News
Displaying Results 51 - 75 of 86
Progress in reducing emissions of key air pollutants has been uneven across the UNECE region over the past few decades. To create a level playing field across the region, the Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone (Gothenburg Protocol), a unique instrument to reduce…
Air Convention Task Force discusses impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on air quality in the UNECE region
One year after the first COVID-19 lockdown in many parts of the UNECE region, scientists and experts are studying the effects of lockdown measures on air quality. A study from Germany showed that while levels of nitrogen oxides (NO2) measured at urban stations decreased during the lockdown in…
UNECE continues to help its member States to respond to COVID-19 crisis. As part of this work, Guidelines and Best Practices for Micro-, Small and Medium Enterprises in Delivering Energy-Efficient Products and in Providing Renewable Energy Equipment developed earlier are being customized for North…
Buildings consume over 70 per cent of the electrical power generated and 40 per cent of primary energy and are responsible for 40 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions from related fuel combustion. At the same time, in 2018, out of 4.5 trillion USD spent on building construction and renovation, the…
Systemic deficiencies with regard to access to information, decision-making or compliance with environmental law can seriously threaten successful implementation of circular and green economy and sustainable development. Taking a case to court to advance a widely shared public interest remains an…
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on cities and the wellbeing of communities. Cities and urban areas are at the frontline in the fight against the COVID-19 public health crisis and its socio-economic consequences. They also hold significant potential for recovering better by adopting…
Sound emission inventories are the first step for designing effective clean air policies as they provide information about the main sources and the most acute air pollution problems in a country.
Under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution(Air Convention), UNECE has therefore…
Knowing where exactly air pollutant emissions are coming from in a given country is important to make viable policy decisions.
As a result of integrated air pollution management strategies developed under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (Air Convention…
World Habitat Day (5 October), celebrated this year under the motto Housing for All: A better Urban Future, is an invitation to reflect on the state of cities and on the basic right to adequate shelter. UNECE will celebrate it throughout its annual Sustainable Cities Week, around the following…
Cities have become the epicentres of the COVID-19 pandemic, putting mayors on the frontlines of both the emergency and the battle for a green and sustainable recovery. UNECE will open the multilateral stage to city leaders in a full-day Forum and uncover their innovative responses to the ongoing…
Out of the approximately 1.45 billion people living in the UNECE region, over 100 million spend more than 40% of their disposable income on housing. Moreover, at least 10 million people are on a waiting list for social housing and about 50 million live in informal settlements.Like many other…
As COVID-19 continues to spread across the UNECE region, local governments are on the front lines of addressing this unprecedented pandemic. With the ambition to amplify local solutions, UNECE will bring together mayors from Europe, North America, Central Asia and the Caucasus to strengthen the…
Albania has made considerable progress in the recent years in the provision of affordable adequate housing to all. Notably, the national government has been providing support to municipal programmes for housing construction; supporting investments into construction of affordable housing,…
The coronavirus has shown the importance of adequate housing for the health and wellbeing of the population. The housing affordability challenge became especially acute in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic when Governments throughout the world requested people to “stay home”. According to Ms…
Informal settlements are a significant problem for Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek. According to the estimates shared by the city government, between eighteen and twenty-five percent of almost one million inhabitants of the city live in the forty-seven informal settlements around Bishkek. These…
From nature-based solutions for urban development in Tirana, a smart urban development online platform in Prague, and the Carbon-neutral Helsinki 2035 action plan to Torino’s “Climathon” citizen engagement initiative – all over the UNECE region cities are stepping up to combat the challenges of…
Major industrial accidents can have far-reaching, transboundary and long-term impacts on populations and the environment. Without adequate coordination between land-use planning and industrial safety communities to ensure, for example, appropriate land use zoning and safety distances, the…
Today, more than half of the world population lives in cities – a number expected to grow to 70% by 2030. The concern about the pressure a growing urban population will put on cities in the future is unmistakably reflected in the distinctly urban component of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable…
Sustainable urban development is a fundamental dimension of the ambitious 2030 Agenda. Coinciding with World Habitat Day, UNECE is organizing “Urban Week 2018” with a series of events exploring challenges and solutions for sustainable urban development, held from 1-5 October at the Palais des…
In 2015, it was estimated that 1.6 billion people worldwide lacked adequate housing. While levels of homelessness vary considerably across UNECE countries, finding sustainable solutions to ensure access to housing for all members of society remains a significant challenge across the region.…
Severe accidents remind us time and time again of the need to invest in their prevention, and to mitigate their consequences, which can be far-reaching and transboundary. The cyanide spill in Baia Mare, Romania in 2000 demonstrated the devastating effects that an accident at a mining company can…
In the UNECE region, buildings are responsible for approximately one third of total energy consumption and account for almost 40 percent of CO2 emissions from combustion. Standards are an effective instrument for addressing energy efficiency in buildings and supporting the achievements of the…
Globally, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas, with 54 per cent of the world’s population residing in urban areas in 2014. In 1950, 30 per cent of the world’s population was urban, and by 2050, 66 per cent of the world’s population is projected to be urban. 73 per cent of the…
Improving energy efficiency overall is impossible without concerted measures in the buildings sector. Buildings are responsible for approximately one third of total energy consumption and account for almost 40 per cent of CO2 emissions from combustion in the UNECE region. Achieving related…
Decent housing and sustainable cities at the heart of UN celebrations of World Habitat Day in Geneva
World Habitat Day 2017 is the occasion to raise awareness of the theme of “housing policies: affordable homes”, underscoring the importance of ensuring adequate, affordable and decent housing for all as a key feature of sustainable cities. This year’s celebration also coincides with the 70th…