Global Scans · Environment · Weekly Summary

WHAT'S NEXT:? Our natural environment is under ever-increasing threat. Landscape and ocean adaptation plus stabilizing biodiversity strategies will play an important role in maintaining global food productivity as climate changes. Evidence is mounting that any economic strategy that ignores carbon pollution will impose tremendous costs on the global economy and will result in fewer jobs and less economic growth over the long term. The global market for commercial "Earth observation" data is expected to hit $3.5 billion by 2024. Battles over environmental regulation could become particularly pointed in the coming years.

• [New] Investors will demand real results, operators will require reliability and the global environment will force resilience. Automation.com
• [New] Pollution, including from chemicals, is one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss and is an increasingly relevant global risk. ShareAction
• [New] Emerging economies are grappling with an annual shortfall of USD 3.7 trillion in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) finance required to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The Financial Express
• [New] As the end of 2025 approaches, hotel owners, asset managers, and operators are preparing 2026's budgets in an uncertain environment where operating costs have reached new highs and revenue growth has slowed. Hospitality Net
• [New] The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will continue to enact PFAS regulations, with new plans on wastewater discharges. Capstone DC
• [New] Despite the Trump administration's deregulatory agenda, environmental policy development will intensify in 2026. Capstone DC
• [New] NASA Armstrong will continue advancing flight research across aeronautics and Earth science, building on 2025's achievements. NASA
• [New] The demand for High Bandwidth Memory, essential for Nvidia's Blackwell GPUs, is outstripping supply, creating a favourable pricing environment that is expected to persist through 2026. Thought Canvas
• [New] As the global population continues to climb and climate variability presents unprecedented challenges, the advantages of the AI-powered farming system will become central to ensuring food security, protecting the environment, and driving efficiency within every sector reliant on water resources. Farmonaut
• [New] As we move toward 2026 and beyond, smart home watering systems powered by AI services are becoming increasingly essential for tackling environmental and resource management challenges. Farmonaut
• [New] The A350 - 1000's lower operating costs and environmental benefits will provide Philippine Airlines with a competitive edge as it expands its global network. Travel And Tour World
• [New] Plastic pollution is accumulating faster than previously understood, but there is a technically feasible path to reverse course by 2040. Engineering For Change
• [New] The Arctic is transforming faster and with more far-reaching consequences than scientists expected just 20 years ago, when the first Arctic Report Card assessed the state of Earth's far northern environment. The Conversation
• [New] The report, Breaking the Plastic Wave 2025: An Assessment of the Global System and Strategies for Transformative Change, finds that without swift, system-level intervention, plastic pollution will more than double over the next 15 years. Engineering For Change
• [New] By the end of 2025, companies assessing blockchain services will have a developed environment having actual implementations, obvious ROI, and solid technical advancement. Live Bitcoin News
• [New] A majority of carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling is undertaken by microbes; if we do not understand how a given microbe is able to fix nitrogen or carbon, then we will face difficulties in modeling the nutrient fluxes of the Earth. MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• [New] Environmental and socio-political pressures mean diseases like avian influenza, polio, and tick-borne diseases are threats to watch in 2026. BlueDot
• [New] New measures aimed at creating a more predictable, affordable energy environment will be key to attracting and retaining global investment in 2026 and beyond. The Manufacturer
• [New] McDonald's has embarked on a bold strategic reset in 2026, pivoting sharply toward value pricing to reignite growth in a challenging economic environment. Ainvest
• [New] Researchers are developing bio-based fertilisers that reduce pollution, save energy and could curb Europe's reliance on Russian imports. Euronews
• [New] A One Health approach offers a promising framework for tackling health threats stemming from the interface between animals, humans, and the environment. PubMed Central (PMC)
• [New] Costs will be 30% higher in 2026 than they were in 2020, while the £2.4 billion farming budget for England has been almost the same since 2007, even as farmers and growers are asked to do more to comply with environmental legislation, with less funding and no certainty. Yahoo Finance UK

Last updated: 27 December 2025