More cars banned in Mexico City after pollution alert

More cars were ordered off Mexico City's streets on Wednesday after a surge in pollution prompted authorities to issue the first air quality alert in 14 years.

Heavy polluting vehicles face charges to enter major city centers in Britain

Polluting vehicles will have to pay to enter special zones in the city centers of five major British cities under an air quality drive announced Thursday by the government.

Marking International Day, UN officials hail progress in reducing damage to ozone layer

UN,  16 September 2014 – United Nations officials today hailed the progress made in reducing damage to the ozone layer and the vital role played by one of the most successful environmental treaties in history in phasing out ozone-depleting substances.

“Just over a quarter-century ago, the world united to reverse the rapid depletion of the atmospheric ozone layer, which protects Earth from harmful radiation from space. Today, the ozone layer is well on track to recovery within the next few decades,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.

UN Says Ozone Layer Might Recover by 2050

The Earth's protective ozone layer may fully recover in the next few decades thanks to harmonized international action against ozone depleting substances, a new assessment by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reads.
"There are positive indications that the ozone layer is on track to recovery towards the middle of the century. The Montreal Protocol - one of the world's most successful environmental treaties - has protected the stratospheric ozone layer and avoided enhanced UV radiation reaching the earth's surface," said UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner in a press-statement Wednesday.

Mysterious source of ozone-depleting chemical baffles NASA / La Nasa a détecté une substance détruisant la couche d'ozone en quantité inexpliquée

WASHINGTON: A chemical used in dry cleaning and fire extinguishers may have been phased out in recent years but NASA said Wednesday (Aug 20) that carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) is still being spewed into the atmosphere from an unknown source. The world agreed to stop using CC14 as part of the Vienna Convention on Protection of the Ozone Layer and its Montreal Protocol, which attained universal ratification in 2009.
"Parties to the Montreal Protocol reported zero new CCl4 emissions between 2007-2012," the US space agency said in a statement. "However, the new research shows worldwide emissions of CCl4 average 39 kilotons per year, approximately 30 per cent of peak emissions prior to the international treaty going into effect."