It is the first Wednesday of the month, which means that it’s time to check out some of the good and bad climate and environment news that were reported on in July. With July being the hottest month ever recorded on a global scale, leading to deaths, wildfires and other natural disasters, other news got a shorter time in the spotlight. We’ve therefore selected a few stories to keep you updated on what’s going on in the green world.
In the UK, an unlikely four-year-long study is on the way to reduce methane emissions among cows. The project revolves around growing daffodils in high altitude environments—like mountains—in order to extract Galantamine, euronews explains. Galantamine is a compound that could prove crucial in reducing methane emissions, if fed to farm animals, as it makes their digestive system more efficient. Cows and other farm animals are to blame for 14% of human-induced climate emissions, so if the government-backed daffodil experiment is successful, it could be a positive contribution to climate mitigation efforts. A positive byproduct of this is that daffodil grown at higher altitudes contain a medical compound that is key in a drug used to manage Alzheimer.
Earth’s moniker “The Blue Planet” might soon not be as relevant anymore, the Guardian wrote last month. According to studies of Nasa satellite images, scientists have determined that the current climate breakdown is changing the colour of Earth’s oceans. Less an aesthetic worry than a scientific one, the change is due to plankton populations growing. While the implications and impacts of this are currently still relatively unknown, it proves again the extent of human-induced climate change on the world’s ecosystems.
After the war in Ukraine and ensuing energy crisis cranked up the cost of energy in the world, good news are on the way for consumers. As Euronews writes, energy prices will drop sharply the more wind and solar projects are invested in. By 2030, a third of the world’s electricity should be covered by the latter two energy sources. Solar power for instance would go from €35 per megawatt hour down to €17 per megawatt hour, a change that would be reflected in people’s budget.
July 15th will from now on be the Memorial Day for Climate Crisis Victims in the EU. The European Union last month decided to dedicate a day to this cause, two years after several people died as a result of severe floods in Germany and Belgium. The day should also serve as a reminder of the urgency of the current situation and the need to implement more strict climate protection measures. After all, the heatwaves the continent experienced last summer killed 61,000 people.
Egypt last month announced its plans to set up the largest wind farm in Africa. The farm should produce close to 43,000 gigawatt hours of energy every year by 2030—the equivalent of what 10m houses consume in a year. The project is also estimated to cut the country’s carbon emissions by close to 24m tons—which would be like taking 5.4m cars off the road—while creating up to 10,000 jobs during its construction, and 5k jobs once it’s up and running, Happy Eco News reports. Egypt signed an agreement with a variety of energy companies on this project.
Lastly, the number of the month is 300m. That’s how many green collar jobs could exist worldwide by 2050, according to a study by Deloitte. According to the firm, 800m jobs are currently highly vulnerable to climate change and its consequences. The transition to net zero through a rapid and organized decarbonization and the right policies could however save some of these jobs while creating 300m more. The key would be to help the workforce adopt and adapt to these new jobs.
That’s it for the climate and environment news of the month. We’ll be back with more on the first Wednesday of September!