environment

The energy multinationals ENI and SNAM have announced that they have started the capture and storage of carbon dioxide emitted by the Casalboretti power plant, in the municipality of Ravenna.The project plans to capture at least 90% of the CO2 produced by the plant - estimated at around 25,000 tonnes per year – and transport it to the offshore platform Porto Corsini Mare Ovest, and then deposit it in an exhausted gas field at 3,000 meters deep.In a press release, ENI declared that this commitment is "consistent" with its desire to position itself as an "operator that facilitates a fair and balanced energy transition", adding that it is "a fundamental contribution to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050".However, no explanation can be found regarding the most recent scientific evidence, which suggest that the actual impact of this strategy on the climate may be more limited than expected and, therefore, still under discussion. According to the press re...

Namibia will kill at least 700 hippos, elephants, buffaloes, zebras and other wild animals to combat the severe drought that is bringing the country to its knees.The State has started culling wild animals for feed populations starving due to lack of rain, which is causing crop failures in what has been described as the most severe drought in the African country's recent history.So far they have already been more than 260 animals killed to provide meat to thousands of people and reduce pressure on grazing and water resources, already seriously compromised by drought.Altogether, professional hunters were commissioned to cull 30 hippos, 83 elephants, 60 buffaloes, 100 wildebeests and as many antelopes, 300 zebras and 50 impalas. The slaughter of animals was announced by the Ministry of the Environment in Windhoek on Thursday 26 August, and is part of the so-called Drought relief program, intended to provide food support to the country's population.The animals to be killed, a total of 723,...

At the beginning of July, Tesla received permission from the Brandenburg authorities to expand its Grünheide production plant, the largest in Europe.However, there are numerous concerns from environmental activists and the local population, who denounce the huge amount environmental damage and the deprivation of fundamental resources such as water from citizens, in a region already severely affected by drought.According to recent data processing, the development of the current plant has already cost the reduction of 500 thousand trees.To this data is added that of 1.4 million cubic meters of water which the multi-billionaire Elon Musk's company is authorized to use annually, in addition to the fear on the part of the inhabitants of the possible contamination of the groundwater due to the numerous environmental accidents that have already occurred in the plant. Between approximately 2020 and 2023 329 hectares of forest were leveled for the construction of the production plant near...

They excavated thousands of cubic meters inside the Sirente-Velino Regional Natural Park, in Abruzzo, in the excavation operations of a basin for artificial snow, despite not having the necessary authorizations.For this reason, the L'Aquila Prosecutor's Office has ordered the direct summons to court for the works director and the manager of the contracting company who were working on the construction of the cross-country skiing stadium in the Piani di Pezza area, in the L'Aquila municipality of Rocca di Mezzo.As a result, the project was shelved.The decisive factor for the opening of the procedure and the halt to the works was the commitment made by the environmentalist associations Abruzzo Ornithological Station, Salviamo l'Orso and WWF, who immediately reported the start of operations and presented the complaints that led the Abruzzo magistrates to shed light on the matter. Within the decree, the Prosecutor's Office explains that it has established the direct summons to court for the...

Implement policies aimed at combating climate change without accompanying them with incentives, price interventions or specific tax policies it could prove essentially useless:is what emerges from new peer-reviewed research led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) and published in magazine Science.The study used an innovative approach and a new database to analyze more than 20 years of climate policies, finding that only 63 cases out of approximately 1,500 were actually effective in significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.«Our data shows that many policies do not necessarily equate to better results:what is fundamental, however, is the right mix of measures", explain the authors of the study. The research used a new databases of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and a innovative approach that combined machine learning methods with...