Pollution

British water firms to be punished for years of sewage leaks

Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water face £168m fines by the industry regulator over historic sewage spills. The proposal will now go to public consultation and is part of…

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Milan residents grapple with high pollution

By Claudia Greco And Alessandro Parodi Pietro De Luca lives in Italy's finance and fashion capital Milan but often thinks of moving to a cleaner city with his wife and…

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EU strikes deal to strengthen air quality standards

BRUSSELS, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The European Parliament and EU member states reached a deal late on Tuesday to strengthen air quality standards across the 27-nation European Union, they said…

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Bosnian cities top world air pollution charts but no quick fix in sight

Bosnian towns have topped the world air pollution charts since last weekend, with the capital Sarajevo declaring an air quality warning and experts blaming residential solid fuel burning and transportation…

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Almost 400,000 deaths in Europe in 2021 attributable to filthy air -EU report

Almost 400,000 deaths in Europe in 2021 were related to three main air pollutants and some could have been avoided if pollutants had been reduced to World Health Organisation-recommended levels,…

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EU set to weaken new car, truck pollution rules

By Kate Abnett BRUSSELS (Reuters) - New European Union pollution rules for combustion engine cars and trucks are set to be less ambitious than originally planned, after lawmakers voted on…

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Air quality worsens in India’s capital despite government efforts

By Manoj Kumar NEW DELHI, (Reuters) - The air quality in India's capital worsened on Monday, with pollution levels rising to the highest this year, as low cool-season winds and…

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EU attempt to tax polluting aviation fuel hits impasse

By Kate Abnett and Julia Payne BRUSSELS, Aug 2 (Reuters) - European Union plans to start taxing polluting aviation fuels have hit an impasse as the bloc's 27 member states…

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In a Barbie world … after the movie frenzy fades, how do we avoid tonnes of Barbie dolls going to landfill?

It made headlines around the world when the much-hyped Barbie movie contributed to a world shortage of fluorescent pink paint. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. When movies…

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Britain to remove limits on civil penalties for polluters

LONDON, July 12 (Reuters) - Britain on Wednesday said it would remove the current 250,000 pound ($322,375) limit on fines that can be issued to polluters by environmental regulators and…

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Australia introduces vehicle pollution rules to boost EV uptake

By Praveen Menon SYDNEY, April 19 (Reuters) - Australia said on Wednesday it would introduce new standards targeting vehicle emissions to boost the uptake of electric cars, as it looks…

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Lahore is most polluted city, Chad worst among countries – survey

Lahore in Pakistan jumped more than 10 places to become the city with the worst air in the world in 2022, according to an annual global survey by a Swiss…

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Global carbon dioxide removal totals 2 billion tonnes per year – report

By Gloria Dickie LONDON, (Reuters) - About two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide are being removed from the atmosphere every year, according to a report published this week, but nearly…

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EU agrees law to make airlines pay more to pollute

By Kate Abnett BRUSSELS, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The European Union reached a deal in the early hours of Wednesday on a law to increase the price that airlines have to pay…

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EU targets deadly air pollution, pushes for cleaner water

BRUSSELS, Oct 26 (Reuters) - The European Commission proposed on Wednesday tougher legal limits on health-damaging dirty air and rules to make pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies pay to clean up…

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Microplastics found in fresh Antarctic snow

Scientists have for the first time found microplastics in freshly fallen Antarctic snow. Researchers from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand collected samples from 19 sites in Antarctica and…

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Pollution killing 9 million people a year, Africa hardest hit – study

Worsening outdoor air pollution and toxic lead poisoning have kept global deaths from environmental contamination at an estimated 9 million per year since 2015 – countering modest progress made in…

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Microplastics found in human blood for first time

Tiny particles of plastic have been found in human blood for the first time, raising fears about their long-term health effects. Dutch scientists found 17 of 22 volunteers, or 77%,…

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No country met WHO air quality standards in 2021 – data

Not a single country managed to meet the World Health Organization's (WHO) air quality standard in 2021, a survey of pollution data in 6,475 cities showed on Tuesday, and smog…

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Visibility deteriorates as pollution cloaks China’s capital

BEIJING, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Visibility in parts of Beijing was less than 200 metres (219 yards) on Friday as heavy pollution shrouded the Chinese capital, forcing the closure of…

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Big fossil fuel producers’ plans far exceed climate targets, U.N. says

Major economies will produce more than double the amount of coal, oil and gas in 2030 than is consistent with meeting climate goals set in the 2015 Paris accord to…

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California lawmakers aim to ban offshore drilling after spill

Democratic members of Congress from California seized on the oil spill off the state's coast to promote federal legislation to ban all offshore oil drilling, as investigators searched for what…

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‘Catastrophic’ California oil spill kills fish, damages wetlands

A large oil spill off the southern California coast left fish dead, birds mired in petroleum and wetlands contaminated, prompting local officials to call it an environmental catastrophe. The U.S.…

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EU states breached air pollution limits in 2020 despite COVID

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Most European Union countries broke at least one air pollution limit last year, even as COVID-19 lockdowns improved air quality in many regions, according to provisional European…

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Concern as Syrian oil slick spreads across Mediterranean

Authorities in Cyprus are monitoring an oil slick that originated from a power plant on Syria's Mediterranean coast and could soon affect the island. Syrian state media said last week…

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Public, not polluters, too often pay to clean up environment, EU auditors say

Taxpayers are too often being forced to pay to clean up environmental damage while the companies responsible dodge the costs, the European Court of Auditors said. The European Union's executive…

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Thousands protest in Belgrade, demand government action to stop pollution

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Several thousand people blocked traffic in front of the Serbian parliament on Saturday in a protest against lack of government action to prevent water, land and air…

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EU sues countries over air pollution, nature and water

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Thursday it was suing Slovakia for years-long breaches of legal limits on air pollution and started legal action against Germany and Slovenia…

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Study finds air pollution killed nearly half a million new-borns in 2019

Some 476,000 infants across the world died from the adverse effects of exposure to air pollution in 2019, a new global study has found. The State of Global Air study…

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EU parliament votes to make ships pay for their pollution

The European Parliament on Tuesday voted in favour of including greenhouse gas emissions from the maritime sector in the European Union's carbon market from 2022, throwing its weight behind EU…

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Photo Story: Greenpeace protests against Shell in the North Sea

A handout photo made available by Greenpeace Germany shows the Greenpeace Ship Esperanza in front of the Shell operated Oil platform Brent-C (Charlie) and the foundations of Shell's former Brent…

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Germany tells makers of sources of litter to pay for future garbage cleaning

Germany’s Environment Minister Svenja Schulze and the country’s 1,500 local body utilities insisted Thursday the future bills should be paid by suppliers whose throwaways end up quickly littering the landscape…

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Amount of plastic in the Atlantic Ocean has been ‘massively underestimated’

Estimates for the amount of plastic dumped in the Atlantic Ocean have been "massively underestimated", experts have said. There are 12-21 million tonnes of tiny plastic fragments floating in the…

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Japan to send team to Mauritius to assist in oil spill

Japanese Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Saturday Tokyo planned to send a team of officials from the ministry and other specialists to Mauritius to assess the damage from an…

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Most oil on damaged ship off Mauritius removed

Most of the fuel left on a Japanese bulk carrier that has leaked an estimated 1,000 tonnes of oil off the Mauritius coast has been pumped off, ship owner Nagashiki…

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Sea life around Mauritius dying as Japanese ship oil spill spreads

Mauritian volunteers fished dead eels from oily waters as they tried to clean up damage to the Indian Ocean island's most pristine beaches after a Japanese bulk carrier leaked an…

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Mauritius PM warns damaged ship leaking oil could split

A ship that ran aground off Mauritius leaking tonnes of oil into the ocean is cracking, the prime minister said, threatening an even greater ecological and economic disaster for the…

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Grounded Mauritius ship operator apologises for oil leak

The operator of a Japanese bulk carrier which ran aground off Mauritius in the Indian Ocean apologised on Sunday for a major oil spill which officials and environmentalists say is…

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Russia’s Nornickel reports another fuel leak in Arctic

Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel said on Sunday that around 45 tonnes of aviation fuel had leaked from its pipeline in the Arctic. Arctic environment security has been in the…

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Smog causes an estimated 49,000 deaths in Beijing, Shanghai in 2020

Air pollution has caused an estimated 49,000 deaths and $23 billion in economic losses in the cities of Beijing and Shanghai alone since Jan. 1, 2020, according to a "clean…

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Microplastics found for first time in Antarctica’s food chain

For the first time, scientists have discovered microplastics inside small organisms living in the soil in Antarctica, according to a new study published on Wednesday. "Plastics are thus entering the…

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Russia says it contained huge Arctic oil spill

Russia has managed to contain a massive diesel spill into a river in the Arctic, a spokeswoman for the emergencies ministry was quoted as saying. "We have stopped the spread…

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COVID-19 contributing to Thailand’s plastic pollution problem

While the world's main focus is on battling the COVID 19 disease pandemic caused by the SARS CoV-2 coronavirus, Thailand is dealing with another effect of the coronavirus: mountains of…

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Aftermath of diesel fuel spill in Siberia

A handout photo made available by the press service of the Russian State Space Corporation ROSCOSMOS on 05 June 2020 shows the view from space of the site of the…

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Alarm at Covid-linked Mediterranean pollution

Video shot by a French environmental NGO in the Mediterranean Sea shows masks and gloves littering the seabed. Opération mer propre (Operation clean sea) is trying to clean up the…

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European lockdowns could avert 11,300 air pollution deaths

Improved air quality in Europe due to lockdowns to combat the coronavirus pandemic has delivered health benefits equivalent to avoiding 11,300 premature deaths, according to a study published on Thursday.…

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Air pollution goes down across Europe

The European Environment Agency’s (EEA) data has confirmed large decreases in air pollutant concentrations — of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations in particular — largely due to reduced traffic and…

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Polish and Italians breathe the most dangerous polluted air – WHO

Polish and Italian populations breath dangerously polluted air, a new report by the Swiss air monitoring platform IQAir shows. According to the research, among the continent’s 100 worst cities for…

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Satellite images show how pollution cleared over China following Coronavirus outbreak

Satellite images from NASA show how pollution has cleared over China as the coronavirus outbreak keeps people indoors and factories are forced to close. NASA and the European Space Agency used…

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Smog in southern Europe sparks car bans and street protests

Cities across southern Europe are experiencing dangerously high levels of smog caused by a prolonged period of dry sunny weather and light winds. Temporary bans on diesel vehicles have been…

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Photo Story: High air pollution in Belgrade

People are seen walking during a polluted day in Belgrade, Serbia, on Wednesday 15 January 2020. An air quality index (AQI) rated Belgrade air as unhealthy. Photo: EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC

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Thousands of serious offences related to marine pollution exposed in global operation

A global law enforcement operation involving 61 countries has identified thousands of illicit activities behind severe marine pollution as well as hundreds of violations and exposed serious cases of contamination…

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Schools in New Delhi shut until November 5 due to severe air pollution

Schools in the Indian capital will be shut until Nov. 5, the city government said, as residents breathed the season’s worst air for a third straight day. As farm fires…

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Europe air pollution caused 400,000 premature deaths

Poor air quality caused 412,000 premature deaths in Europe in 2016, the most recent year data is available, according to a report released this week by the European Environment Agency…

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Baldness linked to pollution levels

Air pollution, in particular levels of particulate matter, is linked to baldness, according to new research. Particulates are produced by the burning of fossil fuels, including petrol, diesel and other…

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Vast oil spill hits dozens of beaches in Brazil

Brazilian officials are investigating the source of a vast oil spill that has hit dozens of beaches along the country's north-eastern coast. Analysis showed the oil found was of a…

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Photo Story: Haze in Singapore

A man fishes while pictured against the backdrop shrouded by haze in Singapore, 19 September 2019. Fires from the Indonesian provinces of Sumatra and Borneo brought on by a drought…

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