Most countries’ climate action plans refer to the health benefits of adaptation and mitigation strategies, such as reduced air pollution, but few actually track them. And as World Environment Day is observed Thursday, global climate commitments remain extraordinarily weak.  Only 21 countries out of the 195 parties to the UN Paris Agreement have submitted updated […] Continue reading ->
Over 30 health organizations representing 12 million doctors, nurses, and public health professionals globally have pledged to no longer work with advertising agencies that partner with the fossil fuel industry, citing conflicts of interest and the resulting health effects from industry disinformation campaigns. The organizations span five continents and include prominent groups such as Médecins […] Continue reading ->
A new WHO Climate Change and Health Action plan was approved by a key World Health Assembly (WHA) Committee Tuesday evening – after hours of high-stakes, high-drama parliamentary maneuvers by a cluster of oil-rich World Health Organization (WHO) member states to shelve the plan failed.   WHO member states accepted the original plan by a vote […] Continue reading ->
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent and 2024 was the warmest year on record, with record temperatures in the central, eastern and southeastern regions, according to the latest European State of the Climate 2024 report published jointly by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). Severe storms and flooding claimed 335 […] Continue reading ->
The federal agency responsible for protecting the environment in the United States will stop requiring most polluters to report their emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that cause climate change. The upcoming policy shift by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), first reported by ProPublica on Thursday, will effectively render the second-largest greenhouse […] Continue reading ->
CARTAGENA – Colombia President Gustavo Petro launched into a blistering attack on the new administration of United States President Donald Trump on the closing day of a three-day WHO conference here on air pollution – warning that progress on critical environmental health and climate topics depends on the “common agenda” that has been fostered by […] Continue reading ->
CARTAGENA, Colombia – A small group of climate pollutants– including the air pollutants black carbon, methane, and ozone – are responsible for nearly half of global temperature increases to date.  Reducing these emissions, which only remain in the atmosphere for a few weeks to decades, could serve as the “emergency brake” critical to halting runaway […] Continue reading ->
Many glaciers in western Canada, the United States, Scandinavia, Central Europe, the Caucasus, New Zealand and the tropics will not survive the 21st century – and this will have a “dramatic impact” on mountain communities and hundreds of millions of people who depend on water that originates from these glaciers. These are the key findings […] Continue reading ->