News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to expand rooftop solar in India is facing delays due to hesitant banks and limited state support. The PM Surya Ghar programme, launched in 2024, aimed to install rooftop solar panels in 4 million households by March 2026, offering subsidies covering up to 40% of costs. However, as of early 2026, […]

Rome has begun cutting down a number of its famous umbrella pine trees along Via dei Fori Imperiali, the historic boulevard linking Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum, after inspections found several were unstable and at risk of falling. The move came after several collapses in early 2026, including one on 1 February near the Forum

The Albanese government has approved a major expansion of the Middlemount coal mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, a move that scientists warn will destroy vital wildlife habitat and worsen climate change. The project, owned by Peabody and Yancoal, will clear roughly 183 hectares of koala habitat and 81 hectares for greater gliders, while producing about 85 million tonnes

Chile is moving forward with plans to establish a new national park at the country’s southernmost tip, a sparsely populated region often described as the “edge of the world.” The proposed protected area, located near the Strait of Magellan on the Brunswick Peninsula, would span roughly 150,000 hectares of subantarctic forests, peatlands, glaciers, and coastal

India will extend a USD 450 million relief and reconstruction package to Sri Lanka following the devastation caused by a powerful cyclone, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said during an official visit to Colombo. The support includes a mix of grants and concessional financing and is intended to help Sri Lanka recover from widespread damage to

The European Union is preparing tougher rules on plastic imports as domestic recyclers struggle to compete with cheaper foreign materials. European recycling plants have faced closures and reduced output due to an influx of low-cost plastics, including virgin plastics that are often misdeclared as recycled. Rising energy prices and fluctuating oil costs have further squeezed

Turkey’s Konya Plain, one of the country’s most productive agricultural regions, is increasingly threatened by the sudden appearance of sinkholes as prolonged drought and intensive groundwater use destabilize the land. Hundreds of collapses have been recorded across farmlands that supply staple crops such as wheat, maize, and sugar beet. Scientists link the phenomenon to rapidly

Indonesia’s government has announced plans to pursue as much as $8.5 billion in fines from palm oil growers and mining firms accused of operating illegally inside protected forest areas. Authorities say investigations have identified millions of hectares of land that were cleared or used without proper permits, with the bulk of potential penalties linked to

China has said that coral reef damage around the contested Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea was caused largely by military activities, including live-fire drills and aircraft exercises conducted in nearby waters. According to an ecological assessment released by China’s Ministry of Natural Resources and reported by state media, repeated bomb-dropping exercises and other

A court in Switzerland has agreed to hear a climate-related lawsuit filed by residents of Indonesia’s low-lying Pari Island against Holcim, one of the world’s largest cement manufacturers. The case, lodged in the Canton of Zug, argues that Holcim’s long-term carbon emissions have contributed to rising sea levels that are now regularly flooding the island