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CLIMATE NEWS - Making positive news visible
20-03-2025 CLIMATE NEWS – making positive news visible
(News sources: newsnow.co.uK | bbc.co.uk | www.gov,uk news and communications)
Reporter: James Godman. Climate News aim to highlight positive climate news on the wires and to raise awareness and to help you to take action.
UK Government and UK Related News
1. The transition to net zero is “the economic opportunity of the 21st century”, energy secretary Ed Miliband said on Wednesday. He described the opportunity as the “most important context” for the discussions being had by government in the energy sector.
“There’s been a long-standing issue in our country about creating the good jobs at good wages that people want to see,” Miliband said. “We haven’t done enough for them. If you want our growth in our economy, what are good jobs in our economy? This is absolutely at the core, but we haven’t done enough as a country.”
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) published a report last month showing that the net zero economy grew three times faster than the economy as a whole last year.
That report showed the economic opportunity also led to a 10.2% additional increase in employment and higher average wages. Miliband said that Britain has been “losing out” in the race to equip the country with renewable energy jobs, adding that is “what the government is determined to do”.
“Denmark has almost all times as many renewable jobs per capita,” he said. “Why haven’t we captured these jobs?”
A lack of “industrial policy” is the reason Miliband cited for falling behind in the race to create renewable energy jobs. “Industrial policy is at the heart of what we’re trying to do with GB Energy and capitalising, public investment, as part of that,” said Miliband.
2. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has responded to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) call for evidence as part of its review of Ofgem.
3. Friends of the Earth: Protection for low income households key to net zero support
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/latest/protection-low-income-households-key-net-zero-support
4. Senior British officials toured Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador to witness first-hand the impact of the UK’s Biodiverse Landscapes Fund (BLF).
British Ambassador to Guatemala and designated to Honduras, Juliana Correa, British Ambassador to El Salvador, Ramin Navai, and the British Deputy Head of Mission to El Salvador, Tanya Robinson, met with local authorities, community representatives, and members of the Trinational Commission of the Trifinio Plan (CTPT) to discuss fire prevention strategies, sustainable land management, and community-led conservation efforts.
5. Pragmatic cooperation with China will help keep British people safe from the climate crisis, as UK and Chinese ministers are set to meet in Beijing for the first formal talks to accelerate climate action in nearly 8 years.
As the government pursues its mission to become a clean energy superpower under the Plan for Change, the Energy Secretary will meet with China’s National Energy Administrator Minister Wang Hongzhi and China’s Ecology and Environment Minister Huang Runqiu in Beijing to commit to pragmatic engagement on the climate crisis, cooperating with China to reduce global emissions.
The UK is expected to launch a formal Climate Dialogue with Chinese counterparts, inviting Chinese ministers to London later this year, and for the first time institutionalising climate change talks between both countries moving forward.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-and-china-restart-meaningful-climate-change-dialogue
6. The North Cave Wetlands nature reserve was the final location on the nationwide ‘Things Can Only Get Cleaner’ water tour by Defra Ministers.
Minister for Water and Flooding, Emma Hardy, today visited the 140-hectare site near Brough, East Yorkshire,
Once a sand and gravel quarry, the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve is also a prime example of a nature-based solution to flooding, that the government is backing, as well as a magnet for wildlife.
The tranquil site marked the end of a week-long series of separate visits by Environment Secretary and Minister Hardy to iconic water sites such as Windermere, the River Wye and Havant Thicket – England’s first new reservoir in over 30 years.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nature-restoration-at-north-cave-wetlands-mark-end-of-water-tour
7. Hundreds of secondary school pupils from across Derby participated in an exciting two-day science-themed event which focused on climate action, sustainability and jobs of the future. The Year 9 students took part in interactive workshops on the crucial role of trees and woodlands, the impact of mesoplastics – tiny plastic particles found in items such as plastic bottles and bags - on the environment, and addressing climate anxiety at the University of Derby’s Science in the City showcase, which also featured a ‘green careers’ exhibition with representatives from organisations including Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, Twycross Zoo, and Rolls-Royce.
Krisha Bainham, Head of Widening Participation, organised the event, which coincided with British Science Week. She said: “We all need to work together on climate action to become more sustainable, protect biodiversity and wildlife habitat, land degradation and ocean pollution. “At the University of Derby, our academics are leading the way in tackling some of the biggest local, national and global challenges we face, with the future of our planet being a key focus.
“Science in the City aimed to raise awareness of the innovative work being done at the University Derby, inspire scientists of the future and support local schools to address their own climate action plans.
The event included keynotes from Dr Jordan Phethean, Senior Lecturer in Earth Science at the University of Derby, who is part of an international research consortium working to finding new water sources to address the growing demand for water and the challenges posed by climate change, as well as Professor Michael Sweet, a world-renowned expert in molecular ecology who is leading a team at the forefront of a race to save our coral reefs.
Visitors also heard from Matilda Crane from the East Midlands Climate Ambassador Scheme, and Cindi Blunt from the ‘Let’s Go Zero’ campaign on how individuals and organisations can take action on climate change.
8. Work has begun to plant 570,000 trees as part of the University of Edinburgh’s ambitious nature-based project to tackle climate change.
The large-scale tree planting is taking place across university-owned land in Stirlingshire and the Pentland Hills Regional Park, where it is predicted to remove around one million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over time.
At Dumyat Hill near Stirling, trees will be planted across half of the 431-hectare site, while almost a third of a 26-hectare site at Rullion Green south of Edinburgh will also be forested.
In April, community volunteers will plant hundreds of native trees at Dumyat as part of the Scottish Plant Recovery Project led by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
The initiative aims to collect and propagate native plant species, helping to restore their populations across Scotland.
This project forms part of a wider effort to expand forests and restore peatlands across approximately 5,600 hectares of land, working with partners and landowners.
David Bruce, Forest Peat and Rural Land Manager at the University of Edinburgh, said: “This is a hugely important milestone for our project and we are looking forward to watching these valuable green spaces become havens for nature.”
https://www.energylivenews.com/2025/03/18/university-of-edinburghs-massive-tree-planting-quest/
9. Wales has a legally binding target to deliver net-zero emissions by 2050, as set out in the Environment Wales Act 2016. We also have an ambition for the Public Sector to be Net Zero by 2030, as stated in Net Zero Wales policy. Plans are in place to drive the action needed to reduce carbon emissions in the health and social care sector.
https://www.gov.wales/health-and-social-care-climate-emergency-national-programme
10. The Oxford EARTH programme (Ensuring equitable Access to sustainable Resources for a Thriving Habitat) aims to address the challenges in natural resources underpinning the net zero energy transition. This includes critical raw materials needed for the generation, storage and transmission of renewable energy, and the social license needed to extract them from the Earth.
UK Government House of Commons
Select & Joint Committees held this week in the House of Commons
Tuesday 18 March
The House will sit from 11.30am, starting with questions to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband.
Thursday 20 March
The House will sit from 9.30am, starting with questions to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed.
https://whatson.parliament.uk/event/cal50840
International News
11. Despite a series of directives from the Trump administration aimed at disengaging the U.S. government from international climate collaboration, five U.S. scientists are part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s team of 100 experts from 50 countries who met in Osaka, Japan, this week to start writing a report about global warming and cities that is due in 2027.
Their participation highlights how U.S. researchers will continue to add expertise and have a voice in the international climate science community, but also how the administration’s hostility toward international collaboration will make it more difficult for U.S. scientists to engage with the global effort to study climate change.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15032025/us-ipcc-scientific-authors-climate-report/
Taking Action
12. Environmental activists recently doused a robot with orange paint at a Tesla store in London, Azernews reports.
Two activists from the Just Stop Oil organization poured the paint on Optimus, a humanoid robot displayed at the Tesla store in west London. The protest was aimed at raising awareness about environmental issues and challenging the role of major corporations in supporting fossil fuels.
https://www.azernews.az/region/239029.html
Concerning News
13. Ahead of the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, UN Climate Change Conference - Belém, November 2025 | UNFCCC developers are carving a four-lane highway through protected tracts of the Amazon rainforest to ease travel for attendees. The highway, one of several infrastructure projects fast-tracked for the summit, is meant to ease congestion for the more than 50,000 attendees expected in November. The state government insists the road is a “sustainable” development with wildlife crossings, bike lanes and solar lighting, but local critics argue it contradicts the very mission of the climate conference, according to the BBC.
https://tippinsights.com/amazon-rainforest-razed-to-build-highway-for-un-climate-summit/
Action: Please write to your MP asking them to raise this with the Prime Minster Keir Starmer and Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband.
Other News
14. UK Government: Councils backed with over £500m to restore family services
Funding for preventive services doubled to over half a billion pounds to drive restoration in family and parenting support across every English council. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/councils-backed-with-over-500m-to-restore-family-services
Events
An interesting platform for conferences around the world which includes Climate
https://conferenceindex.org/search?query=climate
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