Emma Howard

New Air Pollution Database Maps World’s Most Polluted Cities

India is home to the world’s most toxic cities. Beijing is no longer the global symbol of smog it once was. And there is a staggering lack of air quality monitoring in some countries.

Emma Howard
Lauri Myllyvirta
By Emma Howard
And Lauri Myllyvirta
A man walks past a coal-powered steel plant in Tianjin, China. (AP/Andy Wong)

The world’s most comprehensive air pollution database has been updated again, mapping out a picture of a global health crisis that is disparate, changing and in some places just obscure. Compiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the statistics on 4,300 cities reveal annual levels of particulate matter, miniscule particles in the air that

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‘Modern Air Is a Little Too Clean’: The Rise of Air Pollution Denial

Many of the same personalities that have operated within groups that have long denied climate change science, now are doing the same with air pollution.

Emma Howard
By Emma Howard
Greenpeace activists spread a banner urging Poland's Environment Minister Maciej Grabowski to react to excessive smog, in Warsaw, Poland, April 8, 2015. The banner reads: 'Smog poisons us. Why doesn't the minister react?'. (AP/Alik Keplicz)

Despite report after report linking air pollution to deterioration of the lungs, heart and brain, Professor Robert Phalen believes the air is “too clean” for children. After all, everybody needs a bit of immune-system-boosting dirt in their lungs. “Modern air is a little too clean for optimum health,” he told the American Association for the

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Documents Reveal How Shell Is Influencing University Curricula

Shell is strategically targeting young people, academics, and business leaders, as part of a PR push designed to position itself as a low carbon leader.

Emma Howard
By Emma Howard
A demonstrator stands besides a banner with a Shell logo dripping oil, outside the Royal Dutch Shell PLC headquarters, rear, in The Hague, Netherlands. (AP/Peter Dejong)

Shell has a contractual agreement with a major Dutch university, which allows the oil giant to influence its curriculum, according to documents seen by Energydesk. Shell also paid Erasmus university hundreds of thousands of euros for conducting research into the business climate for multinationals in the Netherlands, invoices paid in 2008 and

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Over 1000 UK Childcare Centers Close Doors Due To High Levels Of Air Pollution

While the issue was most acute in London, the investigation found that exposure of young children to air pollution is truly a national problem.

Emma Howard
Crispin Dowler
By Emma Howard
And Crispin Dowler
Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf, are just visible through the haze and smog in London, Friday, April 10, 2015. (AP/Alastair Grant)

More than 1,000 nurseries across England are within 150m of a road breaching legal air pollution limits, a major investigation by Energydesk and the Guardian has revealed. The news comes just weeks before the government’s legally mandated deadline to produce new plans for tackling the UK’s dangerously poor air quality, after its existing

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Fact-check: Does Air Pollution Kill 40,000 Brits Every Year?

Reports state that air pollution “causes” or is “linked to” 40,000 premature deaths in the UK every year — or 29,000, or 50,000, depending on what you are reading. But can these figures be trusted — and what do they actually mean?

Emma Howard
By Emma Howard
Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf, are just visible through the haze and smog in London, Friday, April 10, 2015. (AP/Alastair Grant)

(ANALYSIS) --- Does air pollution kill people? Media reports state that it “causes” or is “linked to” 40,000  premature deaths in the UK every year — or 29,000, or 50,000, depending on what you are reading. But can these figures be trusted — and what do they actually mean?   40,000 deaths It’s actually easier to say what they don’t

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Volkswagen Boss Paul Willis’ Shameless Defense Of Dieselgate

The boss of the UK arm of the world’s biggest car manufacturer was hauled before MPs yesterday to answer for dieselgate.

Emma Howard
By Emma Howard
Volkswagen Group UK Managing Director Paul Willis participates in the launch of UK nationwide consumer campaign, promoting diesel technology, in central London, Wednesday, March 11, 2015. (AP/Lefteris Pitarakis)

It must be a happy place. To the best of Paul Willis’ knowledge, Volkswagen UK hasn’t done anything wrong. Other than producing vehicles that sneak around regulations designed to limit toxic emissions that have a proven impact on chronic heart and respiratory conditions of course. The boss of the UK arm of the world’s biggest car

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300 Premature Deaths Linked To UK Air Pollution

In 2014 David Cameron dismissed the pollution event as a “naturally occurring weather phenomenon”, prompting a scathing critique from the European Commission.

Emma Howard
By Emma Howard
Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf, are just visible through the haze and smog in London, Friday, April 10, 2015. (AP/Alastair Grant)

(REPORT) --- An estimated 300 premature deaths were associated with a serious UK air pollution episode in 2014, parliament has been told. The figure represents twice the deaths attributed to particulate pollution when it is at typical spring levels. It is theoretical and does not equate to the deaths of specific people but is a way of

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