Search Results for: Environmental Health⊂mit=Search

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) has agreed to admit officials from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and representatives from secretariats for other multilateral environmental agreements as observers to its ongoing Doha Development Round negotiations. The move has been welcomed by the European Commission, which wants these representatives to point out when the free trade talks are in danger of creating an agreement that may undermine or conflict with existing international environmental agreements.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
EUROPEAN insurance companies have raised practical objections to a proposed amendment to an EU directive on environmental liability that would make insurance compulsory five years after the directive comes into force. The directive, proposed a year ago, would seek to reduce environmental pollution under three headings – bio-diversity, water, and damage causing serious potential or actual harm to public health via soil or sub-soil contamination.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development is lending US$5.4 million to the Maritime Port Authority of St Petersburg to fund the construction of a maritime navigation safety system in the main Russian sector of the Baltic Sea, where a future surge in tanker traffic is anticipated.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has drawn up plans to finance a range of renewable energy projects in Germany. Up to Euro 200 million would be invested, mainly in wind power plants, and to a lesser extent geothermal, small-scale hydro power, solar energy and biomass based energy projects.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DISASTERS invariably spark reforms, especially when they are unprecedented. It was so with September 11, which has spun off a range of hitherto unimagined security precautions, and the same kind of safety-first reaction has followed recent oil tanker disasters such as the Prestige tragedy, off Spain.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INNOVATIVE pilot study has been launched in Milan, which could transform the way that air pollution is analysed and measured in Europe, enabling a clearer picture to emerge about the source of emissions. The European Union’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has joined with the regional Italian environmental protection agency Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione dell’Ambiente Lombardia to measure urban air pollution in the city until the end of February.…

BY PHILIP FINE

A NEW methodology has been developed for paper mills to accurately measure their greenhouse gas emissions. Developed as a standard by the GHG (greenhouse gas) Protocol Initiative, a coalition of environmental and industry groups, the on-line tool can be used on any scale, from determining emissions from a specific mill to the industry as whole.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PRIVATE financing of Euro 235.9 million will be combined with loans of Euro 112.2 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to help rehabilitate and improve the environmental performance of Bulgaria’s privately owned lignite-fired 840 MW power plant Maritza East III.…

BY PHILIP FINE

NUCLEAR waste disposal programmes should be implemented in stages, so that decisions about how to proceed can be based on the latest available information, says a new report from the Board on Radioactive Waste Management of the US National Research Council, which provides advice to the US federal government.…

BY PHILIP FINE

AMERICA is experiencing a rash of mould-related lawsuits. Recent cases have included a US$14 million judgment in Florida against a contractor for alleged toxic mould-related construction defects at a courthouse and a US$65 million lawsuit against a New York community college by one of its former employees for injuries and damages allegedly caused by mould exposure.…