This week brought good news from different parts of the world. The International Energy Agency updated its benchmark Net Zero Roadmap, revealing a spectacular growth in clean energy that is narrowing the path to hitting the 1.5C target. Despite the energy sector spewing record carbon emissions in 2022 a rapid deployment of green technologies is keeping the door open to achieving climate goals. The forecast from the UN-backed responsible investor network the PRI supports this, saying that the world will meet the sub-2C target set in the Paris climate agreement, based on tracking more than 300 global climate policies planned for implementation by 2050.
Indigenous communities in Brazil finally won a historic battle for land rights when the supreme court voted down the agribusiness-backed ‘time limit trick’. This proposal argued that indigenous peoples in South America’s largest nation could only claim territories that they physically occupied in 1988 when Brazil’s constitution was signed. This ruling now paves the way for scores of land claims from communities who were previously driven from their ancestral homelands during Brazil’s military dictatorship. This decision was celebrated by Fiona Watson, research and advocacy director with human rights charity Survival International.
Greater Manchester became the first place in England to take back public control of its buses. Launched this week, the Bee Network aims to reverse the decline in bus travel seen since services were privatised everywhere outside of London in the 1980s. It includes 50 electric buses and operates initially in Bolton, Wigan, and parts of Salford and Bury. The network cuts the joint bus and tram journeys’ cost by 20%, starting with hopes for grander plans for a low-cost, integrated public transport system complemented by the UK’s biggest walking and cycling network.
Finally, millions of people who have long Covid received recognition and hope after scientists discovered key differences in the blood of those with the condition, paving the way for a blood test for the sometimes-debilitating disorder. Yale and Mount Sinai universities’ scientists in the US examined blood samples from 268 people: some who had had Covid-19 but recovered, some who had never been infected, and others with ongoing symptoms. Their work, published on Monday in a report on Nature.com, revealed that in people with long Covid, immune system cells acted irregularly, and dormant viruses were reactivated. Patients were also found to have lower levels of cortisol hormone, which could explain their fatigue
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