🛫 France bans short haul flights and tell everyone to get on your bike.
Notpla wins £1 million, beaver numbers rise 16,500% and more...
Happy Monday. 👋
Welcome back to another episode of The Grumpy Optimists. A short one this week as recap some positive climate news from biodiversity, mobility and UK energy.
If you’re in Europe this week good luck with the cold weather, be sure to check in on neighbours or those who might need some help - more people die from cold weather than warm in the UK so it’s a serious issue! You can find warm places to go for free at warm welcome - the link is here for those who want to share!
👀 Articles to read
🛫 France plans to ban short-haul flights. First proposed in 2021 the plans aim to ban flights from cities where train journeys take less than two and a half hours. Importantly, rail infrastructure will be built to improve connectivity and ensure that major cities can be reached in a short amount of time. France also aims to help people ditch the car for the bike with up to €4,000 in subsidies.
Not so fun fact. According to EU statistics, 17 of the 20 busiest air routes in Europe cover distances of less than 434 miles. Read more here.
🦣 Conservation works as mammal numbers rise in Europe. Over the last 50 years, there has been a dramatic increase in the numbers of mammals like bison, beavers and seals with beavers going from a few thousand to 1.2 million. This comes as rewilding and conservation helps spoonbill numbers grow in the UK.
How it happened. How it happened is pretty simple, we stopped killing and hunting mammals, and prevented overexploitation and destruction of habitats. A lot of credit has to go to conservationists too.
💚 Seaweed alternative to plastic wins £1m Earthshot climate prize. Hackney-based Notpla created the first edible bubble that can hold water and they were also a participant in George’s dissertation - not sure what’s more important! The company creates products that replace plastic in items like takeaway food with the aim to minimise plastic waste and also the toxic chemicals in food products. We’re big fans!
🪨 Carbon neutral? EU aims to make claiming it much harder. The number of companies claiming carbon neutrality has rocketed over the last few years with most consumers not really understanding what it means, often leading to greenwashing. Neutrality claims often come as a result of offsetting, which can take many forms but does not necessarily mean a product is green. The EU plans to make it harder to claim a product is good for the planet when there is no evidence to prove it. This is great news for consumer transparency.
💨 Onshore windfarms set for a rebound in the UK. After years of an effective ban on onshore windfarms strong backbench support from the conservatives has led to the government making onshore wind a reality again. Anyone who thinks that turbines are a blight on the environment should probably understand the damage being done somewhere else by not having them.
🏭 Cumbrian coal mine would be a backward step. Alok Sharma, former COP26 president, has taken to Twitter to show why a coal mine in Cumbria shouldn't go ahead.
📉 Energy price rise help improve energy efficiency. While we’re not advocating for there being any benefits of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it has led to a major push for energy efficiency resulting in up to 2% better efficiency than last year. However, this does fall short of the 4% needed to keep temperatures below 1.5C. In the UK there has been a reduction of up to 10% at the household level, it’s unsure how many people are suffering as a result.
That’s all from us this week folks, have a great one!
The Grumpy Optimists 💚