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The document examines the 2019 agreement between Stellantis and Detroit, which provided $13.8 million in community investments and nearly 5,000 jobs in exchange for a $2.5-billion expansion of the Jefferson North Assembly Plant. While the Community Benefits Ordinance (CBO) provided a formal framework for resident engagement via a Neighborhood Advisory Council, the document highlights significant failures in the process, including an expedited six-week negotiation timeline that hindered environmental research. It further details a disconnect between official compliance reports and actual air quality violations, noting that Stellantis released volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants, leading to state fines that did not benefit the impacted majority-Black, low-income community.

As of October 2024, there are 12,241 committed electric school buses in the U.S., with nearly 5,000 already delivered or operating. Adoption is heavily driven by the EPA's Clean School Bus Program, which funds 67% of all commitments and prioritizes high-poverty, rural, and tribal districts. While California leads in absolute numbers, the Northeast and Midwest have seen significant percentage increases. Seven states have enacted statutory zero-emission transition requirements, and WRI projects that 62% of all school bus sales will be electric by 2032 following revised EPA greenhouse gas emission standards.

The briefing highlights that active travel is a common part of daily life for most people in Britain, with strong public support for investment in walking, wheeling, and cycling infrastructure, even if it reduces road space for cars. While active travel is associated with freedom for one third of respondents, there is a significant gap in perceived safety compared to car travel, with only 19% associating active travel with feeling safe versus 52% for cars. Geographic disparities exist, with a higher proportion of people in Wales reporting they rarely travel actively compared to those in London.

The report finds that international development funding for clean air is chronically underfunded, representing only 1% of total international development funding in 2022. It highlights a heavy reliance on loans over grants, significant geographic disparities in funding distribution, and a concerning increase in funding for projects that prolong fossil fuel use.

As of June 2024, the U.S. has 12,174 committed electric school buses, representing a 19-fold increase since June 2019. While these vehicles currently make up only about 3% of the national fleet, over 234,000 students now ride them, with the highest adoption rates in the West and South regions. The transition is largely driven by the EPA's Clean School Bus Program, which provides $5 billion from 2022 to 2026 to reduce the 8.4 million metric tons of carbon pollution emitted annually by school bus fleets and mitigate health risks associated with diesel exhaust.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) analysis indicates that reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) through increased transportation choices could save the U.S. up to $201 billion in energy infrastructure and $5.9 trillion in vehicle ownership costs by 2050. The report contends that current car dependence is driven by industry lobbying from the auto, fossil fuel, and road-building sectors, which receive over 75 percent of transportation spending. UCS recommends investing in diverse transportation networks, applying equity and climate lenses to project prioritization, and making planning processes more democratic to benefit the 30 percent of Americans who do not drive.

The document details the historical and ongoing struggle of the Allendale neighborhood in Shreveport, Louisiana, against urban highway expansion. It describes how past projects like I-20 and I-49 contributed to racial segregation and population decline in Black communities. The text focuses on the 'zombie freeway'—the I-49 Inner City Connector (I-49 ICC)—which was revived in 2009 and threatens to displace homes and further harm the Allendale community. In response, the Allendale Strong initiative and its 'Loop-It' project have used technical modeling, legal action, and coalitions like the Freeway Fighters Network to challenge the project and propose an alternative that prioritizes wealth-building streets and multimodal transit over highway capacity expansion.

The MAP-Fire project investigates the increasing risk of wildfires in the Amazon, particularly in the transborder region of Madre de Dios (Peru), Acre (Brazil), and Pando (Bolivia). It aims to quantify fire impacts, identify bottlenecks in monitoring strategies, increase population risk awareness, and influence conservation policies to support Sustainable Development Goals and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Findings indicate that 2019 fires in Acre burned 1,802 km2—an 80% increase over 2018—leading to 21 days where air pollution exceeded WHO limits. The project also highlights that standard wildfire contingency plans are ineffective during extreme droughts, which increase forest vulnerability and affected areas.

The MAP-Fire project (2019–2022) focused on the 'MAP' region (Madre de Dios in Peru, Acre in Brazil, and Pando in Bolivia) to address the increasing risk of forest fires driven by climate change and land-use changes. Key achievements include the development of a real-time fire monitoring platform, the quantification of significant economic losses in Acre, Brazil, and the identification of air quality crises linked to fire events. The project also integrated fire risk education into public schools and provided technical reports to governments to support National Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Human-caused climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of wildfires in the U.S., exposing millions of homes and hundreds of thousands of miles of roads and power lines to risk. Approximately one-third of U.S. homes and 116 million people are located in counties with high or very high wildfire risk, with the highest concentrations in Western states and Florida. Between 2000 and 2019, over 265,000 miles of roads and power lines in the contiguous U.S. were exposed to large fires. The risk is further amplified by the expansion of the wildland-urban interface, which grew by about 31% between 1990 and 2020.

Climate change is exacerbating air pollution through increased wildfires, ground-level ozone, and longer allergy seasons, posing severe health risks to children. Children are uniquely vulnerable due to their developing organs and higher breathing rates. The document highlights that 2°C of global warming could increase childhood asthma cases by 4% and notes that wildfire smoke is ten times more harmful to the respiratory health of children aged five or younger than other PM2.5 sources. Recommendations include minimizing outdoor exposure during high-pollution events, using HEPA filters, and transitioning away from fossil fuels to improve air quality.

The report analyzes the crisis in La Jagua de Ibirico, Cesar, triggered by Prodeco's 2021 renunciation of mining titles. It highlights a severe mismatch between the high social, environmental, and economic impacts of mine closures and the limited legal competencies and financial resources of municipal governments. The document details the collapse of the local economy, significant loss of tax revenue, and persistent environmental liabilities, while proposing the creation of a permanent subregional fund and the strengthening of local institutional capacities to manage a transition beyond coal.

The guide explains how climate change intensifies wildfires by increasing evaporation and drying out vegetation, creating a feedback loop where fires destroy carbon sinks and emit more carbon. It highlights specific regional impacts in the United States and Canada and provides journalistic advice on covering the long-term effects of fires, such as landslides and public health crises.

This document consists of two distinct parts: a supplemental expert report by Dr. Ranajit (Ron) Sahu evaluating the air quality impact assessment (AQIA) for the proposed Lephalale Coal Mine, and a comprehensive Spatial Development Framework (SDF) for the Lephalale Local Municipality. Dr. Sahu concludes that the mine will cause substantial adverse particulate matter (PM) impacts, exceeding national standards even with mitigation. The SDF section provides a long-term spatial plan for the municipality, focusing on the 'energy hub' of Africa, rural development, and the management of urban sprawl and environmental protection.

Between August 22 and 25, 2024, over 60 million people in Brazil faced extreme temperatures and wildfires exacerbated by climate change. High temperatures were forecasted to be five times more likely due to global warming, with anomalies reaching up to 10°C above normal in São Paulo. Wildfires have burned over 760,000 hectares in the Amazon and 1.3 million hectares in the Pantanal, with climate change increasing Pantanal fire intensity by 40%. On August 20, PM2.5 pollution levels reached 11 times the World Health Organization's recommendations, causing increased respiratory illnesses and affecting 10 Brazilian states as well as Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru.

The webinar 'Youth Action for Climate and Clean Air Now' brought together over 140 youth leaders and experts to discuss the role of young people in mitigating short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) and improving air quality. Key discussions focused on the science of 'super pollutants' like methane and black carbon, the importance of youth engagement in the 2025 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) update process, and the implementation of community-led solutions such as solar dryers in Ghana and indoor air quality monitoring in UK schools. The event emphasized that reducing SLCPs can provide rapid climate benefits and improve public health, particularly for children in the global south who are disproportionately affected by pollution.

As of June 2024, the U.S. has 12,164 committed electric school buses, with 67% funded by the EPA's Clean School Bus Program. Adoption is widespread across 49 states, with California leading in total numbers, while the Southeast has seen significant recent growth. The report finds that deployment is increasingly equitable, with a majority of buses now located in high-poverty districts and areas with high air pollution, though adult asthma rates show a more even distribution.

From June 11-13, 2024, over 290 million people in Northern Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East are forecast to experience extreme heat made at least five times more likely due to human-caused climate change. Maximum temperatures of 40°C or higher are expected in several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. The document highlights risks including wildfires in Greece, damage to Bulgaria's rose oil production, and increased vulnerability for refugees in Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria.

Earthjustice and partner organizations urge the EPA to reject California's SIP revisions, claiming they create loopholes for oil and gas polluters. The authors argue that RACT must apply to all wells regardless of production volume or oil gravity, and that the EPA failed to conduct a required environmental justice analysis. They contend that current exemptions for heavy oil and low-production wells disproportionately harm frontline communities and that monitoring and reporting frequencies are insufficient to ensure compliance with the Clean Air Act.

The document highlights the severe economic and health costs of black carbon, noting that in China, short-term exposure in 2017 cost over US$7.5 billion and long-term exposure over US$53 billion. It asserts that reducing black carbon is a "triple win" that would protect glaciers, save millions of lives—including over 400,000 annually in India and nearly half a million in Sub-Saharan Africa—and improve gender equality by reducing the US$800 billion annual loss in women's productivity caused by unclean cooking fuels. Despite these benefits, the author notes that only 12 countries included black carbon targets in their first Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and warns that transportation-related emissions in Africa could double by 2040.