An Environmental Protection Agency proposed rule that would require modified and reconstructed power plants to meet two different carbon dioxide emissions standards under separate provisions of the Clean Air Act is illegal, states and industry groups said.

Nik Delmeire, the newly appointed secretary general of the European Shippers' Council (ESC), has said it is time for businesses to measure, monitor and reduce emissions by freight transport. At the same time, the new European Commission should reduce existing trade barriers in the European Union. "Together these innovations can spur economic growth and create jobs," says Delmeire.

Managing carbon emissions in your supply chain is a constant challenge. You may have control over your own facilities and operations, but it's hard to influence the sustainability practices of third-party carriers and 3PLs. Your request for proposal (RFP) process provides a powerful (and frequently untapped) lever. By including language about registering with EPA's SmartWay Transport Partnership, you can use your RFPs to encourage truck, rail, logis-tics, and multimodal carriers to participate in SmartWay and help you quantify your supply chain’s carbon footprint at the same time.

The Carbon Trust, which promotes a sustainable, low-carbon environment, is developing a certification for organisations taking effective action on carbon emissions across their supply chains. The Trust is looking to work with a number of organisations across different sectors in an initial pilot phase running through to early 2015.

"Don't 'greenwash' because you will be caught out," is the message from IKEA UK's environment and sustainable development manager Charlie Browne.

Novelis, a leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, has opened what it calls the world’s largest aluminum recycling center. Located adjacent to the company’s rolling mill in Nachterstedt, Germany, the $258m (€200m) recycling center will process up to 400,000 metric tons of aluminum scrap annually, turning it back into high-value aluminum ingots to feed the company’s European manufacturing network.

Ryder System has partnered with Anheuser-Busch to replace the beer company's 66 diesel tractor fleet in Houston with compressed natural gas-powered engines.

The year 2013 saw record-breaking growth for solar electricity generation as the photovoltaic and concentrated solar thermal power markets continued to grow. With over 39 gigawatts installed worldwide, the PV solar market represented one third of all newly-added renewable energy capacity, according to Max Lander and Xiangyu Wu writing in the latest number of the Worldwatch Institute's Vital Signs Online publication.