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UCL-led study finds climate impact caused by growing space industry needs urgent mitigation

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The rapidly growing space industry may have a greater climate effect than the aviation industry and undo repair to the protective ozone layer if left unregulated, according to a new study led by UCL and published in the journal Earth’s Future as an open-access paper. The space industry is one of the world’s fastest growing sectors.

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Obama Administration withdraws proposed rulemaking on strengthened ozone standards

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In a statement released this morning, President Barack Obama said he has requested that US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson withdraw the agency’s draft Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) rulemaking. Earlier post.) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

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Study: surface ozone in India in 2005 damaged 6M tonnes of crops, enough to feed 94M people in poverty

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Ozone, the main component of smog, is a plant-damaging pollutant formed by emissions from vehicles, cooking stoves and other sources. New research shows that ozone pollution damaged millions of tons of wheat, rice, soybean and cotton crops in India in 2005. Surface ozone pollution in India damaged 6 million metric tons (6.7

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MIT study finds air quality co-benefits of US carbon policies can significantly offset costs, depending upon the policy

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The human health benefits associated with improvements in air quality related to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions improvements can offset 26–1,050% of the cost of US carbon policies, depending upon the type of policy, according to a new study by a team from MIT. Carbon-reduction policies significantly improve air quality.

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ICCT study finds that transitioning to low-GWP MAC refrigerants in China could avoid up to US$150B in costs

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Among the findings of the report, “HFC-134a phase-out in the Chinese light-duty motor vehicle sector”, was that, considering the social cost of CO 2 e, up to 1 trillion RMB in costs (US$150 billion) required to address climate change could be avoided through 2050 by transitioning to low-GWP alternative MACs.

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Study: 25% EV adoption would save US $17B annually from avoided climate change & pollution damages

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Vehicle electrification in the United States could prevent hundreds to thousands of premature deaths annually while reducing carbon emissions by hundreds of millions of tons. Results show that in more aggressive scenarios—i.e.,

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European Parliament calls for fast action to cut non-CO2 climate forcers

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The European Parliament is calling for fast action to reduce non-CO 2 climate forcers including black carbon soot, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), methane, and ground-level ozone, which together are responsible for nearly half of climate forcing. Because these climate forcers are short-lived, reducing them produces a fast climate response.

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