Most EU countries off-track on air pollution targets

Most EU countries off-track on air pollution targets

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Source: https://euobserver.com/green-deal/148778  By Elena Sánchez Nicolás Brussels, 29. Jun, 07:05  Air pollution causes around 400,000 premature deaths every year in the EU (Photo: Friends of the Earth Scotland)  The European Commission now estimates that a majority of member states are off-target to deliver on their air pollution reduction commitments for 2020 and 2030. In its first report on progress towards EU air pollution targets, the commission said that member states need to step up efforts to make sure their citizens can breathe clean air. Every year, air pollution causes about 400,000 premature deaths in the EU and hundreds of billions of euros in health-related external costs. "We need more effective measures to cut pollution in member states and to tackle air emissions across sectors, including agriculture, transport and energy," EU commissioner for the environment, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said on Friday (26 June). The analysis, based on EU countries' emissions projections submitted to the commission last year, estimates that just 10 member states will meet its 2020 air pollution reduction...
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Room for improvement but Cyprus on track to lower polluted air emissions

Room for improvement but Cyprus on track to lower polluted air emissions

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Source: https://cyprus-mail.com/2020/06/26/room-for-improvement-but-cyprus-on-track-to-lower-polluted-air-emissions/  By Jonathan Shkurko June 26, 2020 A EU study published on Friday revealed that, like most European countries, Cyprus needs to step up efforts across all sectors to make sure citizens can breathe clean air, preventing respiratory diseases and premature death. The study points out how Cyprus did not submit a national plan outlining its emissions reduction commitments before the deadline set for May 24, 2019. However, it also said that the country was currently complying with a EU directive obliging member states to lay down national plans for air pollution control programmes. “As a result of this compliance with existing measures, Cyprus is not obliged to adopt additional policies,” the report said. “The study shows that Cyprus is planning to meet its commitments to reduce emissions by 2030.The reports shows that the main contributors to polluted air emissions stem from energy production, industrial factories’ combustion, road transport, solvent use and agriculture.Moreover, the overview of the Cyprus national plan to lower polluted air emissions shows...
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Has the pandemic helped individuals and leaders get any closer to tackling the environmental crisis?

Has the pandemic helped individuals and leaders get any closer to tackling the environmental crisis?

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Source: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200624-has-covid-19-brought-us-closer-to-stopping-climate-change?ocid=ww.social.link.twitter  By Emily Kasriel  25th June 2020  “I was so worried about the dangers of going too far,” says Sally Capp, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, when she now thinks about her pre-pandemic leadership on the environment. The leader of Australia’s second most populated city believes Covid-19 has helped her clarify what’s important to her as an individual and as mayor. “I have become much more resolute about my values, prioritising humanity and protecting the environment, so they can play a larger role in driving my agenda.”  The pandemic has created the most significant economic shock since the Great Depression, besides being a public health crisis like no other in living memory. The existential threat that it has posed has set many individuals, cities and national leaders on a new track. In Capp’s case, it has meant taking very different decisions on the environment, leading in a way that focuses on what’s truly important. Capp believes this trend needs to continue post Covid-19. There is indeed a large movement to “build...
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The Cyprus Institute: Statement for World Environment Day

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The focus of this year’s World Environment Day, celebrated annually on June 5, is “Time for Nature” and in particular biodiversity, the ensemble of all living organisms on our planet. This richness is the result of billions of years of evolution that have allowed organisms to adapt to our ever changing environment so that they can survive. In the last decades we, humans, have changed the environment at an overwhelmingly fast pace, to which Nature has not and will not be able to adapt, triggering the loss of many different organisms. The destruction is alarming: scientific modelling scenarios show that at least one third of the species that currently inhabit our planet will be in danger of extinction or extinct within the next 20 years, if we do not take action. If climate change continues to proceed unabated, the loss of biodiversity will bring us face to face with a new, unrecognizable world, with scarcity of food resulting in famine. It...
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We need a total fossil fuel lockdown for a climate revolution

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Source: https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/we-need-total-fossil-fuel-lockdown-climate-revolution  16 Jun 2020 Press release  Paris/Nairobi, 16 June 2020 - Growth in renewable power has been impressive over the past five years. But too little is happening in heating, cooling and transport. Overall, global hunger for energy keeps increasing and eats up progress, according to REN21’s Renewables 2020 Global Status Report (GSR), released today. The journey towards climate disaster continues, unless we make an immediate switch to efficient and renewable energy in all sectors in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Year after year, we report success after success in the renewable power sector. Indeed, renewable power has made fantastic progress. It beats all other fuels in growth and competitiveness. Many national and global organisations already cry victory. But our report sends a clear warning: The progress in the power sector is only a small part of the picture. And it is eaten up as the world’s energy hunger continues to increase. If we do not change the entire energy system,...
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SARS-CoV-2 in the air: A major route of transmission for the COVID-19 diseases

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Introducing The Cyprus Institute Webinar SeriesView in website https://mailchi.mp/cyi/webinar-sars-cov-2-in-the-air-a-major-route-of-transmission-for-the-covid-19-diseases?e=8284123170Our new Webinar Series is an extension of our traditional Seminar and Colloquia Series aimed at promoting and disseminating scientific knowledge by featuring prominent researchers from around the world, presenting their views and addressing key questions.Our inaugural speaker is Prof. Jean Sciare, Director of The Cyprus Institute’s Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C), who will be discussing the extremely important and highly relevant topic of airborne transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.The Webinar will take place on Thursday, May 21st at 16:00 pm and will be live streamed via our YouTube and Facebook channels – see invitation below for more details. Please check The Cyprus Institute’s website for the calendar of events for upcoming webinar dates, times and topics.TITLE: SARS-CoV-2 in the air: A major route of transmission for the COVID-19 diseasesSPEAKER:  Prof. Jean Sciare, Director of the Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C), The Cyprus InstituteDATE: Thursday, 21 May 2020, 16:00VENUE: Live streaming of the webinar will...
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REVISED AQ-SERVE Publications

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Publications: Drinovec, L., Sciare, J., Stavroulas, I., Bezantakos, S., Pikridas, M., Unga, F., Savvides, C.,Bojana, V., Maja, R, Grisa, M., A new optical-based technique for real-time measurements of mineral dust concentration in PM10 using a virtual impactor. Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discussion, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2019-506Gang C, Minguillón, M. C., Prévôt A. S.H., and the whole COLOSSAL Team, Investigations of the spatial and temporal variations in organic aerosol sources within Europe using 23 long-term ACSM datasets, European Aerosol Conference (EAC), Aachen, Germany), August 2020Georgiou GK., Kushta J., Christoudias T., Proestos Y., Lelieveld J.: Air quality modelling over the Eastern Mediterranean: Seasonal sensitivity to anthropogenic emissions, Atmospheric Environment, 117119, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.117119Liu, Y., JD. Paris, M. Vrekoussis, P. Antoniou, M. Argyrides, C. Constantinides, D. Desbree,N. Hadjigeorgiou, C. Keleshis, O. Laurent, A. Leonidou, C. Philippon, P. Vouterakos, PY.Quehe, P. Bousquet, J. Sciare, Improvement of a low-cost CO2 commercial NDIR sensorfor UAV atmospheric profiling applications, European Geoscienes Union...
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