A major report on managing the health effects of climate change, launched jointly by The Lancet and University College London (UCL), says that climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century. “Managing the Health Effects of Climate Change” is the work of UCL academics from many disciplines across the university – including health, anthropology, geography, engineering, economics, law and philosophy.
Information: www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0905/09051501/
New legislation will require service stations in the EU to be equipped with petrol vapour recovery, resulting in improved protection of the environment and public health.
Nineteen member states have so far notified the Commission that they will need time extensions to comply with EU air quality standards.
Having spewn out 31 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) in 2008, the Polish Belchatow plant is listed as EU’s most polluting power station in terms of its greenhouse gas emissions. The German Niederaussem power plant was the second dirtiest and emitted nearly 25 million tonnes.
The new Industrial Emissions directive received its first reading in the European Parliament in March, and the Council position is expected at the end of June.
Greenhouse gas emissions from the European transport sector rose 26 per cent between 1990 and 2006, while all other sectors show a declining trend.
Health damage in Sweden from fine particle pollution costs SEK 26 billion (€ 2.4 billion) every year, according to a recent study prepared for the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.
Fine particles cause 546,000 premature deaths each year in Europe, of which 39,000 are due to emissions from international shipping.
Carbon dioxide emissions from fossilfuel burning and industrial processes is accelerating not only in industrialized countires, but at a global scale. The emissions growth rate has been over 3 per cent for the present decade, compared to 1.1 per cent during the 1990s.
Almost half of the signatory states to the Kyoto protocol have reached their emission targets. Still overall grenhouse gas emissions is increasing. The USA alone was responsible for over two thirds of the increase in 2007.
Greenhouse gas emissions from the global shipping industry could be cut by at least one fifth without any cost or even at a profit.
On request from several leading ports in northwestern Europe, including Le Havre, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Bremen and Hamburg, the Dutch research institute CE Delft has developed an environmental ship index to be implemented voluntarily from 2010 to promote greener shipping.
Since most shipping traffic takes place close to the coastline, ship emissions are a significant health concern.
Action to cut greenhouse gas emissions could save millions of lives because of the cleaner air that would result.
The United States and Canada want ships to burn cleaner fuel when approaching the continent to reduce smog-related deaths.
Over the last twenty years, fuel and emission standards for land-based transport have been dramatically strengthened over most of the world. But international shipping has for a long time resisted similar legislation, both as regards emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases.
Environmental effects of the proposal for the directive on industrial emissions (IED)
A push for cleaner industrial production
Off track – Inflated claims of the car industry
Air pollution dependency on climate variability and source region
20 years with monitoring effects of long-range transboundary air pollution on surface waters in Europe and North America
Air quality in Sweden has indeed improved in the past 20–30 years, but lately there has been no improvement and there are no indications that it will improve further in the next few years ..
Levels of air pollution can be significantly reduced in urban areas by introducing traffic speed limits, according to a new study. Air quality was studied along a section of the Amsterdam ring road ..
A new computer-based tool has been developed in Sweden to help local authorities evaluate air pollution at street level. It allows the results to be compared easily ..
A federal appeals court has ruled that Bush-era clean air standards for fine particles (PM2.5) were insufficient, sending them back to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be rewritten ..
Sixty per cent of Americans – 186.1 million people – live in areas where air pollution endangers lives, according to the 10th State of the Air report by the American Lung Association ..
A major report on managing the health effects of climate change, launched jointly by The Lancet and University College London (UCL), says that climate change is the biggest global health ..
On 6 April the Council of the European Union formally adopted the six legislative texts that make up the energy and climate package that was tentatively agreed between the Council ..
Air pollutant emissions from ships operating in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea are responsible for health damage in Europe valued at 182 billion Danish kronor (DKK) (24 billion Euro) per year ..
A compromise to set new US-wide fuel consumption standards for new cars and trucks in return for California backing off its push for more stringent rules on automakers ..
On 23 April the California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted a regulation that will implement a new and unique lowcarbon fuel standard ..
Fuel efficiency standards for new vehicles will lead to a lower global oil price according to a study by Enerdata energy consulting, commissioned by environmental group ..
