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Toxic emissions, health risks and leaching pollution – better management of landfill sites is a matter of urgency

Last summer, people living around the perimeter of Pilsworth South landfill in Bury, Greater Manchester, couldn’t open their windows because of the elevated levels of hydrogen sulphide in the air. Referred to as “sewer gas”, its rotten-egg stench can be particularly unbearable at night. Even driving past with the windows closed on the M66, as I do regularly to drop my child at a local play centre, I have gagged at the overpowering smell.

Including Pilsworth, there are 15 odorous landfills across the UK. Hafod landfill in Wrexham is the latest to hit the headlines. Another in Northern Ireland was so noxious before its decommissioning that it was subject to a supreme court ruling and now an appeal. Meanwhile, several others have breached their licences through overtipping, odour issues or poor management, forcing them to undertake engineering solutions to rectify the problems. These remedial works can make things worse in the short term, with smells created when rubbish is disturbed.

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They were closed earlier this week after thousands of mysterious black tar-like balls washed ashore.

World Without End topped bestseller lists but was criticised for embracing nuclear power

In 2019, France’s best known climate expert sat down to work with its most feted graphic novelist. The result? Perhaps the most terrifying comic ever drawn.

Part history, part analysis, part vision for the future, World Without End weaves the story of humanity’s rapacious appetite for fossil fuel energy, how it has made possible the society people take for granted, and its disastrous effects on the climate.

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Financial players cut their holdings across the board of North American carbon in the most recent report from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), while emitters also reduced their exposure to California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) but built net length in RGGI allowances (RGAs) and Washington Carbon Allowances (WCAs).

Washington state's considerations for changes to the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) to facilitate linkage with WCI partners California and Quebec must resolve ambiguity surrounding electricity imports and address varying offset protocols, comments to the draft amendments showed.

Up to $41 billion in World Bank climate finance, almost 40% of the total funds the institution has disbursed over the past seven years, is unaccounted for, according to a new report by Oxfam published on Thursday.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced $58.5 million in funding on Friday to develop commercially viable CO2 removal (CDR) technologies.

A reforestation group announced Thursday that it is beginning a land reclamation project in Northwest Pennsylvania this month, kicking off a larger 2,800-acre reforestation project across the Appalachian region, to be financed by the expected sale of nearly 400,000 carbon credits.

Improvements need to be made in the precise quantification of different organic carbon (OC) sources in mangrove sediments to ensure proper allocation of blue carbon credits, a new study argues.

Carbon emissions from forest fires have risen by 60% over the past two decades, driven largely by climate change and the heightened sensitivity of temperate and boreal forest fire regimes, according to a new study.

Austria's National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) still has room for improvement, particularly when it comes to provisions aimed at alleviating the social impact of carbon pricing policies on households, according to recommendations published on Friday by the European Commission.

Global CO2 emissions from forest fires have increased 60% since 2001, according to research published Friday.

Leveraging future EU ETS revenues, de-risking low-carbon investments, and advancing CBAM should all be part of an EU Clean Industrial Deal, the former chair of the European Parliament’s environment committee told an industry event this week, pointing at potential compromise in the EU.

An environmental law charity has filed a complaint to the French financial regulator over allegations that an asset manager’s so-called "sustainable" funds are in fact funding fossil fuels.

Colombia is hosting talks to assess global progress in protecting 30% of all land and water by 2030.

Colombia is hosting talks to assess global progress in protecting 30% of all land and water by 2030.

Net-zero efforts are currently undermined by the large array of carbon accounting systems available, a research paper has suggested.

Developing a carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) industry in the UK that can sustain itself without government support and attract CO2 imports from Europe will require de-risking the value chain and transition finance, experts said on Friday.

A carbon registry has updated its high integrity carbon standard and more closely aligned its programme with CORSIA and ICROA, it announced on Friday.

Bankers want regulators to set standards for the emerging carbon removals market, saying this is the only way to create the trust necessary to generate liquidity and unleash investments in the nascent industry.