A new UNICEF report finds that about 300 million children worldwide live in places where the air pollution is at least six times higher than the safe limits set by the World Health Organization. Out of that total, 220 million live in South Asia. In addition to causing lung illnesses, pollutants can permanently damage a child's developing brain. Reuters

A new study warns that without drastic cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, climate change is on track to disrupt the Mediterranean region more than it has any other time within the last 10,000 years. The scientists say that the area's temperatures have already risen 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19th century, and by 2100 the increased heat and droughts could expand deserts in parts of southern Europe. Reuters

At a meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, delegates from 24 countries and the European Union officially moved to protect a 600,000-square-mile region of the Southern Ocean. The Ross Sea may make up just 2 percent of that ocean, but it's home to 38 percent of the world's Adelie penguins, 30 percent of Antarctic petrels, and 6 percent of Antarctic minke whales. BBC

New research says that for every degree of warming in the North Atlantic, the blue-green algae Synechococcus (one of the most abundant phytoplankton in the ocean) blooms four to five days earlier. Between 2003 and 2012, the region's bloom shifted by 20 days, and the trend is likely to continue in coming years. The researchers say earlier bloom times could have ripple effects throughout the marine food chain. InsideClimate News

This week the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized the Great Thicket National Wildlife Refuge, which spans 15,000 acres in six states. The land is mostly shrubland, and includes habitat for New England cottontails, American woodcock, and several endangered and threatened species. The refuge is the 18th created under the Obama administration. Christian Science Monitor

A new analysis by the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London says worldwide, wildlife numbers plummeted by 58 percent between 1970 and 2012—and the losses are on track to reach 67 percent by 2020. Logging, poaching, overfishing, pollution, and destruction of habitat for agriculture were the major causes of the population collapses. While some researchers have concerns about the report's methodology, they agree with the overall message. The Guardian

The country plans to get 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2040, and this week a regulatory official announced it's well on its way. Renewables accounted for 57 percent of Sweden's power production last year. Reuters

A federal appeals court has overturned a 2014 ruling that said the species didn't deserve an endangered status. The judge ruled that shrinking sea ice and other climate consequences will threaten the seals' survival in decades to come, and the National Marine Fisheries Service does not need to wait until the seal's habitat is destroyed to protect it. The forward-looking decision is a big win for species threatened by climate change. Christian Science Monitor

Paul Fisher, the former deputy head of the Bank of England's regulatory department, says climate change poses "a systemic risk" by causing sudden, unpredictable shifts in financial markets. ThinkProgress