Month: April 2025

Historic agreement tackling shipping emissions: After nearly a decade of negotiations, countries have agreed to a historic international agreement to tackle shipping emissions. Starting in 2028, ship owners will have to use cleaner fuels or face fines.

At any given moment there are about 50,000 ships transporting goods across the world’s oceans and with global trade increasing, shipping routes are likely to keep getting more crowded. Shipping accounts for around 3% of global emissions but unlike many other sectors it has struggled to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and associated carbon footprint.

However, the new agreement will make shipping the first industry in the world to have internationally mandated targets to reduce its emissions. Large international vessels will be required to use less carbon intensive fuels or face fines of up to £280 per tonne of carbon emissions from burning fuel. It is estimated that the agreement could achieve an 8% reduction in emissions from the shipping industry by 2030.

Some environmental groups and island states were disappointed with the deal, saying that it fell short of what they were hoping for and was heavily influenced by oil-producing nations. The Global Maritime Forum said that the deal was a compromise based on a “difficult set of decisions” but that it was “the first regulation of its kind and that is to be celebrated.”

Area burned by UK wildfires already at annual record in April: Satellite data suggests that the area burned by wildlife in the UK so far this year is already higher than the total for any year in more than a decade.

Wildfires are common in the UK in early spring, as dead or dormant vegetation at the end of winter dries out quickly, but the prolonged dry, sunny weather in March and April created ideal conditions for widespread burning. More than 80 large wildfires (30 hectares or more) have been detected across the UK since the beginning of the year.

Certain plants, such as heather, are adapted to fire-prone environments, so not all wildfires are catastrophic, particularly smaller and low intensity ones. However, increasingly frequent and intense wildfires can impair vegetations ability to naturally recover.

Scientists and researchers are more worried about what is going to happen in the summer where there are fewer wildfires, but they are often bigger and more intense. They are calling for the UK to be more prepared to manage wildfires as they become a more common occurrence.

Finland phases out coal power: Finland has shut down its last coal-fired power plant, becoming the latest country to fully phase out coal power in favour of renewables.

In 2019, the Finnish Government passed a law to ban coal from 2029. Since then, Finland’s renewable energy generation, such as from wind and solar, increased rapidly and coal use collapsed. Shutting down the last coal-fired power plant is expected to reduce Finland’s emissions by 2% and accelerate their transition towards clean energy.       

Natural History GCSE: The UK Government has confirmed that they will be moving ahead with a Natural History GCSE. The course content has been designed to deepen student’s understanding of the natural world and equip them to contribute to its protection and conservation, both locally and globally.

Education is one of the most powerful tools we have to tackle the climate crisis, so confirmation that the Natural History GCSE is going ahead is great news. As David Attenborough said, “no-one will protect what they don’t care about; and no-one will care about what they have never experienced.” We know young people are a powerful force for change, so hopefully the new Natural History GCSE will help young people experience and care for their local environment and empower them to take action both locally and globally.

Subject to accreditation, the Natural History GCSE could be taught from September 2025.

Europe’s largest battery, located in the UK, begins operations: The largest battery site in Europe has commenced operations. Located in Moray, Scotland, the total capacity of the site is the equivalent of powering more than 3.1 million homes for two hours.

The site is located between Aberdeen and Inverness to address grid congestion from three large offshore wind farms in the area. Grid congestion is essentially an ‘electricity grid traffic jam’, where the grid infrastructure can’t handle the amount of electricity being transported. For example, if it suddenly becomes very windy there is a huge spike in the amount of electricity being generated by the wind farm, which can overload the grid if it is higher than current demand.

Renewable energy sources, such as wind, can also be wasted due to a lack of storage capabilities. Battery sites, like the new one in Moray, can help address the grid congestion and energy wastage by capturing and storing excess electricity until it is needed. It is expected that this new battery site will prevent approximately 2.6 million tonnes of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere by integrating more wind power onto the grid.

High-speed rail network proposed for Europe: A high-speed rail network called Starline has been proposed by 21^st Europe. Designed like a metro system, it could connect 39 European cities by 2040.

It would run at speeds of 185 – 250 mph, making journeys like Helsinki to Berlin possible in just over five hours, a route that currently takes over 16 hours with multiple train changes. 21^st Europe also propose streamlining Europe’s rail network into one system, simplifying things like ticketing and cross-border security to make it easier to travel efficiently across Europe. It is estimated that a network like Starline could cut emissions by 95%, as short haul flights are replaced with high-speed rail.

Starline would also carry time-sensitive cargo such as fresh produce and medical supplies, reducing the need for short haul freight flights and over-burdened road networks.

Learn more about the proposed high-speed rail network Starline here: https://21st-europe.com/blueprints/starline

Pilot scheme to support oil and gas workers to transition to renewables: Through a pilot scheme, oil and gas workers will be supported to transition to a career in renewables, initially into a variety of roles in offshore wind.

Research from Offshore Energies UK showed that 90% of oil and gas workers have skills that are relevant to the clean energy transition. The pilot scheme will help oil and gas workers recognise their existing transferable skills and support them to undertake further training if needed to transition to a career path in renewables. Additionally, four areas across the UK, where large numbers of workers are employed in oil or gas industries, will receive funding for targeted measures such as training centres and skills courses: Aberdeen, Cheshire, Lincolnshire and Pembrokeshire.

UK Government invests in Nuclear Fusion: The UK Government has committed £410 million to support the rapid development of the UK fusion energy sector, including the possible construction of a world-leading nuclear fusion power project on the site of the old West Burton coal plant in Nottinghamshire.

Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said that the investment means that the UK is “now within grasping distance of unlocking the power of the sun and providing families with secure, clean, unlimited energy.” (The Guardian, 2025)

The sun, along with all other stars, is powered by a reaction: nuclear fusion. Simply put, nuclear fusion is the process of joining two light atomic nuclei together to form a single heavier one, releasing massive amounts of energy in the process.

Currently nuclear power plants use nuclear fission to generate energy. Nuclear fission is a reaction where a heavier atomic nucleus splits into two or more smaller nuclei, releasing energy in the process. However nuclear fission produces unstable nuclei which are radioactive. This radioactive waste is extremely hazardous and long lasting, so expensive measures have to be taken to safely store it whilst its radioactivity diminishes.

Nuclear fusion on the other hand does not produce any long-lived radioactive waste. If we can replicate nuclear fusion on Earth, we could have access to virtually limitless clean, safe and affordable energy to meet all the world’s energy demands.

Global sea ice hit record low: Scientists from Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said that global sea ice fell to a record low in February, one of the consequences of a warming world.

C3S have been monitoring sea ice levels through satellite observations since the 1970s. Global sea ice extent varies, but it typically reaches its annual minimum in February, when it is summer in the southern hemisphere. Scientists are worried about the lower levels of sea ice as ice reflects sunlight, helping to keep the planet cool. A lack of sea ice means darker ocean surfaces which accelerates warming as the Earth absorbs more sunlight.