European cities race to clean the air

Italy’s economic powerhouse hadn’t felt so clean in years. As the novel coronavirus put the country and the hard-hit region of Lombardia under lockdown, muting the human and economic buzz, it also unlocked an unlikely reality: cities with better quality. Above the Earth, satellites confirmed the slash in air pollutants, as they took snapshots of the region’s clearer skies, including Milan’s, infamous for its dangerous air pollution levels, just as many other places in the world. This March, nitrous oxide was down 38%, particulate matter 14%, and benzene 33% lower, compared to the same month between 2016-2019, data from Lombardia’s environment agency showed.

Madrid, Lisbon, and other cities in Europe also breathed fresher air through their lockdowns. But this silver lining to the global health emergency turns to be short-lived as air pollution is bouncing back once urban economies restart. Cities have been investing to become greener for decades, with mixed results; now, added concern of how dirty air could worsen the spread and fatality of diseases is giving a new push to clean up urban air quickly.

“Air quality has significantly improved since the 1970s”, says Dr. Vincent-Henri Peuch, Director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). “EU-level and national regulations have regulated pollutants to reduce exposure of people to substances that can harm their health, but it is not enough.” Air pollution remains the biggest environmental risk in Europe, warns the European Environment Agency (EEA), and cities, bulking millions of people, industries, and traffic, still experience levels of pollution that health experts deem harmful.

What’s in the 17kg of air we each breathe daily relies on many factors. In cities, road transport, energy production and use, industrial activities, fuel burning, and natural dust and sea salt are among the main sources loading the atmosphere with harmful pollutants such as nitrous oxide, ground-level ozone, and small particles known as particulate matter (PM).

Read more at: European cities race to clean the air | Euronews

Poland: Why Poland couldn't sign up to Green New Deal - by Piotr Arak

In her stirring speech to the European Parliament last week the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presented the European Green Deal. She confirmed the earlier announcements about substantial upscaling of the EU climate targets for 2030 and 2050.
 
In a later press conference, she justified it as the "man-on-the-moon moment".

She underlined that we don't know yet all the answers on how to do it.

This month EU leaders have reached an agreement on achieving climate-neutrality by 2050 but with Poland opting-out of the target. For one member state, it is necessary to take more time to implement this objective.

What does this mean for Poland and the EU?
 
Read more at: Why Poland couldn't sign up to Green New Deal

Environmental Pollution: Trump scraps Obama policies Oceans and Great Lakes

Trump scraps Obama policy on protecting Oceans, Great Lakes

Read more at:

http://flip.it/6W-XhV

US Oil Industry: Trump to advance Keystone, Dakota Access pipelines: by R.S Nair and C.Ngai

U.S. President Donald Trump signed two executive actions on Tuesday to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, an administration official told Reuters.

The move comes after months-long protests by environmentalists and Native American groups in North Dakota against Energy Transfer Partners LP's $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline, which would bring crude oil from the state's Bakken oil patch through the Midwest and into the U.S. Gulf Coast.

A company spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Under former president Barack Obama, Transcanada Corp's Keystone XL oil pipeline was rejected in 2015 after environmentalists campaigned against the project for more than seven years. Transcanada declined to comment.

Trump's action, which comes in his fourth full day in office, is a boon for oil producers concerned about limited pipeline capacity bringing oil to market.

Read mor4e: Trump to advance Keystone, Dakota Access pipelines: administration official

The Environment: CO2 levels mark 'new era' in the world's changing climate

Levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have surged past an important threshold and may not dip below it for "many generations".

The 400 parts per million benchmark was broken globally for the first time in recorded history in 2015.

But according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), 2016 will likely be the first full year to exceed the mark.

The high levels can be partly attributed to a strong El Niño event.

 Read more: CO2 levels mark 'new era' in the world's changing climate - BBC News

Fossil Fuels: G7 nations meeting in Bavaria pledged to rid the global economy of fossil fuels by end 21st Century.

The Group of 7 (G7) nations met in Bavaria on June 8, and pledged to rid the global economy of fossil fuels by the end of the 21st Century. “We are committed to the fact that during the course of the century we want to see the decarbonalization of the world economy,” German Chancellor and G7 Summit host Angela Merkel told reporters. The joint declaration has no teeth behind it, and amounts to just words on paper, but it is the first time that the industrialized world has officially called for an end of fossil fuels in their entirety. The statement also was intended to add momentum to the international climate change negotiations set to take place in Paris at the end of 2015.

While the long-term outlook for oil and gas remains strong, if uncertain, the speed with which the international community – both private and governmental – has turned away from coal is breathtaking. The global divestment campaign is picking up pace, and while the budding movement has claimed some victories against fossil fuels in general, coal has felt the damage more acutely. In a recent example on June 5, the Norwegian parliament finalized a plan to largely divest its $890 billion sovereign wealth fund from coal assets. 

Even the oil majors are now trumpeting their use of natural gas as an alternative to coal. Put another way, the growing political urgency to deal with climate change has pitted disparate fossil fuel interests against each other, and coal appears almost certainly to be the loser. The jury is out on whether or not politicians will have the strength to take on oil and gas, however.

The G7 summit also renewed its sanctions on Russia over the latter’s role in fomenting violence in Ukraine. There had been questions over whether or not the European Union would have the stomach to keep up the sanctions regime on Russia. The New York Times analyzed how Russia has used political influence and financial assistance to peel off support in Europe, by injecting cash into both right and left wing parties. 

Following OPEC’s decision not to cut production at its June 5, 2015 meeting in Vienna, oil prices should likely continue their descent that began in early May (Figure 1). Prices may fall into the $50+ per barrel range since there is no tangible reason for their rise from January’s $46 low.

EU-Digest

EU: Poll shows majority EU citizens want refugees stopped before they cross Mediterranean - by RM

Europeans want refugees stopped at departure points

In a recent poll conducted by EU-Digest in April and May 88.89%  polled said refugees and migrants should be stopped before they make the dangerous Mediterranean crossing.

Only 11.11% said that those reaching EU shores should be processed as legal immigrants.

No one  polled felt that the EU had done an effective job so far in coping or dealing with this momentous problem

The new recently posted EU-Digest poll (May 27 thru June 27) focuses on the increased concerns surrounding the secretive Transatlantic Trade Negotiations ( TTIP) between the European Union and the USA.

Critics say this controversial trade deal presently being negotiated will remove safety standards on a large number of essential products, including agricultural products, pesticides, food and medicines, as well as dismantle financial regulations designed to prevent banks from creating another financial crisis, to mention just a few.

The agreement would also make it easier for multinationals to sue governments and could lead to significant slashes in EU regulatory laws related to environmental pollution controls and a variety of safety and health standards.


EU-Digest

Pollution - Energy Sector: Fossil fuels subsidized by € 8.97 m a minute, says IMF - by Damian Carrington

Fossil fuel companies are benefiting from global subsidies of $5.3tn ( € 4.7 tn) a year, equivalent to € 8.97m a minute every day, according to a startling new estimate by the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF calls the revelation “shocking” and says the figure is an “extremely robust” estimate of the true cost of fossil fuels. The $5.3tn subsidy estimated for 2015 is greater than the total health spending of all the world’s governments.

The vast sum is largely due to polluters not paying the costs imposed on governments by the burning of coal, oil and gas. These include the harm caused to local populations by air pollution as well as to people across the globe affected by the floods, droughts and storms being driven by climate change.

This ‘Shocking’ IMF revelation also finds $5.3tn ( € 4.7 tn) subsidy estimate for 2015 is greater than the total health spending of all the world’s governments 

Read more: Fossil fuels subsidised by $10m a minute, says IMF | Environment | The Guardian

The Environment: EU leaders agree CO2 emissions cut

EU leaders have reached a landmark deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030, compared with 1990 levels.

The binding decision came after heated discussions at a summit in Brussels, as some members had argued that their varied interests should be protected.

Correspondents say the final deal is a compromise between countries that rely heavily on coal, and those willing to instil greater emissions cuts.

Environmental groups welcomed the deal, but said it did not go far enough.
The bloc also agreed to boost the use of renewable energy to 27% in the total energy mix and increase energy efficiency to at least 27%.

There were deep divisions within the EU on emissions cuts.

Poland, which is heavily reliant on coal, fears that the costs of decarbonising its economy will slow business growth. Its concerns at the summit were echoed by other central and east European members.

The President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, said afterwards that some poorer EU members would get help - including additional funds - in reaching the agreed targets.

The UK also had opposed nationally binding targets for renewables - mainly wind, solar and hydroelectric power. It is embracing shale gas and nuclear as alternatives to the current over-reliance on oil and gas imports.

Note EU-Digest: Lets hope, China, India and US follow suit .....

Read more: BBC News - EU leaders agree CO2 emissions cut

Energy-Fracking: British Poll finds: Wind farms more popular than fracking sites - Fracking dangerous to your health

Fracking good for the corporate world - but not for your health

More people would prefer a wind farm in their local council area than a fracking site, according to research published recently by YouGov for the renewables company, Ecotricity.

When asked “Which of the following energy projects or plans would you prefer to have operating in your council area”, 62% said a wind farm, 19% said a fracking site and 19% said they didn’t know.

The research found that a wind farm was more popular than a fracking site, regardless of political opinion.

The preference for wind farms was lowest UKIP and Conservative supporters and highest among Lib Dem and Labour supporters

Conservatives: 50% chose wind, 33% chose fracking, 17% did not know
Labour: 76% chose wind, 9% chosefracking, 14% did not know
Lib Dem: 78% chose wind,14% chosefracking, 8% did not know
UKIP (Eurosceptics): 41% chose wind, 36%chose fracking, 24% did not know

Interesting note about these figures is that the Conservatives and the right-wing UKIP Eurosceptics had the least understanding of what fracking is all about.

Women were more likely to support wind farms than men. The research found that among women, 68% of women would prefer a wind farm, compared with 9% who would prefer a fracking site. The figures for men were: 56% would prefer a wind farm, compared with 29% a fracking site.

Fracking was more popular in older people. According to the research, of those that preferred fracking over wind, 29% were over 60.

To watch a video on what Fracking does to the environment and your health click here.

EU-Digest

Pollution: Climate change experts call for institutional reform to battle global warming

A UN-backed panel of climate change experts has released another major report warning that governments around the globe have to move faster - and cooperate better - to prevent dangerous levels of global warming.Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC said reaching climate change targets will require technological advancement and instiutional reform. 

See the video: Climate change experts call for institutional reform to battle global warming | All media content | DW.DE | 15.04.2014

Animal World: Gone, But Not Forgotten: Species We've Lost in the Last 10 Years

Mankind has the honor of quite possibly being the most destructive force to ever hit Mother Nature. With 150 to 200 species of life ceasing to exist every 24 hours, a mass extinction is looming, and biodiversity is in crisis.

Periods of extinction are nothing new in the planet’s history, but species extinction in the past 10 years is far greater than anything the world has experienced in the past 65 million years. Humankind’s unsustainable production and consumption are without a doubt the major contributing factor.

For the first time since the disappearance of the dinosaurs, humans are driving both animal and plant species to extinction faster than new ones can evolve.

Although we can’t honor them all, here’s a glimpse at just some of the beautiful creatures that we’ve lost forever in the last decade:

Read more: Gone, But Not Forgotten: Species We've Lost in the Last 10 Years | Care2 Causes

US Political Scene: Most Latinos want government action on climate change, poll finds - by Tony Barboza

Latinos overwhelmingly favor government action to fight climate change, voicing a level of support exceeded only in their views on immigration reform, according to a new poll commissioned by an environmental group.

Nine in 10 Latino voters surveyed said it was important for the U.S. government to address global warming and climate change; 80% favored presidential action to fight carbon pollution that causes it, according to the nationwide survey funded by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Other polling has shown that Latinos by wide margins back action to curb pollution, climate change and other environmental problems. The latest poll found even more intense support for policies to counter global warming.

“Almost any way you sliced it, Latinos were saying yes, we think there’s a role for government to regulate and limit carbon pollution,” said Matt Barreto, a professor of political science at the University of Washington and co-founder of Latino Decisions, the political opinion research firm that conducted the poll.

Those views cut across age, income and party affiliation, according to the survey. The poll, however, found somewhat lower support for government action on climate change among Latino Republicans and higher support for environmental protections among Democrats and young Latinos.

The results echo other surveys conducted in recent years for groups like the Sierra Club and National Council of La Raza that have found that a higher percentage of Latinos believe climate change is happening than do Americans as a whole.

The latest poll, conducted in November and December 2013 by Latino Decisions, interviewed 805 registered Latino voters across the country in English or Spanish. The Natural Resources Defense Council said it worked with the polling firm to design the questions.

Read more: Most Latinos want government action on climate change, poll finds - latimes.com

Sweden - Renewable Energy: Ikea wants all its stores using only renewable energy by 2020 - Invests euro3 billion

Bloomberg News Group, reports that IKEA the world's biggest furniture retailer, will double its investment in renewable energy to euro 3 billion ( US 4 billion)  by 2020 as part of a drive to reduce costs as cash-strapped consumers become more price sensitive.

The additional spending on projects such as wind farms and solar parks will be needed to keep expenses down as the company maintains its pace of expansion, Chief Executive Mikael Ohlsson said in an interview in Malmo, Sweden.

"I foresee we'll continue to increase our investments in renewable energy," said Ohlsson, who plans to step down this year after 3 1/2 years at the helm. "Looking at how quickly we're expanding and our value chain, we will most likely have to double the investments once more after 2015."

Ikea plans to get 100% of the energy consumed at its stores and by subcontractors from renewable sources by 2020. The Swedish company owns 250,000 solar panels, mainly in the U.S., and invested in 126 wind turbines in northern Europe to cover 34% of its energy consumption.

Ohlsson said the retailer will have opportunities for "strong growth" in Europe for "many years to come" because many customers still do not have an Ikea store near them.

EU-Digest

Environmental pollution - Garbage: Canadians produce more garbage than anyone else

Canadians use far too much energy and water, and they produce more garbage per capita than any other country on earth, a report from an influential think-tank says.

"Our large land mass, cold climate and resource-intensive economy make us less likely to rank highly on some indicators of environmental sustainability, but many of our poor results are based on our inefficient use of our resources," said Len Coad, the board's director of energy, environment and technology policy.

The other top three environmental (Garbage) polluters after Canada are the US, which takes the second spot,  followed by Switzerland, Denmark and Ireland  ( see chart).

EU-Digest

The Arctic Energy and Mineral Resources: Scramble for the Arctic to Dominate Environmental Agenda - by Roland Oliphant

2012 saw the climate-change-fueled dash for the Arctic's riches dominate the environmental agenda.

The debate over the high north, the annual nightmare of forest fires and continuing battles between activists and developers over roads, mines and the Sochi Olympics are only likely to intensify next year.

Greenpeace activists stormed Gazprom's Prirazlomnaya oil rig in the Pechora Sea in the first of what will likely be many confrontations over the development of oil and gas on the Arctic shelf.

In less remote locales, the long battle over the Khimki forest dragged into a sixth year, with activists persuading the European Parliament to hold hearings on Vinci's involvement and President Vladimir Putin revealing at his end-of-the-year news conference that the French construction company at one point had threatened to quit the project altogether.

New fights broke out across the country over construction projects. Plans to mine nickel deposits in the Voronezh region brought together an unlikely alliance of environmentalists, local residents and Cossacks.

Meanwhile, a vocal campaign by environmentalists and ecotourism entrepreneurs forced the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to call an emergency summit over a road across a planned national park in the Khibiny Mountains in the Murmansk region.

Campaigners continued to face harassment. Suren Gazaryan, of the North Caucasus Environmental Watch, will  battle charges of threatening to kill a security guard at the gargantuan neoclassical construction on the Black Sea coast that whistle-blower Sergei Kolesnikov called "Putin's palace."

Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/special/environment/eng/scramble-for-the-arctic-to-dominate-environmental-agenda.html#ixzz2FcTe6gVF

Europe looks to open up Greenland for natural resources extraction - by Fiona Harvey

Europe is looking to open a new frontier in the ever more urgent quest for new natural resources – the pristine icy wastes of Greenland.

Oil and gas have been the focus of exploitation so far – but the EU sees just as much potential in a massive opening up of mining operations across the world's biggest island, according to Antonio Tajani, the European commission's vice-president and one of the most powerful politicians in the union. He called the move "raw material diplomacy".

Latest satellite data reveal that 97% of the surface of the Greenland ice sheet underwent surface melting over four exceptionally warm days in July, indicating natural resources will become more available for extraction in the coming decades.

Greenland – with strong historical ties to the EU through Denmark, though the island now has home rule – represents a vast and largely untapped resource. Drilling for oil in Greenland's waters is now at the exploratory stage, having been impractical until recent advances in deep sea drilling. Mining has also been all but impossible across most of the country, which is covered in a 150m thick sheet of ice except for a few coastal strips, but melting ice and new techniques are likely to bring more of the region's potential mineral resources within reach in the coming years.

But Europe may face competition. China is already ahead; one of the most advanced metals mining projects in Greenland is nominally owned by London Mining, a UK company, but most of the finance and direction comes from China. Other countries are also eyeing the prize – although Greenland's historical ties are mainly with Europe, it is geographically close to the US and Canada.

Read more: Europe looks to open up Greenland for natural resources extraction | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Solar Energy: cut 13% of your energy cost by not using your electric dryer

Sun dried clothes smell better

The electric dryer in your home is the second most energy-hogging appliance in your home, next only to your refrigerator refrigerator. Electric dryers use up to 13% of residential energy.

By hanging laundry on a clothesline to dry, the average family can save quite some money on their yearly electricity costs. Using natural solar energy to dry your laundry is also a simple way to reduce energy use and the amount of pollution you create with your dryer.

Take advantage of this abundant free passive solar energy freely available to dry your clothes. Installing a clothesline in your yard can save you a substantial amount of money over the course of a year. It also guarantees that your clothes will be smelling fresh and clean without the use of those chemically treated perfumed softener sheets.

Canada revs up for fight over second tar sands pipeline - by Kim Murphy

The prime minister is talking about being "held hostage" by U.S. interests. Radio ads blare, "Stand up to this foreign bully." A Twitter account tells of a "secret plan to target Canada: exposed!"

Could this be Canada? The cheerful northern neighbor, supplier of troops to unpleasant U.S.-led foreign conflicts, reliable trade partner, ally in holding terrorism back from North America's shores -- not to mention the No. 1 supplier of America's oil?

Canada's recent push for the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta to the nation's West Coast, where it would be sent to China, has been marked by uncharacteristic defiance. And it first flared in the brouhaha over the bananas.

Responding to urgings from U.S. environmentalists, Ohio-based Chiquita Brands International Inc. announced in November that it would join a growing number of companies trying to avoid fuel derived from Canada's tar sands, whose production is blamed for accelerating climate change and leveling boreal forests.

For more: Canada revs up for fight over second tar sands pipeline: Money | Alaska news at adn.com

Europe will vote to keep Canadian tar sands out

Its a bad year for Canada's tar sands. The US rejected the Keystone XL pipeline that would have carried fuel south, and now the European Union is poised to label tar bitumen more polluting than other forms of oil. That would rule out selling it to Europe.

The EU's Fuel Quality Directive will cut the greenhouse gas emissions generated by transport fuel - from production to use - by 6 per cent by the end of 2020. Suppliers will have to label fuels according to their total greenhouse-gas footprint, and current footprints will have to shrink.

The emissions from extracting and processing tar sands are larger than for regular oil (Environmental Research Letters, DOI: 10.1088/ 1748-9326/4/1/ 014005). The EU proposes labeling them as producing 22 per cent more emissions overall than conventional oil. Its fuel quality commission will vote on that proposal on 23 February, before the European Parliament makes the final decision.

For more: Europe will vote to keep Canadian tar sands out - environment - 22 February 2012 - New Scientist