Europe | Peter Schulte

Solar panels reflect sparkling light from the Sun

Japan “fossil fuel dinosaur” launches massive 20GW global renewables platform

By Peter Schulte / April 16, 2024 / Good news links

Jera, Japan’s largest power company and one of the largest thermal power producers in the world, has announced the launch of a major new global renewables business, becoming the latest fossil giant to act on the existential threat of net zero to its business model. Based out of the U.K., the new company – called Jera Nex – will be tasked with delivering on Jera’s stated ambition to develop a massive 20GW of renewable capacity by 2035, enough to power millions of homes.

E.U. pledges €3.5 billion to protect world’s oceans

By Peter Schulte / April 16, 2024 / Good News For Humankind

At the Our Ocean Conference in Greece, the European Union demonstrated its strong engagement for international ocean governance by announcing 40 commitments for action for 2024. These actions will be funded by €3.5 billion from various E.U. funds, including €1.9 billion for sustainable fisheries in Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Poland, and Portugal.

Indigenous person from Kogui people of Colombia

New online tool is first to track funding to Indigenous, local, and Afro-descendant communities

By Peter Schulte / April 12, 2024 / Good news links

The Path to Scale dashboard, developed in a partnership between the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) and the Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN), provides information on funding from 133 donors since 2011 based on publicly available information. According to the developers, this publicly accessible dashboard will help donors, NGOs and rights holders identify critical funding gaps and opportunities in global efforts to secure communities’ rights.

A group of older Swiss women win first-ever climate case victory in the European Court of Human Rights

By Peter Schulte / April 10, 2024 / Good news links

The women, mostly in their 70s, said that their age and gender made them particularly vulnerable to the effects of heatwaves linked to climate change. The court said Switzerland’s efforts to meet its emission reduction targets had been woefully inadequate. The ruling is binding and can trickle down to influence the law in 46 countries in Europe.

Thousands of people in the U.K. to receive landmark trials for dementia blood tests

By Peter Schulte / April 4, 2024 / Good news links

Thousands of people across the U.K. who are worried about their memory will receive blood tests for dementia in two trials that doctors hope will help to revolutionize the low diagnosis rate. Teams from the University of Oxford and University College London will lead the trials to research the use of cheap and simple tests to detect proteins for people with early stages of dementia or problems with cognition, with the hope of speeding up diagnosis and reaching more people.

Germany shuts down seven brown coal power stations at end of winter

By Peter Schulte / March 31, 2024 / Good news links

Seven coal-fired power stations in Germany were shut down over Easter as the need for the power declined, power generators RWE and LEAG say. Five had been taken out of the reserve by the German government to cope with a shortfall in gas supplies through the winter, and a further two had been allowed to continue operating after their scheduled shutdown date, the companies said.

Slovakia plans to be coal-free by 2024, six years earlier than originally planned

By Peter Schulte / March 28, 2024 / Good news links

Slovakia stopped production at its last coal-fired power plant this week. Its electricity will now come almost entirely from nuclear and renewable sources. Slovakia originally slated its coal phaseout for 2030 but has now expedited this to mid-2024, when it will join Belgium, Austria, Sweden and Portugal as Europe’s coal-free countries.

Croatia approves law to criminalize femicide

By Peter Schulte / March 25, 2024 / Good news links

After Cyprus and Malta, Croatia is the third E.U. member state to recognize the crime of femicide, which is defined as the killing of a woman or girl, in particular by a man and on account of her gender. The legislation will also increase the prison sentence for rape from one to five years to three to eight, and victims will have the option to give testimony via videocall rather than attending in person.

Germany approves partial legalization of cannabis

By Peter Schulte / March 22, 2024 / Good news links

The new law will allow adults to carry up to 25 grams of cannabis for their own consumption and store up to 50 grams at home. Public consumption will be allowed, so long as it is not within sight of children or near sports facilities. It will also be prohibited in pedestrian zones between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. It is slated to come into effect on April 1.

British scientists develop new bifacial solar technology that generates more power at reduced cost

By Peter Schulte / March 22, 2024 / Good news links

Scientists from the University of Surrey in England, working with colleagues at the University of Cambridge, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xidian University, and Zhengzhou University, have developed a flexible perovskite solar panel that use electrodes made of tiny carbon nanotubes. The researchers demonstrated that in addition to producing more energy than traditional solar panels, “the material cost of an all-carbon-electrode-based bifacial PSC is about 70% lower than that of a monofacial device.”