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01 / 05
Here’s How to Make Nickel Production Greener

Nature | Mineral Production

Here’s How to Make Nickel Production Greener

“Researchers have developed a process for refining nickel that they say could dramatically cut its carbon footprint, which is currently equivalent to the total emissions of a small country.  Implementing the process on an industrial scale would present some engineering challenges, but the experiment, described in Nature on 30 April, is a first demonstration of principle…

Nickel is a key ingredient in stainless steel, and its use in lithium-ion batteries is predicted to lead to a doubling in global nickel demand by 2040. But it is also one of the dirtiest metals to process. ‘Primary production of nickel is highly carbon-intensive,’ says Manzoor. On average, refining one ton of nickel ore produces around 20 tons of carbon dioxide…

That carbon intensity could grow even higher as more nickel is extracted from laterites, a type of ore that is currently underutilised. That process can release more than 40 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of nickel, in part because it uses carbon-rich coke — a material usually derived from coal — to remove oxygen from the rock via a chemical reduction reaction.

Manzoor and his colleagues suggest an alternative method that extracts the oxygen using hydrogen plasma. They demonstrated this in a small-scale experiment, in which they put ground laterite into a tabletop electric arc furnace. They then injected hydrogen gas and ionized it with an intense electrical current. The hydrogen ions stripped the rock of its oxygen, producing a high-purity mix of nickel and iron, along with magnesium silicates from the rock, which the authors say could be used to make bricks.”

From Nature.

National Observer | Conservation & Biodiversity

Fish Are Flooding Back Into Toronto’s Don River

“The Don River in Toronto was once so polluted with waste, garbage and chemicals that it caught on fire. The water itself, which flows towards Lake Ontario, was so inhospitable that it hosted life’s very antithesis.

Now, after huge efforts to renaturalize the area, researchers are seeing a rebirth. The river has gone from being pronounced dead in 1969 to a place that is attracting fish and other aquatic species.

This month, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) shared its findings from the Don River in 2025, which include more than 20 fish species documented in its waters. For the first time since 2012, an Atlantic Salmon was found in the area, along with the first-ever Emerald Bowfin — a warm-water fish native to Ontario — upstream of Lake Shore Boulevard in the Don River watershed.”

From National Observer.

China Daily | Conservation & Biodiversity

Fishing Ban Revives Yangtze Finless Porpoises

“The population of the Yangtze finless porpoise, the only freshwater porpoise species in China’s longest river, has risen to 1,426 in 2025, indicating that the fishing ban and other conservation efforts are reviving the ecosystem of the Yangtze River.

The figure, released in a 2025 survey, shows an increase of 177 individuals from the previous assessment in 2022 and represents a continued recovery since the decade-long fishing ban launched in 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Friday.

Once numbering about 2,700 in the early 1990s, the flagship species of the Yangtze River fell to just 1,012 by 2017 due to human activities, according to research institutions.”

From China Daily.

Mongabay | Forests

Colombia Poised for Another Drop in Deforestation in 2025

“Deforestation in Colombia appears to have declined in 2025, with notable reductions in several departments that have historically struggled with forest loss.

An estimated 36,280 hectares (89,650 acres) of forest were lost during the first three quarters of the year, a 25% drop from the 48,500 hectares (about 119,850 acres) recorded over the same period in 2024, according to the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM), a government agency.”

From Mongabay.

The Guardian | Pollution

How Bogotá Is Tackling Air Pollution in Its Poorest Areas

“At the turn of the century, Bogotá was one of Latin America’s most polluted cities, with concentrations of harmful particulates at seven times the World Health Organization’s limits. In the last decade the city of 8 million has started to turn that around, cutting air pollution by 24% between 2018 and 2024.

Part of the shift has been the city’s embrace of the bicycle and other forms of clean transport. There are now 350 miles of cycle lanes snaking across the city, the largest cycle lane network in Latin America. Bogotá has also quietly rolled out 1,400 electric buses, one of the world’s largest sustainable bus fleets, and there are three new cable car lines (two under construction) to take people to and from the mountains.”

From The Guardian.