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Research links pollution to increased risk of dementia, even at levels below UK, US and EU air quality standards

Exposure to air pollution is linked to an increased risk of dementia, even at levels below UK, US and EU air quality standards, according to research. Experts say the findings add to the need for urgent action to reduce exposure to pollution globally.

More than 57 million people worldwide are living with dementia and the global burden continues to increase. But interventions to delay or prevent the onset of dementia are scarce.

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The WCI compliance instrument surplus bank expanded only slightly in the first quarter as offset issuances outweighed allowance retirements, according to programme data published Wednesday.

California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credit values this week increased towards levels not seen since late February to the bewilderment of some traders, as federal data showed financial players have steadily increased their presence in the futures market in recent months.

Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) proceeded with distributing free compliance instruments to covered entities as part of the state’s market-based emissions reductions scheme, after the agency prevailed in one of the legal challenges facing the programme.

Australia’s environmental movement is not united. The reasons for that go deep. Rebecca Pearse, Lecturer, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Flow Power says "smart" solar farm on old racecourse is Australia’s first fully operational utility-scale DC-coupled solar and battery system. 

The post Flow Power switches on “smart” solar farm with battery storage built on old racecourse appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The voluntary carbon market (VCM) is primed for a difficult stretch without more regulation, an overhaul of methodologies, and a process of continuous improvement to create high quality credits, a panel heard Wednesday.

A judge ruled in January that Dartmoor Park campers would need landowners' permission.

Australian solar innovator 5B begins construction of its high-volume, scalable, and mostly automated manufacturing and assembly line

The post “Epic moment”: Solar innovator 5B starts on high volume manufacturing line appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Judge finds protesters guilty of obstructing highway after incident in South Kensington last October

Seven climate activists who glued themselves to the road outside the Natural History Museum in south-west London have been convicted of obstructing a highway.

Ambulances, buses, delivery vans and a vehicle carrying a 90-year-old in need of medical assistance were caught up in the traffic in Cromwell Road, South Kensington, on 19 October last year.

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EU nations agreed on Wednesday a united line on fluorinated gases (F-gases) and ozone depleting substances (ODS), allowing the Swedish presidency to start negotiations to finalise regulations that aim to phase down substances that cause greenhouse gas emissions and deplete the ozone layer.

The European Commission is seeking experts to provide advice on the implementation of emissions trading in the EU's buildings and road transport sectors.

One of the UK’s largest emitters is building 349 MW of new gas power generation capacity to meet peaks in demand, while also advancing CCS plans for its existing thermal output. 

An oil major claiming climate neutrality on certain products derived from carbon credits purchases lacks sufficient credibility to justify the label, a German court has ruled, with the provider of the offsets on Wednesday signalling a long-planned move away from such claims in its advice to clients.

Sediments from last ice age provide ‘warning from the past’ for Antarctica and sea level rise today, say scientists

Ice sheets can collapse into the ocean in spurts of up to 600 metres (2,000 feet) a day, a study has found, far faster than recorded before.

Scientists said the finding, based on sea floor sediment formations from the last ice age, was a “warning from the past” for today’s world in which the climate crisis is eroding ice sheets.

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Large middle-income countries like Brazil and China should top the priority list of biodiversity funding, analysts at BloombergNEF said Wednesday as they laid out options and priorities for the world to scale up nature finance to the required $1 trillion per year by 2030.

England and Scotland are experiencing a tick-borne virus outbreak. We don’t know the causes, but we know rising temperatures will mean more of them

Where I’m from, you can’t be considered a responsible outdoor person unless you’re willing to inspect your father’s naked body for ticks. Nova Scotia, on the east coast of Canada, has the dubious honour of being among the tick-iest places in the world. Surely these things are hard to measure, but reputable scientists claim it has the highest tick-to-person ratio in the country, and, at about one case of Lyme disease for every 1,000 residents per year, the highest incidence of Lyme disease as well. Walking outside on anything besides cut grass or concrete is likely to yield multiple tiny, near-indestructible arachnids that immediately make an upward dash for a warm crevice at the knee, armpit or often, groin, to burrow into. Finding and removing them can require a mirror and some contortions, or a helpful and unsqueamish friend or family member.

Things are – thankfully – not quite so bad in the UK. But the recent outbreak of potentially deadly tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) in England and Scotland is a reminder that ticks are getting worse here, as well. The first suspected incidence of the disease in the UK was in 2019, and cases of Lyme disease also appear to be increasing over the past few years.

Stephen Buranyi is a writer specialising in science and the environment

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Swiss commodity trading firm Vitol and Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund (NSIA) have completed a joint venture to invest in a range of carbon avoidance and removals projects in the oil-producing African nation, with an initial $50 million pledged, according to a release on Wednesday.

US software giant Salesforce released its Nature Positive Strategy on Wednesday, including details around strengthening its nature-related disclosure metrics as well as a $10-million spend on blue carbon credits.

EU carbon prices resumed their upward trend on Wednesday, setting a new three-week high as the market edged towards the €100 mark in increasingly thin trading ahead of the Easter break.