Several options for cutting ships’ emissions A mix of regulatory measures, such as emission control areas and fuel efficiency standards, combined with market-based instruments, is the best way of reducing air emissions from shipping, according to a report published by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) in December. Read more
NOx emission control in the Baltic Sea Designating the Baltic Sea as a NOx Emission Control Area will more than halve ships’ NOx emissions by 2040 Read more
Strict sulphur standards no threat to shipping The health benefits alone are worth 27 times more than the costs to the shipping industry, when tougher standards for sulphur emissions are introduced in 2015. Read more
Air pollution in the UK linked to 200,000 deaths Reducing concentrations of particulate air pollution would lead to significant gains for public health, according to new review from an independent expert group. Read more
Further cuts in emissions of air pollutants needed The European Environment Agency (EEA) recently released its fourth state of the environment report (SOER 2010), providing a comprehensive assessment of how and why Europe’s environment is changing. Read more
Policy action improves air quality in Europe A new study by the European Environment Agency (EEA) evaluates three key EU policy instruments for air pollution control and finds that they have significantly improved Europe’s air quality and reduced pollution-induced health damage. There is however scope for further improvement, if countries achieve all their binding commitments to reduce emissions. Read more
Ongoing negotiations for new emission ceilings Europe-wide solutions for step-wise improvements of health and the environment at the least overall cost are being investigated. Read more
High economic benefits of new NEC directive The annual benefits of achieving the interim targets of the thematic strategy on air pollution are valued at 15-49 billion euro in 2020. Read more
How to cut global energy use by three quarters It will probably be difficult to replace all fossil fuels with sustainable energy. But if we first cut energy demand it will be much easier – and the potential for energy efficiency is huge! Read more
Carbon dioxide controls Earth’s temperature Water vapour and clouds are the major contributors to Earth’s greenhouse effect, but a new atmosphere-ocean climate modelling study shows that the planet’s temperature ultimately depends on the atmospheric level of carbon dioxide. Read more
100 per cent renewable energy globally by 2050 The world could be fuelled by 95 per cent renewable energy by 2050, according to a report by WWF, while maintaining rates of economic growth and with small lifestyle changes. Read more
Negotiating forests in the Climate Convention Among the plethora of acronyms flooding global climate negotiations, LULUCF is one of the most frequently used. Interpreted Land-Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry it has been a controversial issue in the negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol and its implementation since the beginning. The battle is still raging in an almost impenetrable fog of calculation methods, reference levels, caps and exceptions and with devils in virtually every detail. Read more
The remaining carbon budget Between 750 Gt and 1000 Gt of global CO2 emissions is all that remains if the world is to have a 75 per cent chance of staying below the 2°C target, according to three reports. Read more
Necessary to go for 50 per cent by 2020 “the window for reaching this temperature target is diminishing very fast” Read more