Air pollution

Air quality in Turkey has seen a noticeable improvement, with the vast majority of people locking themselves in their houses because of the coronavirus epidemic.

As citizens began to self-isolate, the movement of vehicles has been reduced significantly, while the use of fossil fuel has decreased greatly as many businesses have been closed.

Global cost of fossil-fueled air pollution is $ 8 billion a day, or roughly 3.3% of global economic output, according to BGNES.

The report from the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research (and the Greenpeace Branch in Southeast Asia) is the first to evaluate global air pollution costs, specifically by burning of oil, gas and coal.

The air in Sofia was dangerously polluted last night, according to official data from the municipality, BNR reported. Exceedance of the reference limits for the content of fine particulate matter in the air has been reported by all stations except the one in the Kopitoto mountain area and the non-working one in the Nadezhda neighborhood.

Construction activities at major infrastructure sites in Bangkok have been halted due to air pollution, according to the Nation newspaper.

Construction of skyscrapers, new road junctions and new subway lines has been halted for 72 hours, the release said.

The director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Filip Radovic, told RTS that the change of meteorological conditions eliminated the thermal inversion which, during the day at high temperatures and clear nights, kept the concentration of pollutants at a high level.

Amid complaints that Serbia is importing too many ancient, high-polluting cars, the government is reportedly considering banning the further import of so-called Euro 3 cars - passenger vehicles that meet the EU emissions standards set for 2000 to 2005.

Volkswagen's German carmaker fined €135m by a Toronto court after pleading guilty to 58 counts of violating Canadian environmental laws in a worldwide scandal for manipulating data on the diesel emissions of his cars, France Press and DPA reported.

The number of early deaths caused by air pollution in Greece is nearly double the European Union average, according to research.

Data from the European Environment Agency show that there were 16,440 early deaths in Greece in 2016 due to exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3). 

When is unhealthy air acceptable air? In the Balkans, it depends who you believe: mobile apps or state data.

The quality of air in the region has become a hot topic since the capitals of Bosnia and Serbia, Sarajevo and Belgrade, made the top 10 in the list of most polluted cities on the planet.

According to Belgrade media, the meeting will be held at 3 pm, with the Ministers of Environment, Health and Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Republic Hydro-meteorological Institute, representatives of the City of Belgrade, Ministry of Internal Affairs, etc.