Pivot Power to build ‘world first’ battery network in the U.K.
Pivot Power unveiled plans to build the world’s first national network of grid-scale batteries and rapid-charge stations across the U.K. to accelerate electric vehicle adoption.
Good News Links
Premature birth rates drop in California after coal and oil plants shut down, study finds
Within a year of eight coal- and oil-fired power plant retirements, the rate of preterm births in mothers living close by dropped, finds new study on air pollution.
Cheap renewable energy is killing India’s coal-based power plants
Renewable energy prices in India are crashing, leaving coal-based power plants in the country financially unviable in their wake.
Nepal eliminates trachoma as a public health problem
The country becomes the first in WHO’s South-East Asia Region to defeat the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness.
The Church of Scotland has voted to allow ministers to conduct same-sex marriages
The Church of Scotland has voted to draft new laws that would allow ministers to conduct same-sex marriages.
National Geographic launches multiyear initiative to reduce single-use plastics
National Geographic has announced a new, global commitment to tackle the problem of single-use plastics with the launch of Planet or Plastic?, a multiyear initiative aimed to reduce single-use plastic entering the world’s oceans.
Two thirds of E.U. cities have climate change plans
66% of EU cities have a mitigation or adaptation plan in place. The top countries were Poland — where 97% of cities have mitigation plans — Germany (81%), Ireland (80%), Finland (78%) and Sweden (77%).
E.U. bank to invest €300 million in Chinese climate projects
The €300 million investment, signed with the Export-Import Bank of China (Eximbank), will be used on a range of climate projects, including sustainable transport, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water infrastructure.
Small minimum wage rises don’t cause job losses, Reserve Bank of Australia study finds
The study of increases in the minimum award wages is the first of its kind in Australia and provides a boost to unions’ argument in the Fair Work Commission for a $50-a-week increase in the minimum wage.
Maryland becomes 11th state to ban ‘gay conversion therapy’ for minors
Maryland Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan, a Republican, signed the Youth Mental Health Protection Act into law on Tuesday, making the state the 11th to ban gay conversion therapy for minors.