Events Anniversary for 2024-12-25

Six companies in east China's Jiangsu Province were ordered to pay 160 million yuan (26 million U.S. dollars) for discharging waste chemical to rivers by a court on 30 December 2014. It is the highest fine of its kind in China ever imposed.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wants to make Paris a diesel-free city by 2020. The first step, she said on 28 December 2014, will be to ban the “most polluting” diesel delivery trucks and buses by July 2015.

On 23 December 2014, a pipeline leak with oil emulsion seepage took place during pipeline testing at the 242nd km of the Tikhoretsk-Tuapse-2 oil pipeline under construction in the area of Grechesky Village, Tuapse Region. The total amount of leakage is estimated at 8.4 cubic meters. The pipeline wall was damaged by a landslide. Some of the seeped oil emulsion got into the Tuapse River. As a result of unfavorable weather conditions – abundant precipitation and high wind – some of the oil emulsion ended up in the sea. On water surface in the Tuapse Bay, oil slicks were detected.

On 17 December 2014 Governor Andrew Cuomo said he would defer a decision to extend New York's existing ban on fracking to his environmental commissioner Joe Martens and health commissioner Howard Zucker. Cuomo made the announcement after Martens and Zucker presented findings of their environmental and health reviews on the controversial drilling technique on 17 December 2014. The report concluded that hydraulic fracturing for shale gas and oil carried "significant public health risks" that required "long-term studies" before it could be called safe.

The European Commission adopted on the 16 December 2014 its Work Programme for 2015. The Commission's 2015 Work Programme sets out: 23 new initiatives proposed by the Juncker Commission, following the Political Guidelines presented to the European Parliament; 80 existing proposals which the Commission proposes to withdraw or amend for political or technical reasons. The European Commission plans to scrap future sustainable policies such as waste reduction and air quality. The decision was taken despite 11 EU countries, including Germany, France, Italy and Spain, urging the Commission not to withdraw either proposal and strong support from some industries and businesses for a revision of the EU’s waste targets. The Green 10 condemn in the strongest possible terms the Commission’s plans to withdraw and retable key proposals on waste management and to create confusion and uncertainty about the fate of the air package.

On 15 December 2014 Europe’s largest battery storage project was officially opened by Amber Rudd, Minister at Department for Energy and Climate Change at Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. S&C Electric Europe, Samsung SDI and Younicos collaborated to deploy the technology onto a UK Power Networks substation. The fully automated 6MW/10MWh Smarter Network Storage (SNS) project will assess the role of energy storage in cost effectively delivering the UK’s Carbon Plan, and save over £6 million on traditional network reinforcement methods.

On 12 December 2015 a High Court in London referred a review of the animal testing ban put forward by by the European Federation for Cosmetics Ingredients Manufacturers (EFfCI) to the European Court of Justice. The EFfCI wants companies to be able to sell cosmetics in the EU that have been newly tested on animals, as long as the tests were conducted on animals in countries outside the EU.

On 9 December 2014, the European Commission published its Decision establishing the ecological criteria for the award of the EU Ecolabel for rinse-off cosmetics. The criteria catalogue states that “palm oil and palm kernel oil and their derivatives used in the product must be sourced from plantations that meet criteria for sustainable management that have been developed by multi-stakeholder organisations that have a broad- based membership including NGOs, industry and government.“ Other criteria relevant for the bio-based sector are the prohibition of micro-plastics in the cosmetics and the exclusion of certain plastics for the packaging.

On 9 December 2014, an oil tanker sank and dumped hundreds of liters of furnace oil into the Sundarbans delta after a collision with another vessel. The oil has spread over 350-square-kilometer area straddling Bangladesh and India.

The Nasca Line action took place on the occasion of the climate conference in Lima, Peru. On 8 December 2014, Greenpeace activists placed a message, consisting of 45 cloth letters on the ground, next to the Hummingbird geoglyph. The letters spelled, "Time for change, the future is renewable - Greenpeace". They used yellow colored stones (carried in with them) to hold the letters in place, and used a GIS system to ensure everything is laid out in the right place. On 9 December 2014 the Peruvian Ministry of Culture accused the activists of having damaged the site.

On 3 December 2014, the German Federal Cabinet decided on its position for the UN negotiations starting in January on the Sustainable Development Goals - referred to as the post-2015 agenda for sustainable development. The post-2015 agenda will replace the Millennium Development Goals which will expire 2015. It is the first such agenda to lay down goals for development and the environment in the form of a catalogue of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are applicable worldwide. During the summer 2014, a United Nations working group presented a catalogue with 17 goals - from alleviating poverty to making economic systems more sustainable. During negotiations, the German Government will make every effort to ensure that this ambitious and fair catalogue is retained.

A pipeline, which carries oil between Eilat and Ashkelon, was breached on 3 December 2014, during construction work in Be'er Ora, near Eilat. The official, Guy Samet, said there is a seven-kilometer (4.3 mile) long river of oil flowing through the Evrona Nature Reserve in southern Israel, some 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) north of Eilat.

The chair of the steering committee of the National Platform for Electric Mobility (NPE), Professor Henning Kagermann, presented the NPE's 2014 progress report to Chancellor Merkel on 2 Dezember 2014. This report marks the conclusion of the NPE's market preparation phase (2010 to 2014) and describes the current situation. In the report, the NPE also makes proposals for the upcoming market start-up phase (2015 to 2017) which focus on how Germany can achieve its goals of becoming a leading supplier and lead market in the field of electric mobility by 2020.

The 20th session of the Conference of the Parties and the 10th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol took place from 1 to 14 December in Lima, Peru. The final document contains elements of a draft negotiating text for an agreement to be adopted in Paris at the end of 2015 and enter into force in 2020. The decision envisages a complete draft by the end of May 2015. The COP 20 decision in Lima invites all Parties to present their own intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs). Those ready to do so should indicate within the first quarter of 2015 the extent to which they can reduce their emissions. Targets should be transparent, comparable and verifiable. In addition, Parties may provide voluntary information on measures for adapting to climate change. ight to the end, the issue of how to differentiate the climate commitments of the Parties remained contentious. At present the Kyoto Protocol only distinguishes between developing and developed countries. However, the EU and many other developed countries have advocated that in future the level of commitment should be based more on the individual economic capabilities of each state. The question of the legal form of the new agreement remained unresolved in Lima. COP 20 made good progress on climate finance. Over 10 billion dollars have now been pledged to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), thus creating the financial base the GCF needs to support developing countries in climate action and adaptation measures.

On 30 December 2014, severals cars in huge crude oil freight train exploded near the eastern North Dakota town of Casselton, after a collision with another train. The incident came just weeks after North Dakota's top oil regulator estimated that 90 percent of the state's oil would be carried by train in 2014, up from 60 percent in 2013. The oil train spilled 400,000 gallons of crude, U.S. investigators said on 13 January 2014, in a preliminary report on the accident.

On 29 December 2013 the Hong Kong-flagged tanker Maritime Maisie was carrying about 30,000 tonnes of chemicals when it was involved in a collision with a Pure Car and Truck Carrier (PCTC) near Busan/ Korea, subsequently catching fire. She has since been held at sea by tugs, as both the Japanese and South Korean governments unwilling to give her refuge, due to her hazardous cargo and the severe damage to the hull, despite the risk of a wider environmental disaster if it broke up and sank. In an end to the stalemate between South Korea and Japan over which country would accept the risk of a 26,000 tone hazardous chemical spill, the vessel was finally towed into the Port of Ulsan on 22 April 2014.

On 20 December 2013, the Sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly decided to proclaim 3 March, the day of the adoption of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as World Wildlife Day, to celebrate and raise awareness of the world's wild fauna and flora. In its resolution, the General Assembly reaffirmed the intrinsic value of wildlife and its various contributions, including ecological, genetic, social, economic, scientific, educational, cultural, recreational and aesthetic, to sustainable development and human well-being, and recognized the important role of CITES in ensuring that international trade does not threaten the species' survival.

The European Natura 2000 Award was launched on 16 December 2013. Europeans feel strongly about nature conservation, but few are familiar with Natura 2000. This new annual Award aims to remedy this lack of public awareness, showcasing the variety of Natura 2000 sites and recognising excellence in a wide range of activities. Five awards will be given out each year in different areas, covering communication, conservation actions, socio-economic benefits, reconciling interests/perceptions, and networking and cross-border cooperation. The winners of this inaugural Natura 2000 Award will be announced in May 2014 and their achievements will be recognised at a high level ceremony in Brussels.

In a press release dated 16 December 2013, ECHA, the European Chemicals Agency, announced that it had updated the candidate list of substances of very high concern (SVHC) with the addition of seven new substances.

On 12 December 2013, the EU Council of Ministers rejected a compromise limit on the use of first-generation biofuels in Europe. The compromise by the Lithuanian government, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers would have increased the cap proposed by the Commission and axed mandatory reporting of indirect land use change (ILUC) effects.

On 10 December 2013, the Federal Government approved the capital dredging program for the proposed Terminals 0, 2 and 3 at the Port of Abbot Point, the Adani T0 project at Abbot Point, the Arrow Liquefied Natural Gas Facility on Curtis Island and the Arrow Gas Transmission Pipeline to Curtis Island.

On 10 December 2013, the European Parliament approved the plan to freeze the auctioning of a portion of the current glut of CO2 permits to boost their price and encourage firms to invest in low-carbon innovation. The measures, amended by the EP in July to set stricter conditions for the freeze, are intended to restore the incentive effect of the Emissions Trading System, which is designed to curb CO2 emissions.

A milestone regional cooperation agreement was signed on 9 December 2013, at the World Bank Headquarters by senior Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian representatives. They agreement is to lay a water pipeline linking the Red Sea with the Dead Sea.

On 6 December 2013, Shanghai's concentration of tiny, harmful PM 2.5 particles was 602.5 micrograms per cubic meter.

On 5 December 2013, the Council of the EU adopted the new Directive laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation. The directive takes into account the latest scientific findings and aims for comprehensive radiation protection. The Euratom directives on the protection of the health of the general population and workers, patients, outside workers, on informing the general public in case of radiological emergencies and on the control of high-activity radioactive sources have been repealed. Member states have to transpose the directive into national law within the next four years.

On 4 December 2013, Ministers and other national representatives made commitments at the International Forum on Polar Bear Conservation that will help polar bears persist across their Arctic range. The commitments were made at a forum in Russia supported by WWF. One key commitment made in the Forum Declaration is that the five states responsible for polar bear populations - Canada, Norway, Denmark and Greenland, Russia and the United States - will work on managing the polar bears’ home in ways that will take into account the Arctic’s shrinking ice, and increasing industrial interest.

On 3 December 2013, the European Union decided to support a programme that will improve the protection of elephants, great apes and rhinos in Africa as well as other species such as marine turtles in the Caribbean and the Pacific. African, Caribbean and Pacific countries boast high levels of biodiversity and some of the rarest species of life on the planet, such as rhinos, great apes and marine turtles. The new ““Minimising the Illegal Killing of Elephants and other Endangered Species (MIKES)” project will improve the system of monitoring biodiversity and threats to it and extend coverage from elephants to other rare species. In order to fight illegal killing, it will, among other things, provide law enforcement training, technical support for setting up patrol systems, and concrete operational support where required. An emergency response mechanism will be created to allow MIKES to respond to sudden increases in the illegal killing and/or international trade in elephants and other species. MIKES is financed from the 10th European Development Fund with €12.3 million and will run in the period 2014-2018. It will be implemented by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in collaboration with 31 African elephant range States as well as in selected protected area sites in the Caribbean and Pacific regions.

An international summit on the conservation of the African elephant took place in Botswana's capital Gaborone from 2 to 4 December 2013.Germany initiated the summit and also participated in the conference as its main financial sponsor. The conference was organised by the government of Botswana and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). Representatives from 30 countries reached agreement on 14 concrete measures. Wildlife crime is to be classified as a serious crime in all participating countries. International cooperation on law enforcement will be stepped up in line with this. In the African countries, the local population will be given a more active role in elephant conservation. In the Asian target markets, educational campaigns will aim to reduce the demand for ivory.

The number of monarch butterflies hibernating in Mexico reached an all-time low in 2013, according to data collected by the WWF-Telcel Alliance and Mexico’s National Commission for Protected Areas (CONANP). Surveys of forested area used by hibernating monarchs showed that just 1.65 acres of forest were inhabited by monarchs during December of 2013, a 44% drop from the same time the previous year. The findings represent the lowest area since surveys began in 1993.

On 24 May 2013, a restriction on the use of three pesticides belonging to the neonicotinoid family was adopted by the European Commission. These pesticides (clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiametoxam) were identified as being harmful to Europe’s honeybee population. This restriction will enter into force as from 1 December 2013 and will be reviewed, at the latest, within two years. It targets pesticides used in the treatment of plants and cereals that are attractive to bees and pollinators.