Blue & Green Daily: Friday 19 December headlines

Blue & Green Daily finds and summarises the top sustainability stories around the web every morning. We start with our own picks from Blue & Green Tomorrow.

UK energy consumption falls

Study: microplastics accumulating in deep sea

EU approves import of tar sands oil

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19 December headlines

UK low-carbon electricity generation up 24% in third quarter

Power from low-carbon sources such as the sun and wind rose 24% in the UK in the third quarter from a year earlier, according to government statistics. Renewables’ share of electricity generation reached 17.8% in the quarter, compared with 13.6% in the same period last year, Bloomberg.

New gas plants ‘to be shelved after failing to win subsidies’

A raft of proposed new gas-fired power plants will be shelved for at least a year after falling to win government subsidies, experts have predicted. Some oil power plants could also be at risk of closure after missing out on the payment. Telegraph.

Chevron cancels Canadian Arctic drilling as oil prices slide

Chevron is putting a plan to drill for oil in the Beaufort Sea in Canada’s Arctic on hold indefinitely because of what it called “economic uncertainty in the industry” as oil prices fall. Reuters.

Carbon dioxide satellite mission returns first global maps

Nasa’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) has returned its first global maps of the greenhouse gas CO2. The satellite was sent up in July to help pinpoint the key locations on the Earth’s surface where carbon dioxide is being emitted and absorbed. BBC.

Apple labour conditions: Chinese workers who make products for tech giants ‘work 16 hours a day, 18 days in a row’, BBC claims

Undercover filmmakers pretending to be workers in a factory making Apple products in China had to work up to 16 hours a day and as many as 18 days in a row, according to an investigation by BBC Panorama. Independent.

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Interesting picks

Climate change could cut world food output 18% by 2050 – Reuters

City blackouts could surge with climate change – Nature World News

How technology can prevent food waste in developing countries – Guardian

Photo: Sanja gjenero via Freeimages