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- 🌱💡 Finding the cash to stop climate change
🌱💡 Finding the cash to stop climate change
Today's good climate and environment news
Good morning!
From scientific discoveries to activist wins, here are the latest news stories that showcase the people who are taking on climate change and nature loss, and winning.
💵 A way to finance climate action
Leading economists have shown how rich countries can cough up the vast sums needed to limit warming to 1.5C without any adverse effects on the world’s economy. Or rather, it’s not paying the $1 trillion a year required that will have catastrophic consequences, given the interconnectedness of our supply chains.
The big idea: half of this cash can come from the private sector and a quarter from multilateral development banks, with the rest from aid from high income countries, as well as new taxes on fossil fuels and frequent flyers.
‘Is it feasible? The answer is absolutely yes. Is it politically challenging? The answer is also yes. But I do believe it can be done.’
🍚 Greening rice paddies
Rice is a staple of the diets of over half the world’s population, and central to the livelihoods of millions of farmers. But rice cultivation makes up around 8% of the greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, because the flooded fields are a breeding ground for methane-producing bacteria. But across Asia, techniques like periodically drying the rice fields and phasing out fertilizers are gaining traction, helping rice paddies become more resilient and sustainable while continuing to meet demand.
🇨🇳 China’s incredible climate progress
With the US now most likely out of the running in the race to be the leader in decarbonized tech, it’s worth looking at China’s breakneck progress over recent years. While it’s currently the biggest polluter of all countries, China is building two-thirds of the world’s total solar and wind capacity, and is exporting its solar panels around the world. By the 2030s, it’ll generate more energy from solar power than the US consumes altogether.