German transport minister Andreas Scheuer is asking carmakers to tell him how they plan to complete by the end of the year software upgrades on diesel vehicles to reduce emissions, he told a newspaper.

German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze has told a newspaper she does not think software updates for diesel vehicles in Germany will be enough to solve air quality problems and that hardware retrofits are the only way to avoid driving bans.

Some cornfields in the southern part of Brazil are at risk of losses due to the lack of rains, with the worst in Paraná, Brazil's second-largest corn-producing state, grains consultancy AgRural said on Friday.

The booming fashion industry is medieval in its approach to manufacturing and needs to modernize in order to radically cut the damage it is doing to the environment, British designer Stella McCartney has said.

German prosecutors may widen an investigation into auto supplier Robert Bosch [ROBG.UL] over its suspected involvement in emissions test cheating to include dealings with Fiat , Ford , General Motors and Hyundai , according to the Stuttgart public prosecutor's office.

Belgium will double the area of its North Sea waters made available to offshore wind parks after 2020, the government announced on Friday, as part of its exit strategy from nuclear power.

Europe's largest bank HSBC said on Friday it would mostly stop funding new coal power plants, oil sands and arctic drilling, becoming the latest in a long line of investors to shun the fossil fuels.

The spread of humans around the world from Africa thousands of years ago wiped out big mammals in a shrinking trend that could make the cow the biggest mammal on Earth in a few centuries' time, a scientific study said on Thursday.

Australia moved a step closer on Friday to ending a decade of political bickering over climate and energy policy, with broad support emerging for a national power plan that would also include emissions cuts.

A volcano in Japan erupted on Thursday, shooting clouds of smoke and rocks into the sky, and prompting authorities to ban access to the peak, but there were no reports of any damage or casualties.