Belgium has so far failed to effectively tackle excess emissions of health-damaging particles (PM10) in eight zones across the country, and is therefore being taken to the EU Court of Justice. Belgium has applied for time extensions for meeting the targets, but the conditions required have not been met.
Source: European Commission, 6 April 2011
Europe should take an integrated approach to nitrogen management. This is the main message of the European Nitrogen Assessment, a new report launched during the "Nitrogen and Global Change" conference, in Edinburgh (UK) from 11–14 April, 2011.
The number of premature deaths in Europe caused by air pollutant emissions from international shipping is estimated to amount to approximately 49,500 in the year 2000, and rise to 53,200 in 2020.
There are sufficient resources to provide the world with renewable energy. The main constraint on development is public policy, that is the main message in a new IPCC report.
On 23 June 2011 the European Parliament will vote on proposals to strengthen the EU target for emission reductions of greenhouse gases in the European Union until 2020. Later during the year the European Council will also decide on the new target.
A handful of measures targeting black carbon and tropospheric ozone can reduce future global warming by 0.5°C, according to a UNEP and WMO report.
Germany's lignite power plants still dominate the CO2 list. Serbia is registering emissions for the first time and enters both the NOx list and the SO2 list.
Mercury emissions from coal-fired plants can be cut by well over 90 per cent, but this fact has so far been neglected in ongoing talks for a revised Heavy Metals Protocol.
As no revision of the European Air Quality legislation is planned until at least 2013, the EU has said it will focus on source-oriented legislation in the meantime. Often neglected in comparison to regulations concerning road vehicles, the so-called "non-road" sector, which includes locomotive ..
"Curbing mobility is not an option," says the European Commission in a new roadmap for the transport sector, expressing a view that immediately sparked criticism.
Prompt action is required to further reduce particulate matter, ground-level ozone, and nitrogen dioxide – an EU clean air strategy should be adopted in 2013.
Significant environmental improvements can be achieved while additional costs still stay well below 0.1 per cent of GDP. Moreover, health benefits alone outweigh the costs by ten times or more.
"many countries still claim they are unable to commit"
The United States has made progress in cleaning up air pollution, but 154.5 million people, about half the population, live where the air is so polluted with smog ..
Non-CO2 air pollutants from motor vehicles have traditionally been controlled to protect air quality and health, but they also affect climate. In a new study ..
Traffic noise is the second biggest environmental problem affecting health after air pollution, says a report published by the World Health Organization (WHO).
A cut in motorway speed limits introduced by Spain appears to have reduced seasonally-adjusted fuel consumption by 8.4 per cent in its first month in ..
The European Commission proposes a minimum tax rate for CO2 on transport and heating fuels from 2013 and minimum rates for energy based on the energy ..
Under a decision to grant a "temporary, conditional time extension" for meeting limits for the concentration of dangerous airborne particles (PM10), the UK ..
The European Commission circulated in early April a draft of ecodesign and energy labelling standards for new boilers. It hopes to agree the ecodesign standard ..
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has condemned Sweden for having exceeded EU air quality limits on PM10 in three areas including Stockholm and Gothenburg.
Belgium has so far failed to effectively tackle excess emissions of health-damaging particles (PM10) in eight zones across the country, and is therefore ..
In Romania, 17 areas have been found to exceed PM10 limits. Romania applied for an exemption in 2010 for 11 of these 17 areas, but the Commission turned down ..
The European Commission is taking France to court for failing to comply with EU air quality limit values for airborne particles (PM10). Since 2005, the PM10 limit values ..
Compliance with national air emission caps under the NEC directive is not a condition for authorising the construction of new industrial installations, the European ..
On 23 May an agreement was reached between the European Commission, Council and Parliament on revised road charging rules for lorries ..
EU member states must meet legally binding limits for four air pollutants set by the 2001 National Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD), but according to the ..
The UK government has adopted a 50 per cent greenhouse gas reduction target relative to 1990 levels for its carbon budget for the period 2023–27. But it ..
Updated figures for the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) show that emissions from sites covered by the scheme were 3.2% higher last year than in 2009 ..
The Ship Operations Cooperative Program (SOCP), which is a US industry-government partnership, has announced the release of a study on exhaust gas cleaning systems ..
Sweden is planning to give energy tax breaks to ships that use on-shore power while berthed in ports. On-shore electricity is quieter and less polluting than ..
The port of Long Beach on the US West Coast has honoured thirteen shipping companies for practising slow steaming when travelling close to the port. The ..
A new study is planned that may identify candidates for new emission control areas (ECAs) in waters around the European Union. The new study for the European ..
Stricter rules on the sulphur content of marine fuels are not being widely observed, according to reports from the shipping insurers' publication Lloyds List.
On 8 March 2011 the European Commission published its Energy Efficiency Plan. Environmental NGOs hoped that this plan would become an important ..
