EC Environmental Policy

While 2016 lacked the drama of Indonesia's 2015 fire and haze crisis, surging deforestation in Earth's largest rainforest and ongoing destruction of forests for industrial plantations meant that it was far from a quiet year for the planet's rainforests. So what's ahead for 2017? Here are eight things we'll be closely watching in the new year.

PepsiCo has announced it will restore and protect a handful of watersheds in Latin American countries in which it operates, including Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Guatemala. The company announced plans to "replenish" all the water used during manufacturing in high water risk areas by returning it to the watershed from which it was taken.

People working in green buildings think better in the office and sleep better when they get home, a new study has revealed. The research indicates that better ventilation, lighting and heat control improves workers' performance and could boost their productivity by thousands of dollars a year. It also suggests that more subjective aspects, such as beautiful design, may make workers happier and more productive.

According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, before 1900, the cheetah population numbered over 100,000 and its range included the majority of Africa through the Middle East and into Asia. Since then, however, the animal has gone extinct in more than 20 countries, with a mere 7,100 animals remaining globally

Rising temperatures and changing precipitation are taking a toll on coffee farms worldwide, including the plantations around Mount Kilimanjaro. If the world hopes to sustain its two billion cup-a-day habit, scientists say, new climate-resilient species of coffee must be developed.

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.