Air pollution forced Paris to restrict access to the city by cars and other motor vehicles on Monday. Only those with odd-numbered registration plates were allowed to drive into the centre and 22 surrounding suburbs. 0ver 4000 fines were issues. The restriction was dropped on Tuesday.

Landfill tax has achieved its purpose and should be frozen immediately as a planned increase is going to punish hard pressed families, the Local Government Association has said. There is no evidence to suggest in increase on the current £72 will increase recycling levels, the LGA added. The tax is set to increase to £80 per tonne in April. Revenues should be used locally rather than going to the Treasury according to the association with revenues from the commercial sector being reinvested in new waste technology.

Viridor Waste Management and Highview Power Storage have been awarded over £8M to spur on innovation in storing energy, Energy & Climate Change Minister Greg Barker has announced. The two companies will use the funding to develop a technology to store air in a liquid format which can then be used to supply electricity at times of high demand. Storing energy has the potential to save over £4bn a year by 2050.

New research unveiled at the C40 cities summit in Johannesburg last week revealed that the world’s leading cities are taking more action on climate change than ever before. You can find out more about the summit and the Arup report on Infrastructure Intelligence. Click here