Draft agreement reached at Rio+20

The 180 nations gathered in Rio+20 have reached a draft agreement on a plan of action, according to UK Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman. Writing from Rio de Janeiro yesterday, where she is part of the UK’s delegation at the UN conference, Ms Spelman admitted some will be “disappointed” there isn’t more in the agreement, called […]

Robert Redford rails against “absurd” fossil fuel subsidy

Robert Redford has spoken out against the “absurdity of subsidising fossil fuels” in the run up to Rio+20, the UN’s conference on sustainable living in Rio de Janeiro this week. Writing on the Huffington Post yesterday, the star of such films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men railed against “public […]

Skanska to build $490m gas plant in Rio, Brazil

Skanska is to design and build a new 550MW natural gas thermal power plant in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The engineers won the $490million contract from Brazilian oil, gas and biofuels firm Petrobras. The power plant will be built in the city of Seropédica, 75 kilometres away from the capital.