Weekly Environmental Report: Dec. 14

Welcome to my weekly climate report! Not a lot happened in the climate world this past week, but of what was there, there was substantially more bad than good.

Good news:

-The EU has agreed to stop funding overseas fossil fuel projects and cut carbon emissions by 55% before 2030.

-The Montana Supreme Court effectively rejects a company's plan to search for gold in the mountains above Paradise Valley in Yellowstone National Park (via EcoWatch)

-Global carbon emissions drop by a records of 7% this year (via EcoWatch).

-Denmark will shut down its oil industry by 2050. (via Sierra)

-Mt. Everest has grown by about a meter. The new elevation is 29,031.7 feet. (via Sierra)

-Researchers discover a new whale species off Mexico's Pacific coast. (via Sierra)

Bad news:

-The United Nations Secretary General said countries around the globe are not doing enough to combat climate change (via The Hill)

-The macadamia nut tree has been added to the IUCN's red lit of threatened species (via The Guardian)

-UK minister Alok Sharma says there is not enough climate ambition shown by world leaders (via BBC News)

-Coca-cola, PepsiCo and Nestle are the worst plastic polluters of 2020, making zero progress, a new report finds (via EcoWatch).

-More than 30,000 abandoned oil and gas wells leak methane from the Gulf floor, the Environmental Health Network reports.

-Department of Energy's test changes get a failing grade (via NRDC)

-Violent space weather could limit life on nearby exoplanets (via Popular Science)

-Toxic material from tire treads are washing into rivers and leading to a major spike of salmon mortality in the Pacific Northwest. (via Sierra)

-A study finds the mass of human-made things surpasses that of all life on Earth. (via Sierra)