The Suncor Commerce City, Colorado refinery may experience more air pollution incidents due to inadequacies in preventative maintenance, testing, and inspection of liquid level control systems and electrical equipment compared to other refineries, according to an analysis by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released on Friday.

Wildfires spread in the western Canadian province of British Columbia on Friday, while in the east, Quebec said it would start efforts to control blazes that have sent smoke billowing across North American cities.

The record $1.1 billion debt-for-nature swap Ecuador just pulled off to protect its unique Galapagos Islands is creating a clamour among other nature-rich but cash-poor countries eager to follow suit.

One of the first climate change trials in U.S. history is set to kick off on Monday in Helena, Montana, where 16 young people are seeking to hold the state accountable for fossil fuel-friendly policies that they say have exacerbated global warming and dimmed their futures.

Shareholder support for proxy resolutions on topics including climate change and workforce diversity dropped significantly this spring, analysts said, as tough proposals from activists met with growing political pressure on fund firms' voting.

The mass of smoky air that choked New York, Washington and other U.S. cities earlier this week moderated on Friday as it drifted as far south as the Florida Panhandle, and conditions improved to "moderate" along most of the Eastern Seabord.

BEIJING (Reuters) -Non-stop heavy rain lashed parts of southwest China on Friday, triggering floods in some cities, engulfing roads and partially submerging buildings, with precipitation in a major port city shattering a local record.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The shroud of polluted air emanating from Canadian wildfires pushed further down the Atlantic Seaboard on Thursday, blanketing Washington, D.C., in an unhealthy haze and prompting many residents of the nation's capital to stay indoors.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has accused Russia of causing the collapse of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine, calling it an act of "ecocide".

Allies around the world have promised to increase their help to Canada in its fight against hundreds of blazes that have swept through the country in its worst-ever start to wildfire season.