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Protesters descended on Westminster today to demand that the government stop using taxpayers’ money to bankroll the destruction of forests. More than 100 environmental activists from groups including Axe Drax, Fossil Free London and Greenpeace gathered outside the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, calling for an end to the vast subsidies granted to the Drax biomass power plant. The North Yorkshire plant is Britain’s largest carbon emitter, yet receives almost £1.5 million a day for burning biomass wood chips, a fuel source that Drax claims is “carbon neutral.”… A report by climate think tank Ember found that, in 2023, Drax produced more emissions than four of some of the most polluting power plants in Britain combined.

The top United Nations court will take up the largest case in its history, when it opens two weeks of hearings into what countries worldwide are legally required to do to combat climate change and help vulnerable nations fight its devastating impact. After years of lobbying by island nations who fear they could simply disappear under rising sea waters, the U.N. General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice last year for an opinion on “the obligations of States in respect of climate change.”… In the decade up to 2023, sea levels have risen by a global average of around 4.3 centimeters (1.7 inches), with parts of the Pacific rising higher still. The world has also warmed 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times because of the burning of fossil fuels.

China has achieved a significant milestone in its battle against desertification by completing a 3,046 km sand-blocking green belt around the Taklimakan Desert. This achievement, finalised on Thursday morning, is part of the world’s largest afforestation initiative aimed at combating desertification across northwest, north, and northeast China. The green belt is a crucial component of the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program (TSFP), which was launched in 1978 and is scheduled for completion in 2050. The program aims to create a protective barrier of trees to halt the encroachment of deserts and improve ecological conditions. Over the decades, it has expanded forest coverage in affected regions, enhancing biodiversity and stabilising soil. This ambitious project reflects China’s plan to address environmental challenges and promoting sustainable development.

Encompassing some 2,700 square kilometers, Mau Forest is considered the most important water catchment in western Kenya, providing water to millions of people. But recent satellite data reveal that Mau is continuing to lose its water-giving forest cover. Most of Mau Forest is encompassed by a complex of around a dozen protected areas. However, despite formal protections, Mau lost around 25% of its tree cover due to human pressure between 1984 and 2020, according to forest monitoring groups. Satellite data from Global Forest Watch show forest loss dropped dramatically in 2021 and 2022 before shooting back up in 2023. Preliminary GFW data and imagery indicate the Mau Forest has been experiencing another major bout of deforestation in 2024.

The record low was followed by the symbolic end to coal-fired power generation in Britain with the closure of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, making the UK the first major economy to phase out coal power completely. Despite the UK leading the way in decarbonisation among the G7, the report shows that significant challenges remain in decarbonising the power sector, including the needs to phase out natural gas, invest in grid infrastructure, and address rising balancing costs. The findings have been released in the latest instalment of the quarterly Drax Electric Insights report. The publication is an independent report by academics from Imperial College London commissioned by Drax through Imperial Consultants.

Almost two decades ago, the atmosphere’s levels of methane — a dangerous greenhouse gas that is over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term — started to climb. And climb. Methane concentrations, which had been stable for years, soared by 5 or 6 parts per billion every year from 2007 onward. Then, in 2020, the growth rate nearly doubled. Scientists were baffled — and concerned. Methane is the big question mark hanging over the world’s climate estimates; although it breaks down in the atmosphere much faster than fossil fuels, it is so powerful that higher than expected methane levels could shift the world toward much higher temperatures. But now, a study sheds light on what’s driving record methane emissions. The culprits, scientists believe, are microbes…

Drax will keep raising the levels of carbon emissions in the atmosphere until the 2050s despite using carbon capture technology, according to scientific research. The large power plant in North Yorkshire is a significant generator of electricity for the UK but has faced repeated criticism of its business model of burning wood pellets sourced from forests in the US and Canada. The new study found that the intensive forest management needed to source 7m tonnes of wood pellets to burn as fuel every year would erode the carbon stored in the ecosystems of these pine forests for at least 25 years… “The results demonstrate that the CCS technology itself is less important than the impact of wood pellet sourcing on forest carbon stocks and flows,” the study said.