The agreement, signed in Washington on 25 June, marks the formation of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, a collaboration between Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Italy, India, Japan, Mexico, Norway, China, Russia, the UK, the EU and the US.

The aim of the programme is to stimulate research into capture of carbon dioxide at source and storing it for thousands of years deep underground in depleted oil and gas reservoirs, deep saline reservoirs and in unminable coal seams. Problems associated with such storage include the need for the highest safety standards as carbon dioxide is an asphyxiant, and the need to protect underground water sources.

The agreement is intended to enable countries to use carbon sequestration in order to allow for the predicted increase in the use of coal for energy generation, and for the use of fossil fuels to produce hydrogen.

Platinum metals are used in the electrocatalyst layer of fuel cells and to produce and purify hydrogen to feed the fuel cell, contributing in part to the high current cost of the technology.

But researchers in the US have found that only a tiny amount of gold or platinum in non-metallic form is needed to create an active catalyst to purify the hydrogen before it is used in fuel cells.

A lot of the cost of fuel cell technology goes toward buying the platinum to prepare the catalyst. The finding would help researchers find a cost-effective way to produce clean energy from fuel cells in the near future.

Researchers from a company in California have discovered the bacteria that feed on vinyl chloride (VC) - one of the most common and hazardous industrial chemicals, used in the rubber, plastics and paper industries, as well as in building and construction.

Vinyl chloride is soluble so can enter the water supply and linger in the ground for hundreds of years, clinging to the soil in aquifers.

The most common method for dealing with VC pollution at present is to simply pump the contaminated water out of the ground. But, as VC sticks to the soil this method will never clear aquifers of all their contaminants.

However, the bacteria, when injected into the ground suspended in liquid, attach themselves to sand or particles in the soil. This creates a 'bio-film' that traps the vinyl chloride. Once the contaminant is gone, the bacteria have no food and their population size decreases. It also means they do not move to other parts of the aquifer. No evidence of any negative environmental impacts has been found so far.

German researchers have created a prototype microbial fuel cell that captures the energy produced by Escherichia coli as it feeds on sugars. Making up to 150 milliamps, the bacterial battery can drive a medical ventilator, for example.

Many microorganisms during fermentation would produce hydrogen - the fuel in most fuel cells, such as those being developed for 'green' electric vehicles. The energy released by the reaction of the gas with oxygen generates electricity.

The researchers think their E. coli basically act as a hydrogen source. But the battery's output seems to be higher than it would be if hydrogen alone were responsible. So they also suspect that the bateria are feeding electrons directly onto the negative electrode.

The pilot phase of the PEOPLE (Population Exposure to Air Pollutants in Europe) project used 125 people carrying special sensors in Brussels over a 12-hour period last October. Although the sensors measure only benzene pollution, the pollutant is an indicator of others such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile hydrocarbons and particulate matter.

The highest concentrations were found inside cars, particularly during rush hour. Smokers were found to be by far the most polluted group of citizens.

The research also showed that people are not necessary free of pollution once they are in their homes. Homes of non-smokers who are not involved in traffic tend to reflect the city background level of benzene, whereas for others it was much higher. As benzene is volatile, boiling at 72^oC, and becomes attached to anything below this temperature, such as clothes. This means that it is easily transferred into people's homes, said Dr Emile de Saeger of European Commission's Environmental Institute of Joint Research.

Britain's chief medical officer Sir Donaldson called for laws banning smoking in public places, saying such a move could be effective in helping smokers quit as doubling taxes on cigarettes.

He listed some of the 150 known or suspected cancer-causing chemicals and poisons present in second-hand smoke including arsenic, rat poison and cyanide gas.

He said an estimated 3 million Britons become "passive smokers" when they go to work. Bar workers, waiters and waitresses are particularly vulnerable.

He reckons that a ban on smoking at work would cut the national proportion of smokers from 27 to 23 percent, one leap which could only be achieved by doubling present taxes.

In UK, the Environment Agency successfully prosecuted 53 companies last year for not recycling or recovering packaging waste.

Large businesses are required by law to register with the Agency and provide evidence of recycling and recovery of packaging. The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) regulations in UK are designed to encourage companies to reduce the amount of packaging they use and make greater effort to recycle and recover.

There has been a consistent rise in prosecutions over the last three years, which attributes to the increased efforts of officers in enforcing the regulations.

The Agency are committed to fulfilling their obligation to meet the national target of 50% of packaging waste recovered and recycled, and to support businesses that comply with waste regulation by prosecuting those that do not.