Pollution

• [New] The American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group, released a report last year finding that switching to U.S.-produced gas could reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants by about 50% in China, Germany and India.
• [New] Reducing air pollution in China will make the already unavoidable impacts of climate change more apparent there in the short term.
• [New] Around one quarter of the global burden of disease stems from environment-related risks, including climate change, air and water pollution, and exposure to toxic chemicals.
• [New] 15% of Covid deaths worldwide, and up to 27% of Covid deaths in East Asia, could be attributed to long-term exposure to air pollution.
• [New] President Joe Biden wants to bring the United States to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to fight climate change through a shift to clean-energy technologies, while reducing pollution in low-income and minority neighborhoods near industrial facilities.
• [New] With governments globally committed to reducing carbon emissions, pivoting economies towards greener technology and cutting pollution, the need for new skills in a new and expanding green industrial sector will be crucial in the future.
• [New] The United States will sacrifice Taiwan's equities to make progress on climate with Beijing.
• Los Angeles has billed its climate plan as a Green New Deal, an approach that's meant to tie decarbonization to economic justice, by creating jobs for people in communities that are harmed by pollution and threatened by climate change.
• By 2050, an estimated 12 billion tonnes of plastic waste will be sitting in landfills or polluting the natural environment.
• Air pollution is now a top five global risk factor for an early death.
• Air pollution is the largest environmental risk to UK public health and is linked to as many as 64,000 early deaths a year.
• The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has released a research paper that finds trade in plastics is immense, and offers an opportunity to reduce plastic pollution and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions through more effective trade policy.
• The United States Federal Reserve's corporate bond purchase programme has allocated significant capital to companies with high risk of contributing to climate change, deforestation and plastic pollution.
• The implementation of the HPS would offer further reductions in air pollution concentrations and show that countries with the highest projected concentrations under the CPS have the greatest reduction potential under the HPS.
• Climate change and other environmental harms such as air pollution and deforestation increase the risk of future pandemics and leave the world vulnerable.
• Aside from the Covid-19 pandemic, air pollution has emerged as the biggest risk factor to health in India, with the country containing 14 of the 20 most polluted cities worldwide.
• Putting explicit health objectives in their plans, known as nationally determined contributions or NDCs under the Paris accord, could lead to a further reduction of 462,000 deaths due to air pollution, 572,000 from diet, and 943,000 from physical inactivity a year by 2040.
• Thousands of lives lost to air pollution, inactivity and unhealthy diets could be saved each year if the UK takes the action needed to tackle climate change.
• Over 30% of yearly deaths in India might be attributed to air air pollution from fossil fuels, a research by Harvard College revealed.
• Subway riders and transit workers in major cities are being exposed to levels of air pollution that could increase the risk of heart and lung problems.
• Previous estimates had suggested that between 28,000 and 36,000 people will die each year as a result of exposure to all types of air pollution in the UK.
• Hundreds of thousands more could die every year due to higher exposure to air pollution, with the number of annual deaths potentially increasing by 200,000 from current levels to 1.4 million a year in 2040.
• The EPA can regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, and could act to limit climate pollution from power plants - along with limits on other types of air pollution, like mercury and nitrogen oxide - and block new fossil-fueled power plants from construction.

Last updated: 28 February 2021