German lawmakers want EU to switch to emission-free cars by 2030

 The upper house of the German parliament, the Bundesrat, has adopted a resolution which urges the EU Commission as well as the EU Parliament to create conditions for a Europe-wide switch to emission-free cars “not later than in 2030.”

One million high-emission vehicles junked in China

China forced about 1 million vehicles with excessive emissions off the roads in the first ten months of the year, completing 85 percent of its annual target, though Beijing and Shandong province fell short of their targets, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said yesterday.

EU threatens France with court action over air pollution

France has just two months to act over dangerously high levels of air pollution or face being hauled in front of the European Court of Justice, the European Commission said Wednesday.

Beijing to ban vehicles that fail to meet emission standards

Beijing will ban gasoline-powered vehicles that fail to meet the National Emission Standard II from the road starting Jan. 1 of next year to cut pollution, the local environmental authority said.

Vehicles are top polluter in Beijing (official)

Vehicle emissions are the top pollutant in Beijing, vice minister of environmental protection Wu Xiaoqing said here Wednesday.

China's air quality dire but improving (Greenpeace)

The skies of China's notoriously smog-filled cities saw a marginal amelioration last year, according to figures released by Greenpeace Thursday (Jan 22), but pollution remained far above national and international standards...

Beijing city raises subsidies for scrapping polluting vehicles

Beijing car owners with emissions-heavy models can now earn more money from scrapping their vehicles after the city raised its subsidy for doing so by an average of 2,000 yuan (321.8 US dollars), environmental protection authorities said Tuesday.

Severe air pollution hits North China, government issues orange alert

The latest wave of severe air pollution continued to smother China's northern regions including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Henan provinces on Thursday, and is likely to last until Saturday. 

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) upgraded northern China's smog alert from yellow to orange on Thursday afternoon. Most northern regions were severely affected. The NMC forecast that Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province will all suffer from dense smog that could bring visibility down to less than 200 meters in some places on Friday, NMC said on its website.

US Using Diesel in Fracking Poses Health Threat

MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) -A report by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) on August 13 discloses that 351 wells across 12 states in the United States were fracked with the unauthorized use of diesel fuel that pose severe risk to human health.

“EIP identified numerous fracking fluids with high diesel content for sale online, including over a dozen products offered by Halliburton [a US oilfield services company]. 

Operators are clearly buying these products without obtaining permits to use them,” the EIP report released Wednesday read.

China will destroy 5,000,000 cars this year to battle air pollution (Polluting vehicles to be scrapped)

China is going to make air cleaner by taking 5.33 million ageing cars off its roads, according to a government document. The move is part of a broader campaign for battling deep environmental crisis that’s gripped world’s second-biggest economy.
The vehicles in question are so-called ‘yellow label’ cars that do not meet Chinese fuel standards and are thus meant to be ‘eliminated’ this year, the Chinese State Council document published on Monday and cited by Reuters, says.
Chinese authorities, spurred by overwhelming public outcry, have lately boosted efforts for tackling the growing ecological crisis, a byproduct of decades of massive economic growth amid neglect for environmental protection.

Kerch bridge will be designed for cars and trains. Underwater tunnel is optional. - ministry

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s Transportation Ministry on Wednesday to launch the construction of two bridges over the Kerch Strait.
“We need there two bridges both for automobile and railway transportation,” Putin said addressing a session with the members of the Russian government.
Russian Transport minister Maxim Sokolov told the president that there was also a variant of constructing a transportation tunnel under the Kerch Strait.

France limits vehicle use in Paris amid pollution

PARIS, March 15 (Xinhua) -- The French government on Saturday decided to limit vehicle use in Paris and suburbs on next Monday after air pollution reached high levels in several regions in France.
In a statement posted on Matignon website, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault decided to set a system of "alternating traffic" in Paris and suburbs in March 17 from 5:30 a.m. (0430 GMT) as pollution was expected to continue unabated through the weekend.
"We forecast an improvement in the situation tomorrow. However, the forecasts show a rise in pollution from Sunday night and on Monday and Tuesday," Ayrault's office said.

Measures taken to tackle heavy air pollution in N. China

Efforts are being made in northern China to tackle the dense smog affecting the region, after weather authorities issued a yellow air pollution alert on Saturday.

Beijing, Tianjin Municipalities and parts of Hebei province have been choking under a blanket of heavy air pollution since Thursday. To curb emissions, Hebei has slowed down certain projects under construction, while all surface mines and open quarries have been closed. The province also plans to tear down a number of steel and iron production facilities.

Beijing issues rare air pollution alert

When the air gets really bad, Beijing says it has an emergency plan to yank half the city's cars off the road. The only problem is: It may be difficult to ever set that plan in motion.
     
A rare alert issued Friday was an "orange" one, the second-highest in the four levels of urgency. It prompted health advisories, bans on barbeques, fireworks and demolition work, but no order to pull cars from the streets.
     
Beijing's alert system requires a forecast of three days in a row of severe pollution for the highest level.

Gazprom plans gas filling stations along South Stream pipeline

MOSCOW, December 18 (Itar-Tass) - Gazprom was considering plans for constructing a network of CNG filling stations along the ground section of the South Stream pipeline, Gazprom Export’s chief specialist Yevgeny Pronin told Creon Energy’s conference CNG 2013.

“We do not discount the possibility of a gas filling system along South Stream, along its coastal section,” Pronin said, adding Gazprom may make up 15 billion cubic metres on the European market of gas engine fuel that may reach 45 billion cubic metres by 2020.