls for a dramatic shift from fossil fuels, aiming to influence world leaders to take concrete steps.