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Retail giant Target has partnered with GoodGuide, the products-rating website acquired last year by Underwriters Laboratories, to create a rating systems for thousands of consumer products, the retailer has announced.

A 19-year-old Dutch student had a bright idea for ridding the sea of floating trash -- and now he's built a team of 100 people and is raising $2 million to fund his invention. The system uses long, floating barriers to passively guide floating trash to collection areas and is said to be capable of eliminating all waste larger than 1 millimeter

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.

Walmart launched a new sustainable food commitment that emphasizes reducing the environmental impact of agriculture, providing healthier food choices, and increasing supply chain transparency.

President Barack Obama is pushing American companies to abandon the use of a chemical coolant called R-134a in refrigerators, air conditioning systems and other industrial applications. R-134a is in a class of chemicals that can be up to 10,000 times as powerful a greenhouse gas per ounce as carbon dioxide.

China seeks a fair, global system to tackle climate change and will deliver its pledge to the United Nations by the end of Tuesday on how much it will cut emissions, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said after talks with top European Union officials.

The world needs "immediate and substantial" reductions in carbon emissions to avoid huge and irreversible damage to the planet's oceans and fisheries, researchers say. "The oceans are closely tied to human systems, and we're putting communities at high risk," said fisheries researcher Rashid Sumaila

IKEA, the world's leading home furnishings retailer, today announced it had officially plugged-in Kansas' largest rooftop solar array, atop the recently opened IKEA Merriam. The 92,000-square-foot solar array consists of a 730.17-kW DC system, comprised of 2,394 panels, and will produce approximately 986,800 kWh of electricity annually for the store, the equivalent of reducing 680 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) - equal to the emissions of 143 cars or providing electricity for 94 homes yearly (calculating clean energy equivalents at www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/calculator.html).

Derive Systems, an automotive fleet engine software developer, announced today its partnership with Clean Fuels Ohio as part of the Midwest DRIVES Initiative.

ClearSign Combustion says it has successfully demonstrated an 80 percent to 90 percent reduction in NOx emissions by retrofitting a conventional off-the-shelf commercial burner in a system designed to closely resemble a standard commercial firetube boiler.

A Nissan vehicle plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, improved the plant's energy performance by 7.2 percent in gaining the SEP certification. The new system saves the facility $938,000 annually; Nissan's investment, $331,000, was recovered in just four months. - See more at: http://www.justmeans.com/#sthash.61g5GUht.dpuf

IKEA plans to nearly double the solar array completed in April atop its Perryville, Maryland distribution center, the state's largest such solar energy system. 

At the height of the Roman Empire, Rome's water management infrastructure was the envy of civilizations the world over. Today, while the city still enjoys abundant high-quality water sources, rainstorms of increasing intensity cause flooding that can hinder the city's ability to function. Exploring holistic, systems-based approaches to urban water challenges is an essential component of Resilient Rome's strategy process.

Levi's is offering customers a 20% discount if they bring their old duds to the denim brand's retail locations for recycling -- even if the old clothes aren't Levi's brand. The take-back program is an attempt to further the company's "vision of a more circular economy or closed-loop system for our products," said sustainability chief Michael Kobori. 

Today, Rainforest Action Network released a new progress report ranking the relative strength of palm oil commitments made since the launch of its Snack Food 20 campaign two years ago. The 2015 progress report shines a spotlight on the laggards in the Snack Food 20 and outlines the actions that these companies - as well as the frontrunners who are pushing ahead on their commitments - can and must take to rapidly cut Conflict Palm Oil from our food system.

As battery storage technology has improved - Tesla announced in May its entry into the energy storage market - an increasing number of hotels are investing in energy storage systems to help reduce demand charges that typically account for at least 30 percent of a commercial electricity bill, and often as much as 50 percent.

Arizona State University Professor Peter Lammers and researchers at New Mexico State University are developing an energy-positive wastewater treatment method using a special kind of algae. The researchers believe that the algal systems ultimately could eliminate sewage farms' electricity bills, which can account for anything up to 60 percent of operating costs today, or even generate a surplus. 

California legislators are considering tough emissions proposals that would double buildings' energy efficiency, require 50% renewable energy use by state utilities and halve gasoline consumption by 2030. The oil industry is launching a major PR offensive to derail the effort, but Gov. Jerry Brown says he's determined to implement the policies. "It's absolutely necessary if we are to have any chance of stopping potentially catastrophic changes to our climate system," he said. 

Belize just redefined marine conservation, entrusting its fishermen with a nationwide system of multi-species fishing rights for all its coastal fishing waters.

A new technology called bio-energy with carbon capture and storage, or BECCS, could potentially eliminate the equivalent of China's total carbon emissions from the planet's atmosphere, dramatically slowing the rate of climate change, according to a draft U.N. report. The system, which involves capturing and burying carbon emissions from burning biomass, has not yet been tested at scale but is increasingly seen as "an essential component" of any effort to tackle climate change, the report notes.