President Barack Obama announced a new ban on offshore oil and natural gas drilling across broad areas of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, using part of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act that would make it hard for his successor to reverse the decision. "They'll be arguing about this for years in the courts," said environmental lawyer Patrick Parenteau.

For the first time, solar power is becoming the cheapest form of electricity production in the world, according to new statistics from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) released Thursday. While unsubsidized solar has occasionally done better than coal and gas in individual projects, 2016 marked the first time that the renewable energy source has out-performed fossil fuels on a large scale-and new solar projects are also turning out to be cheaper than new wind power projects, BNEF reports in its new analysis, Climatescope.

European Union lawmakers endorsed a draft version of carbon market reforms aimed at further reducing greenhouse gas emissions while providing protection for industries requiring intensive energy consumption. The ultimate goal is a 40% emissions reduction by 2030 without loss of industry, and the proposal will go to a plenary vote in February

The Environmental Protection Agency has stopped working on a voluntary compliance program for power plants looking to cut emissions under the Clean Power Plan. The Trump administration has pledged to overturn the CPP.

Target has set a goal to remove "all unwanted chemicals" from its own product line by 2020. The company expanded its list of high-priority ingredients but removed endocrine-disrupting chemicals from that registry.

H&M, the second-largest clothing retailer in the world, is working with German textile recycler SOEX Group on a system where previously used fibers would make up the majority of the material they use in clothing manufacturing. H&M's head of sustainability, Anna Gedda, says the company has collected 34,000 pounds of waste since the program began.

According to a new Pure Strategies study, over $8 billion was earned in 2015 from the sustainability efforts of 153 survey respondents, signaling a new way of defining sources of business value. Taking inspiration from sustainability's positive performance, companies should position their programs to generate the greatest business benefits and to measure and celebrate the gains.

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.

General Motors has surpassed its 2020 target to achieve 131 landfill-free sites four years early. The company achieved landfill-free status at 23 new sites in 2016, bringing its network of landfill-free sites to 152 worldwide.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise has adopted a science-based goal to cut its operational GHG emissions by 25% by 2025 from 2015 baseline levels. The goal has been verified and approved by the Science Based Target initiative. MORE »

Kering has committed to a science-based goal to cut its direct and indirect emissions by 50% by 2025, becoming the first luxury company to do so. The goal has been verified and approved by the Science Based Target initiative.

India's Central Electricity Authority released its latest draft National Electricity Plan, which lays out intentions to more than double India's clean energy capacity by 2027, according to Climate Home. The plan also indicates that the country will not build additional coal-fired energy capacity from 2022 to 2027.

Poland has issued the world's first sovereign green bond. The country plans to use the proceeds to finance projects related to renewable energy, clean transportation infrastructure, and more.

Purpose-driven US outdoor clothing giant Patagonia is calling for business leaders to back regenerative organic agriculture, claiming that certain textile standards are "not going far enough

The World Resources Institute released a recommended methodology for measuring and disclosing the potential emissions from fossil fuel reserves held by coal, oil, and gas companies.

Climate change and other hurdles mean it will take more water - and potentially more taxpayer money - to save the Everglades, according to new scientific findings released Thursday. The report to Congress warns that rising seas and warming temperatures are threatening to worsen damage already done by decades of drainage and pollution, caused by development and farming overtaking the Everglades. A recent report showed that climate change, pollution and other factors could increase the cost to restore the Florida Everglades. So far, restoration costs are pegged at $16 billion, but additional efforts, such as proposed reservoirs, could add to that cost.

* We'd be remiss if we didn't mention Patagonia's landmark decision to donate 100 percent of its global Black Friday sales to nonprofits benefiting the planet. The campaign was so popular, the company beat its goal of $2 million dollars in sales by five times that amount - resulting in $10 million in donations to hundreds of grassroots environmental organizations.

A plan launched by Philadelphia City Council President Darrell Clarke and backed by the Philadelphia Energy Authority will use $1 billion on energy efficiency projects in municipal buildings, schools, small businesses and low- to middle-income homes with the goals of creating 10,000 green jobs over the next decade and reducing energy consumption. PEA's executive director, Emily Schapira, says green energy is a growing industry, and the project will spur its development in the city.

Leaders of eight major seafood companies and fish feed organizations signed a pledge for ocean sustainability after a kickoff meeting of the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship last month in the Maldives. Signatories agreed to improve transparency in their own operations, build on and share best practices, engage in science-based efforts to improve fisheries management and productivity, work toward pollution reduction goals, and support the development of new sustainability technology and initiatives.

Seafood company Thai Union Group will ensure 100% of its tuna is sustainably sourced and plans to reach at least 75% sustainability by 2020. The company will invest $90 million in efforts to increase their supply of sustainable tuna and open 11 Fishery Improvement Projects.