Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil-fuel combustion rose by 3.2 percent last year to a record high of 31.6 gigatonnes, the IEA said in preliminary estimates released on Thursday.

China made the biggest contribution to the global rise, seeing its emissions increase by 9.3 percent, the Paris-based International Energy Agency said.

U.S. emissions fell 1.7 pct in 2011, mainly due to a switch to natural gas from coal in power plants and also a very mild winter that cut heating demand, the IEA said.

Tough new limits on the maximum sulphur content of shipping fuels will come into effect in Europe at the end of the decade, after EU governments agreed on draft legislation on Wednesday.

Air pollution from marine fuels with a high sulphur content is estimated to cause 50,000 premature deaths a year in Europe, the European Parliament has said.

"This is excellent news for our health and the environment, especially in ports and coastal areas," EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik said in a statement.

BP said Wednesday that it would spend $400 million to install pollution controls at its giant Whiting, Ind., refinery to allow it to process heavy crude oil from Canada, in a deal with federal and state regulators. The consent decree reached with the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency also requires BP, based in London, to pay $8 million to resolve prior claims of clean-air violations at the plant, the sixth-largest American refinery.

At the Camp David meeting last week, G8 leaders agreed to act on climate change and air pollution by focusing on methane, black carbon (soot), and hydroflurocarbons (HFCs).

This is the logical follow up of a move in the same direction by the United States, China and other countries back to February. However, like the previous agreement, CO2 is still not mentioned.

The aforementioned greenhouse gases are much more potent but remain for much less time in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide

Nissan Motor announced Wednesday it will launch global production of an all-electric van, the e-NV200, as early as next year in the Spanish city of Barcelona, creating 700 jobs.

The Japanese carmaker said it would invest 100 million euros ($126 million) in Spain to start production in its 2013 financial year at its Barcelona plant, which already makes the fuel-powered NV200.

Calling the Rs.7.50 increase per litre in petrol price shocking, Delhiites on Wednesday expressed their outrage at the Central Government's “inconsiderate” move.

“The Government has clearly not taken into consideration the already sky-rocketing cost of living. Rising fuel costs and the lack of adequate, safe public transport system adds to the problems of the common man. The worst hit are two-wheeler users,” said Jatin Gandhi from Janakpuri who uses his bike to come to Connaught Place and works as a marketing executive.

Construction companies in Beijing will need to keep a close eye on emissions of dust and other forms of pollution at their existing construction sites if they want to bid on new projects, a city government official said Tuesday.

It was announced at a Tuesday "green construction" conference that Beijing authorities will ban construction companies from submitting bids for new projects for a period of six months if their existing projects are found to have "irregularities," including large amounts of dust emissions and spilled construction materials.

New Delhi: The Delhi government finally seems to be waking up to the threat of environment pollution from the expanding private vehicle pool in the city. Based on an EPCA (environment pollution control authority) recommendation, the transport department is putting together a proposal for mandatory fitness checks of all private vehicles. At present, only commercial vehicles need to get an annual fitness check done at authorized regional transport offices.

Chinese officials clamped down on air pollution during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, giving researchers an unusual opportunity to assess the effects of polluted air on the risks for cardiovascular disease.

Researchers examined 125 healthy young doctors, average age 24, before, during and after the Games, measuring their heart rates and blood pressure and testing their blood for various biomarkers associated with cardiovascular disease and death.

The Central Environment Authority (CEA) will function as the regional centre for emission inventories.

“CEA as the regional centre for emission of inventories will be the lead centre in South Asia in the field of emission inventory and retain and enhance scientific capacity on emission inventories,” CEA chairman Charitha Herath said

participating in the inauguration of the training workshop on Emission Inventory Under Male Declaration at Hotel Renuka Hotel yesterday.