Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has directed the government’s cabinet ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland and Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, to move towards mandatory climate related financial disclosures, among several other moves aimed at enabling the country to achieve its goal to transition to net zero by 2050.The climate initiatives were unveiled in the mandate letters sent by the Prime Minister to his cabinet ministers, outlining the objectives that each minister is directed to work towards accomplishing. The climate-related directives follow the government’s announcement last year of its commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, followed in July 2021 by an interim goal t...

It's a glorious autumn afternoon and I'm standing on a hillside looking out over Tokyo Bay. Beside me is Takao Saiki, a usually mild-mannered gentleman in his 70s.But today Saiki-San is angry."It's a total joke," he says, in perfect English. "Just ridiculous!"The cause of his distress is a giant construction site blocking our view across the bay - a 1.3-gigawatt coal-fired power station in the making."I don't understand why we still have to burn coal to generate electricity," says Saiki-San's friend, Rikuro Suzuki. "This plant alone will emit more than seven million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year!"ADVERTISEMENTSuzuki-San's point is a good one. Shouldn't Japan be cutting its coal consumption, not increasing it, at a time of great concern about coal's impact on the climate?So why the co...

Indonesia pledged at the recent COP26 climate summit that its greenhouse gas emissions would peak by 2030 and then start to fall.It's also said that it will end deforestation by that same date.But to reduce emissions from its transport sector, it's relying on using more biofuels - production of which can lead to the loss of forested land.So how can it both curb its emissions using biofuels and end deforestation by 2030?What is Indonesia's plan for biofuels?Indonesia is now the third largest producer of biofuels in the world, behind Brazil and the US, and the world's largest producer of biodiesel - a biofuel alternative to regular diesel fuel.ADVERTISEMENTIMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGESImage caption,Advanced research into biofuels is being carried out in IndonesiaBiofuels come from plant material...

Some of the world’s richest men are squaring off in what’s become a rivalry for the ages – the space race. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, the two richest men on the planet and the CEOs of SpaceX and Blue Origin, respectively, have grand designs on the cosmos. They predict a universe where the internet is accessible from anywhere, humans are an interplanetary species, and rotating space stations host permanent residents.But Bill Gates isn’t putting his wealth into these off-planet endeavors.Gates, the fourth richest person alive, according to Forbes, has what he considers higher aspirations right here on Earth. While internet constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s proposed Project Kuiper aim to bring for-profit fixes to the world’s pressing connectivity issues...

Private markets asset management firm Hamilton Lane announced today the interim fund close of its recently launched social and environmental impact-focused fund, Hamilton Lane Impact Fund II, achieving $198.5 million in commitments.Impact Fund II, launched in April, seeks to make direct investments across geographies and strategies, including buyout, growth, late-stage venture, credit and real assets, with an emphasis on investments in transformative technologies, innovation and efficiency. Investments include companies that focus on clean energy transition, sustainable processes, health and wellness and community development.At nearly $200 million, the fund has already more than doubled the size of its predecessor fund, Impact Fund I, which announced its final close in July 2020 with...