Feed aggregator
London is city most exposed to air pollution from aviation, global study finds
Six airports put UK capital ahead of Tokyo and Dubai, with Heathrow second-worst global airport for climate impact
The planes taking off and landing at London’s six airports expose the city’s inhabitants to the equivalent of 3.23m cars’ worth of harmful nitrogen oxides and particulate matter emissions every year. In Tokyo and Dubai, residents are exposed to 2.78m cars’ worth of emissions from air traffic.
These three cities are the world’s worst affected by air pollution from aviation, according to new research tracking the air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions of cargo and passenger flights from airports around the world.
Continue reading...Oxfordshire housing development ‘should be blocked due to failing sewage system’
Environment Agency objects to plans for 1,450 new homes, saying Thames Water’s Oxford plant cannot cope with more demand
A major housing development should be blocked because underinvestment by Thames Water in the sewage system means it is unable to cope with the pressure of an increased population, the Environment Agency has warned.
Thames Water’s treatment plant in Oxford has been illegally discharging sewage for six years, causing significant risk to the rivers and environment from pollution, the EA has said.
Continue reading...EU heat pump sales fall 5% in 2023, threatening bloc’s climate targets
Brazil launches programme worth billions to de-risk foreign investments in sustainable projects
New hydrogen-producing plant will demonstrate how to cut CO2 removal costs
Microsoft inks deal for voluntary biochar carbon credits from Kenyan supplier
Environmentally friendly heat pumps hit slump in Europe, says lobby group
Sales fell 5% over 14 countries for which data exists, according to the European Heat Pump Association
Europe’s heat pump market has hit a slump, industry data shows, holding up the continent’s efforts to heat its homes without polluting the planet.
Manufacturers in most markets sold fewer heat pumps in 2023 than they did the year before, according to the lobby group European Heat Pump Association (EHPA). Total sales fell 5% over the 14 countries for which data exists, bucking a trend of accelerating growth that peaked in 2022 when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent gas prices soaring.
Continue reading...Euro Markets: Midday Update
Microplastics found in every human placenta tested in study
Scientists express concern over health impacts, with another study finding particles in arteries
Microplastics have been found in every human placenta tested in a study, leaving the researchers worried about the potential health impacts on developing foetuses.
The scientists analysed 62 placental tissue samples and found the most common plastic detected was polyethylene, which is used to make plastic bags and bottles. A second study revealed microplastics in all 17 human arteries tested and suggested the particles may be linked to clogging of the blood vessels.
Continue reading...Ships hungry for biofuel to reduce EUA buying with break-even point from next year, say analysts
We are taking a devastating risk with the green energy sector – one that might cost us our future | Brett Christophers
Relying on private companies to solve the climate crisis means that the planet’s fate rests in the hands of asset managers
We are living through perhaps the biggest and most important policy experiment in human history, without even being aware of it: we have been relying primarily on the private sector to put an end to the climate crisis. But this experiment increasingly looks like a mistake, and one that may cost us our planetary future.
To appreciate this, consider the global stock market. With stock prices now at all-time highs, it would be easy to assume that global business is uniformly buoyant. But look behind the headline figures and it becomes clear that while some industry sectors are flourishing, others are floundering. The cast of winners and losers throws up an irony that is significant and dreadful. One of the sectors where stock performance is worst happens to be one the world arguably needs to be best. That sector is clean, renewable energy, or what is more widely termed “green capitalism”.
Brett Christophers is a professor in the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Sweden’s Uppsala University and author of The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet
Continue reading...Labour would lift block on onshore windfarms, says Ed Miliband
Tory government has ‘ducked’ difficult decisions, leading to higher bills, says shadow energy secretary
Labour has claimed a “culture of inertia and stasis” has blocked renewable energy projects under the Conservatives and says the party will overturn a de facto onshore wind ban “at the stroke of a pen” if it wins the general election.
The shadow energy secretary, Ed Miliband, told energy industry executives at a conference in London on Tuesday that Labour would immediately rip up a decade-long effective block on large onshore wind developments in England if elected.
Continue reading...China urged to introduce green public procurement for decarbonisation in steel, cement
Vietnam’s upcoming carbon market to be key to clean energy investment -report
China ETS should introduce market-based adjustment mechanism -study
Brazil’s Cerrado to lose over 26 mln ha by 2050 unless protection law targets big landowners, researchers say
UK’s net zero economy grew 9% in 2023, report finds
Green businesses and jobs are booming – in stark contrast to the national economy – but political U-turns risk future growth
The UK’s net zero economy grew by 9% in 2023, a report has revealed, in stark contrast to the 0.1% growth seen in the economy overall. Nevertheless, the report pointed out that strong future growth from green businesses was being put at risk by government policy reversals, lack of investment and competition from the EU and US.
Thousands of new green companies were founded in 2023 and overall the sector was responsible for the production of £74bn in goods and services and 765,000 jobs, according to the report by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
Continue reading...