Mystery ozone-destroying gases linked to badly recycled fridges
Last week we learned a chemical that harms the ozone layer is being emitted in Asia – and now it seems sloppy recycling might be partly to blame
We messed up our figures on how much carbon dioxide is too much
Climatologists have tried to set a “carbon budget” that tells us how much greenhouse gas we can emit and stay below 2°C, but their efforts have only caused confusion
A mix-up means US air pollution is way worse than thought
Levels of nitrogen oxides in the air are still falling across the US, but satellite measurements show the reduction has slowed down unexpectedly since 2011
Plants love carbon dioxide, but too much could be bad for them
Most plants were expected to grow more as CO2 levels rise, but a 20-year experiment suggests that the extra CO2 is somehow stunting plant growth, which could make climate change worse
Congestion charge can cut childhood asthma attacks by half
A congestion charge in Stockholm not only cut levels of air pollution, it halved the number of children admitted to hospital with asthma attacks
Air pollution blamed for 500,000 early deaths in Europe in 2014
The biggest source of harm was particulate matter from domestic stoves, but nitrogen dioxide from cars is also linked to many premature deaths