pollution

According to a study compiling data from 10,000 marine animal necropsies, 35% of birds, 12% of mammals, and 47% of turtles examined had ingested macroplastics, causing death in 1.6%, 0.7%, and 4.4% of these animals, respectively. The types of plastic that pose the greatest risk are rubber for birds, soft plastics and fishing debris for mammals, and hard and soft plastics for sea turtles, concludes this study published in PNAS.

Around 5,800 deaths per year in Spain between 2012 and 2021 can be attributed to heat—twice as many as during the 1990s—according to a report published in The Lancet. In addition, of the deaths that occurred during 2022, around 22,000 can be attributed to air pollution, the publication adds. The Countdown report describes the impact of climate change on global health with more than 50 indicators reviewed by scientists. In the period 2020-2024, 61% of Spanish territory experienced at least one month of extreme drought per year; this figure is six times higher than the average for the period 1951-1960.

A team has analysed estimated data on exposure to pollution during and after pregnancy and its possible link to a diagnosis of autism in more than two million births in Canada between 2002 and 2022. Their findings are that greater exposure to small PM_2.5 particles containing sulphate or ammonium is associated with a higher likelihood of receiving a diagnosis of autism in the first five years of life. A slightly increased proportion was also observed with greater exposure to ozone during certain weeks of pregnancy and in the first year of life. The results are published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

In 2050, the total volume of waste electrical and electronic equipment in Europe will reach between 12.5 and 19 million tonnes, compared to 10.7 million tonnes – around 20 kilograms per person – in 2022, according to the report 2050 Critical Raw Materials Outlook for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. Of this volume, only 54% was collected and treated correctly in 2022. Furthermore, of the one million metric tonnes of critical raw materials such as copper, aluminium and silicon present in this waste, less than half was successfully recovered, according to the report's estimates.

A US research team has designed an ‘environmentally friendly and economically viable’ method for recovering rare earth elements from electronic waste. It is cheaper than traditional methods, uses less water, acid and energy, and emits fewer greenhouse gases, according to the authors in PNAS. Rare earth elements (REE) are a group of chemical elements needed to manufacture batteries, magnets and electronic components. Both the European Union and Spain are committed to these critical materials in order to reduce their dependence on foreign sources. 

A new school year has begun, and pollution, which exceeds recommended limits in many urban centres, will once again affect children and their families. What consequences could this have on health? How does climate change affect it? What solutions can be implemented? SMC Spain organised an informative session with Julio Díaz and Cristina Linares to answer these questions.

Premature deaths due to smoke pollution from wildfires will multiply to reach nearly 1.5 million deaths per year by the end of the century, according to a study published in Nature. The authors estimate that the increase will be much greater in Africa (11 times more deaths in 2095-2099 than in 2010-2014) than in Europe and the US (up to twice as many). Another study published in the same journal estimates that, under a high CO₂ emissions scenario, there will be more than 70,000 additional deaths per year from fires in the United States by 2050.

Using data from the 180 companies with the highest carbon emissions—fossil fuel and cement producers—research has calculated that these companies contributed 50% to the increase in heatwave intensity since 1850-1900. The authors estimate that the individual emissions of each large polluting company may have contributed to the occurrence of between 16 and 53 heatwaves. The study, published in Nature, also shows that a quarter of the heatwaves recorded between 2000 and 2023 would have been virtually impossible without anthropogenic climate change.

More than 350 million people in North America and Europe may have been affected by fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) pollution from the 2023 Canadian wildfires, according to estimates from a study published in Nature. The authors estimate that 5,400 acute deaths in North America and 64,300 chronic deaths in North America and Europe were attributable to exposure to these particles originating from Canadian forest fires.

Space-based solar power could provide electricity to support Europe's net-zero emissions target if its cost of supply is reduced sufficiently. This is one of the conclusions of an article published in the journal Joule, by the Cell Press group. Space solar panels would allow continuous capture of solar energy, rather than only when light reaches Earth, reducing the need for wind and solar energy on Earth by 80% in Europe. The researchers estimate that by 2050, space-based solar power could reduce the costs of the European electricity system, although this depends on the development of two NASA space-based solar power designs they have used for their research: the Innovative Heliostat Swarm and the Mature Planar Array.