Nations on Friday were expected to commit to "significantly reduce" single-use plastics over the next decade, in a series of voluntary pledges that green groups warned fell short of tackling Earth's pollution crisis.

Extracting and processing materials, fuel and food contributes as much as half of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, the UN said Tuesday, as experts gathered in Kenya to find ways to rein in exploding global consumption.

Using dozens of data sources, the authors of a major new report presented lawmakers and businesses with a stark choice: drastically reform the global economy to get more from less, or risk the collapse of global infrastructure. 

Countries from around the world set their sights Monday on a pivotal deal to curb plastic waste, a source of long-term pollution and worsening contamination of the ocean's food chain.

Leaving the EU could cause "untold damage" to Britain's ecosystems and undermine its attempts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, green groups warned Friday, calling on the government to prioritise the environment after Brexit.

The United States overtook Europe to become the world's second largest market for electric cars last year, according to a report Wednesday that accused EU carmakers of holding back sales ahead of new emissions rules.

Seals and whales in the Arctic are shifting their feeding patterns as climate change alters their habitats, and the way they do so may determine whether they survive, a new study has found.

A tornado tore through the southern US state of Alabama on Sunday, killing 23 people, uprooting trees and causing "catastrophic" damage to buildings and roads, a local sheriff said. 

Declaring climate change the nation's most pressing issue, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee launched his 2020 Democratic presidential bid on Friday with a promise to refocus American government and society.

"It is time for our nation to set a new priority," Inslee told supporters gathered at a solar panel business in Seattle. "This is truly our moment. It is our moment to solve America's most daunting challenge and make it the first, foremost and paramount duty of the United States ... to defeat climate change."

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg who has sparked school strikes worldwide against global warming joined thousands of students in Hamburg Friday, urging them to stay angry and fight for change.

Italy's anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) made the environment one of its main campaign themes in 2018.