Campaigners welcome DfT’s temporary £60m subsidy to cut emissions and congestion, but say it should go further
Bus fares in many places across England will be capped at £2 for the winter under a government-backed campaign to encourage people back on to public transport.
Single fares on most major operators’ services will be limited from January until March under the scheme.
Continue reading...Report from chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty finds air pollution kills up to 36,000 people a year in England
“Ecodesign” wood burning stoves produce 450 times more toxic air pollution than gas central heating, according to new data published in a report from Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England.
Older stoves, now banned from sale, produce 3,700 times more, while electric heating produces none, the report said.
Continue reading...First global analysis follows discovery of toxic pollution particles in lungs and brains of foetuses
Almost a million stillbirths a year can be attributed to air pollution, according to the first global study.
The research estimated that almost half of stillbirths could be linked to exposure to pollution particles smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5), mostly produced from the burning of fossil fuels.
Continue reading...Residents rally over scheme they believe will benefit only bicycling students and dons
In 1381, a mob sacked university buildings and burned books in the town square, shouting: “Away with the learning of clerks!” More recently, battle lines have been drawn over plans to build homes on green belt land and attempts to ban wild swimming in the river Cam.
Now, tensions between town and gown are rising again in Cambridge. This time, it’s over proposals to introduce a £5 congestion charge on weekday car journeys to the city, with a protest march to Parker’s Piece common planned for 27 November.
Continue reading...Stricter standards will tackle fine particulates and PFAS and require polluters to pay for cleanups
The EU executive has proposed tighter controls on pollutants and chemicals that harm air quality and foul lakes, rivers and seas, but health campaigners said the plans lacked urgency.
As part of a major reform of the EU’s anti-pollution legislation, the European Commission said it planned to tighten air quality standards, including on one of the most dangerous pollutants, fine particulate matter. Water standards are also going to be stricter, with 25 substances added to a control list, such as the category of PFAS (also known as “forever chemicals”), the substance Bisphenol A, pesticides including glyphosate, and antibiotics.
Continue reading...Decision described as a compromise by several European countries who wanted a more ambitious target
A United Nations body has agreed to a long-term aspirational goal for aviation of net-zero emissions by 2050, despite challenges from China and Russia, as countries aligned overwhelmingly with airlines amid pressure to curb pollution from flights.
Nevertheless, environmentalists criticised the non-binding nature of the agreement as toothless.
Continue reading...Particles breathed by mothers pass to their vulnerable foetuses, with potentially lifelong consequences
Toxic air pollution particles have been found in the lungs, livers and brains of unborn babies, long before they have taken their first breath. Researchers said their “groundbreaking” discovery was “very worrying”, as the gestation period of foetuses is the most vulnerable stage of human development.
Thousands of black carbon particles were found in each cubic millimetre of tissue, which were breathed in by the mother during pregnancy and then passed through the bloodstream and placenta to the foetus.
Continue reading...Study finds minority ethnic people make up nearly half of populations in areas with very high NO2 or PM2.5 levels
People of colour in England are more than three times more likely to live in neighbourhoods with very high air pollution, putting them at disproportionate risk of heart attacks, cancer and strokes, according to research.
Minority ethnic people make up nearly half the populations living in areas where average levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) or small particulate matter (PM2.5) were double World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, research based on official statistics showed.
Continue reading...Cognitive decline in older people more likely to be accelerated by exposure to emissions, finds review of 70 studies
Air pollution is likely to increase the risk of developing dementia, a government research group has said.
The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants has published its findings after reviewing almost 70 studies which analysed how exposure to emissions affect the brain over time.
Continue reading...Spending watchdog warns existing policies not enough to meet most targets by 2030
The government is not on track to cut air pollution and is not effectively informing the public about the issue, the spending watchdog has warned.
The National Audit Office (NAO) warned that existing policy measures will not be enough to meet most of the government’s air quality targets by 2030.
Continue reading...Researchers say the island’s biggest mine is on track to achieve no net loss of forest but that ‘there remain important caveats’
Ambatovy mine on the east coast of Madagascar is an environmental conundrum fit for the 21st century. Beginning operations in 2012, the multibillion-dollar open-pit nickel and cobalt mine is the largest investment in the history of the country, one of the poorest on Earth. About 9,000 Malagasies are employed by the project, owned by the Japanese company Sumitomo Corporation and Korean firm Komir, which mines minerals destined for the world’s electric car batteries. To construct the mine and the 140-mile (220km) slurry pipeline to port on the Indian ocean, 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of pristine rainforest was cleared, destroying vital habitat of the endangered indri, the largest living lemur, and thousands of other species.
Alongside the land clearing in a country that has lost nearly a quarter of its tree cover since 2000, the mine has been blamed for air and water pollution, as well as health problems in the local population. The smell of ammonia in residential areas and the pollution of drinking water were revealed in a 2017 investigation.
Continue reading...Scientists identify impact of sudden cleaning of skies and drop in greenhouse emissions in 2020
China’s record-breaking rainfall during summer 2020 was linked to Covid lockdowns, research suggests.
Hundreds of people died and millions were evacuated as unprecedented rains fell over heavily populated regions of eastern China during June and July of 2020.
Continue reading...Chief scientific adviser and England’s chief medical officer will focus on health inequalities and emerging technologies
The government’s two most senior advisers in the pandemic will turn their attention to health inequalities, the state of the UK’s air and emerging technologies following the milestone decision to end all legal Covid restrictions in England this week.
While the pandemic is far from over, Boris Johnson’s announcement on Monday of the “living with Covid” plan is expected to be the last time Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, and Sir Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, will flank the prime minister to explain the UK’s response.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Studies show high temperatures and air pollution during pregnancy can cause lifelong health effects
The climate crisis is damaging the health of foetuses, babies and infants across the world, six new studies have found.
Scientists discovered increased heat was linked to fast weight gain in babies, which increases the risk of obesity in later life. Higher temperatures were also linked to premature birth, which can have lifelong health effects, and to increased hospital admissions of young children.
Continue reading...Bans failed to stop farmers torching fields each year but a new spray that turns stalks into fertiliser helps the soil and the air
Every autumn, Anil Kalyan, from Kutail village in India’s northern state of Haryana, would join tens of thousands of other paddy farmers to set fire to the leftover stalks after the rice harvest to clear the field for planting wheat.
But this year, Kalyan opted for change. He signed his land up for a trial being held in Haryana and neighbouring Punjab as an alternative to the environmentally hazardous stubble burning that is commonplace across India and a major cause of Delhi’s notorious smog.
Continue reading...Levels of PM 2.5 particulates hit 20 times safe levels as agricultural fires add to city’s air pollution crisis
Authorities in Delhi have announced that schools are to close for a week as the Indian capital’s pollution control body warned of a looming health emergency due to smog.
Delhi is ranked one of the world’s most-polluted cities, with a hazardous mix of factory and vehicle emissions and smoke from agricultural fires turning its air a toxic grey every winter.
Continue reading...Celebrations back in full swing for first time since pandemic began but many fear festival will bring fresh surge
It is the festival that celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, and this year Diwali held a special significance for India as it got back into full swing for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Oil lamps lit up windows, shops, homes and monuments across the capital, Delhi, and devotees gathered at temples and shrines, as excitement over the festival, severely dampened last year by Covid-19, gripped the country once more.
Continue reading...Abandoning of polluting vehicles has accelerated since expansion of ultra-low emission zone announced
Drivers in London have abandoned diesel cars six times faster than those in the rest of the UK since Sadiq Khan announced plans for a massive expansion of the London’s clean air zone.
Research released days before London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) is rolled out across the capital shows there are about 128,000 fewer diesel cars on the city’s roads than in 2017, when the mayor announced plans to create one of the biggest clean air zones in Europe.
Continue reading...Economic cost of climate crisis has cut 37% from global GDP this century, say researchers
A return flight from the UK to New York could cost the global economy more than $3,000 (£2,170) in the long run, owing to the effects of the climate crisis, according to a report.
Researchers examined the economic cost of the climate crisis and found it would cut about 37% from global GDP this century, more than twice the drop experienced in the Great Depression.
Continue reading...Hailing end to toxic fuel additive, Guterres says same commitment is needed to eliminate other pollutants
The UN secretary general and environmentalists have welcomed a declaration by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on the end of leaded petrol in the face of years of “underhand” opposition.
As Algeria became the last country to stop selling the toxic fuel last month, the two-decade campaign to ban it has been called a “milestone for multilateralism”.
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