Good day my good friend.

A bittersweet day for me, yesterday. On the one hand, lots of money for sustainable transport (see one of the stories below), but on the other a really good proposal that I spent a long time working on didn’t get funded. So frustrating. But such is the life of competitive bidding, I guess.

If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.

James

Yep, the climate is in a bad way. But we can do something.

Usually, the reports of the IPCC are depressing affairs. As if being reminded of a climate catastrophe is a good thing. But the latest on Mitigating Climate Change is different. It gives us hope. In short, we have the technology and the means to make the changes needed to achieve 1.5C, if we have the courage to act. What’s more, the business case for doing so is now overwhelming.

In transport we know what needs doing. If you didn’t know, the policy maker summary of the report makes it clear what we should do. We just need to have the will to act. The will to keep trying. The will to overcome whatever obstacles are in our way to make our way of life cleaner, more sustainable, and more beautiful. We can do it.

The UK city regions are getting the dosh

Yesterday, the UK Government announced the allocation of two funding sources to improve sustainable transport across the country. The Bus Service Improvement Plan funding for bus services (and some trams), as well as the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement funding allocations.

This is a lot of money, to be distributed over several years. Looking purely at the main city regions of the UK, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands do the best (over £1bn in funding each). But in terms of funding per head, the West of England Combined Authority – or Bristol and Bath – is way ahead of the rest at nearly £700 of funding per head. A lot of money, but let’s see what is done with it.

Random things

These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.

• Droughts are cutting into California’s hydropower. Here’s what that means for clean energy (MIT Technology Review)

• Implications: Scientists Have Finally Completed Mapping the Human Genome (The Wire)

• Apple Gets First Commercial-Grade Low-Carbon Aluminum From Elysis (Treehugger)

• Guaranteed Income Programs Are Triggering Health Benefits Across the Country (Capital & Main)

• Climate change: greener lifestyles linked to greater happiness – in both rich and poor countries (The Conversation)

Something interesting

This is a graphic that makes you think. We have a highly populated world, more than at any point in human history. But we are but a small proportion of people who have ever lived.

If you do nothing else today, then do this

Read the IPCC Report on Mitigating Climate Change. It will inspire you to act.