NGT Orders Report on Illegal Tree Felling in Delhi

In a “landmark move” India’s National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Head of Forest Force (PCCF & HoFF), Delhi to obtain information from all the tree officers in Delhi regarding illegal tree felling complaints made during the past five years, DTE reported.

This includes informing the court about the compliance status of compensatory plantation based on those orders, and the compiled information must be uploaded to the website of the Forest and Wildlife Department or the Government of NCT of Delhi website within three months.

The Court also ordered that PCCF (HoFF) within three months ask all the tree officers to take prompt action and dispose of complaints regarding illegal felling of trees in accordance with the provisions of the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994 within reasonable time, which may also be specified. 

Compensatory plantation must be ensured according to norms during the upcoming monsoon / one year from the date of the order, as the case may be, the order passed by Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi said. 

Violations by Textile Industry: Rajasthan Gives Compliance Report to Green Court

The NGT heard the submissions of the Rajasthan government about the status and compliance measures taken in the case of violation of environmental norms by industries engaged in the textile printing business in Jaipur district of Rajasthan.

The counsel for Rajasthan submitted that in compliance with the previous order, the common effluent treatment plant was made functional and around 907 units have been connected to it. It was further reported that the matter was still pending before the Supreme Court. The tribunal directed that the latest status of the matter pending before the SC be put up.

Jaipur reported high incidents of cancer cases in women in the districts.  The highly contaminated water is used extensively for growing green vegetables in the Sanganer area. Experts said that the contaminating carcinogens in Sanganer were selectively making an influence on the female population in the region. 

EU Floats Making it Easy for Oil Companies to Break Methane Rules

The European Commission is “considering giving fossil-fuel companies leeway to avoid penalties under new rules governing the emissions of methane”, due to the ongoing energy crisis since U.S.-Israel joint war on Iran: “According to draft guidelines for governments, national authorities would be able to grant exemptions to companies on energy security grounds, without any clear time limit or explicit oversight from the Commission,” Politico reported. 

Financial Times said the Commission has come under “ intense pressure from US and the fossil-fuel industry” to dilute the rules on “monitoring, reporting and verification for methane leaks and flaring tied to fossil fuel imports”, the newspaper added: “In the latest draft guidance to national bodies, which will enforce the rules from January 2027, the Commission says that applying penalties during a crisis could ‘worsen the security of supply situation, endangering continuity’”

Reuters explained : “The EU methane law requires that, from January 2027, imported gas must comply with monitoring and verification ‌rules ⁠equivalent to Europe’s. Penalties for breaching the law include fines up to 20% of a company’s annual turnover.”

‘An epidemic of Flies, Rats, Waste and Foul Odours’: Health Fears in Cuba as US Oil Blockade Halts Rubbish Collection

Cuba has been forced to cut garbage collection in trucks to save oil, as the US oil blockade on Cuba enters its fourth month, choking off most of the island’s fuel supplies, growing mounds of waste lie on street corners across Havana, the Guardian reported

Cubans are forced to throw their household waste into the street as they wait for collection. The government has allowed rubbish to be burned in crowded urban areas, with authorities designating 122 temporary waste collection points in Havana, at 24 of which there is “controlled incineration”, the newspaper said.

The report pointed out that substances from waste can persist in the environment for years and in the human body for a decade quoting Cuban Neuroscience Center

Fall in Air Pollution Post China’s Adoption of Electric Vehicles up to 2023 Prevented Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths: Study 

Electric vehicles in China till 2023, led to reductions of 23.80% in particles with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less (8.97 µg m−3) and 30.67% in carbon monoxide (0.26 mg m−3), resulting in the prevention of approximately 262,000 non-accidental deaths and 75,000 all-cause deaths, respectively, Nature reported. According to the study. benefits were concentrated in economically developed cities, and reductions in coarse particles and nitrogen dioxide (1.81 µg m−3) were low. 

These findings highlight pollutant-specific disparities and socio-economic inequalities in electric vehicle-related benefits, suggesting a need to accelerate heavy-duty diesel vehicle electrification and enhance NEV deployment in less-developed regions. Using satellite data and AI, researchers  quantified the impact of EVs on atmospheric pollution, specifically particulate matter particles of 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5) size, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 μm or less, and evaluates the corresponding health benefits.