AND It was another dramatic year for the climate and nature. From the threshold of 1.5°C which measures the global warming and which will be exceeded for the first time for a whole year. To the disappointment of vulnerable countries after the Cop29 in Bakuthis year’s United Nations climate summit. Garlic extreme climate eventswhich affect both poor and rich nations with increasing frequency and intensity.
Good news, 7 positive breakthroughs for nature in 2024
Yet this year they also occurred some positive and extraordinary events for nature and the health of our planet. So here it is 7 achievementsnot all explosive in the media, but very important and capable of giving us hope for the future (highlighted by BBC).
1. The UK says goodbye to coal
The UK closed its last coal-fired power station in 2024. It was a symbolic moment as the UK was the first country in the world to use coal for public energy production and fossil fuel has been the lifeblood of industrial revolution. On 30 September 2024, the turbines at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, Nottinghamshire, were silenced forever. The site will now undergo a two-year decommissioning and demolition process. It’s unclear what the site will become next, but one proposal is to turn it into a battery storage site.
Exactly as was done in West Yorkshire, at the decommissioned Ferrybridge C power station, which has a storage capacity of 150 MW, enough to power 250,000 homes. In decarbonizing countries, many former fossil fuel power plants are proving to be good sites for industrial-scale batteries.
2. The global growth of green energy
Renewable energy sources are growing rapidly around the world. In the United States, wind power generation hit a record high in April, surpassing coal-fired generation.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that The world will add 5,500 GW of renewable energy capacity between now and 2030 and increase global renewable capacity 2.7 times compared to 2022. That is slightly less than the UN goal, which was to triple capacity by 2030, but still a good goal. By the end of the decade, renewable energy sources should cover almost half of all electricity.
Not just for nature. Renewable sources are good for the economy
The lion’s share of this growth comes from China. According to the IEA, at least half of the world’s cumulative renewable electricity capacity will come from China by 2030.
This “massive growth in renewable energy” worldwide has been driven primarily by economics rather than government policies. Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, explained it: renewable energy, especially solar energy, is in fact the cheapest option in almost all countries in the world.
Convenience is also expressed by an analysis of International Monetary Fund published in May, according to which our continent could improve energy security by 8 percent between now and 2030. That is, we could stop being hostage to the fossil fuel market and become more independent.
3. Climate justice works: from legal personality to whales…
This year it was published a report that he evaluated the impact of court trials to help protect nature in endangered ecosystems. The leading case is the landmark 2021 ruling in which the Ecuadorian government stated that mining in the Los Cedros forest violated the rights of nature. A’another ruling in Ecuador stated that the pollution violated the rights of the Machángara River which passes through the capital Quito.
This year, in New Zealand, the peaks of Egmont National Park – renamed Te Papakura o Taranaki – they have been recognized as ancestral mountains. And they jointly became a legal entity, known as Te Kahui Tupua.
In Brazil, a part of the ocean has obtained legal personality. The coastal city of Linhares has recognized its waves as living beings, granting them the right to existence, regeneration and restoration. Meanwhile, a new treaty made by Pacific indigenous leaders saw whales and dolphins officially recognized as “legal persons”.
…to the historic victory of the Elders for the climate
Although the Swiss parliament did everything it could to reject the request, in April the group of Elders for the Climate, or around 2,300 women over 65, achieved a historic victory: the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg ruled that their state, Switzerland, had not done enough to protect them from global warming, thus violating their human rights. Public opinion was greatly struck by the fact that the lawsuits were brought by elderly people, rather than young people. A significant “detail”: you don’t need to imagine the future to assess the damage of climate change. It is older people who are already suffering the health effects of heat waves today.
Swiss climate activists demonstrating. EPA/MIRIAM KUENZLI
5. New protections for nature in the Azores
The North Atlantic saw the creation of a new marine protected area (MPA) from the Azores. Once built, it will be the largest in the region and will cover 30% of the sea around the Portuguese archipelago. Half of the 111,000-square-mile (287,000-square-km) protected area will be “fully protected,” with no fishing or other extraction of natural resources. The other half will be “highly protected”.
The area contains nine hydrothermal vents, 28 species of marine mammals, and 560 species of fish, among many others.
Marine Protected Areas can be very effective in protecting biodiversity if their restrictions are adequately enforced. Overall, according to a report from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Ocean Initiativeonly 2.8% of the world’s oceans are actually protected and only 8.3% are preserved.
As for Italy, according to a survey by Greenpeace Italia, less than 1% of our seas are subjected to effective protection measures and just 0.04% are included in the calculation of areas in which any type of activity is prohibited, including fishing.
We are therefore far from the 30×30 objective, which envisages the protection of at least 30% of our seas by 2030, of which 10% with fully protected areas.
5. Deforestation in the Amazon decreases
According to data released by INPE, the Brazilian national space research institute, Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell to a nine-year low in 2024, falling by more than 30% in the 12 months up to July. “Only” 2,428 square miles (6,288 km2) of rainforest have been destroyed, which is an area larger than the US state of Delaware. It is the lowest annual loss since 2015. A figure that “holds up” despite the fact that fires in the area have increased almost 18 times due to the drought.
The achievement comes nearly two years after Pres Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, upon taking office, pledged to end deforestation by 2030 and to crack down on illegal logging.
6. Conservation initiatives to protect biodiversity work
An in-depth analysis of conservation initiatives carried out this year found that in the majority of cases they worked: that is, they managed to slow down or reverse the loss of biodiversity. The scientists examined 665 studies of conservation measures around the world, including several historical studies, and found that they had a positive effect in two out of three cases.
An example? The Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative, which collaborated in Kazakhstan with local partners and other international organizations to save the Saiga antelope that lives in the steppe prairies from extinction. The project utilized careful monitoring, tagging, habitat protection and restoration. From 20,000 specimens in 2003 the number has risen to 2.86 million antelopes. And the species has moved from “critically endangered” to “near threatened” status on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.
COP16 investments in biodiversity
Investments in biodiversity will be very important in the future. And they promised them in 2024 six European countries at the Cop16 in Cali on biodiversity: 130 million euros to protect nature and all the animal and plant species it hosts, including humans. The hope is that these states (Germany, United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Spain and Luxembourg) will be joined by others in the second part of COP16, from 25 to 27 February in Rome, at the FAO headquarters. There we will try to finish the work left unfinished in Colombia.
7. Indigenous actions work to rebuild skies and rivers
In California, the Yurok Native American tribe’s decades-long efforts to rebuild the fauna in tribal territories have produced important results. Precisely in 2024 the culmination, with the return – after 100 years – of salmon to the Klamath River, Oregon. An objective achieved thanks to the removal of four dams, following pressure from environmentalists and tribes. It was thought that the salmon, decimated by the poor health of the river caused by the dam blocking the natural flow of water, would take months to return. While already in October biologists spotted the first fish. It worked too intensive program to reintroduce California condors, a vulture-like bird, which is sacred to the tribe.
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