10 Reasons Why We Have Climate Hope
If you’ve turned on the news or clicked through your social media feed lately, you’ve probably seen it: story after story of how climate change is increasingly affecting the things we love — from crops and local woodlands, to golf courses and football pitches.
But the good news is, it’s not all gloom and doom: recent years have seen amazing progress towards a cleaner, more secure future! All around the world and here in the UK, there is plenty of good news to be heard as people come together to show the love for the things that matter most to them.
Here are ten reasons why we’re still hopeful about the future of our climate:
1. In 2017, the EU generated more electricity from renewables than from coal. This is incredible progress, considering that just five years ago coal generation was more than twice that of wind, solar and biomass!
2. Golf is going green! The Open Championship could soon be one of the world’s most sustainable sporting events, with all ten major international venues achieving the standards set by the Golf Environment Organisation, which assesses criteria such as energy, supply chain and pollution control.
3. It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a…plane fuelled by mustard seeds? Qantas Airways have used mustard seeds in the first ever biofuel flight from Australia to the US. Across its lifecycle, this biofuel could reduce carbon emissions by 80% compared to traditional jet fuel.
4. The age of fossil fuel cars is ending. The next five years will see an explosion in electric vehicles, which could make up 35% of the road transport market by 2035, and two thirds by 2050!
5. Lord’s Cricket Ground was the first national sporting venue in the UK to announce its transition to 100% clean, renewable energy. The venue also has a comprehensive recycling system which means zero waste is delivered to landfill.
6. Clean energy is providing a huge number of jobs. The UK government’s Clean Growth Strategy predicts that the low carbon economy could grow by an incredible 11% a year during the 2020s — that’s four times the rate of the economy as a whole!
7. Manchester City FC’s City Football Academy is combining world class training with a real commitment to sustainability. Each hectare of the academy’s turfgrass absorbs 6.5–8.5 tonnes of CO2 and through the creation of extensive wildflower meadows and wetlands — what was once toxic, post-industrial land is now home to wildlife.
8. Developing countries are making great strides forward in renewable energy. Huge projects are taking off around the world, including a $60m electric bus factory in Ecuador and a solar-plus-battery generator for a Syrian hospital, guaranteeing uninterrupted power for critical services.
9. Every single country in the world, except for the United States, has become a signatory of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement in a bid to help combat global greenhouse gas emissions. Out of those 194 signatories,173 have legally bound themselves to it making it one of the biggest multilateral accomplishments in UN history.
10. Over 70% of the British public are concerned about climate change, with more than 84% understanding that human activity is playing a role in driving it. Furthermore, 73% back onshore wind power and 80% support solar farms. How incredible is that?!
