Good day my good friend.
We have now officially entered the period that I refer to as “Second Winter.” You would have thought that with the clocks changing it would start to shift more towards warmer weather. But no, for the last few nights we have had frost on the ground, and I am having to wear my winter coat again. And it catches me out every, single, year. Still, at least when I walk to the station in the morning to have some actual, in person meetings, it is bright and raining as opposed to dark and raining. So…positive news I guess?
If you like this newsletter, please share it with someone else who you think will love it. The main way my audience grows is through your recommendations. I will love you forever if you do. 😃
I have co-authored a book on Mobility-as-a-Service, which is a comprehensive guide on this important new transport service. It is available from the Institution of Engineering and Technology. 📕
😃 Good things going on
With it being Earth Day on Monday, I thought I would have more of a focus on climate-related things this week. This week’s selection make me feel that, while the way forward is long and dark, that there is a slither of light on the horizon, and we might just make it. I have not felt like that about climate change since around 2009.
Lets start with this amazing news of a factory in Nevada that is recycling 95% of the contents of EV batteries, RIGHT NOW. All while creating no emissions, and producing enough copper to wrap around the world six times by 2028. From this one factory.
China, the worlds largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is making its mission to be the leading economy in the world for developing low carbon technologies. And in a demonstration of the power of politics, this is the personal mission of its leader Xi Jinping. As a demonstrator of this, one of my friends has recently bought a Chinese EV. And I am looking at them.
Many countries are aiming for Net Zero emissions. But some are going for Net NEGATIVE emissions. Shockingly, a lot of these have a lot of trees, such as Suriname which is already at Net Negative emissions. But recently, Germany of all places announced plans to be at net negative emissions.
Last year the world set a new record for sales of electric vehicles. So far this year, sales of electric vehicles were 25% higher than in the same time period last year. By 2030, the International Energy Agency estimates that 1 in 3 cars on the road in China will be electric vehicles, and 1 in 5 in the USA and Europe. There is even strong growth in developing nations like Thailand.
If you want to know what the potential of rewilding is as a way of reducing carbon levels in the atmosphere (as well as providing more places for all creatures great and small), the Knepp Wildland Carbon Project shows just this. To put it in plain English, rewilding has the potential to sequester as much carbon as planting forests, primarily through the soil.
In news that shocks nobody, the overwhelming majority of people support action on climate change. As in 83% of Europeans think Europe should be carbon neutral by 2050 kind of support. Despite what the professional contrarians and paid-for whinge-bags on the likes of GB News say.
Also, the majority of people in the UK support shifting spending from just building more roads to building more cycle lanes and pedestrian areas.
This is positive news with a “and WHY weren’t you doing this already?” twist to it. But Deutsche Bahn is tackling climate change by not allowing its mail to be delivered by air.
If women being generally amazing is your kind of thing, let me introduce you to Yetunde Fadeyi. The 32 year old Nigerian is spearheading work to reduce both carbon emissions and energy poverty in the country by having solar panels installed at homes.
You are going to make me do it, aren’t you? I guess I HAVE to give credit to THAT team who play in blue in Manchester. They are looking to install 11,000 solar panels at their training complex. And that’s a good thing. Now I will go and wash my mouth out with soap.
☑ Something for you to do
The UK is one of the most nature-depleted nations in the world. But there is action being taken to overcome this. The campaign Zero Hour is campaigning for a Climate and Nature Bill, which in addition to tackling climate change, seeks to reverse the destruction of nature by 2030, and seeks to involve people in this action.
This is not some collection of randos with a nice website. It has backing from a cross-party coalition of MPs. And you can ask candidates in your area to back this bill, and you should do this – it only takes a few minutes.
If nothing else, check out their Monty Python inspired video, and share it with others. Its really rather good.
👍 Your feedback is essential
I want to make the newsletter better. To do this, I need your feedback. Just fill in the 3 question survey form by clicking on the below button to provide me with quick feedback, that I can put into action. Thank you so much
Mobility Matters 