From January 2020, ships must use fuel with a sulphur content of 0.5%, down from 3.5%, or install devices that strip out the toxic pollutant – known as scrubbers. But there is no central policing agency and several countries still not signed up to the new rules.

Turkey has thrown a spanner into the works of efforts by Cyprus, Greece, Israel and Egypt to develop East Mediterranean gas, putting a barrier across a proposed pipeline that would run from Israeli and Greek-Cypriot waters into Europe’s gas network via Italy. The $7-9 billion pipeline would have to cross the planned Turkey-Libya economic zone.

European parties to the Iran nuclear deal are likely to trigger a dispute resolution process in January to force Tehran to rollback violations, but would stop short of rushing to restore U.N. sanctions that would kill off the accord, diplomats said.

Switzerland’s Muehleberg nuclear power station went off the grid in December after 47 years, marking the end of an era as the shutdown starts the country’s exit from atomic power.

Shipping associations have proposed creating a research fund with $5 billion raised by the industry to develop technology to help the sector meet U.N. targets on cutting emissions.

The Dutch High Court ordered the government of the Netherlands to step up its fight against climate change and cut greenhouse gas emissions faster than planned.

The group behind Nord Stream 2 said it aimed to complete a pipeline to boost Russian gas supplies to Europe as soon as possible, after U.S. sanctions prompted a major contractor to suspend pipe-laying activities.

Another season of erratic weather has crippled Pakistan’s already ailing cotton sector, resulting in lost revenue and jobs that could cost the economy more than $3 billion by the end of the fiscal year in June 2020, industry experts have warned.

Incoming BP-CEO Bernard Looney will not take up either of BP’s seats on the board of Rosneft when he takes over in February because of the complexity of the relationship with the Russian oil giant, five company sources said.

Germany is closely monitoring developments at Daimler after a second Chinese company moved to take a big stake in the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, an economy ministry official said.