Ontario gets rid of coal-fired power
Air quality in the Canadian province has been improving because of a mix of emissions-free electricity sources
It’s still open season for bio-piracy
Rich nations block accord on benefit-sharing rules for the world’s genetic resources
Compromising on climate
Jan Pronk, chairperson of climate change talks held in New York, offers a compromise plan that gives away too much on sinks
Patent issues delaying Ebola cure
Canada's exclusive licensing rights of its Ebola patent to a US firm are holding up global development of a vaccine
Predatory EU pacts
EU is pushing India and Canada to sign free trade agreements that will hurt their generic drugs—and the outrage is global
Estimate of world’s oldest water
The scientists estimate that there could be around 11 cubic million km of this water buried deep beneath the ground
‘OECMs are a win-win for conservation and community’
Down To Earth talks to conservationist Vinod Mathur to learn more about India’s roadmap to conserve its marine regions
Great expectations from Bonn climate talks, but sticky issues need resolving
Drafting a universal climate change agreement enters critical stage of negotiations and streamlining of agreement text
Power games at UN climate talks
Climate talks unfolded amid high drama. Developing countries protested inaction by developed countries, civil society organisations walked out, …
World gets a yellow card
The Warsaw climate talks serve a grim warning to the world that inaction will cost, writes Chandra Bhushan as he leaves Warsaw just before the …
Pesticides in our food
There is never any end to learning. And so, surprises. We have learnt, over 20 years, that environmental governance in India is lackadaisical. …
A reliable HIV self-test
Nitika Pant Pai, assistant professor at the department of medicine, McGill University, Canada, and her team have analysed data on acceptability …
Zeroing in on persistent pollutants
Paints and refrigerants have chemicals like polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which are difficult to remove …
Southeast US will bear the worst of this year’s winter, says AccuWeather
This US-based independent weather agency set off gasps of dread and many counter-forecasts last week when it indicated “the return” …
A treaty too many
India is learning that there is a heavy price to be paid for the large number of bilateral investment treaties, or BITs, it has signed in the …
Sunshine sector loses sheen
About 40 kilometres from Delhi, in the bustling real estate market of Noida-Greater Noida, lies the biggest irony that the renewable energy …
Future compromised
The Earth Summit was a historical opportunity to set the world on the correct development trajectory. Negotiators from 191 countries came …
Secretive tribunals, hidden damages
Canadian academic Gus Van Harten is well known for his efforts to reform the global investment treaty regime through his research papers, …
India’s many investment treaties make it vulnerable
Senior international lawyer Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder, who heads the investment programme of the International Institute on Sustainable …