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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

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This week closes with a focus on China as the country aims to reduce air pollution.

Chinese cities have grappled with high air pollution readings in the past months despite authorities’ efforts to improve air quality in recent years.

The country aims to lower the national average concentration of fine particulate matter, a measure of air quality, to less than 28 micrograms per cubic meter by 2027 and less than 25 micrograms by 2035.

China previously set its national “interim” air quality standard at 35 micrograms per cubic meter, well above the 5-microgram limit recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The proposal outlined areas including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Yangtze River Delta as a “key battlefield”, where it will focus on controlling the amount of fine particulate matter and vigorously reduce the emission of multiple pollutants.

Additionally, the government aims to “compile a year-by-year national greenhouse gas inventory” as part of efforts to halt the rise in emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, China’s cabinet said in guidelines published by Xinhua news agency.

Its latest official inventory, submitted to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change at the end of the year, covered 2017 and measured China’s greenhouse gas emissions at 11.55 billion tons, with carbon dioxide accounting for more than 80%.

1. China pledges to set up annual greenhouse gas inventory
China has proposed new targets for improved air quality as part of its green and low-carbon development, state news agency Xinhua reported, although the targets are still above a limit recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

China also said it plans to take an annual inventory of its greenhouse gas emissions as it tries to boost its carbon trading capability and ensure it meets its climate targets.

A man wearing face mask walks on the street during a day with polluted air in Beijing, China. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo

2.  Hundreds dead as Congo River basin submerged by generational floods
The Congo River has risen to its highest level in more than 60 years, causing flooding throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Congo Republic that has killed more than 300 people over the past months, according to authorities.

3. Winter storm along US East Coast leaves behind power outages, flooding
The U.S. East Coast remained under the threat of menacing weather this week as a powerful winter storm loomed across the region after leaving in its wake power outages, grounded flights and several towns swamped with flood waters. 

4. Brazil must take action to protect Amazon’s Yanomami permanently, police chief says

Striking workers at Brazil’s environmental protection agencies said they will pull out of the Yanomami territory, the country’s largest Indigenous reservation which is facing a humanitarian crisis due to invasion by illegal gold mining.

The head of the country’s federal police said in an interview that police action will not suffice to defend Yanomami territory in the Amazon from illegal gold miners, and Brazil’s government must throw its full weight into defending the Indigenous people. Click here for the full report by Reuters’ Ricardo Brito and Anthony Boadle.

5. EU lawmakers consider stronger plastic pollution law after spill hits Spain

Some European Union lawmakers are pushing to strengthen a planned law on microplastics pollution, after millions of plastic pellets washed up on the coast of Spain’s northwestern Galicia region.

Elephant tusks valued at nearly $11 million were crushed in Nigeria’s capital Abuja as authorities push to protect the mammal from rampant wildlife traffickers. Click here or on the image for more. 

Reuters Fact Check: The small proportion of the atmosphere made up of carbon dioxide (CO2) is not evidence that its impact on the climate is limited, as suggested by social media posts claiming that rising CO2 is “not a problem.”

Change in CO2 concentration over time, which has increased by 50% from pre-industrial levels due to human action, is the most significant metric for its climate effect, climate scientists and experts told Reuters.

Given CO2’s potency, even small increases are substantial for global temperatures. The concentration of CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere has increased from around 278 parts per million (ppm) (0.028%) in 1750 to 417 ppm (0.042%) in 2022, according to Copernicus data.

$1 trillion

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that Inflation Reduction Act tax credits will cost more than initially estimated, citing strong demand for clean energy investments.

Some private forecasters including Goldman Sachs have estimated that the program, initially estimated at $369 billion over 10 years, would ultimately cost as much as $1 trillion. The White House budget office last July estimated that the clean energy subsidies over 10 years would increase by $120 billion.

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