Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis has announced government plans to improve the green credentials of the UK’s transport networks. Through the introduction of a number of new ambitious schemes, it is hoped that the carbon emissions caused by transportation within the UK can be significantly reduced.
Transport is currently responsible for causing 21% of the UK’s total carbon emissions, and as a result, Lord Adonis has identified this as a key area for helping Britain meet its targets for cutting emissions by 80% by 2050. The government will achieve this by investing in public transport, such as improving train services and further electrification of the rail network, investing in low carbon vehicles and, something which Adonis says is close to his own heart, ensuring a greater provision of bicycle storage facilities at railway stations to encourage greater transport integration through a promise of £5 million worth of investment.
After three years of campaigning for stronger commitments in reducing carbon emissions, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland’s work has paid off. On 24th June the Scottish Parliament announced that Scotland would be implementing its own Climate Bill; one that gives a stronger commitment to cutting CO2 emissions than any other act around the world.
Following the intervention of President Barack Obama signing a Presidential Memorandum requesting the Environmental Protection Agency to review the decision to deny the greenhouse gas waiver request submitted by California. The waiver will apply to California’s greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicles produced in 2009.
A study of literature reporting on the oxidation of methane in various soil types has shown that the process is successfully removing more carbon emissions than first thought. Microbial oxidation is the process that takes place as a result of microscopic bacteria living in the top soil covering used to cap landfill sites, and helps reduce the amount of methane and other harmful gases being released into the atmosphere.