Posts tagged with 'air quality'
I’ve watched in horror as Europe burns. Ferocious wildfires have swept through Spain, France and now Greece, scorching towns and forests and spewing toxic smoke. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes. Many will have little left to return to. European ...
At 5 a.m., an electric bus glides out of its depot after charging overnight, ready to carry children to school without spewing diesel fumes. As the city stirs, heat pumps have already brought homes and offices to a comfortable temperature, ...
The effects of climate change are being felt on every continent, from biodiversity loss to heat waves, floods to droughts. Acting quickly is essential for avoiding even more dangerous impacts. Yet at the same time, we face a global landscape increasingly shaped by geopolitical tensions, ...
As the federal government advances rollbacks of more than 100 environmental and climate policies and resources, it is redefining the U.S. government’s role in protecting communities disproportionately impacted by pollution — and diminishing opportunities for communities to make decisions that impact their ...
Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, sits where Lake Kivu drains into the Ruzizi River along the border with Rwanda. The city’s steep hillsides turn heavy rains into fast-moving runoff that overwhelms drains, damages roads and threatens downstream communities. It’s ...
When torrential rains hit Kinshasa in April 2025, the city of 20 million came to a standstill. Floodwaters submerged more than half the city as the Ndjili River and smaller streams overflowed, quickly overwhelming the city’s drainage capacity. Lives were ...
Every day, millions of children ride to school in diesel buses that expose them to pollution linked to serious health issues. Replacing those buses with electric models has benefits that go far beyond a quieter ride and cleaner air. Electric ...
Air pollution is one of the most serious environmental threats to human health worldwide. In 2021, it caused 8.1 million deaths, an increase from 7 million recorded in previous studies. In Africa, Asia and Latin America, the infant mortality rate from ...
On a hot summer afternoon, the difference between one city block and the next can feel like a different world. On one street, the sun beats down from above while the pavement radiates heat from below. Just around the corner, ...
Over the next few decades, Rwanda is positioned to become one of the most competitive investment destinations in East Africa. National targets, such as achieving upper middle-income status by 2035 and high-income status by 2050 (Vision 2050)1, signal the government’s ...
AI tools like ChatGPT, navigation apps and streaming platforms feel effortless, drawing information seemingly from thin air. Yet the infrastructure behind them is anything but invisible. Across the country, a surge of new data centers is reshaping local energy grids, ...
We are in the midst of a great economic shift — one that will shape livelihoods and growth for decades to come. The rise of AI and digitalization, geopolitical changes, uneven population growth, and the urgent need to cut emissions ...
Ten years ago, we witnessed something akin to a miracle. Hundreds of leaders came together for the UN’s annual climate summit (COP21) in Paris. There, they forged what many thought impossible: a global agreement to curb climate change — one where virtually ...
Cities are on the front line of climate impacts. They are home to most of the world’s population and economic activity and generate the majority of global emissions. Yet they’re also hubs of innovation and implementation, putting them at the center of ...
Cities and states have aimed higher and moved faster on climate action than national governments. The reason is simple: To local leaders, climate problems and solutions matter because their constituencies are directly impacted by them. Extreme heat, flooding and air ...
