In an editorial on Euractiv, Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, explains that supporting the European Green Deal will allow member states to drive positive change for their citizens and partners around the world. It's about investing in a greener and healthier future, including cutting emissions by up to 55 percent by 2030.
Just a few weeks since COVID-19 containment measures were eased, UK CO2 emissions have started to grow again. Greenhouse gas emissions from the energy and transportation sector rose in May, when more people returned to work, increasing the demand for fossil fuels. The analysis by Sia Partners showed that emissions had decreased by 36 percent in the first four weeks of the lockdown compared to the most recent official data collected on emissions in 2018.
In the 37 countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), coal consumption peaked in 2007 and has decreased at an average annual rate of 2.8 percent over the past decade. Six of the world's 10 largest coal consumers are located in the Asia Pacific region. Indonesia and Vietnam recorded growth rates in 2019 of 20 and 30.2 percent respectively.
Unicef and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) have warned that up to 15.4 million cases of acute malnutrition are expected in 2020 in children under the age of five in West and Central Africa. According to NGOs, these figures represent a 20 percent increase over previous estimates in January 2020.
A study on global cholesterol levels conducted by Imperial College London found that while levels in western nations have declined sharply, Asia is now the epicenter of rising cholesterol levels. Michael Chan Pak-hei, honorary cardiology consultant at Gleneagles Hospital in Hong Kong, explains that this is the result of nutrition and lifestyles, but also the different administration of cholesterol medications in Asian countries.
In recent years, African swine fever - which can cause up to 100 percent mortality in pigs - has become a serious crisis for the meat industry, causing huge losses. It is currently affecting several countries in Africa, Asia and Europe and, without an effective vaccine and a potential industrial reconversion strategy, the disease will hinder animal health and welfare and will have harmful effects on farmer livelihoods.