We’ve shown that rapid, measurable progress is achievable in our cities. Here’s how that can now be replicated worldwide
Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London. Michael Bloomberg is a former mayor of New York City
Some public health threats make global headlines: Covid-19. Ebola. Famine. When these disasters hit, photographs and videos of people suffering and dying spur countries to respond, international bodies to cooperate and individuals to donate supplies and money. Yet one of the world’s deadliest threats gets almost no attention at all, because it is largely invisible to the public and mostly absent from media coverage: air pollution.
Every day, billions of people are inhaling air that is shortening their lives and making them sicker with every breath. Every year, air pollution kills more than 8 million people worldwide. That’s more deaths than HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined. It hides in plain sight and strikes without mercy, leading to heart and lung disease, cancers and other deadly conditions.
Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London. Michael Bloomberg is a former mayor of New York City
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
06/23/2026 - 05:42
06/23/2026 - 02:55
Firm has been developing full EV version of its top-selling model in Europe at its plant in Sunderland
Business live – latest updates
Nissan has reportedly stopped developing a fully electric version of its Qashqai, its top-selling model in Europe, as the Japanese carmaker looks to cut a fifth of its models and slash costs.
The carmaker quietly halted development of a full EV version of the Qashqai at Sunderland, the site of the UK’s largest car factory, last year, according to a report by Reuters.
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06/23/2026 - 02:00
Energy secretary hails £100bn milestone in this parliament and says it is ‘only the start of what we want to achieve’
Ed Miliband has hailed a boost to UK jobs and growth as government data reveals that private sector companies have pledged more than £100bn in investment into the green economy so far in this parliament.
Offshore wind, solar power and the electricity grid make up the bulk of the planned investment, most of it between 2024 and 2031, which will go to all regions of the UK and comes from a mixture of UK companies and overseas sources including the EU and Japan.
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06/23/2026 - 00:43
A hundred incredible images have been shortlisted by the South Australian Museum as part of this year’s Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition. In its 23rd year, the competition attracted 2,129 entries from 501 photographers in 17 countries. Entries were accepted covering content from across the ANZANG bioregion – Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea
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Europe heatwave live: Forty people drown in France; Met Office warns UK temperatures could reach 39C
06/23/2026 - 00:28
France records hottest ever day as much of Europe endures extreme heat; ‘London is cooking,’ says UN secretary general
Tell us: how is the heatwave in the UK and across Europe affecting you?
Forty drown across France in heatwave and parts of Spain above 30C at night
Italy’s health ministry has declared a red heatwave alert in 15 cities including Milan and Rome on Tuesday and said the number would go up to 16 on Wednesday.
During a red alert – the highest level – the ministry advises people to eat light, stay indoors in the hottest parts of the day and sprinkle themselves with cool water.
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06/22/2026 - 23:00
The country’s biggest tree – named Heaven Sword of the Da’an River – is a carbon-storing behemoth hosting whole neighbourhoods of wildlife. But this and other giant trees are under threat
The higher you climb up the gigantic, millennia-old trees of Taiwan’s forests, the more layers of habitat and life emerge. On the forest floor, ferns thrive in the moist shade. Flying squirrels and owls sleep inside the hollow tree trunks. Yellow bell-shaped rhododendron flowers spring from the lower tree canopy. Higher still, dense lichen spread. Up in cloud-drenched branches, a rare, hardy orchid, Bulbophyllum ciliisepalum, can be spotted.
“In one tree, every species has their preferred location,” says Dr Rebecca Hsu, assistant researcher at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute. “Every metre the temperature, the wind, the sun, the light is different.”
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06/22/2026 - 08:14
Trees planted to protect farmland from wind may not be the biodiversity boost many assume. In Japan’s wetland farming landscapes, shelterbelts benefited some birds but sharply reduced grassland and wetland species that need open space. Researchers found grassland bird abundance dropped by more than 70% near shelterbelts.
06/22/2026 - 06:22
People in southern Wales and area of England from Kent and Sussex to Somerset and Birmingham urged to protect themselves from extreme heat
The UK’s Met Office forecasters have issued a rare red weather warning for Wednesday and Thursday in the face of extreme heat and humidity.
It covers southern Wales as far west as Swansea, and an area of England that includes London and runs from the inland areas of Kent and Sussex, all the way across to Somerset, as far north-west as Birmingham, and as far north-east as southern Cambridgeshire.
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06/22/2026 - 05:14
Number of countries issue alerts with sustained and rising temperatures expected to present danger to health
Two children aged four and two have been found dead in their family’s car in south-eastern France, the local prosecutor said, as a large swathe of western Europe suffers a ferocious heatwave forecast to shatter absolute temperature records.
“The causes of death are yet to be determined, but the heat is the leading line of inquiry,” said Hélène Mourges, the prosecutor in the town of Carpentras, where the temperature was expected to exceed 39C (102.2F) on Monday afternoon.
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06/21/2026 - 23:00
A national heatwave plan has been activated to help people stay cool during the Netherlands’ increasingly hot summers
Households in Amsterdam are being urged to hang their curtains outside their windows as health experts recommend simple hacks to moderate the heatwave rolling across the Netherlands, where homes were built for old-fashioned damp and coldish northern European weather.
In a viral social media post last week, Eline Coolen, the heat coordinator at the city’s public health institute, urged sweaty city-dwellers to rig up temporary curtain rails or drape curtains or sheets outside to stop the sun’s rays reaching their large windows.
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