Largest climate rally in history

October 2014

On 21 September, two days before the big UN General Secretary’s climate summit, more than 310,000 people participated in the People’s Climate March in New York City.  That is well above the 80,000 who attended the 2009 march at the Copenhagen climate talks – making it the largest climate rally in history. 

On the same day, around the world, over half a million people joined 2800 events in 160 countries. Marches around the world also exceeded expectations with more than 30,000 people taking to the streets in both London and Melbourne and over 25,000 in Paris.

“People around the world are tired of waiting for our politicians to act,” said Payal Parekh, Global Managing Director for 350.org, one of the organizations coordinating the global day of events. “From the islands of the Pacific to the streets of New York City, we’re demanding action, not words. We’re showing what real leadership looks like.” 

People’s Climate March, press release 21 September

Air pollution still harms ecosystems

While acidification has been greatly reduced since its peak in 1980, emissions of nitrogen-containing air pollutants continue to damage more than half of sensitive ecosystems.

Editorial: Protect people and nature from air pollution

Since their peak around thirty years ago, emissions of air pollutants in Europe have come down significantly. Tougher emission standards for industry and road vehicles have resulted in less polluting power plants and cars.

Continued succes for renewables

Denmark got 41 per cent of its power from the wind in the first six months of 2014.  Renewables are advancing all over Europe.

Saving Turkey from coal

Turkey should stop the construction of new coal- and lignite-fired power stations and start phasing out the existing ones, says Greenpeace Mediterranean.

A fair share of climate responsibility

Annex 1 countries need to have negative emissions of 441 GtCO2 by 2050, according to a new equity proposal from several Latin American countries. 

Lignite power provides bargain-priced pollution

Combustion of lignite is one of the environmentally worst ways to generate energy. Even so, there is a continued increase in many parts of Europe.

Proposal for coal phase-out in Germany

BUND, a German environmental organisation, suggests a legally binding law to close all coal power stations by 2030.

Emissions are falling – but not enough

While emissions of acidifying sulphur pollutants in the EU have come down by 84 per cent since 1990, those of nitrogen compounds have fallen only by 41 per cent.

UK brought to court on bad air quality

New figures from the UK government show air quality in some of the country’s biggest cities will not meet European Union pollution limits until after 2030, twenty years after the original deadline.

Sustainable food choices

Excluding meat from our diet is not enough on its own to benefit the climate. Eating a lot of cheese or simply eating a lot of everything also leads to high greenhouse gas emissions.

New figures on global ship emissions

In 2012 worldwide shipping consumed some 300 million tonnes of fuel oil, resulting in emissions of 949 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Unless concerted action is taken, these emissions are expected to grow by up to five times by 2050.

US to cut CO2 from existing power plants

By 2030, the CPP proposal should reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector by 30 per cent nationwide, compared to 2005 levels, and provide up to US$93 billion in climate and public health benefits

Carbon dioxide concentration surges

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased last year at the fastest rate for nearly 30 years, according to the latest data from the WMO.

EU’s Dirty thirty

The thirty most CO2-polluting power plants in Europe also cause 20 per cent of the health costs of the sector.

Further SO2 cuts give greater health benefits

High diesel NOx emissions prevail

A study by Dutch consultancy TNO has found that in spite of facing a tighter NOx emissions limit of 80 mg/km, diesel-driven Euro 6 vehicles emitted around 500 mg/km in real-world driving circumstances, which means they are approximately equal to Euro 4 and Euro 5 vehicles.

Cracks found close to Norwegian CCS operation

An EU-funded project called ECO2 has investigated the influence of CO2 seeping from the Norweigan CCS project by the Sleipner gas field in the North Sea.

Norway invests in Dutch CCS

The Norwegian government cancelled its national CCS project in Mongstad in 2013 because of spiralling cost estimates for setting up a full-scale CCS plant. Instead, it will invest 14 million euro in a CCS demonstration project in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Vattenfall to co-operate on Canadian CCS

Vattenfall has stopped its CCS research in Europe, including Schwarze Pumpe CCS. The company has instead taken some first steps to cooperate with SASK Power in Canada and its Boundary Dam Power Station CCS project. 

Beijing shuts down big coal-fired power plant

Beijing has closed the first of four large coal-fired power plants set to be decommissioned as part of the city’s efforts to cut smog-forming air pollution. Beijing’s three remaining coal-fired power plants are all to be closed by the end of 2016.

China bans dirtiest coal types

Global CO2 emissions up 2.5 per cent in 2014

The environment is important to Europeans

Despite the economic crisis, Europeans’ concern about the environment has not diminished. In an overwhelming consensus, 95 per cent of the 28,000 interviewed citizens said that protecting the environment is important to them personally and many think more can be done.

Shipping sulphur enforcement alliance grows

Nine more shipping companies have joined Maersk and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) by signing up to the Trident Alliance, an industry-led initiative to ensure enforcement of the stricter ship sulphur regulations, which was formally launched on July 7. 

Environmental classification of ships

A new report for the Danish Environmental Protection Agency provides an overview of the existing mechanisms for classifying ships with respect to their environmental and climate performance.

Large cruise ships banned from Venice

The Italian government is banning all cruise ships exceeding 96,000 tonnes from Venice’s historic centre and the Giudecca Canal from 2015, and is restricting visits by smaller ships of no more than 40,000 tonnes. 

Italy introduces ship emissions control rule

Stricter maritime sulphur rules regulating the Adriatic and Ionian seas are due to come into effect on 1 January 2018. The new rule would prohibit a sulphur content in bunker fuel of more than 0.10 per cent in both seas, according to an Italian government statement. 

New ozone standard assessment

On 31 August 2014 the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards released the final version of the policy assessment for the review of the ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS).

Electric vehicle sales surge

Sales of electric vehicles in Europe have doubled every year since 2010, and provisional figures for 2013 indicate that almost 50,000 plug-in vehicles were sold, i.e. around 0.4 per cent of all car sales in the EU.

Bulgaria and Latvia in need of air quality action

Bulgaria and Latvia have to improve protection for citizens from particulate matter (PM10) pollution. Citizens in all six zones and agglomerations in Bulgaria (AG Sofia, AG Plovdiv, AG Varna, North, South-West and South-East) have been exposed to excessive levels of PM10 since at least 2007.

Largest climate rally in history

On 21 September, two days before the big UN General Secretary’s climate summit, more than 310,000 people participated in the People’s Climate March in New York City.

Alternative Nobel prize for 350.org founder

Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org will be one of the recipients of this year’s Right Livelihood Awards, often called the “Alternative Nobel prize”.

LIFE focus on air quality

Climate-smart agriculture – an issue of concern

On 23 September, at the Climate Summit, the UN launched a Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture.  More than 20 governments, and 30 organisations and private companies have already announced that they will join.