U.S. Congress Passes Bipartisan HFC Legislation

Legislation passed by the U.S. Congress this week to provide COVID relief and fund the U.S. government includes a bipartisan climate agreement to phase-down production and consumption of super-pollutant hydrofluorocarbons (HFC). The bill authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to implement the 2016 agreement to phase down HFCs under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, and provides broader authority to manage existing sources of HFC emissions.

• Climate
• Country Transitions
• Global Actions
• Standards
• HFC-free Alternatives
• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

Japanese Retailers Willing to Sell Ivory Hanko for Illegal Export

Investigations of Japanese hanko retailers revealed that many are willing to sell an ivory product knowing that it will be exported internationally despite most being aware that ivory export is illegal.

• Elephants
• Ivory
• Japan - Wildlife

“Don’t Discount our Future” Campaign Targets Trader Joe’s Cocoa Sourcing and Climate-Damaging Refrigeration

Trader Joe’s ranks poorly among U.S. grocery stores when it comes to both ethical chocolate (in terms of child labor and deforestation concerns) and super-pollutant hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used as refrigerants. A new push by Green America and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) tackles both issues in a bid to hold the popular food retailer accountable.

• Climate

California Approves Groundbreaking New Climate Regulation

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) today approved a groundbreaking new regulation to reduce emissions of super pollutant hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants across many sectors using cooling equipment, including supermarkets and air conditioners.

• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

EIA JOINS CALL FOR PERMANENT PROTECTIONS FOR BRISTOL BAY AFTER ARMY CORPS DENIAL OF PEBBLE MINE PERMIT

Today the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied Northern Dynasty Mineral’s Clean Water Act 404 permit for the Pebble Mine, a massive gold and copper mine proposed for the headwaters of Bristol Bay Alaska.

IMO and Arctic States Slammed for Endorsing Continued Arctic Pollution

NGOs protest outrageous approval of Arctic Heavy Fuel Oil “ban” which will drive continued pollution of the Arctic throughout 2020s

• Arctic
• Heavy Fuel Oil

Damaging the Forest, Harming People

Following a three year investigation in Cameroon and Vietnam, the Centre pour l’Environnement et le Développement (CED) and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) released today Tainted Timber, Tarnished Temples, a report showing how several Vietnamese companies operating in Cameroon are at the heart of a booming illegal timber trade between Cameroon and Vietnam. CED and EIA’s report include evidence of illegal harvest, laundering schemes covered by paperwork, misdeclaration, and widespread violations of Cameroonian export and labor laws. Timber traffickers’ operations undermine current efforts to combat the import of illegal timber into Vietnam. Additionally, the illegal timber trade has defiled many Vietnamese temples, where Cameroonian timber has become increasingly central to construction and renovation projects.

Peru Issues 35 Million Dollar Fine, Orders Plantation Company to Leave the Amazon

Peru Issues 35 Million Dollar Fine, Orders Plantation Company to Leave the Amazon

• Forests
• Peru

Newly Released Recordings Pull Back the Curtain on the Canadian Company Behind Pebble Mine

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) today released two tapes that feature Canadian mining baron, Ron Thiessen, discussing his political strategy for securing a federal permit for the controversial Pebble Mine project in southwest Alaska.

• Belugas
• Investigation

EIA responds to allegations made by the Timber Trade Federation

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) received with dismay the statement made by the Timber Trade Federation (TTF) on October 2nd, regarding EIA's press release Dutch Authorities Stop Chinese Plywood Import. We would like to provide the following response to allegations made in the TTF’s statement.

• Forests
• Timber
• EUTR

Dutch Authorities Stop Chinese Plywood Import

Violation of the European Timber Regulation Sanctioned: Dutch Authorities Stop Chinese Plywood Import

• Forests
• China - Forests
• EUTR

Pebble Mine Tape Reveal Plans to Build Massive 180-Year Mine at the Headwaters of Bristol Bay in Alaska

Recorded Conversations with Pebble Mine Executives Reveal Plans to Build Massive 180-Year Mine at the Headwaters of Bristol Bay in Alaska

• Arctic
• Belugas
• Whales
• Investigation
• Corruption

100,000+ Consumers Say Walmart Should Not Put Off Curbing Climate-Harming Refrigerants for 20 Years

New Announcement Waiting Until 2040 to Phase Out HFCs Leaves Walmart Way Behind Competitors – Including Aldi, Target, and Whole Foods – Who Already Have Taken Action

• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

Relief in the Forest

Cameroon Government Backtracks on the Ebo Forest

• Forests
• Timber

Unlocking Kigali Amendment Climate Benefits

A new safety standard proposed by an International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) working group is vital to maximizing emission reductions from a global phase-down of super pollutant hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

• Climate
• Global Actions
• Standards
• HFC-free Alternatives
• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

Amazon in Emergency

Through a public letter addressed to the President of Peru, Martin Vizcarra, more than a hundred organizations of Peruvian and international civil society ask for the implementation of urgent and immediate measures, in view of the deaths of hundreds of indigenous people from the Amazon due to COVID-19, and to start the dialogue demanded by the national indigenous organization AIDESEP more than a month ago.

• Forests
• Peru

Amazonía en Emergencia

Mediante una carta pública dirigida al Presidente del Perú, Martín Vizcarra, más de cien organizaciones de la sociedad civil peruana e internacional solicitan la implementación de medidas urgentes e inmediatas ante la muerte de cientos de indígenas amazónicos debido al COVID-19 y que se inicie el diálogo exigido por la organización indígena AIDESEP y sus bases hace más de un mes.

• Forests
• Peru

Indigenous Peoples Sue Peruvian Government over Re-opening Logging in Forest Reserves as COVID-19 Spreads in the Amazon

Lima, July 23, 2020. The Regional Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the East (ORPIO) in the Peruvian State of Loreto has filed a lawsuit stating that the regional government would violate Peru’s constitution by restarting logging in the midst of the pandemic in forests that are home to indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation. The law suit is being supported by the Institute of Legal Defense (IDL), Forest Peoples Program (FPP) and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

Sea Change in Sight in the Fight Against Global Forest Crimes

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) welcomes significant measures announced today by the Compagnie Maritime d'Affrètement-Compagnie Générale Maritime (CMA-CGM), the fourth largest shipping line in the world, including a total moratorium on the transport of wood from The Gambia, as well as the creation of a global blacklist of shippers involved in illegal trade of protected and endangered species.

Tokyo urged to resurrect ivory trade assessment

Elephant advocates worldwide are urging the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, under Governor Yuriko Koike’s leadership, to complete Tokyo’s elephant ivory trade assessment

• Ivory
• Wildlife

Climate-friendly Supermarket Scorecard

Today, EIA launched the Climate-friendly Supermarket Scorecard assessing the largest U.S. supermarkets on actions and commitments to reduce hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) - potent greenhouse gases used in cooling.

• Climate
• HFC-free Alternatives
• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

Exposed: The Gambia’s Blood Wood Trafficking

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)’s new report, Cashing-In On Chaos, conclusively establishes links between timber trafficking controlled by Senegalese armed rebels; the decade-long smuggling of an estimated 1.6 million trees from Senegal to The Gambia; and the illegal re-export of the disappearing rosewood trees to China, in violation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Some of EIA’s findings are featured in the BBC’s documentary The Trees That Bleed: How rosewood is smuggled from Senegal into Gambia, released in March 2020.

• Forests
• Rosewood
• Timber
• China - Forests
• CITES
• Investigation

China Proposes Stronger Steps to Protect our Climate and Ozone

Today, China proposed a new national plan to tackle hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), potent greenhouse gases used primarily in cooling.

• China - Climate
• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
• Montreal Protocol

EIA Response to New Nature Paper on Urgent Need to Recover and Destroy CFC Banks

Washington DC – A new paper published in Nature today warns that emissions from ‘banks’ of ozone-destroying CFCs, could potentially delay the Antarctic ozone hole recovery by about six years. The new paper, Quantifying contributions of chlorofluorocarbon banks to emissions and impacts on the ozone layer and climate, also estimates that future emissions from current CFC banks could lead to an additional 9 billion metric tonnes CO2e between 2020 and 2100.

• Climate
• Montreal Protocol

EPA Rescinds Requirements on Super-Pollutant HFCs, Reversing Basic Safeguards on Leaks

EPA Rescinds Requirements on Super-Pollutant HFCs, Reversing Basic Safeguards on Leaks

• Climate
• About
• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
• Montreal Protocol