Investment, bans and goals: Everything to know about the environment this week

Research by the Global CCS Institute think tank has shown that carbon capture and storage projects have grown by 50% over the last 9 months.

France is set to ban plastic packaging for nearly all fruit and vegetables from January next year, in a bid to reduce plastic waste.

The European Union is set to seek a ban of its own - on tapping new oil, coal and gas deposits in the Arctic.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the country will aim to be carbon neutral no later than 2060.

In Indonesia, a new government report has shown the investment needed to reach its own net-zero carbon emission goals by 2060 or sooner: $150- $200 billion per year in low-carbon programmes over the next nine years.

The Asian Development Bank has also announced a boost to investment, with a $20 billion boost to its climate financing goals for the 2019-2030 period. It raises the target to $100 billion.

The Biden Administration has begun a process to require the US government - the world's largest buyer of goods and services - to factor the risks of climate change into its contracts.

More than 100 countries pledged this week to put the protection of habitats at the heart of their government decision-making. However, they stopped short of committing to specific targets to prevent mass extinction.

Chinese Environment Minister Huang Runqiu told delegates to a U.N. Biodiversity Conference in the city of Kunming that the declaration they adopted was a document of political will not a binding international agreement.

The Kunming Declaration calls for "urgent and integrated action" to reflect biodiversity considerations in all sectors of the global economy but crucial issues - like funding conservation in poorer countries and committing to biodiversity-friendly supply chains - have been left to discuss later.

Investment in renewable energy needs to triple by the end of the decade, if the world hopes to effectively fight climate change and keep energy markets under control, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday.

"The world is not investing enough to meet its future energy needs... transition‐related spending is gradually picking up, but remains far short of what is required to meet rising demand for energy services in a sustainable way," the IEA said.

The message came as the organization released its annual World Energy Outlook. "Clear signals and direction from policy-makers are essential. If the road ahead is paved only with good intentions, then it will be a bumpy ride indeed," the IEA warned.